Ography and You - January-February 2016

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GnY SINCE 2001 Vol. 15, ISSuE 94, 2016
`100
A De v e l op m e n t A n D e n v i ron m e n t m Ag A z i n e
SuStainable
FutureS
Tropical Cyclones Over NIO 11 Land Challenges in

Smart Cities 14 Falling Oil Prices and India 30
Distributed Solar Energy Systems 34 Climate Justice
and COP21 44 Climate Change and Wheat 53
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GeoGraphy and you
Vol. 15 Issue 94 January - February 2016
Disaster ManageMent
Planning anD Mitigation
Mapping
rePort watCh
GIS for Avalanche
By Pratima Pandey and P K ChamPati ray
Pre-earthquake
Process and the 2004 Tsunami
Water use to be Decoupled

from Economic Growth
71
The Global Risks Report

2016
71
World Development Digital

Dividends Report 2016
Planning anD Mitigation

By C P rajendran
11
69
eVents
Tropical Cyclones Over NIO
By jagaBandhu Panda and Kasturi singh
life
14
Urbanisation
Smart Cities
Land Challenges in
By KaushiK dutta and Prasanna mohanty
17
Urbanisation
Smart Cities
Food Resources and
By s V r K PraBhaKar and g V ramanjaneyulu
21
Generic Urbanisation
Delhis Reality
Urbanisation
In brIeF
2 Letters 3 Editors note 29 Term power
47 Aquifer mapping and management
programme 52 Improving the ambient air
quality in India 59 Term power rating
62 Detecting milk adulteration 63 Increasing
crop productivity in India 64 Adoption of low
carbon agriculture techniques
72 Book/Website
By tejBir singh rana
26
Expansion Beyond
Limit Ahmedabad
Urbanisation
By anKit siKarwar and aParajita ChattoPadhyay
Expert Panel
CliMate Change
30
resoUrCes
Falling Oil Prices and India
By geo jos Fernandez
34
renewable energy
Energy Systems
Distributed Solar
By t V ramaChandra and ganesh hegde
40
Urban India:
Reaching out to the Sun
renewable energy
By rhythm singh
44
PoliCy
Climate Justice and COP21
By arun Kumar triPathi and anshu
48
PollUtion
Water Pollution in River Noyyal
By mohanraj r, somasundaram l and nishadh K a
agriCUltUre
53
CroPs
Climate Change and Wheat
By a K siKKa, B K KandPal adlul islam and s K dhyani
60
CroPs
Agricultural Biotechnologies
By narayan g hegde
sCienCe anD teChnology
65
weather anD CliMate Coastal Zones:

Remote Sensing Perspectives
By deBashis mitra
Prithvish Nag
Vice Chancellor,
MG Kashi Vidyapeeth,
Varanasi.
B Meenakumari
Chairman,
National Biodiversity Authority,
Chennai
Ajit Tyagi
Air Vice Marshal (Retd)

Former DG, IMD,
New Delhi.
B Sengupta
Former Member Secretary,

Central Pollution Control Board
New Delhi.
Rasik Ravindra
Former Director,
National Centre for Antarctic
and Ocean Research, Goa.
Saraswati Raju
Professor, CSRD,
Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi.
Sachidanand Sinha
Professor, CSRD,
Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi.
Dripto Mukhopadhaya
Director,
Economic Research,
Nielsen, New Delhi.
https://vk.com/readinglecture
GeoGraphy and you January - February 2016
GeoGraphy and you

EDITOR
Sulagna Chattopadhyay
LEGAL ADVISOR
KriShnendu datta
COVER PHOTOGRAPH
Solar power Station at
miniCoy, laKShadweep, by
praSad
The Nov-Dec 2015 issue of GnY, which showcases Indias varied

weather was an extremely rich issue highlighting the various
aspects of Indian weather systems. Though it was published very
late, its contents made up for it. The learned articles on monsoon,
cold and heat wave, hailstorm, thunderstorm, droughts etc., in
India is very well written. As a common man we do not realise how
important weather has become in our daily lives. It is only when
it is highlighted through products such as GnY that the climate
change dimension emerges with clarity. S Omkar, Patiala, Punjab
For more details log on to our website www.geographyandyou.com
THE GNY CLIMATE January issue was very

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PUBLISHED AT
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informative. I am currently teaching and

shared some of t hose informative facts with
the students who also found it interesting. I
would like to read all the previous editions
so that I can further enhance my knowledge
about the complexities associated with the
working of Mother Nature.
PrakHar ananD, Via mail
THE CHAMBAL I read the account on the
Chambal by Sumit Chakraborty. It was

quite refreshing, and the pictures of the
rare Indian Skimmers won my heart. The
description of the river is enticing and
inviting. I would appreciate it if GnY carried
similar accounts of some more rivers like
Shipra, Narmada, Manas, etc.
rameSH kumar SingH, bHOPal, maDHya PraDeSH
FLOODS IN INDIA I was very happy to find a
couple of articles on floods in Nov-Dec
2016 issue of GnY. An analytical article on
urban flooding in Chennai, and a second
one giving a historical account of floods
in India summarised the flood situation in
the country very succinctly. Thanks a lot.
ragini, DelHi
VERY HELPFUL AND LUCID I have found the
content and structure of GnY Climate

magazine very helpful and want to
congratulate Geography and You team for
this unique initiative. After going through
your current issue, I am inclined to explore

your previous issues as well.
ruCHir FarkiWala, Via mail
GNY CLIMATE I would like to read all the old
copies of the monthly published magazine
GnY Climate. It would be helpful in my
UPSC optional geography subject.
eranna nimbal, Via mail
MEDIA WRONG Newspaper reports is wrongfully
accusing nuclear plants for the beached
marine animals in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu.
Your online story clearly shows that they
should learn geography from GnY.
riSHi SHarma, Via FaCebOOk
VERY RESOURCEFUL I would like to state that the
recent Februaury issue of GnY Climate was
very resourceful and helpful for my UPSC
preparation.
jagannatH, Via mail
TRAINING IN MIRANDA We are a group of
students writing from Varanasi. We have

seen that GnY is undertaking weather
service training in Miranda College in New
Delhi. We wanted to know whether it would
be possible to organise such a training
for us. We would be very happy if we
could also learn about weather related
changes especially in the perspective of
global warming.
SHaDab HaSan, Via mail
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January - February 2016 GeoGraphy and you
vk.com/readinglecture
EDITORIAL
Protect, prevent and conserve

A small snacks-and-condiments
manufacturer in Champaran, Bihar,
running his enterprise on rice husk.
Producers of roasted bengal gram,
puffed rice and other delicacies, these
roadside vendors are fast losing out
to packaged snacks.
Dear Readers,
India is morphing. A new information-endowed group is emerging, who

access online material but rarely assimilates its need or efficacy. Thus,
we now have a group of misinformed young people who believe that our
lives should mimic the west in every way conceivable. The wave is so
strong that not even China or South Korea, where the Asian way of living
is well-marked, can withhold it. Slowly it seems that the entire global
population will all talk and walk in a certain way. Outwardly there seems
hardly any reason for panic, yet, scratching the surface will reveal that
Indians and most Asians are living a confused life. Between the poha
and the pizza, the latter always seems hipper. Regardless of the health
benefits of our forefathers hundreds of years of research that brought
us a climate-adapted food regime, the new eating habits are more
worrisome than the changing consumerist trend. Perhaps, atleast as far
as the food industry is concerned, swadeshi should be brought on, hot
and heavy.
Our new issue is an intellectual upgrade. We have moved a little
closer to the journal format, and have provided a full reference list along
with our articles. This will be of special importance to readers who need
to engage in further research.
Happy reading.
(Sulagna Chattopadhyay)
Di s a s t er M a n a g eMen t p l a n n in g & Mi t ig at ion
By Pratima Pandey and P K ChamPati ray
GIS for avalanche

mappInG
Combining GIS tools with remote sensing data can help in efficient
hazard mapping of avalanches in the tectonically active Himalayan
regions and save precious lives.
he deaths of army personnel who

were buried under a snow avalanche
in Siachen Glacier on February 3,
2016, shocked the nation. Soldiers,
trekkers and researchers working on
the Himalaya are at constant danger from snow,
ice and rock avalanches. Often, these avalanches
are triggered by tectonic events like earthquakes
(Huggel et al., 2007).
The Himalaya is tectonically very active and any
tremors or earthquakes can result in a hazardous
avalanche by breaking off large masses of snow,
ice and/or rock. To mitigate the risks of avalanche,
one needs hazards zonation, mapping, and an
early warning system to be in place (Salzmann
et al., 2004). In India, the Snow Avalanche Study
Establishment (SASE) issues warning for snow
avalanches; this is mostly done for the movement
of the Indian Army in glaciated regions. In 2009,
the National Disaster Management Authority
(NDMA) issued guidelines to minimise the impact
of landslides and snow avalanches on life, property
and economic activity. However, due to remote
4
location, complicated terrain, a harsh environment and political restrictions, it is not possible to
monitor mountain hazards through field observations and issue warnings well ahead of time.
GIS tools and remote sensing data
Advancing geospatial scienceremote sensing

technology and geographic information systems
(GIS) have efficient and promising capabilities in
providing robust and fast mapping of potential
avalanche zones, modelling the route of the
avalanche and predicting such occurrences (Kb
et al., 2005). GIS combined with remote sensing
data can be the most useful tool for hazard mapping
of debris flow and snow/ice/rock avalanches.
The launching of high-resolution satellites in
recent decades, emergence of sensor technologies
and development of sophisticated tools have posed
remote sensing as effective and efficient alternatives to monitor, assess and manage glacier related
hazards. The optical spectral region of remote
sensing is most suitable for glacier hazards assessment. For this, the nature, characteristics, size and
growth of hazards decide the selection of remote

sensing data.
Referencing, analysis, modelling and sharing
of observed data can be made possible in a GIS
environment. Data can be obtained from various
sources such as the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS)
satellite through the National Remote Sensing
Centre (NRSC), the National Snow and Ice Data
Centre and United States Geological Survey
(USGS). Medium-resolution data from Landsat
TM/ETM+/OLI/TIR, ASTER and IRS LISS III can
cover regional to global scale hazard assessment,
whereas high-resolution data from Resourcesat
(LISS IV), Quickbird and IKONOS can provide
detailed information. Some selected data can be
freely downloaded from Bhuvan (IRS datasets) and
USGS (data acquired by NASA).
For avalanche mapping, the most commonly
required base datasets are digital elevation model
(DEM) and multispectral image. The topographical details of the surface terrain such as elevation,
slope, steepness, orientation and hill-shade are
derived from DEM using GIS software. Availability of a topographical map can sometimes aid
in identifying old avalanche sites and correlate with
current avalanche sites. The usage of multispectral
data provides additional details of the area such
as snow coverage and distribution, ice and rock
dissemination and pro-glacial environment, etc.
Visual interpretation and analysis of these data
sets are easily possible. Continuous monitoring of
avalanche sites can be done by utilising multitemporal images.
The monitoring of occurrence of ice avalanches
and the settings of early warning systems for
mitigation require high-quality data and tools for
systematic regional coverage. The combination of
GIS tools with remote sensing data has been found
to be useful for hazard mapping in particular with
respect to debris flow and snow/ice/rock avalanches.
Fusion of multispectral data with the DEMs is the
most promising method for the monitoring and
assessment of glacier hazards.
digital elevation model
A DEM is used to define terrain parameters

such as elevation, slope, aspect and curvature of
the avalanche and give a firsthand estimate of
runout distances and possible risks to people and
structures. Computer based models in the GIS
environment are capable of creating avalanche
the most crucial parameter

responsible for avalanches is
the steepness of the mountain
and glacier peaksslopes
ranging between 25o and 45o
being the most dangerous.
representations and hence predict events. These
models need accurate and high resolution remote
sensing data sets.
DEM used for avalanche study can be of high to
medium resolution, ranging between grid cells of
size of 5m to 90m. The Cartosat-1 is an Indian satellite that provides high resolution (2.5m) stereo data
for good quality DEM, which can be used for accurate mapping of potential avalanching zones and
hence prediction. Global DEMs like SRTM (30m
and 90m resolution) and ASTER GDEM (30m) are
freely available and can be utilised extensively in
avalanche study.
The precision of the DEM used in identification
of avalanche prone areas, mapping of these zones
and in modeling the path of the avalanche is very
crucial. The higher the resolution of the DEM, the
more accurate will be the avalanche study. A DEM
is used in classifying and dividing the mountains/
glaciated terrain into elevation classes. The higher
elevation areas can be assigned to have maximum
potential for avalanche.
The most crucial parameter responsible for
avalanches is the steepness of the mountain and
glacier peaks. The steepness is measured by the
slope of the region. A slope map can be derived
from a DEM in GIS. Studies have shown that slopes
ranging between 25 and 45 are most dangerous
and prone to avalanches (Snehmani et al.,2013).
The other parameter in avalanche mapping is derivation of aspect/orientation which is again derived
from DEM in GIS. The aspect is the direction of the
maximum slope of the terrain surface, which has
an indirect influence on snow pack instability. It
also influences on the amount of radiation received
by the terrain and hence melting. The aspect of a
surface can be classified into nine classes. These
classes are N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW and Flat.
Due to differential radiation, different aspects have
different potentials to cause avalanches.
Fig. 1: Avalanche zones of Hamtah glacier, Lahut Spiti, Himachal Pradesh
1a
Source: Google
1c
1b
100m interval contours
Elevation (m asl)
High : 6619
Low : 1283
Source: ASTER GDEM
Slope degree
0-25
25-50
50-75
75-100
Source: ASTER GDEM
Hamtah glacier shows the avalanche zones of the glacier. The lines marked on the images show the high
altitude areas prone to snow and ice avalanche.
Curvature is another essential factor in determination of avalanche events and derived by GIS from
DEMs. The plan and profile curvatures decide the
route and flow of the avalanching material along
the avalanche path. The land cover type such as
ice, snow, rock, vegetation, barren surface are also
crucial factors influencing the intensity and impact
of an avalanche.
Figures 1 a, b and c show the avalanche snow/ice
avalanche zones of Hamtah glacier, Lahaul-Spiti,
Himachal Pradesh. The elevation and slope maps
show the vastly elevated and steep areas of the
glacier which are highly prone for avalanche.
endnote
Recent advancements in remote sensing and GIS

