Processing Sewage Water With Soil Alone to Cultivate Vegetables in Mumbai

My friends who know me are aware that I am obsessed with sewage treatment as this is a major issue in India. The city that was my home for more than three decades, Chennai, has turned two lovely water outlets to the sea into stinking sewage-bearing canals. And what could be a very valuable industrial resource, is now being entirely wasted. Poor countries like India lack the resources to process waste and reuse it - enter Mr Keshav Tavre, recognized for his efforts by the Smart Planet blog. MIT has taken note of Mr Tavre's work and has mentioned it on their radio station. Perhaps, it is time for more people in India to look at Mr Tavre's efforts now that the USA most recognizable university has endorsed it?

Exn.Dr.M.B.Nirmal on solutions for Global warming

I first met Mr M B Nirmal many years ago when I was a freelance radio host on All India Radio's Madras B station in its Youth and English Language Broadcasting sections. He had just founded his organization, EXNORA at the time, and it received the enormous attention that it richly deserved - in a country where everything related to living in urban environments was falling apart at the seams, Mr Nirmal offered a simple, voluntary solution that appealed to many. I remember being impressed at the time - that said, I doubt that anyone guessed that this would become a movement that would inspire civic minded people and governments alike all over the world. Mr Nirmal worked for an Indian public sector bank back then, but he would soon leave it to pursue his personal dream of making Chennai, then an overburdened city, more livable. Over the years, I lost touch with him as I went to work in different parts of the world before eventually moving to the USA. However, he had become a powerful phenomenon and remains one of the most inspiring figures in India, to repeat a word that I have no substitute for. I would also hear about him from close family sources - my father was a Rotarian like he is, as is one of my cousins who worked with my father. And, another of my cousins was the Indian representative of a US based foundation that supports social entrepreneurs, and which found it worthwhile to support Mr Nirmal's work. And then, of course, there was the very positive focus from the media on him and his work for me to gain more news from.

It was by sheer chance that I was able to reconnect with Mr Nirmal via Facebook, some nine years after I had moved to the USA (and perhaps twenty five plus years after my brief interview on MAdras B) and it has been very positive resuming touch with him. It is the mark of a great person that he does not forget whoever he comes into contact with, and, it was a pleasant surprise to me that Mr Nirmal remembered me, my cousins and my father on the basis of a short two line message that I sent him! And, of course, it has been wonderful being in touch with him since, I am what I call an "Agmark Chennai-vasi," as I was born and raised in the city that Mr Nirmal works so hard to convert into a model for the rest of India and the world to follow! You never leave home, as the old saying goes, and though I have not been back in a long time, it has been wonderful getting good news and hearing about the progress of a great movement that started in a small way and that has visibly transformed everyone it has come in contact with in a positive way.

Mr Nirmal's organization, ExNoRa, has a very nice website which I would invite my readers to visit. There cannot be a better site to view from what is a "Clean India" blog. The video that I have linked to over here would show anyone who does not know Mr Nirmal and his work why he is such a wonderful inspiration to many to do good work in making the living environment in India better.

A Fantastic New Project in India

Stadia are places that consume a lot of energy - the lighting, the large television screens and the people, their refreshments that must be transported in etc all add to the amount of energy used and the costs. But they do serve a very important social purpose - sports bring people from different nations together and promote friendship between nations (including those that might be politically hostile to each other) and they also promote a positive sense of identity between the citizens of a nation, supporters of a particular team and more. By extension, sports keep people who may not otherwise be inspired to exercise to participate in games at their own personal level, encouraging people to become fitter by getting them off their couches and outdoors from inside their homes to breathe in fresh air. All very laudable, and worthy of support.

So when a piece of news like this comes to us via Inhabitat, a leading blog on environment friendly architecture, there is a reason for all Indians to feel proud. I am not sure if this Solar Powered Piezo-Electric stadium is the first of its kind in the world, but, if, indeed it is, then India is to be hailed for a world first. Even if it is not, it is something to be proud of because, in a sports crazy country like India where energy costs are high and where most parts of the country receive more than 300 days of sunshine in a year, this is an example that will be replicated. A fantastic beginning to say the least and one that I hope will also be replicated across the region in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc where sports are as big a draw.

