Management Perspectives

I am tempted to start with a quote by Voltaire – “Three things exercise a constant influence over the minds of men – climate, government, and religion.” Whereas, we are all familiar with the latter two, climate, on the other hand, might seem a curious addition to Voltaire’s list, especially because we tend to think of climate change as a modern preoccupation. While the unprecedented speed of change in the contemporary world is remarkable, so, too, is the fact that the acceleration primarily due to human behaviour and consumption patterns.

Without quick, further action to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs), there will soon be more carbon in the atmosphere than there has been for millions of years. Indeed 80 to 90 per cent of the burning of fossil fuels has happened since the end of WW II. Galloping energy demands have led to vast quantities of GHGs but other sources like pollution from particulate matter, waste generated by humanity, plastic debris landing up in the oceans etc. have also added to the problem. Sadly, we may be heading for a mass extinction event!

Can we respond to this huge challenge of sustainability? It seems, yes, we can certainly slow down the devastating march of climate change by adopting more responsible ways of living. It must, of course, be an all-pervasive effort as it touches all facets of our lives.

Sustainability has now become a buzzword and, happily, a lot of people—individuals, organisations, and governments—are making efforts to mitigate the damage done by climate change. Only time will show how serious, honest, and effective the steps being taken are. However, one thing is clear: everyone must be onboard and communities must get involved in coordinating individual efforts.

 Also, everything must be tackled—water, food, energy conservation, agriculture, organic farming, personal attire, waste management, check on use of plastics and movement of plastic waste into the oceans, switch over to renewable energy, use of electric vehicles, slowing down on binge shopping just to possess ‘more of everything’, resource friendly and least polluting manufacture, reduced transportation of our food, companies to give preference to green vendors, and so on! There are perhaps a thousand ways we can move to more responsible living.

Let me start with our personal attire. I seriously doubt if many of you discerning readers can make an honest confession that there is nothing in their wardrobes that has not been used for one year! Reality is that we have become hoarders…compulsive buyers who do not spare a minute to think whether the item we are buying is needed. We see a friend wearing a nice, new shirt and rush to the mall to pick up something similar. Once there, couple of other items catch my eye and I put those also in the basket. Then, another store is displaying great suits, yet another beautiful kurta-pajamas, a third specialises in casual jackets or track suits or pullovers. There are always sales going on.

Fully aware that these are mere gimmicks, we throw caution to the winds and pick up stuff at every store. The new acquisitions are lovingly worn once or twice and then they land at the back of the cupboard. We are maniacs with an insatiable appetite for more; “it’s my money and I will splurge; who is to question” – okay, it is your money. But do spare a thought for Mother Earth that suffers for every one’s folly! We seem to forget that making of each garment—even a handkerchief—leaves carbon footprint that hurts the environment. Retail therapy is a harsh truth.

We have to learn to live with less

There is a deep, age-old connection between the planet and the people. Agriculture developed perhaps ten to twelve thousand years ago when people began to domesticate plants and animals, and communities were built that led to the transition from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle. This relationship was always based on mutual respect—people tended the land with compassion and the land rewarded them with nutrient-rich produce like cereals, vegetables, and fruits. That is when the global population started ballooning—from about 5 million at the time to the present over 8 billion! Unfortunately, the beautiful relationship began to sour about seven decades ago when industrialisation picked up speed, less and less land was available for farming, and people started using chemical fertilisers to increase productivity. In the process, they forgot to nurture the land and let it degrade.

Realisation of our folly came quite late— just about the onset of 21st century—when scientists and later environmentalists like the former US vice president Al Gore and Sir David Attenborough shook the world with their findings about the devastating march of climate change. That is when we noticed that productivity and nutrient content of our crops was going southward. This led to even greater use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides as well as emergence of genetically modified (GM) crops; we are all aware of the conflicts that followed. 

Anyway, the whole world is now aware of the enormous damage and sustainability is on top of everybody’s mind. Publications like the FAO’s (Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN) ‘Sustainable Development Goals – working for Zero Hunger’ has brought out guidelines primarily directed at decision makers responsible for integrating the goals & targets of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development into National Policies & Programs with focus on Food & Agriculture as also Rural Development. It spells out efforts to increase productivity—to feed the 8.6 billion projected population in 2030 and 9.8 billion in 2050—and addresses social and environmental costs involved, water scarcity, soil degradation, biodiversity loss, etc.