capabilities have greatly benefitted the study of
snow pack properties and snow cover distribution. Simulation and prediction of avalanches
can be aided significantly by advanced snowpack
characteristics models. Remote sensing data can
efficiently provide snow cover area, grain size,
albedo and snow water equivalent. The meteorological data along with snow pack data can provide
better understanding of avalanche activities. The
combination of geospatial science, improved data
resolution, knowledge of snow pack characteristics
and advanced GIS technology can thus facilitate
efficient avalanche research and prediction.
References
Huggel, C., Caplan-Auerbach, J., Waythomas,
C.F., & Wessels, R.L. (2007). Monitoring and
6
modeling ice-rock avalanches from ice-capped

volcanoes: A case study of frequent large
avalanches on Iliamna Volcano, Alaska. Journal
of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 168,
114136.
Kb, A., Huggel, C., Guex, S., Paul, F., Salzmann,
N., Schmutz, K., Schneider, D., & Weidmann,
Yvo. (2005). Glacier hazard assessment in
mountains using satellite optical data. EARSeL
eProceedings, 4(1), 79-93.
National Disaster Management Authority,
Government of India. (2009). National Disaster
Management GuidelinesManagement of
Landslides and Snow Avalanches. Retrieved
from http://nidm.gov.in/pdf/guidelines/new/
landslidessnowavalanches.pdf
Salzmann, N, Kb, A., Huggel, C., Allgower, B., &
Haeberli, W. (2004). Assessment of the hazard
potential of ice avalanches using remote
sensing and GIS-modelling. Norsk Geografisk
TidsskriftNorwegian Journal of Geography, 58,
7484.
Snehmani, Bhardwaj, A., Pandit, A., & Ganju, A.
(2014). Demarcation of potential avalanche
sites using remote sensing and ground
observations: a case study of Gangotri
glacier. Geocarto International, 29(5),
520-535. Retrieved from DOI: 10.1080/
10106049.2013.807304.
The authors are Scientists, Geoscience and Geohazards
Division, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun.
pandeypreetu@gmail.com
Di s a s t er M a n a g eMen t P l a n n in g & Mi t ig at ion
By C P RajendRan
Pre-earthquake Process
and the 2004 tsunami
More than a decade after the 2004 Andaman-Sumatra earthquake/tsunami, offshore
and deep ocean observation systems now contribute to early tsunami warning efforts
in India. The lessons we learnt from this catastrophe taught us to develop better
strategies for disaster-preparedness.
he disastrous earthquake-triggered
tsunami that occurred 11 years ago
on the morning after Christmas was
huge by any contemporary standards.
The epicenter of magnitude 9.3 quake
was located in the Indian Ocean near the west
coast of Sumatra and it ruptured the 1000 km long
Andaman plate boundary, moving the seafloor
20-10 m vertically upwards, thus displacing trillions of tons of under-sea rock. The killer waves
radiating from the epicenter slammed into the
coastlines of 11 countries from east Africa to Thailand, resulting in 227,898 fatalities.
A lag of several minutes to hours between
the earthquake and the impact of the tsunami
notwithstanding, both the near and distant coastal
communities were taken by surprise. There were
no tsunami warning systems in place nor were
there any social memories of previous tsunamis
preserved for most communities to fall back on.
Considered at that time as an unprecedented

disaster in its magnitude and transoceanic reach,
the 2004 event had also surprised researchers and
hazard managers. The research community as a
whole had failed to anticipate such events lurking
along the eastern seaboard of India. More than a
decade after the 2004 event, it is time for us to take
stock of what we have achieved in terms of understanding such huge earthquakes/tsunamis in the
Indian Ocean.
advances in Technology
One of the most significant developments in the

region has been the establishment of the Indian
Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC)an
in-house unit of the Indian National Centre for
Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), operational since 2007, belonging to the Earth Systems
Science Organisation, an autonomous body
under the Ministry of the Earth Sciences (MoES),
Government of India. An important mandate

of this Centre is round-the-clock monitoring
and warning services for coastal communities
on tsunamis, storm surges and high waves. The
Centre receives data in real-time from seismic,
sea-level and tide-gauge stations along the Indian
coast, analyses this data and disseminates it to
designated authorities in the event of an undersea
earthquake.
The region has thus witnessed technological
advances such as deployment of offshore and deep
ocean tsunami observation systems and acquired
the wherewithal to issue early warnings for future
tsunamis. INCOIS, with inputs from India
Meteorological Department (IMD), now gathers
earthquake data from a real-time seismic network
in the region, besides receiving data from about 350
international stations. It also receives data from
ocean bottom pressure recorders and tidal gauge
networks through satellite connectivity. Currently
the warning system is capable of estimating potential tsunami-triggering earthquake parameters in
real-time (less than ten minutes after the event).
Guided by a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the ITEWCalong with
Indonesia and Australia, can provide advisories to
countries bordering the Indian Ocean.
In the last decade much research has also been
done to understand the geo-physics of the 2004
earthquake. Geological, seismological and Global
Positioning System (GPS)based geodetic studies
during the last ten years have focused on earthquake source properties, crustal deformation,
tsunami potential including modelling of tsunami
sources, and long-term forecast of such events.
Today, we know that mega earthquakes-cumtsunamis had indeed impacted the Indian Coast
in the past and have had a rough cyclicity of about
500-1000 years. We know, for instance, that a
mega-tsunami similar to the 2004 event had
occurred some 1,000 years ago and wiped out the
then flourishing port-city of Kaveripoompatinam
(Poompuhar, as it was then known) on the southeastern coast of India, which was then under
Chola rule.
But the question remains, as to whether mega
earthquakes (scale and magnitude of 2004) occur
at predictable intervals and if they are characteristic in a classical sense. Yet, the Fukushima
nuclear disaster in Japan that was triggered by a 9.0
8
magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that occurred in one of the best-prepared countries
should continue to remind us against developing
an unrealistic sense of hubris as regards such
inherently chaotic phenomena.
anatomy of earthquakes and Tsunamis
Nature has always been a hidden storehouse of

surprises. The March 11, 2011 earthquake was
a complete surprise as it challenged the conventional wisdom regarding seismic science. The
accepted theory that faults would break up in
predictable intervals in similar-size earthquakes
(characteristic earthquake) proved to be too good
to be real for mega-earthquakes. The 2011 Sendai
earthquake may have been a composite earthquake, but consisted of what seismologists term
sub-events.
The earthquake which was believed to have
started as an ordinary event became a runaway
process forcing the upper part of the fault zone to
break with an extraordinary vertical displacement
of the sea-floor, causing a tsunami.
Like the 2011 Japanese earthquake, the 2004
Indian Ocean earthquake, sourced off Sumatra
in the south may have also shown some similar
runaway processes in its propagation to the north.
What happened on the northern part (Andaman
side) of the rupture is somewhat shrouded in
mystery. It is likely that the speed of the rupture as
it approached the northern segment slowed, and
the vertical displacement was also smaller on the
northern side.
Apart from the strain and energy build-updissipation cycles, the constitutive frictional
properties between the fault blocks appear to be
playing a decisive role in determining whether the
nucleated rupture would grow into a mega-earthquake. However, the fact remains that the seismic
cycle whether simple or complex must satisfy an
energy budget.
Christopher Scholz, one of the most eminent
geophysicists of our period, had said that even if the
energy release is aperiodic, it must be represented
by a mean recurrence time because the variance
from the mean is a well-defined function of the
mean and thus is a measure of the stressing rate
despite the spatially variable strength of the fault.
From a public perspective, a question that is being
asked is about forecasting such massive earth-
quakes. Have we made any progress in predictive

capabilities of such hazards?
Unlike the surface process, earthquakes nucleate
at depths of tens of kilometers below the surface.
We still lack a clear understanding of the properties of rocks including the pressure, temperature
and fluids and the attendant complexities at those
depths. It is also not possible to observe the earthquake nucleation processes at those depths, unlike
processes that are amenable to direct monitoring.
However, the combined use of satellite based
measurements and numerical modeling of crustal
deformation and fault-specific geological studies
have made long-term forecasts possible in some
regions. A game changer for short term prediction
would be to isolate any precursory signals that can
be captured years, months, days or hours before
the occurrence of a big earthquake. Ultimately, the
success of earthquake prediction depends in large
part on resolving this question.
recent Insights into the 2004 earthquake

and tsunami
Recent insights into the 2004 earthquake allow us

to cautiously suggest that this earthquake could
have been anticipated probably months before it
had actually occurred (Paul & Rajendran, 2015).
These insights have come from the measurements
made at Port Blair on the movement of the earths
surface using space based GPS systems (Fig. 1).
The GPS measurements have now developed
into an accurate way to record subtle fault related
movements during pre-earthquake slow crustal
movements as well as rapid motion that occur
during earthquakes. Although some GPS measurements were made prior to the 2004 earthquake,
these data were properly evaluated only after a
decade since the earthquake.
In an analysis published in 2015, the researchers
show that the GPS monitoring site in Port Blair
started to slip down from its original height
between 2003 and 2004 suggesting a preearthquake slow downward movement (Paul &
Rajendran, 2015). The tide gauge data from Port
Blair (analysed much after the earthquake) also
showed a consistent change in sea level indicating
a pre-earthquake slow downward movement
(Catherine et al., 2014), adding further validity
to the GPS derived pre-earthquake ground level
changes. Visual observations made 15 months
prior to 2004 had also suggested that the near

shore coral colonies were emerging near Port
Blair and elsewhere. It is thus, now concluded
that Port Blair, which initially emerged, started
subsiding one or two years prior to the earthquake.
Thus, there was a slow emergence coupled with a
slow subsidence (sinking) just 1-2 years before
the earthquake, followed up by the sudden slip
during the earthquake. The pre-earthquake slow
downward movement is estimated to be equivalent
to an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 or more. The
magnitude of the slip could be higher towards the
plate boundary, located 200 km west of Port Blair.
Unfortunately, these revelations have come ten
years after the earthquake.
So what could have happened during the
earthquake rupture? A likely scenario is that the
fault along Sumatra and North Andaman, that
had reached its peak in accumulating stress and
was ready to rupture, may have initially failed in
the Andaman part much before the actual earthquake (December 26 event) in the form of a slow
slip sometime in 2003. This partly addresses my
earlier rider on a possible slow speed of the northward rupture. Unlike the sudden slips during the
earthquakes, the slow slips are not felt nor easily
detected by conventional earthquake monitoring
equipment. When the sudden release of energy
took place on December 26, 2004 off Sumatrathe
epicenter of the quake, the fault was propagated
to the Andaman side in the north. This part of
the plate boundary, which had already released
accumulated stress in a pre-earthquake slow slip,
caught up with the earthquake fault, but with a
low release. This is borne out by the low amplitude
tsunami waves on the Andaman coast, compared
to the southern Nicobar Islands and Sumatra on
December 24, 2004.
Thus, in all probability, it can be surmised
that the satellite based geodetic data prior to the
December 2004 earthquake revealed a deformation signal, the significance of which was not
understood at that time.
It is thus pertinent to monitor pre-earthquake
ground level change with greater instrumental
coverage and appropriate theoretical tools. From
that perspective, one can conclude that the 2004
December earthquake was a missed opportunity
to gain further insights into the pre-earthquake
process and earthquake science.
Fig. 1: Map of Andaman-Nicobar archipelago

showing study sites
92o
93o
94oE
14o N
East Is.
Site 8
Diglipur
Site 7
13o
Interview Is.
Site 6
Panchavadi
Site 5
Andaman Sea
12o
Port Blair
Site 4
In future, we have to do well to focus on other

trouble spots that have the potential to produce
huge tsunamis such as the Makran Coast of the
northwestern Arabian Sea, and the Myanmar
Coast in the northern Indian Ocean.
The Makran Coast of the northwestern Arabian
Sea, spread along Iran and Pakistan, holds the
potential for a major tsunami that could direct its
massive energy onto the western coast of India.
This is an area where India, Iran, Pakistan and the
Gulf countries can come together and collaborate
so that a potential cross-border transoceanic
phenomenon could be understood in greater detail
to plan better strategies. We must also remember
that these coasts host a number of critical facilities like nuclear reactors, which are vulnerable to
tsunami hazards.
endnote
11o
Taking a leaf out of the Fukushima experience in

Japan, we need to be relieved that the 2004 tsunami
could only partially impact the Kalpakkam reactor
on the eastern coast, precluding a full-blown catastrophe. As the dictum goes, the past is the key to
the future. As Philosopher George Santayana had
said: those who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it. Therefore, the lessons learnt
from 2004 should not be forgotten because it is the
only modern benchmark event in our memory that
should serve in guiding us, henceforth, in the event
of similar future disasters.
Hut Bay
Site 3
10o
2004 pivot line
9o
Future Focus
Car Nicobar
Site 2
References
8o
Campbell Bay
Site 1
7o
Map not to scale
East of the red line demarcates the areas that sunk and the west
side indicates the area that rose during the 2004 earthquake
Source: Rajendran and others (2007) Bulletin of the Seismological. Society of
America, 97, no. 1A, 174191.
10
Catherine, J.K., Gahalaut, V.K., Srinivas, N., Kumar,

S., & Nagarajan, B. (2014). Evidence of strain
accumulation in the Andaman region for the
giant 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. Bull.
Seismol. Soc. Am. 104(1), 587591. Retrieved
from http://dx.doi.org/10.1785/0120130141.
Paul, J., & Rajendran, C.P. (2015). Short-term
pre-2004 seismic subsidence near South
Andaman: Is this a precursor slow slip prior
to a mega thrust earthquake? Physics of the
Earth and Planet. Retrieved from doi:10.1016/j.
pepi.2015.08.006.
The author is Professor at Geodynamics Unit, Jawaharlal
Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research,
Bengaluru. rajendran@jncasr.ac.in
Di s a s t er M a n a g eMen t e V en t s
By Jagabandhu Panda and Kasturi singh
Tropical
cyclones over nio
Post 1950, the number of severe tropical cyclones has increased over
the North Indian Ocean. Understanding the changes in tropical cyclone
activity and improving predictability is essential for issuing accurate
warnings to the public.
f all natural disasters, tropical

cyclones (TCs) are most deadly
due to their recurrent presence
which draw heavily on the resilience of the coastal communities.
About 7 per cent of all global TCs are formed over
the North Indian Ocean (NIO) basin (Neumann,
1993). This can vary between 5-7 per cent, if
computed by considering the cyclonic storms
that occurred until 2015. It is noticed that more
cyclones form over the Bay of Bengal (BOB), as
compared to the Arabian Sea (Fig. 1). TCs affect
most coastal regions in south Asia and also parts
of southeast Asia.
Cyclogenesis in the nIo region
Several factors play a significant role in generating

more number of cyclones in BOB (McBride & Frae-
drich, 1995) such as the low flat coastal terrain and

funnel shape, shallow waters of BOB, monsoonal
winds (troughs), higher sea surface temperature
(SST) and more middle tropospheric moisture
availability. Most monsoon troughs are generated
due to re-intensification of westerly propagating
disturbances or from in-situ depressions.
Kikuchi and Wang (2010) have shown that
the Boreal Summer Intra-seasonal Oscillation
(BSISO) modulates the tropical cyclogenesis over
NIO, and genesis potential index is high during
the active phase of the BSISO. In addition, Indian
Ocean Dipole, El-Nio Southern Oscillation and
Madden-Julian-Oscillation also play substantial
role in modulating the frequency, intensity and
track of cyclones (Girishkumar & Ravichandran,
2012; Sumesh & Kumar, 2013; Li et al., 2016). Due to
the high wind shear over BOB, most depressions
11
Fig. 1: Tracks of cyclones over NIO region during 1891-2014

