Tuesday 24 May 2016

An Innovation Can SAVE Hills from Forest Fire!

#ForestFire is the biggest issue in these days in Himalayas. It’s really disheartening to see the destruction of the 'Lungs of the Earth' in this way. But apart from sadness, there are few questions which triggered in my mind which are obvious in anyone's mind. Is this the regular forest fire or it happened only this year? If it is regular one, why not we are taking any proactive actions against it?? What are the reasons behind it??? Who are main culprits for it???? What is the solution for it?????


These 5 basic questions are very normal questions which one should ask. Let me go through one by one.
This forest fire is not the new phenomenon in Himalayas. It happens every year. But this time the season got changed. It used to happen every year in May mid or last week and the June's pre monsoon rains always kept it slower. But this is the odd year. Due to low winter rains, forest got fire easily in April due to lack of moisture.
But the question arises how this fire get started?? When you go into the deep, you will find the local people behind it. But wait, don’t jump on the conclusion. Why they do so? They love their forest. They don’t want to destroy it. So question is the same. How and why? Why people did it? People want the feed for their cattle. They need green grass but due to the pine needles, nothing can grow at the ground. The pine forest is the curse for Himalayas. Their needles used to get down in April to June and they cover the entire ground in a way where the water and sun light doesn't reach to the ground. Subsequently there is no grass at ground and the land also gets convert into acidic land due to the nature of pine. In fact these needle uses to work like a fuel during fire as it has some oil content.
People use to burn the pine needle to get green grass and it spread like anything. If someone has to live with forest, they need their things from forest only. There were many talks for 'Fodder Lines' and all but nothing happened.
Why this forest fire occurs nearby Pine Forest?? There are other forests too like, Oak forest, Rhododendron forest etc, but nothing happen there. It means Pine is the main culprit. It only takes the resources from us but why the forest department is so adamant for Pine Forest. The answer is 'Lisa' (the gum of pine tree). Lisa is raw material for paint industry. Paint is meant for urban areas. The Himalayas is paying for these beautiful colors of urban drawing rooms generally.
The forest department use to earn a lot of revenue through it. But is generating the revenue is the prime objective of the department???
Why does not government change the Pine with some fruit trees which will give the fruits to local people, Monkey, Wild Bore etc. It will also strengthen the ecosystem as well as it will help to reduce the forest fire things too. This is the long term process which will be implemented in phase wise pattern. 
What is the solution in short term? We can work on Pine Needles. We can convert it into useful fuel as well. But how?

We can connect Self Help Groups (SHGs) in this work. They can buy the pine needles from local people or their own group as Rs 1/kg. And can convert it into Fuel Brackets. These fuel brackets can be sale to various hotels, dhabas as the substitute of the fire wood. As pine needles have some oil content, it will be more energy efficient for them. Machine can be provided by government, forest department for compressing it which is not very costly. 
I am not making a blind guess. It has been executed in Uttarakhand only. It was implemented in Guptkashi area of Gharwal Himalayas, where the machine was set up to make the fuel brackets. It was a very simple design which is visible into the picture. There was a thrasher who uses to cut and pressurize the pine needles and another thing was consolidator who uses to consolidate the needles into a bracket. It is required a simple electricity motor which can be work on solar energy too. The people used to buy the pine needle @ 50 paisa per KG and use them to create the fire brackets. They use to sell it to the Badrinath Kedarnath Mandir Samiti which use to use it into the Yatra season as the substitute of fire wood. 


By doing so, they saved the forest wood in burning as well they saved the forest from fire through pine needles and also they generated the livelihood source at ground level which helped to stop migration.
Himalayas need such model to work upon. And it is not rocket science. It can be implemented anywhere with a small effort. Few people use pine needle for varmi-culture. They used pine needle as the bio mass and mix it with cow dung and put some Kechuas into it. It is very useful for the farming as organic fertilizers. You can see it into the pictures. It is a good source of nutrients in horticulture.
We need to connect the local people with local problems into entrepreneurial way and innovative techniques. It will help to generate the local employment and revenues which will make them confident and self-reliant as they were rather looking for some jobs into urban areas.