Our own ministry of food and agriculture has also dwelt at length on crucial issues like (i) facilitation of universal access to productive resources, finance, and services; (ii) connecting small land holders to markets; (iii) encouraging diversification of produce and income; (iv) managing water scarcity; (v) enhancing soil health; (vi) reducing wastage of food—worldwide 33 per cent food is lost, figure for India could be even higher; (vii) social protection; (viii) augmenting nutrient content and others. Many policy initiatives are already in place—touching virtually all areas of economy and social development; rightly so because the two aspects are interdependent and connected irrevocably. After all a healthy and educated child also means greater development of the parents and the society.

These are all good but, as in case of any legislation, the key lies in regular monitoring and leak-proof implementation. Climate change and inclusivity are by far the two biggest problems before the world, and national programs and policy interventions must address both these assiduously. Equally important are the efforts of business and industry – the corporate world. Happily, we are seeing ever increasing public-private partnerships in various verticals of national growth. Admittedly the $5 trillion GDP by 2024-25 goal has got derailed primarily due to the COVID pandemic, but I have every hope that the IMF forecast (World Economic Outlook – 2017) of India becoming the second largest economy in the world by 2030, on PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) basis will come true.

To be more specific about policy interventions for sustainable development in agriculture, I would like to see tax breaks and more supportive policies for companies manufacturing organic fertilisers, and herbal insecticides and pesticides. We also need certification and inspection arms of the government and third-party assignees to be strengthened for developing consumer confidence in organic products.

Just to add some more sectors of economic growth and decarbonisation potential, there is great need to bring down the cost of electric vehicles (EVs) and creation of a dependable, countrywide charging eco system. GST on EVs and batteries has been reduced to 5 per cent, which is a good start. We now need production-linked incentives (PLI) and attractive policies for investments in R&D in this sector.

 The government should also think about extending the Green Building Codes to clean energy, energy-efficiency, waste disposal, and very strict conservation measures for water for all construction activity including residential buildings above a certain size. Currently there is a policy for energy conservation for large companies manufacturing cement and steel— referred to as perform, achieve and trade (PAT); this should be extended to several other industries. 

Construction industry is a big culprit

Recent tragic happenings in Joshimath have brought into sharp focus the follies of this crucial sector of economic growth and how their mistakes—wilful or otherwise —are causing widespread harm to ecology and why is it necessary to check their ways for the sake of sustainability. Unfortunately, Uttarakhand is not the only state where such disastrous ‘sinking of earth’ has happened. Latest reports bring out horror stories from across the country. Shimla, McLeod Ganj & Darjeeling also have serious issues. These are all hilly areas with fragile ecology and what is happening there has similarities by way of ignoring early warning signs. However, the curse of illegal and irresponsible construction is spread almost all over the country and, in fact, more blatant and damaging in big cities.

One factor is common—rapid increase in population leading to huge pressure on land prices and emergence of an unholy nexus between builders and civic administrators. Let me first look at a tier one town.

Gurgaon—south of Delhi, a sleepy little town till the 1980s—has seen explosive growth in the last 20 years. Current estimates put the population figure at 12.5 million. It was given the sobriquet of ‘Millennium City’ mostly by the builders. Despite warnings of a looming water shortage, they kept on building furiously and the land prices kept zooming up. Commercial property in the city was lapped up by large corporates from all over the world including perhaps 400 on the ‘Fortune 500’ list. Even though the original master plan had no provision for high rise residential buildings—only plotted colonies with houses not more than 2 1/2 stories were planned— the city has probably the largest number of skyscrapers in the country after Mumbai. Last few years, whenever there are heavy rains, Gurugram (as the city is known now) gets the infamous tag ‘Gurujam’ because the whole city gets waterlogged and everything comes to a standstill, at times, for 36 hours! Why does that happen? Simple answer—every topography has natural drainage channels where no construction is supposed to come up. However, the criminal nexus ignores that with impunity and plans are sanctioned at every place. To add insult to injury, all 13 beautiful large water bodies in the city have been filled up and construction stands over these. Add to it, informal urbanisation of rural areas, wholesale conversion of land use, encroachments on the forest zone, and something called ‘gair mumkin pahar’ and we have a medley of new complexes mushrooming all over. Lot of money changes hands under the table and everyone is happy. It is unlikely that this is without the blessings of powerful politicians. Net result: traffic jams, water logging, regular power and water shortages, noisy diesel generators, perennial air pollution, continuous road repairs, stalled smoke spewing vehicles on every road, sharply reduced green cover….and just too many people in a city meant for perhaps 20% of the present numbers. The situation would be pretty much similar in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Mumbai was doomed a long time ago but the municipal authorities keep it going somehow.