50o
35o
55o
60o
65o
70o
75o
80o
85o
90o
95o
Cyclone eAtals-IMD
100o
35o
30o
30o
25o
25o
20o
20o
15o
15o
10o
10o
Arabian Sea
5o
50o
55o
60o
65o
70o
Bay of Bengal
75o
80o
85o
90o
95o
100o
Most of the cyclones formed

over the North Indian Ocean
region (including Bay of
Bengal and Arabian Sea)
move towards the west or
north-west due to coriolis force
or prevailing synoptic scale
ridging or easterly waves.
Some of them re-curve
towards east or north-east due
to altering of environmental
winds by the prevailing upper
level trough.
5o
Source: India Meteorological Department e-Atlas
formed during the pre-monsoon period dont

intensify into intense cyclones, though they cause
heavy rainfall and affect the coastal areas. During
the post-monsoon season, the chances of depressions transforming into intense cyclones is high,
since the wind shear is very low over BOB.
The changing climate can have greater consequences in determining the frequency and
intensity of cyclones and tropical cyclogenesis,
probably triggering the formation of many more
severe or intensified TCs over NIO (Webster et
al., 2005; Mohanty et al., 2012). The probability of
transformation of cyclonic disturbances to TCs
or severe cyclonic storms is found to be increasing
significantly due to decreased vertical wind shear
over Arabian Sea and increased low level cyclonic
vorticity over BOB (Mohapatra, 2015). Thus, more
destruction in properties has been observed though
the improved prediction has helped in saving more
human lives in the recent past. In future, bigger
and more intensified TCs are expected in the postmonsoon season as the warming period prevails in
a changing climate scenario. (Mohanty et al., 2012).
Tropical cyclones over bob
The India Meteorological Department (IMD)

12
e-atlas data (1891-2015) suggests that the number

of TCs (including depressions, cyclonic storms,
and severe cyclonic storms) crossing coastal areas
was 1012 in the BOB region, out of the 1108 that
formed over the NIO. Nearly 77.56 per cent crossed
Indian coasts, while 15.21 per cent and 11.16 per
cent crossed into Bangladesh and Myanmar
respectively. About 455 (45 per cent of the total
formed over NIO) crossed into Odisha and West
Bengal coasts, which accounts for 58 per cent of the
785 TCs that crossed into the eastern India coasts.
Out of 208 severe cyclonic storms, 41 crossed into
this region. The coasts of Bangladesh suffered the
second highest number (34) of severe cyclonic
storms. Thus, Odisha, West Bengal and Bangladesh are most vulnerable to BOB cyclones in South
Asia. These areas are agriculturally fertile and thus
densely populated. Because of high wind, torrential
rain and storm surges, heavy loss of lives, crops, and
property occur.
Since Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP)
models are equipped with real time prediction capability, they are usually adopted for TC
prediction over NIO. The improved capabilities
of such numerical models help in improving the
TC predictability. In recent times, the Weather
iMD data reveals that in 124

years between 1891 and 2015,
1012 out of 1108 cyclones
that formed over the northern
indian Ocean, crossed the
indian Coasts.
Research and Forecasting (WRF) NWP model is

being used for TC prediction over NIO (Mohanty et
al., 2013). Being an advanced numerical mesoscale
model, it has helped in improving the track and
intensity prediction to a large extent. However, it
is still important to further improve the numerical
modelling framework by adopting advanced model
physics, dynamics and data assimilation techniques. This is required for further improvement
of TC tracking and intensity prediction, besides
the spatio-temporal distribution and amount of
rainfall predictability during these severe weather
events. It is also essential to understand the changes
in tropical cyclogenesis in the changing climate
scenario and associated environmental features
(Mohanty et al., 2012; Mohapatra et al., 2015) in
order to enhance the TC prediction.
endnote
Notwithstanding the progress in predicting

TCs, and the success in saving human lives, a lot
more needs to be done to mitigate the losses of
livelihood. With the number of severe cyclonic
storms rising, there is a need for increasing
awareness on cyclogenesis and prediction. This
ought to be accompanied by mitigation policies
involving the improvement of physical structures and shelters, and adopting early warning
and improved evacuation procedures as well.
Most significantly, vulnerability maps of each
state suffering such damage should be prepared
so that necessary steps could be taken to save
precious lives and property.
references
Girishkumar, M. S., & Ravichandran, M. (2012).

The influences of ENSO on tropical cyclone
activity in the Bay of Bengal during October

December. Journal of Geophysical Research,
Oceans,117(C2).
Kikuchi, K., & Wang, B. (2010). Formation of
tropical cyclones in the northern Indian
Ocean associated with two types of tropical
intraseasonal oscillation modes. Journal of the
Meteorological Society of Japan, 88, 475496.
Li, Zhi., Li, Tim., Yu, Weidong., Li, Kuiping. & Liu,
Yanliang. (2016). What controls the interannual
variation of tropical cyclone genesis frequency
over Bay of Bengal in the post monsoon peak
season?Atmospheric Science Letters,17,148-154.
McBride, J. L., & Fraedrich, K. (1995). CISK: A
theory for the response of tropical convective
complexes to variations in sea surface
temperature. Quarterly Journal of the Royal
Meteorological Society,121(524), 783-796.
Mohanty, U. C., Osuri, K. K., Pattanayak, S., &
Sinha, P. (2012). An observational perspective
on tropical cyclone activity over Indian seas in a
warming environment.Natural hazards,63(3),
1319-1335.
Mohanty, U. C., Osuri, K. K., & Pattanayak, S.
(2013). A study on high resolution mesoscale
modeling systems for simulation of tropical
cyclones over the Bay of Bengal. Mausam, 64,
117-134.
Mohapatra, M., Geetha, B., Balachandran, S., &
Rathore, L. S. (2015). On the tropical cyclone
activity and associated environmental features
over North Indian Ocean in the context of
climate change. Journal of Climate Change, 1,
1-26. Retrieved from doi: 10.3233/JCC-150001
Neumann, C. J. (1993). Global Overview. Global
Guide to Tropical Cyclone Forecasting. Retrieved
from http://www.wmo.int/cycloneguide.
Sumesh, K. G., & Kumar, M. R. (2013). Tropical
cyclones over north Indian Ocean during ElNio Modoki years. Natural hazards, 68(2),
1057-1074.
Webster, P. J., Holland, G. J., Curry, J. A., & Chang,
H. R. (2005). Changes in tropical cyclone
number, duration, and intensity in a warming
environment. Science, 309(5742), 1844-1846.
The authors are Assistant Professor and Professor
respectively, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,
National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha.
pandaj@nitrkl.ac.in.
13
l if e UR B A N i S AT iON
By KaushiK Dutta and Prasanna Mohanty
land Challenges
in smart Cities
India's Smart Cities Mission envisages some developments in terms of
infrastructure in several urban centres. However, it ignores to address
the problem of land acquisition and land management, without which all
change would seem superfluous.
he Smart Cities Mission launched

in June 2015 by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government
envisages to redeem 20 cities with
central assistance, to develop physical,
institutional, social and economic infrastructure
which is aimed at improving the quality of life as
well as economic viability of these urban centres.
14
This was long overdue as most cities are in a civic

and financial mess because of unplanned and
rapid urbanisation.
One of the key contributing factors to this mess
is poor land management, both in terms of land
usage and pricing. The fact that some of India's best
cities have sprawling slums in which people live in
sub-human conditions41.3 per cent in Mumbai,
29.6 per cent in Kolkata, 28.5 per cent in Chennai

and 8.5 per cent in Bangalore as per 2011 Census
and that even one heavy spell of rains can paralyse
them, are testimonies of such mismanagement. It
reflects gross negligence on the part of urban planners, despite India's urban population contributing
about 55 to 60 per cent of the nations gross domestic
product (GDP) (Planning Commission, 2011).
How will the Smart Cities Mission impact
management of land? Will it lead to smart management in a way that will make urban centres
socially equitable, environmentally sustainable
and economically viable? The brouhaha over the
Mission may give an impression that indeed it could
be so, but thorough analysis may reveal otherwise.
The Smart Cities Mission has four key strategic
components:
retrofitting seeks to make existing areas more
efficient and liveable by reducing pollution and
wastes, improving power and water supply,
connectivity and security.
re-development entails demolition of an
existing build-up area to create a new layout
through mixed land use, high floor space index
(FSI) and high ground coverage.
Green-field development is the only element
which actually provides a carte blanche to build
a smart township by adopting holistic land
management.
pan-city development envisages application
of smart solutions like transport, waste water
recycling, smart metering covering entire cities.
Such developmental activities, as per the Mission
statement, can be carried out provided certain
minimum area is covered500 acre for retrofitting, 50 acre for redevelopment and 250 acre for
green-field development (Smart Cities Mission,
2015). We can keep aside greenfield development
for now since it involves acquisition of land under a
stricter and yet untried Right to Fair Compensation
and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013 (LARR).
Under the approved programme of the Mission,
Bhubaneswar, which topped the list of 20 smart
cities, will take up retrofitting of the highly
congested 985 acre (about 4 sq km) around its
railway station in the heart of the city (Indian
Express, 2016, January 29). This is a small fraction of the total 186 sq km municipal area of
Bhubaneswar. The same applies to other approved
The changes may allow more

people move into these smart
city patchesbut such
changes will be one time
and not significant given the
overall size or population of the
selected cities.
programmes varying in area from about 500 acre

(2 sq km) for New Delhi Municipal Corporation
(NDMC) against a total geographical spread of
1,483 sq km to about 2,700 acre (about 10 sq km) of
the 94 sq km spread of Belgaum (Vision; Daily O,
January 28, 2016).
This reveals that all smart city projects are
confined to a fraction of the city concerned.
Changes in land use by way of mixed land use,
higher ground coverage or FSI permitted, are thus,
limited to a small patch. The changes may be good
and allow more people to move in to set up homes
or businesses in these patches but such changes
will be one time and not very significant given the
overall size or population of these cities. The 20
cities selected under the Mission has a population
range between 5 and 50 lakh or more (PIB, 2016).
As far as land prices are concerned, improvement in infrastructure and new economic
opportunities will certainly lead to a boom in
the land market in the short run but given the
nature of change, the price escalation may not be
too high or sustainable in the long run. A study
by Thought Arbitrage Research Institute (TARI),
carried out in collaboration with Rural Development Ministry and the German Development
Agency (GIZ), shows that the price of land is
determined by factors like economic activities and
physical infrastructure (TARI, 2014). This study
analysed 700,000 land transactions registered
over three decades in the districts of Faridabad
in Haryana, Ambala in Punjab, Singrauli and
Mandla in Madhya Pradesh to conclude that the
official pricing mechanism based on historical
transactions (circle rates) does not reflect the true
15
economic value of the land being acquired.

The presence of economic activities such as
industries and proximity to airports, railway lines,
highways determine high prices, irrespective of
whether the land is urban or rural. The degree of
influence of these factors may, however, differ from
place to place and time to time. Change in land use
also raises land prices, often sky-rocketing it when
land use changes from agricultural to commercial
or residential (TARI, 2014).
Thus, in the long run, the price of land is
dependent on the level of economic activities and
access to transportation, communication, financial institutions, in addition to power and water.
Dramatic improvements in these areas draw more
people and lead to growth of surrounding areas.
Once that happens, urban planning and policies
relating to urban ceiling, rent control, land conversion, FSA, property tax etc. come into play, defining
and determining the land prices in those areas.
As for greenfield developments under the
Mission, such townships will depend on land
acquisition under LARR. Ever since LARR came
into force, no significant land acquisition has taken
place anywhere in the country because of a tougher
acquisition process and higher pricing mechanism.
In fact, the value of land goes up many times more
under the new law than the circle rate, the official
market price of land, which is based on the average
value obtained from the sale deeds registered in an
area, as LARR adds a multiplier to it and tops it up
with a solatium to fix compensation for the land
owner (MoRD, 2013).
endnote
Thus, so long as the process and pricing under

LARR are not sorted out and the logjam over land
acquisition not ended, it is difficult to foresee
how the Smart Cities Mission can bring about
significant change in land management or find
smart solutions to some of the biggest challenges
of urbanisation in India.
references:
Bhubaneswar leads Govts Smart City list, Rs

50,802 crore to be invested over five years.
(2016, January 29). Indian Express. Retrieved
from http://indianexpress.com/article/india/
india-news-india/bhubaneswar-tops-first-listof-smart-cities.
16
Daily O. (2016). Why smart city mission will only

lead to pockets of development? Retrieved
from
http://www.dailyo.in/politics/smartcity-mission-narendra-modi-venkaiah-naiduurban-development-technology-planning/
story/1/8706.html.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
Government of India. (2011). Report of the
Working Group on Urban Strategic Planning,
12th Five-year plan Steering Committee on
Urban Development & Management. Retrieved
from
http://planningcommission.gov.in/
aboutus/committee/wrkgrp12/hud/wg_rep_
Urban_WG.pdf.
Ministry of Rural Development (September,
2013). The Right to Fair Compensation
and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
Gazette notification. Retrieved from http://
indiacode.nic.in/acts-in-pdf/302013.pdf.
Ministry of Urban Development, Government
of India. (2015). Smart Cities: Mission
Transform-Nation: Mission Statement and
Guidelines. Retrieved from smartcities.gov.in/
writereaddata/SmartCityGuidelines.pdf.
Press Information Bureau Government of India.
(2016). Government announces first batch of 20
smart cities from 11 States and Delhi. Retrieved
from
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/printrelease.
aspx?relid=135889.
Rural Urban Distribution of Population Census.
(2011). Housing Stock, Amenities and Assets
in Slums. Retrieved from censusindia.gov.
in/2011-Documents/On_Slums-2011Final.
ppt; at censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/
paper2/.../Rural_Urban_2011.pdf.
Thought Arbitrage Research Institute (2014).
Fair Pricing of Land and its Compensation
in an Emerging Economy: Case for India.
Retrieved from http://tari.co.in/wp-content/
uploads/2014/02/land-acquisition-web-pdffinal-printed-report.pdf.
Vision. (2016). Area Based Project Identified
in NDMC. Retrieved from https://mygov.
in/group-issue/vision-area-based-projectidentified-ndmc.
The authors are Director and Principal Consultant,
respectively, Consultant Thought Arbitrage Research
Institute, New Delhi. prasanna.mohanty@tari.co.in
l if e U R B A N i S AT iON
By S V R K PRabhaKaR and G V Ramanjaneyulu
Food ResouRces and

smaRt cities
In view of urbanisation in India being accompanied with lifestyle changes
that frown on ordinary, nutritious food habits in favour of empty calories,
a UNEP funded project seeks to bring in greater awareness on healthy
eating and individual carbon footprint for sustainable food production
and consumption.
ne of the most significant lifestyle

changes with severe environmental and health consequences
being witnessed in developing
Asia is in the form of changes in
food consumption behaviour among people.
Indias population is on the rise and more and
more people are moving out of the poverty trap
with significant improvements on the economic
front. At the same time, India is rapidly urbanising
with large number of people moving to urban
areas every year.