Thursday 25 February 2016

Rail Budget 2016: My Opinions with Highlights

It was really a good ‪#‎RailBudget2016‬ which was passenger oriented. More focus on process strengthen and profitability of the organization. Happy to see the focus to generate 10-20% profit from non tariff sources in next 5 years. Now railway is acting as a profit center in monopoly market. Good to see their approach to make it profitable but government should not forget that they are working for the welfare of the citizen too and the silver lining was the unreserved category train and coaches. 
The connection between Mizorum and Assam (Lumding-Silchar) with broad gauge line was welcoming move. 
Now railway is also understanding the need of the nation in making logistic issue easier. Focusing on logistic parks and warehouses through terminal is welcome move. Time Tabled freight trains is also part of this strategy. But should consider the proper tracking of the parcel with their safety measures which is missing. Port connectivity to Nargol and Hazira under PPP is also the part of this strategy. 
Double-Decker Train for business people is good move too. 
Senior citizen got minister's attention this year. I hope they will get ticket easily now as the quota is increased by 50%. Railway is using the brain of young student through internship and all which will give them the exposure of the technology and operations. It will help to generate the innovative technology for the railway.
Targeting tourism is good move through new tourist circuit identification and cooperation with state governments (Aastha Circuit). Integrating the Local Cuisine is good move but need to see the implementation.
New Rail Coach factory, Engine Capacity Building, Rail Auto Hub, Power generation target (1000 MW through Solar in next 5 years), Electrification of 2000km target in next year, 2500 water vending machines, 1780 automatic ticket vending machines, World's first Bio-Vacuum toilets, E-Ticketing System enhancement from 2000 tickets/min to 7200/min, WiFi facility in 100 stations etc are the part of the process strengthening part. 
Establishing the Rail Technology University is also a welcome move by the Minister. Also 50 Cr. funds for the ‪#‎StartUps‬ for the railway employees's children is a small for good HR move. First time I heard something for the Coolies in railway.

My small suggestions can be followings:
Railway is having a great infrastructure which can be use for the various activities like Plantation along with tracks, Station Area fo Office Space for the start ups (suggested by Prof Anil Gupta Ji), Innovation through rural technology into Power Generation, Food, Hospitality, Cultural Interaction etc. For power generation, we can use the micro wind mills on trains. Railway can provide the market research, market testing areas to the people.

Overall it was a good move. Hats off to the Ministry of Railways - India and Shri Suresh Prabhu Ji for this budget.

Friday 11 December 2015

Wake Up Call - Now or Never!

Chennai is facing the biggest flood of the century now. All roads have converted into canals, houses are converting into ponds and ponds are becoming over flooded pools. So many people have lost their life, many people are still missing, many are relocated. Totally mess up in the area. And top of that, no news of such mess from rural area of Tamilnandu. 

We all are know what happened there. But dont know, how it happened?? why it happened? who is responsible for such massive disaster?? 

India is facing regular disaster since many years. 2012 Uttarkashi Flood, 2013 Kedarnath Flood, 2014, Kashmir Flood, 2015 Chennai Flood. All disasters has a common issue - ISSUE IN WATER RELEASE CHANNELS!

What happened in Kedarnath! Excessive rain fall happened and rive Mandakini could not absorb the entire water into its existing river bed because of the encroachment on its river bed. Similar thing happened in Kashmir where river Jhelam was encroached for so called development and water could not get way to get release. The same kind of thing happened in Chennai. The excessive rain fall converted into huge water which could not get release due to encroachment into various ponds, Adyar river. And water entered into the town. 

We have played a lot with our water bodies in every part of country. See the situation of River Bindaal and Rispana in Dehradun, River Sonali in Roorkee, Hindon in Ghaziabad,Yamuna in Delhi/Noida etc. List is so long. You can find the river bed of any river in any part of the country. You will find such rivers every where. Even small ponds in small towns, villages are washing away on regular basis. See their diameters now and check 50 years ago's too. Every where the situation is same. 

