Reviving the local economy post Covid..

Our country is going through unprecedented crisis amidst global pandemic. The world as well as India is evolving a new normal which will hopefully end ills of the past like climate change, chronic capitalism and inequality.

We will as a country; will definitely tide over the present crisis in a couple of months. But our greater challenge will be once the pandemic ends. Millions have lost jobs, millions will lose in the coming days. Hunger and mass migration unparalleled in the history of independent of India, unfortunately is staring at us.

However, this is not the time to write melancholy but to be resilient, be courageous, be compassionate and to have faith in the almighty.

As the old adage goes “God brings men into deep waters not to drown them but to clean them”. It is now prudent and inevitable to see this situation as an opportunity more than a crisis.

How to see this situation as an opportunity? What is the opportunity that one can see? 
I will try to enlist a few obvious and conspicuous opportunities which can evolve out of this crisis.

   1. Demographic dividend: As we see large scale migration, it is obvious that large able workforce is going back to their lands. That means we have now a good working population in the country side which is actually battling agriculture labour shortage. This dividend should be used for the better now. Government must encourage large scale farming in rich delta of UP and Bihar and bring back its old glory. Indian can also become world’s food basket.

However, this is easier said than done . Few key investments must be made in these areas to encourage agriculture

a.   Invest in Soil and water conservation: Without adequate education and implementation of water conservation micro projects, large scale agriculture will not be possible. Government must educate and sensitize people on water conservation. Government must somehow ensure construction of check dams and recharge wells without the contracts slipping into rent seeking officials who execute projects on paper.

Governments must stop free electricity (to discourage indiscriminate pumping) and instead adopt monthly fixed cash transfers to cover up pumping costs.

b.  Direct Market: This lockdown has seen many farmers directly selling to the consumers where farmers received more money and consumers got a lower price . A solid delivery chain roping in loss making postal departments and youth of the country side can be established for seamless delivery of agricultural produce from the producers to consumers. This way food prices will come down and farmers will get higher income.

c.   Solar Energy : Energy independence should be one of our long term vision (2030). Solid knowhow and world class solar pumping systems must be made available to the farmers. Subsidies and bureaucratic models have only failed us in terms of quality. Time has come for Right identification of technology and direct cash transfer for procurement. As a country we can become world-class only by shunning the archaic bureaucratic model and adopting innovative governance methods.

d.  Local industries: If there is now an intellectual and financial investment into the local village industries and skill development, there will be gainful employment for the migrants who have returned to the safety of their homes. Skills like pump installation and repair, TV repair etc will be in great demand in the next few years as local economies grow.

    2. Urban Water: Covid-19 is showing us the ugly side of injustice. Pictures of our brethren walking on the highways and picture of mass migration from Delhi are glaring evidence of how we have deprived our brethren. If we do not correct ourselves now, history will not be kind to us.

Pumping water away from the country side to meet the insatiable demand of our megacities is a sin on mankind. If there is any hope for any kind of sustainability in our future, it has to start with water. Cities must stop getting water hundreds of miles away (Many of these projects perhaps are designed out of vested interest). There are many small interventions that can reduce the demand of water in cities. Some are listed below;  

a.   Rainwater Harvesting: There must be large scale movement on popularising rainwater harvesting. Most cities receive rainfall to meet at least 40 percent of their water demand (If not more). Rainwater harvesting is easy and must be implemented at ward level (micro de-centralization). Large pool of engineering talent can be mobilised for this task giving the young engineers inspiring work as well as ensuring water security. An illustration is given below;

1.   There must be rain gauge installed in every ward (Connected to the server) .

2.   The lowest point (Valley point) of every ward must be identified.

3.   The catchments must be maintained clean.

4.   Knowing the ward area and rainfall intensity, one can determine the run-off.

5.   The ward staff must ensure construction and maintenance of recharge wells in the ward so that the discharge from the valley point is minimum or to a predetermined level.

6.   It must be made corporator’s or ward engineer’s responsibility to ensure that water does not leave their ward.

7.   It is very easy to monitor the run off from valley points and compare it with the rain gauge measurements.

There must be bottom up approach on rainwater harvesting from ward level to the national level.

b.  Rooftop Solar Energy: Rooftop Solar energy reduces the water footprint. Plenty of water that is used up in conventional power generation can be diverted to more productive use or conservation. It also reduces huge amount of water wasted in laying transmission lines and other infrastructure. It reduces the transmission and distribution losses indirectly saving a lot of water.

There must be much needed fillip for rooftop solar energy in urban places. Again, government instead of giving subsidies and route huge money through long bureaucratic channels can either give direct cash transfer or subsidise the manufacturers. This will cut a huge chain and huge process and speed up the off take of solar.

   3. Urban Farming: Public Parks in urban areas must be converted to fruit farms. Growing fruit bearing trees in urban open lands and public parks have many benefits. Some of them are listed below;

1.   Plenty of water can be saved. Most public parks have ornamental plants and grass/lawn which guzzle up plenty of water.

2.   It attracts clouds and increases rainfall.

3.   It increases employment in parks since more labour will be required to maintain and market the produce.

4.   Fruits can be sourced locally reducing the cost and increasing nutritional value.

5.   It attracts bio-diversity in parks thereby increasing air and water quality.

   4. Plastic Ban: The Lockdown has achieved quite a few goals like cleaning river ganga and improving the general air and water quality. This must be capitalized now by completely banning plastic bottles and plastic covers. This will have many short term and long term benefits. Most importantly our water bodies will get cleaned which in turn will improve the health of the county and increase soil fertility.