It has been projected that India will have 404
million urban dwellers by 2050 (United Nations,
2010). India will need significant improvements in
food production without impacting the environment to meet the needs of its growing population.
With these demographic changes, it has also been
projected that Indias meat and livestock product
consumption will nearly double by 2050 (Tim
Searchinger, 2013). Meeting these multiple challenges in a sustainable way may seem impossible.
17
However, solutions can be found if the principles

of sustainable production and consumption
can be brought into practice in the urban food
consumption sphere.
The project
Recognising the importance of arresting

the negative trends early, a project entitled
Strengthening Food Resource and Information Channels for Sustainable Production and
Consumption of Food has been designed to be
implemented in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
with funding from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Government
of Japan. The programme also holds relevance
to the much acclaimed 10 Year Framework
Programme (10YFP) for sustainable consumption
and production patterns of UNEP (Prabhakar &
Ramanjaneyulu, 2016; UNEP, 2016).
The project aims to address the changing food
consumption behaviour towards healthy and
sustainable choices by:
enhancing sustainable food production in rural,
peri-urban and urban areas,
by establishing food info-marts that become
the center pivot connecting all actors for
sustainable production, supply and consumption of food through the food info-channels and
food resource channels (Fig. 1),
establishing food resource channels that
promote closed-loop resource circulation
through recycling food and crop waste as
compost for use in production areas (urban,
peri-urban and rural),
establishing food info-channels that connect
producers and consumers through providing
information on consumer preferences, help
producers tailor their production choices to the
food preferences,
educating and training food producers on
sustainable food production practices, and
educating and training consumers on sustainable and healthy food choices and food waste
minimisation.
The project will launch a campaign to increase
sustainable food consumption which in turn
promotes sustainable production and supply
chains by reducing the ecological footprints of
food, especially greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
by promoting sustainable agricultural practices,
18
The project aims to educate

50,000 producers and
consumers through food
info marts (fiM), mobile
fiM and media events.
reducing food wastage and resultant resource

wastage, reducing water use and resultant energy
requirement for water pumping and supply,
reducing food transportation costs through
promoting urban and peri-urban food production and reducing use of chemical fertilisers and
pesticides and resultant environmental impacts
by promoting closed-loop linkages between
production and consumption areas.
The project will put in place food info-marts
that can link producers and consumers through
information such as getting people to know of
the farmers agriculture practices, healthy food
choices, ways to minimise food waste, and ways
to grow your own food. With mutual benefit
provided by this channel, the marts will sustain
and grow with producers seeing the benefit of
knowing their consumers and directly marketing
to them and consumers identifying the producers.
The project will also leave behind a gamut of
best food production and consumption practices
and a better understanding on ecological footprint
among producers and consumers that will steer
them towards making environmentally sound
choices. The capacity building programmes taken
up at the food info-marts will act as a catalyst
for this process. Since, the government of India
has already initiated the Smart Cities Mission
(Ministry of Urban Development, June, 2015,), it
is hoped that this project will contribute through
sharing of experiences, and help in a cross-fertilisation of ideas that will end up changing urban
India for the better.
Measuring the impacts
The ecological footprint would be measured by a

composite Ecological Debt Index (EDI). A concept
being developed by the project proponents, EDI is
based on the premises of greenhouse or carbon
Fig. 1: The food info and food resource channels connecting the rural and urban areas for promoting
sustainable production and consumption
Food information
database (FID)
Rural producer
knowledge centres
(PKCs)
Policy feedback process

Policy
Rural producers
Food and nutrition experts
Peri-urban producers
Food Info-Marts (FIMs)

Sustainable production and
consumption experts
Urban producers
Community organisations
Consumers
Project Benefits
For producers:
a) high resource efficiency including

water, energy and other inputs saved
by adopting environmentally better food
production practices; b) high profits
due to resource efficiency and direct
marketing to the consumers; c) adapt
to changing consumer preferences;
d) access to skills and information for
environmentally friendly practices; and
e) produce own food in urban and
peri-urban areas,
debt and is defined as the number of units by

which a product or entity or enterprise exceeds
its permitted ecological footprint units. This
innovation will provide first of its kind experience
in deciding the ecological debt for food production and consumption based on participatory
approaches. The project will measure:
Carbon footprint: Energy and other forms
of carbon emissions from resources used in
production, transport, storage and sale.
For consumers:
a) Access to healthy food along with; and

b) access to better information on food from
producers and nutrition experts
For others:
a) better environmental health for all;

b) governments design better policies
by understanding food patterns; and c)
food industry adapts to accommodate
environmentally friendly food production
practices and tailor their services accordingly.
Water
footprint: Water consumed in production.

agrochemical footprint: Chemical fertilizers,
pesticides which consume huge energy in
production and also leave toxic residue which
pollute soils and water.
resilience: The momentum gained by both
the producers and consumers as a result of
the intervention.
Monitoring and evaluation of the project
19
involves regular collection of data from the project

participants by establishing a data panel wherein
randomly selected members from volunteering
farmers and consumers will contribute to regular
observations/collection of data on how their
production and consumption lifestyle decisions
have changed over the course of the project. The
collected data will be verified by the farmer cooperatives and household representatives before it is
subjected to analysis. Tools would be developed
with which each stakeholder can assess the
ecological footprints of the food they are responsible for their production, consumption or trade
practices. A food label would be developed which
indicates the ecological footprint of the food pack
so that consumer can make a better choice. The
farmer-producers and their cooperatives will
maintain the data and label the produce before
marketing. The private players in the supply chain
would also be engaged to understand the issues
and move towards greener supply chains. The
project will also engage with farmers and farmerproducer organisations to directly connect with
the consumers through the food-info marts which
lead to mutual understanding and benefit. The
food-info marts will gradually become market
place for producers to directly sell their produce
to consumers and thus become self-sustainable.
The project will directly work with 2500 farmers
in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with the objective of promoting organic as well as non-pesticidal
management (NPM) farming. The producer
knowledge centers will have a two-way information
flow. On the one hand it will provide all technical
knowledge to the farmers to convert to organic/
NPM farming, recycling their crop residues,
reducing water consumption thereby reducing
carbon emissions and on the other hand, collect
farmers feedback to improve and sustain organic/
NPM agricultural practices. This will reduce the
energy consumption of the target farmers by 50-75
per cent. The project intends a spin off effect with
another set of 5000 farmers as well.
Working directly with 10000 consumers in
Hyderabad and Visakapatnam, the project aims
to educate them on healthy food and food habits.
Through campaigns, food info-marts, mobile
food info-marts and media events, another 50,000
producers/consumers are to be educated over a
three-year period. The project team will engage
20
existing consumer and producer cooperatives in

project locations, build their capacities and pass
on project outputs to be managed by cooperatives.
The project also proposes to influence the
Government of Indias Smart Cities Mission,
wherein lessons learnt from the latter will help in
strengthening the former. For scaling up, those
implementing the project will play the role of
advisers and render support for the initiative.
endnote
The production and consumption of food ought

to be sustainable, for a healthy planet. A UNEP
funded project seeks to make the process sustainable through greater awareness among producers,
consumers and everyone else by making information available to all. Targeted at urban Indians, the
project seeks to work in tandem with the Smart
Cities Mission, and aims at a healthier India.
references
Ministry of Urban Development. (June 2015).

Mission statement and guidelines. New Delhi,
India: Ministry of Urban Development,
Government of India. Retrieved from
http://smartcities.gov.in/writereaddata/
SmartCityGuidelines.pdf.
Prabhakar, S., & Ramanjaneyulu, G. V. (2016,
01 21). Strengthening food resource and
information channels for sustainable production
and consumption of food. Retrieved from IGES
Enviroscope: http://pub.iges.or.jp/modules/
envirolib/view.php?docid=6225.
Tim Searchinger, C. H. (2013). Creating a
Sustainable Food Future: A menu of solutions
to sustainably feed more than 9 billion people
by 2050. Washington, D.C., USA: World
Resources Institute.
UNEP. (2016). UNEP 10FYP Global Action for
Sustainable Consumption and Production.
Retrieved from http://www.unep.org/10yfp.
United Nations. (2010). World Urbanisation
Prospects. New York, USA: United Nations,
Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
Population Division.
The authors are Senior Policy Researcher, Institute for
Global Environmental Strategies, Japan and Executive
Director, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, India
respectively. prabhakar@iges.or.jp
l if e U R B A N i S AT iON
By Tejbir Singh rana
Generic Urbanisation
Delhi's reality
In India, urbanisation is increasing at faster rate than necessary
infrastructural development. Cities are populated beyond its
capacity. Upgradation of Delhi NCR as a smart city may help in
sustainable land-use and development.
uman evolution is followed by

developmental activities that
assimilate heterogeneous living
conditions. During all stages
of development and economic
activity, the nature of human habitation (settlement) keeps pace with changes in human needs,
technology and available resources. In the past
as human populations evolved from a nomadic
life to cultivation of farmlands and permanent
settlements, villages came up in close proximity to
cultivated farmlands. The size and nature of every
rural settlement was determined by the carrying
capacity of farmlands and the application of available technology in keeping with the topography of
the respective region.
When the industrial revolution altered the nature
of human occupations from primary to manufacturing, mass production altered the intra-village
dependency man had hitherto been accustomed to,
through large-scale trade, transport and services
into inter-state and inter-regional dependency.
The gradual change in the nature of human
occupation from agricultural to non-agricultural
manufacturing activities also saw urban centres
attracting large-scale rural migrations. This

resulted in urban populations taking on a
polymorphic composition, in keeping with the
requirement of skilled and unskilled labour for
various industries.
In the developing world, most urban centres
have evolved to meet a single specialised function
through history; as the following examples of
Indian cities will show (Ramachandran, 1991).
Religious CitiesHaridwar, Varanasi, Madurai.
Trade CitiesMumbai, Surat, Kandla.
Industrial CitiesJamshedpur, Bongaigaon,
Vizag.
Recreational CitiesOoty, Alleppey, Shimla.
Strategic CitiesPathankot, Siliguri, Udhampur.
Educational CitiesAligarh, Kharagpur,
Allahabad.
Administrative CitiesItanagar, Chandigarh,
Bhubaneshwar.
Categorisation by urban Geographers
Urban geographers have proposed different stages

of urbanisation. To begin with, according to P.
Geddes (1938) urbanisation progressed through
four stageseotechnic-stage of primitive techGeoGraphy and you January - February 2016
21
nology; palaeotechnic-stage of heavy engineering

industries; neotechnic-stage of technology and
innovation diffusion; and, biotechnic-stage of
biotechnology with focus on nutrition, health and
sanitation.
However, according to L. Mumford (1938), there
are six stages of urbanisation; the first is, eopolisevolutionary formation stage; then, polis-urban
centre with services, trade and industries; followed
by, metropolis-with large hinterland services; and,
megalopolis-which is cosmopolitan urbanisation.
These are then followed by tyranopolis-a stage of
stagnant economic growth and nekropolis-where
declining urban population is seen.
According to J. M. Houston, there are three stages
of urbanisation, the first being nuclear- evolution of
central business district; then formative-expansion
of infrastructure; followed by, modern-functional
spatial organisation.
Griffith Taylor (1953), postulated seven stages
of urbanisation, which can be easily interpreted in
the context of prominent Indian cities. The first is
the sub-infantile stage, with cities such as Kundli
(Delhi-Haryana border), followed by the infantile
stage, with cities such as Bhiwadi (Rajasthan) and
Tronica city (U.P.); juvenile stage with cities such
as Dharuhera and Manesar; adolescent stage, with
cities such as Gurgaon and Noida; mature stage,
with cities such as Kanpur and Delhi; late-mature
stage, with cities such as Kolkata and Varanasi; and
senile stage with cities such as Kashi, Kolar (the
erstwhile gold mining city).
Concept of Smart Cities
Considering the haphazard and unplanned growth

of urban centres in India, the government has initiated the Smart Cities Mission in June 2015 wherein
several new cities will be set up in India, and many
others retrofitted so that urban infrastructure
becomes inclusive and in keeping with every citys
carrying capacity. The major objectives of this
Mission are as follows:
To increase the functional capacity of cities by
maintaining smooth public and private transport
flow in the city.
To minimise the need for workers mobility by
establishing workplaces near residential colonies.
To develop an urban housing infrastructure in
accordance with the needs of the city. Development of low cost houses for low income groups
22
Street vendors and hawkers

in Delhi encroach pavements,
roads, common utility areas
and parks leading to a
deterioration in hygiene and a
poor quality of urban life.
on subsidised rates to control and prevent growth