We need to see where our development goals are carrying us? Where we want to see ourselves 50 years down the lines from now? Will be comfortable to use MNC's agenda of air purifier, water purifier (already using), tension purifier etc or we want to live natural organic life?? These are the regular Wake Up Calls from Nature. This is the high time to introspect ourselves. Otherwise be ready to face more Chennai, Mumbai, Kashmir, Kedarnath in your own town.

Thursday 10 December 2015

An Emerging Challenge Created By Human: Call For Action!

Pollution is becoming the bigger problem in the world now which is the direct impact of the years long human intervention for DEVELOPMENT! We have seen Delhi fog and Beijing fog in last weeks. 

Many new ideas are coming from various Governments, Organization, International Agencies, People to reduce the effect of such human created pollution. I must congratulate to these for this concern. If they would have taken the timely action, it would not be the situations anywhere!

Last week, Delhi State Government took the decision that the EVEN & ODD number's private cars will have the roster. The only even and only odd cars will run 3 days in week on Delhi's road. It might be a good decision. But my concern is bigger than that!

If the government is really concern, they should consider the various dynamics of this. They should consider that private cars and jeeps contribute less than 10% of particulate matter (PM: which is the parameter of pollution control). Road dust and construction dust are the biggest contributors - up to 46%. (Researched by IIT Kanpur)

A big contributor to Delhi's air pollution is road dust that accounts for about 35% of tiny particles, followed by vehicles. 

The other big contributors include domestic cooking, power plants and industries. Vehicle emissions account for an average of 25%. Trucks and two-wheelers account for larger chunks of PM 2.5 pollution than passenger cars' contribution of 14-15% to overall vehicle emissions. 

Along with that, if we implement the even and odd roster, are we ready to work upon it properly. Have we taken the proper steps such as, strengthen the public transport system, proper coordination with all concern authorities, Various legal concern etc before implementing it? Will it increase the need of more vehicle in city or can ripple into malpractices (as duplicate number plates)? 

When we are really concern for this particular cause, we need to be very careful in every action, otherwise people make it mockery and the seriousness of the cause goes out. It hampers to the other serious small actions and its sustainability. 

This is the biggest concern emerging into the world. If this will not dealt with proper willingness, it will the biggest disaster of the world. And we need to be ready more Delhi, Beijing, Chennai for future. 

Monday 30 November 2015

करोडो का खर्चा, गरीबो पर चर्चा (Spending Billions to SAVE EARTH)



Today the whole world is talking the Climate Change challenges and its solutions. All world leaders are doing brain storming in Paris today. Have we ever thought the basic cause of the problem? Have we ever to have the strong willingness to make the solution of it??

Indian traditional lifestyle of very friendly for such things. We had sustainability in our life. Our food chain to living habbits were corelated in such a balance manner, we did not require the Waste Management and Climate Change initiatives.

Peepal Tree (Ficus Religiosa) is one of the best source of oxygen which was very pious in Indian Culture. It significance the concern of our ancestors for climate.

People used to use the green waste as fodder for cattle and we did not have the culture of non degradable waste.

We preserved our rivers on the name of worship as mother which shows our concern for the water bodies. Not even only rivers but also the ponds, lakes etc. There are many stories and mythologies are famous for water conservation and purity.

We had very closed relationship with mother nature in terms of house building to food to fodder to earning. And it was a balanced approach. In fact people had very good observation with nature. I met with an old men in Uttarakhand in May 2013 who told me that this year they are going to face a bad flood. I asked the sources of the observation, he said to me, "Is saal Goraiya ne Ghosla upper banaya hai" (This year the sparrow made her nest on the upper side). And after a month Uttarakhand faced the bad flood of the century (June 2013).

I have many such stories to share of such observations. But why we are losing this relationship with mother nature and need of such kind of brain-storming and seminars? What are the reasons behind such disassociation??  Is Indian lifestyle was better, why do we require to follow other things. Why we did not adopt the other culture with its customized version for India.

We have to think and work upon it seriously otherwise world will face more Chennai, Mumbai etc.