Back to Joshimath—currently in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. It appears that one of the biggest culprits here is National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). It is unthinkable that this much-admired behemoth, with highly-trained technical manpower, did not do a proper job of geological investigation. Also, everyone ignored early warning signs of cracks in the walls, bending trees, fissures in the ground and life went on as usual. And now, reports mention that at many places in Joshimath, the ground has sunk by as much as 70 cm putting the poor residents at great risk of life and property. Like many other Himalayan towns, Joshimath has also seen a huge construction boom with multi storied buildings on fragile slopes built with total disregard to rules and regulations and without reference to seismic surveys. Even Army and ITBP establishments came up there.

All this in a town which had hardly any concrete structures in the 1960s—even government departments functioned out of corrugated roof light buildings and their people lived in similar accommodation. There are almost identical stories from Darjeeling—a landslide prone terrain—where heavy road and railway projects are coming up or Shimla—a town planned for 25,000 has a present population of 2.3 lakh and the ridge ‘pride of the town’ sits on top of a 1-milliongallon water reservoir.

All these places are waiting for disasters to happen. All our major hill stations like Shimla, Mussoorie, Nainital, Manali, and Ooty were  designed by the British for a small fraction of their present population. Unchecked influx of tourists and establishments to cater to their stay and food add to the woes. We should have learnt lessons from our friendly neighbour Bhutan that has assiduously ensured controlled inflow of visitors. They have deliberately refused permission to a larger number, not fallen for greater earnings and maintained the pristine beauty of their country.

Our tourism must be ‘ecologically sustainable’. The need is to make new hill stations and not kill the existing ones which were built a century ago for much fewer people.

Festival of Flamingos in Mumbai and waste management

Flamingos have their largest population in the world on the lakes of East Africa. There is a permanent population of about 2 million in that region. In India their concentration is mostly in the salt deserts of the Rann of Kutch. Mumbai has seen these migratory birds only since the 1990s, and thereby lies a story of sustainability!

As the city grew in the ’70s and ’80s, so did the volume of untreated sewage in the Thane Creek nurturing the algae that is a staple food of flamingos. So their presence kept increasing and reached an astounding 1,30,000 in the winter of 2022. So, here is an interesting case of pollution generated by individual and civic neglect (untreated sewage) proving a boon for the birds. Strange are the ways of nature because the same pollution has been lethal for fish. Nearly half the species of fish in the creek disappeared between the 1980s to the year 2000.

Look at another aspect. Mangroves—that zealously guarded crucial barrier against soil erosion are now growing rapidly into the sea and making the creek narrower. Exponential increase in the number of these gorgeous visitors to Mumbai is truly a blessing. I hope that the flamingo sanctuary’continues to thrive. It might have happened as an accidental marvel but it would be great if our planners and environmentalists can agree on logical steps and ensure that it can continue in an exclusive zone and, at the same time, fish diversity is unharmed. I am confident the scientists will find answers.

Anyway, ‘festival of flamingos’ is just a pleasant interlude; let me now address the bigger issue of waste management. It is a shame that some of us are utterly callous about throwing out waste materials that end up in the sea—or add to the growing mountains of trash, paradoxically called landfills. But with recent rising concerns about sustainability there is hope that this criminal activity will reduce and humanity will become more concerned about Mother Earth—our only home in the enormous universe.  

It is estimated that every urban citizen in the country generates about 600 grams of solid waste every single day. Considering that a lot of our population lives in villages and probably has lesser access to modern day packaging—despite the small-pack onslaught of shampoo, soap, tooth paste, biscuits, et al, by aggressive FMCG companies—and are also unlikely to waste food, our national per capita waste generation should be around 250 grams per day.

With an estimated population of 142 crores, it adds up to about 355 tons a day or 130 million tons annually—enough to drown us all under its weight, unless we make it our religion to manage our waste by assiduously segregating it at source

Simple little things that can save us from very big problems

There is much more to sustainability than a few verticals discussed by me—personal attire and binge shopping, agriculture, construction industry’s greed, and waste management. For instance, there is the serious issue of rapidly reducing marine biodiversity—sea food being a staple for many nations. There is an interesting concept of ‘previously loved clothes’ that is getting traction amongst the younger generation— this makes eminent sense as against hoarding of clothes discussed in the beginning of this paper.

Another new thinking is about food miles ie, how much does our food travel from where it is grown till it reaches our table? Every extra kilometre our food travels add to the harmful emissions. This is bound to throw out of the window the rich man’s habit of consuming imported fruits and vegetables and we might learn to stick to produce grown near where we live.

Finally, we must start teaching children about sustainability; they can really be our sustainability ambassadors and can influence their parents and neighbourhood about the right practices.