of slums.
To implement land use planning as per the
requirements of the city. Spaces earmarked for
residential colonies will not be used for market
or industrial purposes. Spaces have to be used for
specified and assigned purposes only.
To develop sanitary (liquid and solid) waste
disposal provisions at locations distant from the
city, so that there are no environmental hazards.
To plan warehouses, godowns and refrigerated
store houses in accordance with the needs of the
city to control the prices of seasonal farm and
other perishable and non-perishable products.
To develop more central business districts to
minimise the mobility of people and goods, and
encourage the growth of a competitive market
system.
To develop a mass rapid transport system for
intercity and intra-city movement of people to
overcome the pressure on city roads.
To make information on public utilities, data,
government notifications, auctions, planning
and development available through digital
technology, so as to reduce the burden of public
dealing counters for bill payments, enquiry and
procurement of specialised information.
Fused growth urbanisation
In the last few decades, most cities have diversified

from mono-functional to multi-functional cities.
Mechanisation in the farm sector has also forced
unskilled rural labour to flock to urban centres
in search of work, resulting in the unorganised
expansion of cities. Since urban centres could not
meet the housing needs for the workers employed,
unplanned housing in the form of slums prolifer-
ated. At the same time, urban planning could not

keep pace with technology and changing lifestyle
(Master Plan of Delhi, 1982). This saw a range of
cumulative urban problems and resource crisis
which manifested itself in various forms.
Road infrastructure could not be improved in
keeping with increased demand, resulting in
traffic jams.
Housing infrastructure could not be developed
for low-income rural migrants; resulting in slums
and squatters coming up in open spaces all over
the city.
Limited supplies of water and electricity could not
meet the needs of urban residents; shortages saw
deterioration in urban living standards.
Scarcity of land for expansion saw cities
expanding vertically. The increased population
density as a result could not be provided with
basic needs and amenities.
Unplanned expansion of urban centres in the
form of illegal colonies over marginal farmlands
(by private developers) restricted the future
growth of cities.
Marketing infrastructures such as central business districts failed to develop in tune with the
expansion of cities. This led to acute pressure on
limited resources in market areas.
A suitable public transport system could not be
developed due to a large variety of vehicles and an
intricate urban road network.
Acute pressure on infrastructure with the
increase in number of private vehicles with higher
purchasing capacity in the post-liberalisation era.
Consequently, public access roads around parks,
hospitals, schools, markets and government
offices are increasingly occupied by cars and two
wheelers in the absence of parking space.
The number and capacity of schools and other
educational facilities could not be expanded in
keeping with the demands of the rising urban
population. This led to deterioration in the quality
of education, increased costs and the emergence
of schools clustered around two major systems
public education system run by the government
for the resource poor (have-nots); and, private
education system for the resource-rich.
The mixed land use system has caused deterioration in urban life. Unplanned industrialisation,
factories and markets operating in the vicinity of
residential hubs caused air and water pollution,
deteriorating the overall environmental parameters of the city.

High costs of land have saw most urban land
getting converted into markets or residential
colonies. Warehouses and godowns have been
forced outside the city (far from markets),
resulting in increased traffic flow to and from the
city centre.
Unplanned urban expansion encroached upon
water bodies and blocked natural drainage channels. Many water bodies were converted into solid
waste dumping grounds, further contaminating
groundwater reservoirs and deteriorating water
quality.
Workplaces and residential colonies are located
far from each other, resulting in increased pressure on roads and traffic leading to regular jams.
urban chaos in delhi
In keeping with public demand, various initiatives were taken by the authorities from time to
time. However, these knee-jerk reactions were at
best populist in keeping with demands by various
lobbies. Rather than ameliorating the problems,
these only served to complicate matters. A few
examples of these are enumerated below:
In the mid-1990s, the BJP led M. L. Khurana
government introduced private transporters to
help ease the public transport system through
Red line and Blue line buses in Delhi, since the
government-run Delhi Transport Corporation
(DTC) buses were not sufficient for the city. Since
the buses could not use DTC bus terminals, halts
were scheduled just about anywhere. Passengers
remained confused between the DTC bus halts and
Red Line roadside halts, resulting in utter mayhem
on Delhi roads. Besides, untrained drivers, and the
competition for passengers and profits between
Red and Blue Line buses saw a steep rise in accidents all over Delhi. Ultimately, faced with rising
criticism, the private buses were finally withdrawn
from Delhi roads, with an increase in the fleet of the
DTC buses.
In the mid-2000s, the Sheila Dixit government
passed a 'mixed land use' rule in Delhi, wherein residential houses on the main roads were allowed to
alter homes into shops or other commercial activities. The Rule was passed to turn over the Delhi High
Court judgement that had imposed a complete ban
on the change of land use in Delhi. The Sheila Dixit
23
government surrendered to the pressure of trade

unions and bypassed the judgement to pass the
mixed land use legislation. This saw Delhi roads
choked with several fold increase in traffic, since
the conversion of residences saw all available spaces
around homes occupied by vehicles of shopkeepers
and customers. DDA market complexes lay vacant,
while residential roads were now full of shops. The
problem continues to this day.
The population of Delhi has risen from 17 lakhs
in 1951, to 167 lakhs in 2011 and is projected to rise
to 175 lakhs in 2016 (Statistical Handbook 2015).
A tenfold increase in population also means a
rise in demand for public utility services, such as
schools, in the same proportion. But the Sheila
Dixit government in Delhi had put a carpet ban
on land allotment to schools, almost 15 years ago.
This resulted in acute pressure on existing schools.
Private schools sprang up on agricultural land,
violating the urban planning byelaws. The ongoing
ban on land allotment for schools by DDA has seen
a sharp deterioration in quality education in Delhi
resulting in a major problem for residents.
Meanwhile, the building byelaws in the Delhi
Master Plan were changed by the Sheila Dixit
government to allow construction of the fourth
floor in residential homes in colonies. It increased
the population density by 25 per cent in all the residential colonies, and resulted in an acute shortage
of water, electricity and vehicular parking space,
since the existing infrastructure in residential
colonies remained grossly inadequate. Finally, the
overall quality of urban living standards deteriorated severely, even as one witnessed a rise in value
of real estate.
The present AAP Government led by Arvind
Kejriwal has allowed a free-hand to street vendors
and hawkers. This has seen encroachment on pavements, roads, common utility areas and parks.
The traffic flow is no longer smooth, hygiene has
deteriorated, and quality of urban life has taken a
turn for the worse.
delhis urban plan and its weaknesses
The urban agglomeration of Delhi evolved on the

basis of a demand and supply of resources. Jointly
developed by the Delhi Development Authority
(DDA) and private builders it has had inherent
weaknesses from the very outset. To begin with,
the DDA failed to develop bigger commercial
24
Bottlenecks, roadside
parking, weekly roadside
market areas, median and
dividers should be urgently
addressed to assist a smooth
flow of traffic.
complexes such as the ones developed in Gurgaon

and Noida by DLF, Unitech, Ansal and other
private builders close to the south Delhi urban area.
Large residential colonies in northern and western
Delhi such as Rohini, Pitampura, Janakpuri and
Shalimar Bagh were developed by DDA without
the provision of big commercial centres to generate
employment (District Census Handbook of Delhi,
2001).
Further, Gurgaon and Noida have single road
connectivity to Delhi, resulting in immense
pressure on roads, with traffic jams being a daily
routine. Proportional distribution of residences of
varied income/economic groups in accordance to
population composition, the evolution of slums and
squatter settlements is the result of non-availability
of low cost houses for the poor people who render
varied services to the city.
The limited or insufficient provision of ware
houses and godowns in the Delhi Master Plan
has led to unplanned conversion of agricultural
farmlands into commercial warehouses by private
builders or individual landowners. In keeping
with its rising population, Delhi requires adequate
godowns and warehouses to store perishable and
non-perishable products such as vegetables, grains,
paper and electronic items which are required in
the city on a daily basis. Since the planners and
developers failed to provide adequate warehouses
at the outset for the city, residential premises
continue to be altered into godowns in a haphazard
manner, resulting in pollution and traffic jams all
over the city.
Lack of areas earmarked for the collection and
dumping of solid waste is a major flaw in the city.
The DDA has also not made the provisions for
A De v e l opm e n t A n D
e n v i ron m e n t m AgA z i n e
public toilets around markets, roads, inside parks
and in places of public gathering. Public hygiene
is severely impaired due to the lack of toilets in
the city. Pavements are often misused as open air
toilets, making it difficult for pedestrians, to use
them and vehicles alike.
In every city, there ought to be sufficient space for
parking of vehicles, particularly around markets,
schools, government offices, banks and residential
colonies. Parking areas need to be earmarked with
the municipal authorities evolving a mechanism
wherein parking of vehicles on public utility roads
is banned.
Geographyandyou.com
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endnote
references
Delhi Development Authority. Policy Modifications:

Mixed Land Use. Retrieved from (www.dda.org.
in/planning/mixed_land.htm).
Delhi Master Plan-MPD 2021. Statistics: Availability
of Urbanisable Land in NCT-Delhi for 2021.
Retrieved from www.delhi-masterplan.com/
statistics.
Department of Urban Development, Government
of India. (2006). City Development Plan www.
jnnurm.nic.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/
CDP_Delhi.pdf.
Economic Survey of Delhi 2012-2013. Chapter 2:
Demographic Profile. Retrieved from www.delhi.
gov.in/DoIT/DoIT_Planning/ES2012-13/EN/
ES_Chapter%202.pdf.
Government of India. What is a smart city? Retrieved
from
www.smartcities.gov.in/writereaddata/
What%20is%20Smart%20City.pdf.
Ramachandra, R. (1991). Urbanisation and Urban
System in India. Delhi: Oxford Publication.
Singh, L.R. (2010). Fundamentals of Human
geography. Sharda Publications. 228-229.
The author is Associate Professor, Department of
Geography, Shivaji College, University of Delhi.
ranatejbir@gmail.com
`120
GeoGraphy and you.com
A De v e l op m e n t A n D e n v i ron m e n t m Ag A z i n e
Gny SINCe 2001 Vol. 15, ISSue 90, 2015
The unplanned expansion of Delhi has hit

road transport the worst. This sector needs the
maximum thrust as it is linked with every other
sector of society. The proper flow of traffic can help
increase work efficiency, carrying capacity and per
capita output of any city and needs to be addressed
on a priority basis.
DISASTER STUDY
Disaster mitigation needs
prioritisation for risksensitive development
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25
l if e UR B A N i S AT iON
By Ankit SikArwAr and ApArAjitA ChAttopAdhyAy
Expansion bEyond
limit ahmEdabad
Change in land use-land cover (LULC) is a worldwide phenomenon.
However, in certain places, the rate of change is expeditious, particularly
because of increasing population, huge rural to urban migration and
urban growth within a limited space. Ahmedabad is experiencing an
unprecedented growth mainly around its periphery.
rbanisation can prove to be a

gift to human civilisation if it is
harmonised and maintained in
accordance with the carrying
capacity of nature. According to
the United Nations Population Fund, the worlds
urban population is expected to reach 81 per cent
by 2030 (Imhoff et al., 2010). The conversion of
rural areas into urban complexes is occurring at
an unprecedented rate in the recent human history
and thus, is having an obvious effect on the natural
functioning of the ecosystem (Turner, 1994). The
towns and cities of the developing world are facing
unplanned and uncontrolled growth within and
around city limits.
urbanisation in India: The Case of

ahmedabad
The process of urbanisation in India gained

momentum along with rapid industrial growth
in the 1970s. There was a further spurt following
economic liberalisation and globalisation. Forests
were cleared, grasslands razed, wetlands drained
and croplands encroached upon under the influ26
ence of expanding cities, yet never as fast as in the

last decade (Rahman, 2007). In 1991, there were 23
major cities in India, which increased to 35 in 2001
and 53 in 2011.
Ahmedabad, the seventh largest city in India
and the largest in Gujarat, is showing remarkable
developmental activities in terms of urbanisation
and industrialisation in recent decades. Although
not unique to Ahmedabad, the interaction of
demographic and economic forces has resulted in
a highly segmented spatial pattern of growth in
terms of income-class and environmental qualities
(Dutta, 2000).
LuLC changes in the last two decades
For the analysis of LULC changes in Ahmedabad,

the LANDSAT images from United States Geological Survey (USGS) over three different periods, i.e.
1991, 2003, and 2010 have been used (Fig 1).
A significant change in LULC is observed over
time. The most significant change is observed in
built-up land, which occupied 28 per cent of the
total area in Ahmedabad city sub-district in 1991
is increased to 76 per cent of the total area in 2010.
Fig. 1: Land use - Land cover changes over time

1991
2003
2010
The image presents LULC

change in the Ahmedabad
taluka at different times
based on LANDSAT data.
The final image is obtained
using the Erdas imagine
software by supervised
classification technique. The
pie-diagrams represent the
per cent share of different
LULC categories to the total
area of the Ahmedabad city
sub-district.
Map not to scale

1991
Landuse/Landcover categories
2003
50 per cent
30 per cent
28 per cent
50 per cent
Built-up Area
Agricultural Land
2010
7 per cent
12 per cent
1 per cent
Vegetation Cover
Water Body
4 per cent
Fallow Land
17 per cent
15 per cent
2 per cent
3 per cent
2 per cent
3 per cent
76 per cent
Source: Classified from the LANDSAT images provided by United States Geological Survey (USGS) for 1991, 2003 and 2010.
Population pressures due to huge in-migration

resulted in a demand for new residential spaces
and modification of older ones. The change in
LULC experienced significant negative change in
agricultural land, which accounted for 50 per cent
of the total area in 1991 and reduced to 7 per cent
in 2010. In rural areas, forested land was converted
into agricultural land; that later transformed into
built-up area (Table 1).
The possible contributing factor behind this
change has been the penetration of developmental
activities from urban areas into the sub-urban and
rural areas. The proliferation of new industries
and factories along the periphery of the city, also,
contributed to the process of land transformation.
Although areas categorised as water body and

fallow land comprise a very small percentage of the
total area, land use changes regarding these need
to be discussed. The area classified as fallow land
halved from 1990 to 2010, whereas areas under
water body gradually increased, occupying a
space of 3 sq km in 1990 to 8 sq km in 2010. This
was mainly because of the development of Sabarmati riverfront and suitable management of water
harvesting in the vicinity.
role of the population
The population of the city increased from 3.31

million in 1991 to 4.2 million in 2001 and to 5.8
million in 2011 (Registrar General of India, 1991;
Table 1: The area under LULC categories and change over the time
Land use- Land
cover category
sq km
Built-up Area
Water Body
Fallow Land
Vegetation
Cover
Agricultural
Land
Total Area
71
3
10
44
1991
per cent to
total
28
1
4
17
128
6
8
37
Area
2003
per cent to
total
50
2
3
15
sq km
sq km
194
8
5
30
2010
per cent to
total
76
3
2
12
127
50
76
30
18
255
100
255
100
255
100
Change in area from