Wednesday 22 April 2015

राष्ट्रपति जी से 11 सूत्रीय मांगें...



सेवा मे,                                                                                                                                                       
महामहीम राष्ट्रपति जी
भारत गणराज्य 

महोदय,

मैं भारत का एक जिम्मेदार नागरिक होने के नाते आपको यह खुला पत्र लिख रहा हूँ| पिछले कुछ सालो मे हुए घटनाक्रम ने मुझे अन्दर से झाक्जोर रखा है और मैं सोचने पर मजबूर हूँ के कृषि प्रधान देश मे कृषि के प्रति असंवेदना क्यों है? कृषि के मानव संसाधन के विकास की बात योजना के केंद्र मे क्यों नहीं है? क्या दूरसंचार और सूचना प्रोद्योगिकी का प्रयोग कृषि के लिए नहीं किया जा सकता है? क्या हम बाढ़ और सूखे के लिए पहले से प्रयत्न नहीं कर सकते है? क्या असमय बारिश और ओलावृष्टि का हमारे पास कोई उपाय नहीं है? क्या कृषि बस कच्चे माल की फैक्ट्री बनकर रह गयी है? क्या गाँव केवल बाज़ार और लेबर हब बनकर काम करने वाले है? क्यूँ आज किसान अपने बच्चे को किसान नहीं बनाना चाहता है? क्यूँ किसान आज आत्महत्या करने पर मजबूर है?

महोदय, मैं इन सवालो के जवाब खोजते खोजते खो जा रहा हूँ| राष्ट्राध्यक्ष होने के नाते, भारत के प्रथम व्यक्ति होने के नातें, आप हमारे देश के सभी नागरिको के अभिभावक है| और अभिभावक से अपने सवालो के जवाब मांग सकते है| इस दुविधा की घडी में में आपसे मेरी प्रार्थना की कृषि के लिए निम्न बिंदूओं पर विचार किया जाये:

  1. कृषि को एक पूर्ण व्यवसाय का दर्जा क्यों नहीं दिया जाता? क्या कृषि भूमि का किराया किसान की लागत में नहीं आता? क्या कृषि भूमि की अवसर लागत (Opportunity Cost) नहीं होती?
  2. क्या न्यूनतम समर्थन मूल्य मे कृषि की वास्तविक लागत को पूरा नहीं करना चाहिए?
  3. क्या किसान हमेशा उगाने का काम करके ग़रीब ही रहेगा या फिर उसको प्रसंस्करण (Food Processing) मे पारंगत करके बिचोलियों को हठाने का प्रयास किया जायेगा?
  4. हम मानते है की मौसमी बदलाव (Climate Change) के असर को हम नहीं रोक सकते, लेकिन क्या हम इतने असहाय है कि अपने अन्नदाता को ऐसे तिल तिल मरते देखेंगे! क्या हम फसल बीमा पर पुख्ता काम करने का काम करेंगे? और बीमा कंपनियों की जवाबदारी तय की जाएगी?
  5. क्या दूरसंचार और प्रोद्योगिकी का प्रयोग हम मौसम के बेहतर अनुमान और उसके जनता तक पहुच को संभव बना पायेंगे? यहाँ आपको अवगत करना चाहूँगा कि हिमालयी क्षेत्रों में डॉप्लर राडार आज तक नहीं लगे है| क्या सच में हम सुधार करना चाहते है?
  6. क्या हम कृषि अनुसंधान को किसान केन्द्रित करना चाहते है या फिर किसान को खुले बाज़ार के हवाले करके उसको मर जाने के लिए छोडना चाहते है जहाँ उसको बीज, खाद और कीटनाशक के लिए बहुराष्ट्रीय कंपनियों का मुहं देखना पड़े?
  7. क्या देश उन्नत कृषि के नाम पर जहर ही खाता रहेगा और कैंसर स्पेशल जैसी ट्रेनों में और इजाफ़ा होगा या फिर देश अपनी परंपरागत वैज्ञानिक खेती की और अग्रसर हो सकेगा जहाँ किसान को ना बीज खरीदना पड़ता था ना खाद ना कीटनाशक?
  8. क्या किसान के दक्षता विकास की और कुछ कदम उठाये जायेंगे?
  9. क्या किसान संगठन के लिए कुछ कार्य किये जायेंगे?
  10. क्या सरकारों की जवाबदेही तय की जाएगी?