And, of course, if you like this post, you might want to subscribe to Inhabitat at I also list it among the blogs that I enjoy reading right here.

Iceland Set to Help India Use Geothermal EnergyT

The Smart Planet blog has this very interesting story about the tiny nation of Iceland offering India help in developing Geothermal Energy at 340 locations in the country. My old friend the Kodaikanal based artist Eddie Joseph has been a regular visitor to Iceland where he paints and works on the fishing fleets every summer and he and I have had many a conversation in the past about this little country that he loves. I do think that this would be a good area for the Government of India to look at - India has a huge requirement for energy and if geothermal energy can be harnessed at 340 locations in the country, it could be vastly better than sending Indian money overseas to import coal or oil. May this incentive succeed!

Jairam Ramesh: India Cannot Pollute its Way to Prosperity

As someone who has long watched India's politicians and who has had a particular interest in environmental policy in India, this blogger is continuously encouraged by the current Minister for the Environment, Mr Jairam Ramesh and his practical approach towards the environment in India. The Straits Times quotes the minister as saying that India cannot pollute its way to prosperity - thank you for pointing this out, Minister! These days a lot of specious argument coming from some vested quarters suggests that dirt and prosperity somehow go together. Thank you for opposing their propaganda with facts. As a huge country with a lot of people living in close proximity to each other, India does have terrible problems with environmental pollution especially in its cities. As prosperity spreads to the rural areas, this is a matter of concern across the country. There is a need to ensure that development and progress takes place and that this happens while the environment is preserved and kept clean for enjoyment by everyone. With care, this can be done. Please keep up the good work!

Taking Cycling Several Leaps Ahead

My close friends know how much I enjoy reading Low tech Magazine - there are few free resources on the internet that give as much information for those interested in forgotten technologies from the pre automobile era. This particular piece on Velomobiles (basically cycle cars)is one of the best that I have read in a long time. And the potential for a country like India is massive - India has a huge bicycle manufacturing sector, labor is cheap in India and there is a huge interest in cycling. I do think that an entrepreneur could tie up with one or another of the European companies designing and manufacturing these Velomobiles and build them for sale both in the local market and for export and offer them at far lower prices than they are sold for at the moment.

Think about it - speeds close to those at which cars drive in India with no need to fill any tank up - ever. No batteries to charge and you just get in and pedal away whenever you feel like it.

Gujarat Looks Hard at Tidal Power

Gizmag, one of my favorite websites, has this entry about a 50 MW tidal power plant going up off the Gujarat coast in western India. The company building the plant, Atlantis resources Corp, is a British company which has been working on tidal power since 2002. As an old seafaring power, Britain has been at the forefront of tapping the energy available from the sea, both offshore wind and tidal power. Add the old relationship between India and Britain and this looks like a positive beginning for the future. As I have long said, India has an extremely long coastline all along which offshore wind and tidal power could be tapped. Gujarat is just one of the many coastal states. Hopefully, other states that are along the Indian coast will follow this example as well. There is a pressing need for India to generate power - it is perpetually at a deficit as far as power generation is concerned - and what better than to use what it has available in abundance off its own coasts?

Congratulations to the Gujarat State Government for its foresight and to Atlantis Resources Corporation for their pioneering effort in India! May they succeed way beyond their own expectations!

An Excellent Forbes Piece on Solar Power in India

When Blackstone invest $ 300 million in Moser Baer's solar projects in India, they know that there is money to be made.

There has been considerable positive news coming out about the rush to tap solar power in India. And nothing looks at the business better than scrutiny by business magazines - these are, after all, magazines that look at where money is being made and where the potential exists for wealthy people to make even more money. And that illustrates something that this blog has been talking about for a long time: that there is money to be made in clean energy.