1991 to 2010
sq km
in per cent
123
5
-5
-14
173
167
-50
-32
-109
-86
Source: Calculated from the classified LANDSAT images provided by United States Geological Survey (USGS).
27
Fig. 2: Superimposition of LULC changes and Population

1991
2001
2011
Map not to scale
Superimposed maps of LULC and population. Details: The dot map where one dot is equal to 2000 person is being
superimposed on the LULC map to see the similarities in the changing patterns spatially.
Source: LULC maps are classified from the LANDSAT images derived United States Geological Survey (USGS), Dot Map for the population
trend is based on the Census data provided by Registrar General of India 1991, 2001 and 2011.
2001; & 2011). A precise analysis of population

dynamics at the micro-level (village/town) over the
last two decades gives us some important insights
that link the changes in population and LULC
changes over the same period of time.
Thematic superimposition of LULC map and
dot map of the total population indicates that the
population is growing in areas experiencing a
significant increase in built-up land in the 20 year
period under consideration. There is however, no
noticeable change when the male female composition in the built up area is studied. The density
of dots is observed to be high over built-up land,
whereas the dots are sparse over agricultural and
forested land (Fig 2).
endnote
Since the last two decades, the built-up area of

Ahmedabad sub-district has witnessed an overall
increment of 173 per cent; this has been mainly at
the cost of dwindling agricultural and forest land.
The changes in LULC as well as in population were
mostly seen in Nikol, Naroda, Gyaspur, Vejalpur,
and Makarba, situated in the outer periphery of
the Ahmedabad city sub-district. The process of
change (in LULC and population) has seen a shift
from the core to the periphery.
The western side of the Sabarmati river has developed in the recent past and experienced significant
transformation in LULC and population dynamism
as compared to the eastern side of the Ahmedabad
city sub-district. For balanced development in
the rapidly growing periphery of the sub-district,
there is a need for suitable planning that can help
reasonable expansion; keeping in mind the limits
28
to growth. Only then can Ahmedabad experience

sustainable growth in future.
references
Dutta, S. S. (2000). Partnerships in urban

development: a review of Ahmedabads
experience.Environment and
Urbanisation,12(1), 13-26.
Imhoff, M. L., Zhang, P., Wolfe, R. E., & Bounoua,
L. (2010). Remote sensing of the urban heat
island effect across biomes in the continental
USA.Remote Sensing of Environment,114(3),
504-513.
Rahman, A. (2007). Application of remote sensing
and GIS technique for urban environmental
management and sustainable development
of Delhi, India. Applied remote sensing for
urban planning, governance and sustainability.
Springer Berlin Heidelberg.165-197.
Registrar General of India. (1991). Census of India:
District Census Handbook, Ahmedabad.
Government of India. New Delhi.
Registrar General of India. (2001). Census of India:
District Census Handbook, Ahmedabad.
Registrar General of India. (2011). Census of
India: Primary Census Abstract, Gujarat.
Turner, B. L. (1994). Local faces, global flows:
the role of land use and land cover in global
environmental change. Land Degradation &
Development, 5(2), 71-78.
The authors are from International Institute for
Population Sciences, Mumbai. anks.sik@gmail.com
Term Power
Answers on PAge
59
DISASTER PROOFING
Here are some generic terms that could challenge your knowledge about disasters and concepts
related to it. Navigate to page number 61 to find out how much you know about extreme events.
1. Retrofitting
a. The term denotes reinforcement

or upgrading of existing structures
to become more resistant and
resilient to the damaging effects of
hazards.
b. The term indicates the rebuilding
of structures which were damaged
due to effects of hazards.
c. The term is about building a
new structure which is earthquake
resilient.
2. Richter Scale
a. This is a scale that is used to

measure pressure that builds up in
the plate margins.
b. This is a standard that is used to
measure amount of rainfall.
c. This is a scale that is used to
measure the intensity of an earthquake.
3. Seismicity
a. The term represents the occurrence or frequency of infrastructure

loss due to earthquakes in a region.
b. The term indicates the occurrence or frequency of earthquakes
in a region.
c. The term denotes the occurrence
or frequency of landslides in a
region.
4. Landfall
a. This is a cyclonic storm moving

over land from after being over
water, making a touchdown.
b. This is a cyclonic storm originating and concluding over land.
c. This is a cyclonic storm
originating over land and moving
towards seas and oceans.
5. Knots
a. A term used as a unit for

measuring the speed at which
something goes round in a circle.
b. A term used as a unit for

measuring the speed of an engine.
c. A term used as a unit for
measuring the speed of ships,
aircraft, and wind, equal to one
nautical mile per hour.
6. Beaufort Scale
a. This is a scale that measures the

force of the wind.
b. This is a scale that measures the
amount of rainfall.
c. This is a scale that measures the
speed of a cyclone.
7. El Nio Southern
Oscillations
a. These oscillations are a human

induced phenomenon that involves
fluctuating land temperatures in the
Asian region.
b. The oscillations are a naturally
occurring phenomenon that involves
fluctuating ocean temperatures in the
equatorial Pacific.
c. Such oscillations are a naturally
occurring phenomenon that involves
fluctuating land temperatures in the
hotter regions in Asia.
8. Epicenter
a. The term denotes the origin point

of a cyclone.
b. The term represents the Origin
point of an avalanche.
c. The term indicates origin point of
an earthquake.
9. Famine
a. A famine is a catastrophic food

shortage affecting large numbers of
people due to climatic, environmental
and socio-economic reasons.
b. A famine is when flooding occurs
affecting large numbers of people
due to climatic and environmental
reasons.
c. A famine is when drought affects
a large number of people due to
climatic and environmental reasons.
10. Lahar
a. This is a hot or cold mixture of

earthen material flowing on the
slope of a volcano either during or
between volcanic eruptions.
b. This is a textural term for
volcanic fragments found near the
continental shelves.
c. This is a tiny liquid or solid
particles suspended in the atmosphere either during or between
volcanic eruptions.
11. Aerosol
a. The term indicates small liquid

or solid particles dispersed in air.
b. The term denotes large liquid or
solid particles dispersed in air.
c. The term is indicative of all
gases dispersed in air.
12. Aquifer
a. This is about water contained

in layers of soil which act as a
natural water purifier.
b. The term signifies a layer
in the bedrock that is capable of
storing a significant volume
of groundwater.
c. This is a term that refers
to underground water which
is extremely harmful for
consumption.
13. Biota
a. The term includes all human

beings in a region.
b. The term envelops all living
animals in a region.
c. The encompasses all living
organisms in a region.
14. Brine
a. This is highly salty and heavily

mineralised water.
b. This is low salt and mineral
content in drinking water.
c. This is a high degree os
chemical content in water.
29
Cl im at e Ch a n g e R e s ou RCe s
By Geo Jos Fernandez
Falling Oil Prices

and india
Fluctuation in demand supply equilibrium and inaction of OPEC
countries is affecting global oil prices though Indias under-recovery
refineries are benefitting from the fall in crude oil price.
urrently the oil market sentiment is

depressive, as the world economy has
seen a decline of crude oil prices by
75 per cent (Investing, 2016) and has
settled at 29.42 USD in The New York
Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) for the first time
in 12 years (Puko, & Kantchev, 2016). This means
that the crude prices have dropped lower than
during the financial crisis in 2008-2009.
Basically the decline in crude prices can be
narrowed down to a simple demand supply
economics. The domestic production of the United
States has increased by 71 per cent from 2008 to 2014
30
(BP, 2015), which made the exporting countries

look for newer markets to export the spare supply
which otherwise was earlier consumed by the US.
On the supply side, the Brazilian, Canadian and
Iraqi oil production is increasing year after year,
making the demand supply equilibrium awry. For
example, the production of oil in Brazil increased
by 23.6 per cent from 2008 to 2014 whereas the
production of Canada and Iran increased by 35.3
per cent and 33.8 per cent respectively during those
years. The increase of production from 2013 to 2014
for these three countries were 2.9 per cent, 5 per
cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively (BP, 2015). The
prices. The earnings are down for the upstream

companies who have made profits earlier. Hence,
they are cutting down their costs in the exploration
and production. Approximately 250,000 people
have lost their jobs in this crisis. It also needs to
be noted that since 2014, 68 upstream projects
worth 380 billion USD of total project capex have
been deferred (Wood Mackenzie, 2016; Reed,
2016). However, the downstream industry has
seen an increase in their gross refinery margins
(GRM) which is reflected in the increase of their
profits, depending on the region (Fitzgibbon, et
al, 2015). This low crude prices will affect the clean
energy goals of various countries and can hinder
the investments in the research and development
activities of alternate fuels.
The decline in crude prices has a positive impact
on India though. 1 USD decrease in the prices
will reduce Indias import bill by INR 65 billion
and the subsidy burden by INR 9 billion (Anand,
2016). It is also strengthening Indias fiscal position.
The nation can save INR 2.14 lakh crore on its oil
import bill alone, in the financial year 2016, if the
crude prices stick to the present trend (Singh, 2015)
keeping inflation on a leash and bringing down the
costs of various commodities in the country. This
low crude prices have revived the under-recovered
refineries in India to a profitable business. Fig. 1
shows the net profits and increase in GRM of some
refineries in quarter one when compared between
2014-15 and 2015-16. The net profits are up for IOCL
by 155.1 per cent, BPCL by 95.4 per cent, HPCL by
3349.3 per cent, CPCL by 81.1 per cent, MRPL by
1224.4 per cent, RIL by 37.7 per cent and EOL by
Fig. 1: Gross refreshing margins

12
10
8
6
4
2
April-June 2014
EOC
RIL
MRPL
CPCL
HPCL
BPCL
0
IOCL
Iranian oil came to be part of the export market

as the economic sanctions were lifted from them
(DePersio, 2014). The weakening of the economies
of Europe and the developing countries, and the
introduction of more fuel efficient vehicles is further
decreasing the demand for crude oil (Tarver, 2015).
Another major reason for the decline in the
crude oil prices is the inaction of Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to
maintain the demand-supply equilibrium. The oil
producing cartel OPEC with Saudi Arabia as its
most influential member, decided not to sacrifice
their market share to restore the prices despite
members such as Iran, Venezuela and Algeria
opting to cut production to increase the crude
prices (Tarver, 2015; Bowler, 2016). OPEC could
easily curb production, but the benefits would be
reaped by Iran and Russiacountries detested by
Saudi Arabia (Economist, 2014). Saudi Arabia can
sustain this low crude price scenario as they have
900 billion USD in their reserves and production
costs are approximately 5 to 6 USD per barrel
(Economist, December 8, 2014).
The strengthening of the USD can also be considered as one of the major drivers for the decline in
crude prices (Tarver, 2015). Since crude oil is priced
in the USD, the rising USD Index will likely have a
negative impact on crude oil price, with the index
rising by 9 per cent in the year 2015 (Scott, 2016).
Crude oil exporters such as Venezuela, Nigeria,
Ecuador, Libya, etc. are few countries that have
been adversely affected by the lower crude prices
as their spending plans are based on an assumed
crude price which is above 100 USD (Walker et
al., 2015). This lower crude oil prices have also
affected those countries where the fiscal regimes
were dependent on higher oil price to support their
foreign invasions and expensive social supports.
Russia is already affected by the foreign sanction
and expensive social supports when they tried to
invade Ukraine (Wiser, 2015; Pond, 2015). Iran is
also trying to keep the Assad regime afloat in Syria
(Economist, December 8, 2014). It supports various
terror organisations such as Iran-backed Shia terror
group Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) (Abnar, 2014) and
the Hamas and Hezbollah groups. Hamas has been
giving funds received from Iran to ISIS to finance
its operations (Tower a, 2015; Tower b, 2016; ibid).
Not only the countries, but the oil and gas
industry itself is also affected by the decline in crude
April-June 2015
Source: Singh, and Stephan, 2016

31
a major reason for the decline

in the crude oil prices is the
inaction of the organization
of the Petroleum exporting
Countries to maintain the
demand-supply equilibrium.
53.8 per cent (Singh, & Stephan, 2016).

The upstream companies in the world were
hit by the low crude prices, but the national oil
upstream companies such as ONGC and OIL were
not affected much as their subsidy burden was
decreased steeply in line with the decline in crude
prices. When the net profits of the national oil
upstream companies in quarter one are compared
between 2014-15 and 2015-16 (Fig. 1), the net profits
were up for ONGC by 14.2 per cent, while profit for
OIL were down by 9 per cent as their operational
expenses had increased (Singh, & Stephan, 2016).
The private upstream companies revenues were
badly affected. The net profits of the private Indian
upstream companies in quarter one are compared
between 2014-15 and 2015-16. The net profits are
down for Cairn India by 50 per cent and RIL by
96.9 per cent (Singh & Stephan, 2016)]. The low
crude price scenario has also affected the prices
of the Indian crude basket which is 26.95 USD as
on February 11, 2016 (MoPNG, 2016) whereas the
international crude prices for the day was 27.28
USD (Investing, 2016).
Even though the crude prices were decreased
by 75 per cent, the petrol and diesel prices have
come down by just 15 per cent (Waghmare, 2016)
and 19 per cent (Singh, 2015) respectively. One of
the major reasons for this mismatch is due to the
progressive increase in the tax structure of these
fuels. There were in fact five major hikes in the
excise duties on petrol and diesel since November
2015 which have increased by 34 per cent and
140 per cent respectively (Waghmare, 2016).
The oil companies beefing up their margins, the
depreciation of the Indian currency rupee where
every INR 1 increase in the exchange rate of dollar
increases oil import bill by INR 7,455 crore (Sasi,
32
2015) are the other reasons.