मुझे आशा है की मेरे देश के मुखिया होने के नाते, मेरे अभिभावक होने के नाते, आप मेरी इस दुविधा का समाधान देंगे | यह खुला पत्र भी इसी लिए लिखा है ताकि सोशल मीडिया के जरिये आप तक पहुँच पाए अन्यथा रास्ते मे बहुत बैरियर आते है |

जवाब की आशा मे!

आपका
रितेश गर्ग
Ritesh.garg01@gmail.com

Thursday 18 December 2014

Doing Business is Easier in India NOW!



The lower house of Indian Parliament, Lok Sabha Wednesday passed the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014 with 14 amendments. Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley told the house that some of the original provisions were only posing hurdles to doing business in the country. He said, “..(previously) A terrorist can get bail, but a company official cannot“, and added; “Are we trying to induce or scare investors,”.

"The object of these amendments is solely to ease the process of doing business in India. None of them have any ulterior motive," Jaitley, who also holds the Finance portfolio, said replying to the debate on amending the Companies Act, 2013.

"Some of its provisions would have made doing business in India extremely difficult and the investment environment in the country would be disrupted by such a law," Mr. Jaitley added. 

The amendments to the Companies Act are designed to address some issues raised by stakeholders. These amendments include:

Confidentiality of Board Meetings

Among the major concerns of stakeholders were protecting confidentiality of board resolutions. The new amendments prohibit public disclosure of decisions made inside a Board meeting. Citing the provision on the public scrutiny of board resolutions, Jaitley said that nowhere in the world was such a practice being followed. "A company deciding in its board on its next model, a new product trademark or the funding mechanism would not like such matters to be known to competitors," Jaitley said.

Approvals made easy

Stakeholders were also concerned that stringent regulations for related party transactions, or those transactions between the company and another in which a board member or members are interested, could hurt routine business activity. The amendment also exempts corporates from the need to get shareholders' nod in the case of related party transactions valued lower than Rs.100 crore or 10 percent of net worth.
Under the old system, shareholders' permission through a special resolution was required in case of related party transactions for all firms with a paid up capital of Rs.10 crore or more. 

Requirement of Paid Capital Removed 

Earlier, paid up capital of Rs 1 lakh was required for a new private company and Rs 5 lakh for private company, which has been now removed. It is really a great move to support Small and Medium Enterprises. 

Defaulting Company Laws

Officers and employees of the defaulting company, who encouraged and promoted financial scams can now face fine upto Rs 2 crore, with a minimum threshold of Rs 25 lakh and/or prison upto 7 years. And the Director and Founder of such frauds would be fined under Section 447 of the Act, and can be poisoned upto 10 years along with a fine “which shall not be less than the amount involved in the fraud, but which may extend to three times the amount involved in the fraud”.

Errors related with drafting rectified

There were several drafting errors in the original bill, such as unclaimed shares and dividend. Unclaimed dividend for 7 years is automatically transferred into a investor-protection fund but unclaimed shares does not. From now on, all unclaimed financial assets will be transferred to the investor-protection fund.

A special section 76A Introduced

76A has been introduced in the bill, which empowers the Government to slap fine upto Rs 10 crore on defaulting companies which raise money from the public and then disappear. In the wake of recent scams such as Saradha Finance in West Bengal and Sahara, this new regulation was indeed required. In any case, the new law states that the fine would not be less than Rs 1 crore in any case. The new amendment states: “in addition to the payment of the amount of deposit or part thereof and the interest due”. 

This is a good move to create the business environment for MNCs as well as for Small and medium Enterprises. Where WTO gave low ranking to India for business environment, Government has started working on the ease of business environment in India.