The plus is that India is beginning to understand this. I hope that other countries in South Asia, all of whom share India's climatic conditions, also recognize this fact.

A Very Strong and Positive First Step by the Government of India

Today's edition of The Hindu has this very positive piece about the Central Government requiring public electric utilities to use solar power beginning with 0.25% in 2013 and going up to 3% by 2022. I am confident that this would not only encourage new entrepreneurship by companies that sell power to the government through Power Purchase Agreements, it would also inspire businesses like software technology parks, malls, hotels and other large airconditioned offices and buildings to reduce their dependence on dirty power by using more solar power. The percentages mentioned may be small, but this is the kind of action that invariably has a positive snowball effect. When businesspeople in the power generation sector see what kind of money they could make from solar power, they will go out to do more to sell clean power to private clients as well.

Yes, my hat's off to the Government of India for this very positive step. Thank you, everyone involved in taking this decision. This bodes well for India and the world.

Clean the city, use the garbage

Clean the city, use the garbage

I am very grateful to Ms Kamla Ravikumar, dedicated environmental activist and educator in Chennai, India, for sending me this link. I have a connection to Rajkot - my ancestors, especially on my paternal grandmother's side, hailed from there and they moved to the South Indian city of Madras in the 1920s (with occasional short periods back in Gujarat) through the 1940s before they finally decided that Madras (which was later renamed Chennai) was where their hearts were. As someone who has visited Gujarat (and Rajkot) only twice - once in the mid 1970s and then in the early 80s, I could understand why. My impressions of the state and of Rajkot as a city were of dusty and dirty places where public hygiene was considerably worse than what I was accustomed to in the South. My paternal grandmother always maintained that she stayed back in Madras because she wanted all four of her sons to get what she would refer to as "double degrees" from Madras colleges. And that was what brought my maternal grandparents to Madras as well - Karachi was not quite a place for girls to get an education in the 1950s, and not for a member of the minority in particular. My maternal grandmother's family had lived in Mambalam since the 1890s and it probably took her and my grandfather the better part of fifteen minutes to decide where they were going to send their daughters to study - that was Madras's reputation as a center of culture, learning and advancement back in the day.

The public squalor and unhygienic conditions in Gujarat did blow up with the Surat plague of 1994. Thousands of people died from pneumonic plague in the rat infested town with badly overflowing sewers. As the world watched sick in the stomach, it does appear as if the people of Gujarat found the reason that they needed to clean their city up - in 2004, a prestigious magazine (I am not sure whether it was India Today or Outlook) did a story on how, in 10 years' time, Surat had become one of the cleanest cities in India because of a concerted effort by the city administration. Now, another city in the same state - Gujarat - has gone a step further. I am not sure if the recognition of garbage as a resource that the Indian express article talks about in Rajkot is a first for India, but, even if it isn't the very first, it is certainly among the first. And there is a lot to be hoped for in this demonstration of an idea that has made entrepreneurs wealthy the world over - hopefully, other cities across India will compete and try to best Rajkot in using their garbage as a resource. The pluses in doing this are simply too many, but the most significant ones would be:

1. Whole cities get cleaned up, and, instead of spending money on cleaning, they realize a profit from doing this. This is especially important in a desperately poor country like India

2. A large scale operation like this provides employment to some of the most marginalized communities in the country - rural migrants to the cities who, usually, have little education and no money

3. A cleaner living environment means healthier lives for city residents. The Surat plague showed the deficiencies of the Indian public health system. Cities that work hard to keep themselves clean and also make money out of this, end up reducing the strain on already beleaguered hospital systems

I hope that this example would be competitively emulated by other cities across India as they try to make even more money out of their garbage. There is a lot more that can be done - I have been beating the drum about garbage mining as is done here in the USA and in several European countries. That would make even more money for cities and entrepreneurs who get into this business in India. And when there is any further development, this blog will cover it - watch this space!