Analysing this mismatch from an apolitical
perspective, the reason for not transferring the
direct benefit of lower crude price to the end
consumers is to prevent them from entering a
volatile pricing scenario. Also, low petrol and diesel
prices will push the economy to a deflationary path.
Hence, instead of transferring the benefits of the
decline in oil prices to its citizens, the government
has introduced taxes which have helped in reducing
its fiscal deficit and increasing the government
revenue. As India imports about 76.6 per cent of
its crude requirement (BP, 2015), the exchange rate
plays a vital role in the landing cost of crude oil
in India. In June 2014, a dollar equaled INR 60.18
where as in February 12, 2016, a dollar equalled
INR 68.25 which have increased the landing cost of
crude oil in India.
endnote
When we compare the fuel prices in various oil

importing countries, Indias petrol prices are
lower and a further decrease in the petrol and
diesel prices might hinder the energy conservation
efforts. It also needs to be kept in mind that the
Indian governments effort in protecting the nation
from downward oil shocks will result, at present,
in garnering of additional funds, which may be
invested in infrastructural developments.
references
Abnar, E. (2014, September 26). In ISIS Fight, Iran

an Adversary Not a Partner. Retrieved from The
Diplomat: http://thediplomat.com/2014/09/
in-isis-fight-iran-an-adversary-not-a-partner.
Anand, K. (2016, January 15). Crude oil at $30
may not be good news for you; heres why.
Retrieved from The Economic Times: http://
articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/201601-15/news/69793881_1_crude-oil-pricesimport-bill-commodity-prices
Bowler, T. (2016, January 19). Falling oil prices:
Who are the winners and losers? Retrieved
February 10, 2016, from BBC: http://www.bbc.
com/news/business-29643612
BP. (2015). Statistical Review of World Energy
2015. London: BP.
DePersio, G. (2014). Why did oil prices drop so
much in 2014? Retrieved February 10, 2016,
from Investopedia: http://www.investopedia.
com/ask/answers/030315/why-did-oil-pricesdrop-so-much-2014.asp.
Economist. (2014, December 08). Why the oil
price is falling. Retrieved February 09, 2016,
from The Economist: http://www.economist.
com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/12/
economist-explains-4.
Fitzgibbon, T., Kloskowska, A., & Martin, A.
(2015). Energy Insights: Impact of low crude
prices on refining. McKinsey & Company.
Investing. (2016). Crude Oil Historical Data.
Retrieved February 09, 2016, from Investing.
com:
http://in.investing.com/commodities/
crude-oil-historical-data.
MoPNG. (2016, February 12). Global Crude oil
price of Indian Basket was US$ 26.95 per
bbl on 11.02.2016 . Retrieved February 12,
2016, from PIB: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/
pmreleases.aspx?mincode=20.
Pond, E. (2015, March 5). Russia vs the west:
the consequences of Putins invasion of
Ukraine. Retrieved February 11, 2016, from
New Statesman: http://www.newstatesman.
c om / p ol it i c s / 2 0 1 5 / 0 3 / r ussi a - v s - west consequences-putin-s-invasion-ukraine.
Puko, T., & Kantchev, G. (2016, January 15). Oil
Prices Tumble Below $30 a Barrel. Retrieved
from WSJ: http://www.wsj.com/articles/oilprices-fall-below-30-a-barrel-1452853918.
Reed, S. (2016, January 12). Stung by Low Oil
Prices, BP Will Cut 4,000 Jobs. Retrieved from
NY Times: httpwww.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/
business/energy-environment/bp-jobs-oilprices.html.
Sasi, A. (2015, November 25). Oil drop: Crude
slide notwithstanding, retail prices remain
viscous. Retrieved, from The Indian Express:
http://indianexpress.com/article/business/
business-others/crude-slide-notwithstandingretail-prices-remain-viscous/.
Scott, R. (2016, January 07). US Dollar Index
Could Impact Crude Oil Prices. Retrieved
from Market Realist: http://marketrealist.
com/2016/01/us-dollar-index-impact-crudeoil-prices.
Singh, S. K., & Stephan, D. (2016, January 26).
Blessing or Curse? The Impact of Global
Crude Oil Prices on Indias Industry. Retrieved
from Process Worldwide: http://www.processworldwide.com/blessing-or-curse-the-
impact-of-global-crude-oil-prices-on-indiasindustry-a-512076.
Singh, S. P. (2015, December 09). India to save
Rs 2 lakh cr on crude imports as oil hits 11year low. Retrieved from Business Standard:
http://www.business-standard.com/article/
economy-policy/india-to-save-rs-2-lakhcr-on-crude-imports-as-oil-hits-11-yearlow-115120900956_1.html.
Tarver, E. (2015, October 22). 4 Reasons Why the
Price of Crude Oil Dropped. Retrieved from
Investopedia: http://www.investopedia.com/
articles/investing/102215/4-reasons-whyprice-crude-oil-dropped.asp.
Tower a. (2015, December 15). Analysis: Money
Trail Leads From Iran to ISIS, by Way of
Hamas. Retrieved from The Tower: http://
www.thetower.org/2695-analysis-money-trailleads-from-iran-to-isis-by-way-of-hamas.
Tower b. (2016, December 16). Analysis: The
Different Stages of Iranian Support for ISIS.
Retrieved from The Tower: http://www.
thetower.org/2699-analysis-the-differentstages-of-iranian-support-for-isis.
Waghmare, A. (2016, February 06). Why the 75 per
cent Drop in Global Oil Prices Isnt Reaching
You. Retrieved 2016, from The Wire: http://
thewire.in/2016/02/06/why-the-75-drop-inglobal-oil-prices-isnt-reaching-you-20964.
Walker, S., Rushe, D., Stein, C., Stephen, C.,
Brodzinsky, S., Miles, H., et al. (2015,
December 30). Recession, retrenchment,
revolution? Impact of low crude prices on oil
powers. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://
www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/30/
oil-iran-saudi-arabia-russia-venezuelanigeria-libya.
Wiser, D. (2015, September 18). How Russia
Invaded Ukraine. Retrieved from The
Washington Free Beacon: http://freebeacon.
com/national-security/how-russia-invadedukraine.
Wood Mackenzie. (2016, January 14). Deferred
upstream projects tally reaches 68. Retrieved
from Wood Mackenzie: http://www.woodmac.
com/media-centre/12530462.
The author is Assistant Professor, College of Management
& Economic Studies, UPES, Dehradun.
GFERNANDEZ@ddn.upes.ac.in
33
Cl im at e Ch a n g e R en e wa bl e en eRgy
By T V RamachandRa and Ganesh heGde
DistributeD solar
energy systems
Decentralised electricity generation or dispersed generation based on
renewable energy can be the right solution for power-stressed regions like
southern India that receive ample solar insolation for more than 300 days
in a year. Smart grid technology, coupled with supportive government
policies, can indeed help the region tide over its power problems.
olar power installed capacity has increased

from only 3.7 MW in 2005 to about 5248
MW in 2016. The Government of India
has an ambitious policyJawaharlal
Nehru National Solar Mission, launched
in 2010, of expanding solar capacity to 175 GW by
2022 through solar parks, ultra mega solar power
projects, canal top solar projects, 100,000 solar
pumps for farmers, and, solarisation of petrol
pumps. Decentralised generation of electricity at
the distribution side of the power supply network
or closer to the load centre itself, can play pivotal
role in meeting electricity demand in a reliable and
34
environment-friendly way.
Dispersed or decentralised generation exploits
locally available energy resources and reduces the
exploitation of conventional energy resources and
the congestion in generating units. Decentralised
generation based on renewable energy (RE) sources
promotes higher penetration of RE resources into
the grid. These plants have the unique advantage of
operating in islanded mode (grid isolation mode),
during an outage of the central grid. In such cases,
grid connection can easily be restored as the grid is
energised and electricity can either be transferred
to the grid or drawn from the grid.
Micro grids are the building units of dispersed

generation, which essentially exploits locally available RE resources. The micro grid is an emerging
technology and is a smart grid with high reliability,
limited greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, reduced
transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. The
smart grid architecture is in its infancy, and integrates RE based distributed generation with the
conventional system using control strategies over
a two-way communication link.
India has one of the biggest power supply networks,
with an installed capacity of more than 298 GW.
Though electricity is one of the cleaner energy forms,
69 per cent of Indias generation, amounting to 201
GW is from thermal power plants.
In July 2012, the Indian power sector witnessed
one of the biggest blackouts; this was primarily due
to peak power shortfall of 12,159 MW, amounting
to 9 per cent and an 8.7 per cent energy shortage
amounting to 86,905 GWh during 2012-13 (Load
Generation Balance Report 2014-15).
Distributed electricity generation through
RE sources can help in strengthening the power
system to tide over such outages and also reduce the
carbon footprint of energy generation. The associated economic benefits of decentralised generation
are reduced operation and maintenance costs,
increased productivity, reduction in fuel costs and
increased efficiency.
Southern India currently harvests electricity
from hydro and limited coal resources, from
Nevyeli in Tamil Nadu. With three metropolitan
cities in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, and
many industrial, agriculture and commercial
consumers, there is high demand for energy. The
region has been facing very high energy (59,297
GWh, 19.1 per cent ) and peak power (11,669 MW,
26.1 per cent ) crisis over the years, which has, in
turn, resulted in decreased power quality and load
shedding, as admitted by the Central Electricity
Authority (CEA) as per its Local Generating
Balance Report, 2013-14.
Several studies have looked into the prospects
of RE for decentralised generation (Ramachandra & Krishnadas, 2012; Ramachandra &
Shruthi, 2005), micro grid (Ramachandra, et al.,
2014; Ramachandra et al., 2014) and stand-alone
generation of remote area electrification (Hafez
& Bhattacharya, 2012; Ibrahim,et al., 2002,
Balamurugan et al., 2009). Energy potential
analysis using spatial data are also carried out

by researchers which gave new avenue for energy
research (Kanase-Patil et al., 2009; Kumaravel &
Ashok, 2012). However, most of the studies were
done for a specified application in a region or for a
cluster of villages. The present study analyses the
solar energy potential for all of southern India. The
solar energy potential of the region ranges from
5.2 to 6.0 kWh/m2/day annually. Taluk wise RE
resources assessment has been carried out considering the seasonal variability of the resources and
clustering high energy yielding regions.
Study area and method
The Indian power sector comprises five regional

load despatch centers (RLDCs). These are the
northern, western, eastern, north-eastern and
southern RLDCs with a National Load Despatch
Center (NLDC) at Delhi. The Southern load
despatch center (SRLDC) monitors the electric
energy scheduling and load balancing of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and
Pondicherry (four states and a Union territory).
SRLDC covers the third largest geographical area
of other RLDCs, which includes about 22 per cent
of the countrys total population and 29 per cent
of total installed capacity. However, the installed
capacity of RE based power plants is lesser in the
region (7521 MW, 15 per cent), indicating lower
exploitation of RE potential (Local Generating
Balance Report, (CEA), 2013-14).
Long term spatio-temporal data are used to
analyse the available RE potential in open source
GIS platform. The assessment also gives the
seasonal and geographical variability of the energy
resources. Long term data sets acquired from
NASA, SSE and Climate Research Unit (CRU) are
reliable and depict the seasonal variability which is
closely correlated with ground measurement.
NASA SSE Global insolation datasets are
obtained from a physical model based on the
radiative transfer in the atmosphere considering
its absorption and scattering properties. The model
considers visible and infrared radiation, cloud and
surface properties, temperature, perceptible water,
column ozone amounts and also the atmospheric
variables includes temperature and pressure
measured using various satellite instruments. The
long wave and shortwave solar radiations recorded
in the satellite sensors along with the effecting
parameters are studied to generate global insolaGeoGraphy and you January - February 2016
35
Fig. 1: Taluk wise seasonal variation of solar energy potential
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
February
5.8-6.0
6.0-6.2
6.2-6.4
6.4-6.6
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
March
6.2-6.4
6.4-6.6
6.6-6.8
6.8-7.0
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
May
5.6.-5.9
5.9-6.2
6.2-6.5
6.5-6.8
6.8-7.1
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
April
6.0-6.2
6.2-6.4
6.4-6.6
6.6-6.8
6.8-7.1
Summer (February to May)
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
June
4.5-4.8
4.8-5.1
5.1-5.4
5.4-5.7
5.7-6.0
6.0-6.3
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
August
4.0-4.4
4.4-4.8
4.8-5.2
5.2-5.6
5.6-6.0
6.0-6.3
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
July
4.2-4.6
4.6-5.0
5.0-5.4
5.4-5.8
5.8-6.2
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
September
4.7-5.0
5.0-5.3
5.3-5.6
5.6-5.9
5.9-6.3
Monsoon (June to September)
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
October
4.6-4.8
4.8-5.0
5.0-5.2
5.2-5.4
5.4-5.7
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
December
4.6-4.8
4.8-5.0
5.0-5.2
5.2-5.4
5.4-5.6
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
November
4.1-4.4
4.4-4.7
4.7-5.0
5.0-5.3
5.3-5.5
Solar GHI (kWh/

sq.m/d)
January
4.9-5.1
5.1-5.3
5.3-5.5
5.5-5.7
5.7-5.9
Winter (October to January)
The taluk wise seasonal variation of solar energy potential in southern states is computed in the above graphics. During
summer (February to May), solar energy reception varies from 5.6 to 7.1 kWh/m2/day. Insolation (GHI) maps at taluk level were
based on the interpolation of global insolation data.
Fig. 2: Taluk wise solar energy density distribution
Fig. 3: Seasonal variability of solar energy potential
7.5
East coast taluks
Interior taluks
West coast taluks
7.0
6.5
6.0
Solar power density (W/sq.m)
Annual average
750-770
770-790
790-810
810-830
830-850
36
5.5
5.0
4.5
4.0
S-Summer
M-Monsoon
W-Winter
3.5
3.0
tion for different locations and durations. The 0.1

x 0.1 spatial resolution SSE global insolation data
derived from NASA SSE web portal (http://eosweb.
larc.nasa.gov/sse/), for a period of 22 years (July 1,
1983 to June 30, 2005) were validated (RMSE of
10.28 per cent) with Baseline Surface Radiation
Network (BSRN) data available as daily, monthly
and annual averages obtained from measured
values every three hours (Ramachandra et al.,
2011; Guide to Meteorological Instrument and
Observing Practices, 1964). Further, grids which
essentially cover the entire southern region of
the country are extracted and a geo-statistical
Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation
is employed to produce monthly average Global
Hourly Insolation (GHI) maps for the region. Taluk
wise availability of solar potential is computed by
over laying the delineated taluk boundary map.
Findings and analysis
Figure 1 shows the taluk wise seasonal variation of solar energy potential in southern states.
During summer (February to May), solar energy
reception varies from 5.6 to 7.1 kWh/m2/day. The
region receives the highest insolation in April,
while taluks in the northern and central region
receive insolation of more than 6.8 kWh/m2/day.
Solar insolation reception decreases as the southwest monsoon arrives during June and continues
till mid-September (monsoon season). Taluks
of the west coast are immediately affected by the
monsoon, and receive lower insolation (4.2-5.0
kWh/m2/day) throughout the season. Even otherwise, insolation received in all the taluks is lesser
during monsoon months, which slowly increases as
the winter approaches. During winter (October to
January), western and interior taluks receive higher
insolation (5.3-5.9 kWh/m2/day) compared to the
east coast taluks (4.1-5.1 kWh/m2/day).
Figure 2 shows the solar power density map for the
region. Solar power density varies from 750 to 850
kW/m2 in the region where, interior taluks receive
higher solar power (810-850 W/m2) compared to the
coastal taluks (750-810 W/m2). Distributed generation and micro grid planning can be done with this
knowledge which also helps in predicting the probable energy output of the region.
Seasonal variability analysis is carried out,
dividing the entire area into three regions, that is,
the west coast, the east coast and interior taluks,
india has an installed

capacity of more than 298
gw. Out of this 69 per cent of
indias generation amounting
to 201 gw is from thermal
power plants.
depending upon the geography of the region.

Figure 3 depicts the variation in solar insolation
across the seasons for all three regions. Insolation
reception is highly variable in monsoon and winter
due to cloud movements in all regions. However,
insolation is less variable during summer in all the
regions and west coast shows lesser variability of
insolation in all seasons.
Solar technologies, one finds, have the potential
to offset a huge volume of GHG emissions and help
realise a low carbon economy. They can also create
numerous employment opportunities at the village
level. Learning from other developing countries as
well as its own past experience, India can be a world
leader in solar power generation. With an ambitious solar mission, and positively evolving policy
instruments, the nation can easily earn the epithet
of a Solar India in the near future.
Decentralised generation of electricity through
rooftop SPV can help meet the electricity demand
of households, apart from avoiding transmission
and distribution (T&D) losses. Generation based
incentives (GBI) can help decentralised electricity
generation, and boost the regional economy. To
encourage decentralised power generations, several
incentives could be introduced. These incentives
could be:
Rs. 4.00 per unit for first five years (comparable
to subsidies granted to mini hydro projects, the
power purchase at Rs 3.40) and Rs. 3.50 for the
next two years for the electricity generated from
roof top solar PV. Several state governments
(Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh)
have recently come up with an attractive generation-based incentive scheme, which has given a
boost to solar based systems.
Buyback programmes for the electricity generGeoGraphy and you January - February 2016
37
ated at household level and in micro grid-GBI of

Rs. 5 to be provided for solar electricity photovoltaic (< 5 kW) feeding the grid .
Implementation of solar rooftops in all new
government and local body buildings could be
done in a phased manner.
Commercial lighting in advertisement boards
should only be from RE sources, with a complete
ban on usage of grid electricity for these purposes.
Impetus to energy research through generous
funding for research and development to ensure
further improvements in the grid technologies,
two way communication energy meters (to
connect rooftop generation with existing grid),
efficient luminaries production, low cost wiring,
switchgears and appliances.
Energy education (focusing mainly on RE
technologies, end-use energy efficiency improvements, energy conservation) at all levels.
Awareness about energy independence and the
necessity of RE for consumers.
Capacity building of youth through technical
education for installation and servicing of solar
photovoltaic panels.
Setting up service centers in block development
offices for service support for RE technologies
(solar, biogas, and energy-efficient chulhas).
Smart Grid and new energy Sources
Smart grid is an intelligent system which

integrates all components of the power system
(generation, transmission and distribution
network, end users) for reliable, efficient and
environment friendly energy supply. It also
plays a key role in demand response, peak load
management, and unit commitment to have an
effective renewable mix in installed capacity.
Well established information and communication technology and control networks are the
backbone of a smart grid, which also needs a
supportive grid network (Ten Minute Climatology, Vijayapriya & Kothari, 2011).
Power sector in India is evolving and adopting
modern grid technologies such as supervisory
control and data acquisition (SCADA), energy
management system (EMS), distribution automation (DA), advanced metering infrastructure
(AMI) such as prepaid meters and the like.
However, the communication network is limited
to high voltage transmission equipment and
38
feeble parts of the present power network need

to be strengthened to have better smart grid
architecture. India is planning to have a full phase
smart grid by 2025, for which devices like (FACT)
flexible AC transmission controllers and phasor
measurements units (PMUs) are being installed.
Around 14 pilot projects are being implemented by the Government of India under the
Restructured Accelerated Power Development
and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) and the
US-India Partnership to Advance Clean EnergyDevelopment (PACE-D) programmes (apdrp.
gov.in). Data management technologies and
automatic screening of data, collected through
remote terminal units (RTUs) is the worldwide
challenge to make the network smart and to take
quick decisions (ISGTF 2013).
Yet, the smart grid vision needs contributions
from industry, academic and research institutions.
The architecture of a smart grid needs to be adapted
considering the load dynamics and resource availability, as also future demand. The Indian power
sector still suffers from huge unmet demand due
to lack of peak load management and high AT&C
losses. A Smart grid could reduce network losses
and narrow the energy-demand gap.
However, replicating the smart grid architecture
may not be the solution for all problems that plague
the Indian power sector. For this, we need radical
government policies focusing on RE, revolutionary
improvements in end-use technologies and changes
in resource utilisation practices. Besides, there is a
dire need to re-structure the energy portfolio to do
away with the environmental problems that have
resulted from the uncontrolled consumption of
fossil fuel resources.
endnote
Indias southern region can easily use the ample

solar insolation it receives for more than 300 days
in a year to generate solar energy in a decentralised
mode, and thus tide over its severe energy and peak
power crisis.
For this, micro grids need to be promoted to
meet community-level demand through locally
available energy resources. Wastelands in the interior taluks are best suited for grid connected hybrid
energy generation, while, micro grids and rooftop
generation can be promoted in metropolitan
and biodiversity rich Western Ghats taluks. The
exploitation of RE sources need to be promoted

through appropriate policy intervention and grid
integration. The share of energy sources can be
decided depending on the variability of insolation
and the geographical location. Aggressive tapping
of renewable sources meanwhile, can also help
mitigate GHG emissions and reduce dependence
on fossil fuels.
references
Balamurugan, P., Ashok, S., & Jose, T. L. (2009).

Optimal operation of biomass/wind/PV hybrid
energy system for rural areas. International
Journal of Green Energy, 6, 104-116.
Brown, R. E., & Freeman, L. A. A. (2001).
Analyzing the reliability impact on distributed
generation. IEEE Power Engineering Society
Summer Meeting. 2, 10131018.
Brown, R. E., Pan, J., Feng, X., & Koutlev, K. (2001).
Siting distributed generation to defer T&D
expansion. IEEE Transmission and Distribution
Conference and Exposition. 2, 622627.
Chiradeja, Pathomthat, & Ramakumar, R. (2004).
An approach to quantify the technical benefits
of distributed generation. IEEE Transactions
on Energy Conversion, 19.
Climate Research Unit, University of East Anglia.
Ten Minute Climatology. Retrieved from http://
www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/hrg/tmc.
Government of India, Ministry of Power. (2013).
Load Generation Balance Report 2013-14.
Retrieved from http://cea.nic.in/reports/
annual/lgbr/lgbr-2014.pdf.
Hafez, Omar, & Bhattacharya, Kankar. (2012).
Optimal planning and design of a renewable
energy based supply system for microgrids.
Renewable Energy, 45, 7-15.
Ibrahim, Muhammad, Anisuzzaman, M., S.
Kumar, S., & Bhattacharya, C. (2002).
Demonstration of PV micro-utility system for
rural electrification. Solar Energy, 72, 521-530.
Jain, Sachin, & Agarwal, Vivek. (2008). An
integrated hybrid power supply for distributed
generation applications fed by nonconventional
energy sources. IEEE Transactions on Energy
Conversion, 23(2).
Kanase-Patil, A. B., Saini, R. P., & Sharma, M. P.
(2009). Integrated renewable energy systems
for off grid rural electrification of remote area.
Renewable Energy, 35, 1342-1349.
Kumaravel, S., and Ashok, S. (2012). An optimal

stand-alone
biomass/solar-PV/pico-hydel
hybrid energy system for remote rural area
electrification of isolated village in western
Ghats region of India. International Journal of
Green Energy, 9, 398-408.
NASA. (2014). Surface Meteorology and Solar
Energy Release 6.0 Methodology Version 3.1.2.
Retrieved from(http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/
sse/documents/SSE6Methodology.pdf).
NREL GHI data furnished by National Renewable
energy Laboratory, 2010.
Ramachandra, T. V. (2006). Solar energy potential
assessment using GIS. Energy Education
Science and Technology, 18, 101-114.
Ramachandra, T. V., & Krishnadas, Gautham.
(2012). Prospects and challenges of
decentralized wind applications in the
Himalayan terrain. Journal of Energy
Bioscience. 3, 1-12.
Ramachandra, T. V., & Shruthi, B. V. (2005).
Spatial mapping of renewable energy potential,
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 11,
1460-1480.
Ramachandra, T. V., Hegde, Ganesh, & Krishnadas,
Gautham. (2014). Potential assessment and
decentralized applications of wind energy
in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka. International
Journal of Renewable Energy Research, 4.
Ramachandra, T. V., Hegde, Ganesh, Setturu,
Bharath, & Krishnadas, Gautham. (2014).
Bioenergy: A sustainable energy option for
rural India. Advances in Forestry Letters (AFL),
3, 1-15.
Ramachandra, T. V., Jain, Rishabh, & Krishnadas,
Gautham. (2011). Hotspots of solar potential
in India. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 15, 31783186.
Vijayapriya, Tamilmaran, & Kothari D P. (2011)
Smart Grid: An Overview. Smart Grid and
Renewable Energy, 2(4), 305-311. doi:10.4236/
sgre.2011.24035.
World Meteorological Organization. (1964).
Guide
to
Meteorological
Instrument
and Observing Practices, (4th Ed.)
(WMO-No.
8).
Geneva,
Switzerland.
The authors are Professors at Energy & Wetlands Research
Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore. cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in
39
Cl im at e Ch a n g e R en e wa bl e en eRgy
By Rhythm Singh
Urban IndIa: reachIng

oUt to the SUn
India has an ambitious National Solar Mission for the accelerated
deployment of solar power technologies in the coming years. Rooftop
solar photovoltaic is a promising technology for urban areas in India.
here are an estimated 78.87 million

urban households and 167.83 million
rural households in India (Census of
India, 2011). Out of these, almost all of
the rural households and a majority
of the urban households stay in residential areas
having a very low height to spread ratio. A number
of individual built up structures have their roofs
exposed to the sun. It has been estimated that a
major portion of the country, around 2,000,000
sq km has an annual average direct normal insolation (DNI) of 5.0 kWh/m2/day or more (India Solar
Resource Maps, 2013), which is a good figure.
Hence there is a strong case for India to reach
out to the Sun. That is to say, we need to have an
accelerated deployment of solar technologies
in the decades to come. Solar insolation can be
used in different waysdirectly in the form of
thermal energy, as in solar water heaters or solar
dryers; or by converting it to electrical power, as
in concentrated solar power plants or solar photovoltaic plants; or in a passive way by utilising the
concepts of solar passive architecture. Most of
these technologies, except the power technologies,
have been around for quite a long time. Though
the power technologies, viz. concentrated solar
power and solar photovoltaic, are not new, their
large scale deployment and maturity of application is still a thing of the distant future.
40
India: national Solar Mission
In the last few years, there has been an increased

proliferation of R&D activities and also policy
initiatives in the above technologies, round
the globe. Back home in India, the then United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of
India launched the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru
National Solar Mission (JNNSM) on January
11, 2010, with an ambitious target of deploying
20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by
2022 (JNNSM Mission Document, 2010). On
June 17, 2015, the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government scaled up the cumulative
target of the National Solar Mission (NSM) from
20,000 MW to 1,00,000 MW by 2021-22. The
revised targets comprised of 40 GW from rooftop
solar photovoltaic installations, and 60 GW from
large and medium scale grid connected solar
photovoltaic plants (Press Note, Government of
India, June 15, 2015).
It can definitely be argued that this is a very
highly ambitious target, given that the total
installed solar photovoltaic capacity in India
was only 36 MW at the end of the financial
year of 2010-11, and concentrated solar power
had no installation except for research projects
(Table 1). The ambitious move, however, has paid
good dividends over the last few years, with most of
the thrust being on solar photovoltaic technology.
A major component of the present NSM target

of 100 GW is envisaged to come from rooftop
solar photovoltaic installations, cumulating to
40 GW. This is almost completely untapped as
of now. Most of the installations over the last 4-5
years have come in the way of large and medium
scale grid connected solar installations. Hence,
in this context, the rooftop solar provides huge
untapped potential.
Mumbai: Tapping the rooftops
Given the current scenario of solar power in India

and the untapped rooftop solar potentials of
Indian cities, there is a need to take an informed
policy initiative for rooftop photovoltaic projects.
In this regard, several research initiatives are being
undertaken to explore and establish the rooftop
solar potential of the cities. Here, we discuss the
sample case of estimating the rooftop solar potential of the Indian city of Mumbai.
Singh and Banerjee (2015) have discussed in
detail the possible rooftop solar photovoltaic estimates for Mumbai. The paper proposes a 2.2 GW
rooftop solar photovoltaic potential for the city of
Table 1: Solar capacity additions in India over the
last four years.
Year
Additions in Solar Installed Capacity (MW)
2011-2012
994
2012-2013
654
2013-2014
984
2014-2015
1112
Total
3744
India added 453 MW in quarter 4 of financial year 2013-14; total addition

in financial year 2013-14 is 948 MW
Source:www.re-solve.in
Mumbai. This seems to be a very inflated claim,

given the fact that none of the existing solar-cities
around the globe are anywhere near this figure.
Berlin has only 98 MW of solar installations,
San Francisco has 23 MW and New York has 14
MW, as of 2012-13. However, its not really so, as
can be understood by the next section describing
the systematic potential estimation methodology
employed for reaching at this figure of 2.2 GW.
demystifying the 2.2 GW estimate for

Mumbai
The study and results given by Singh and Banerjee

(2015) are based on different inputs, and a host of
techniques linking the macro-scale estimation to
the micro-level details. The complete methodology
is based on inputs available in the public domain.
The 2014 land use survey report, Existing land use
survey for development plan for Greater Mumbai
20142034, published by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has been used
as input for the detailed land-use patterns of
Mumbai city. The area of Mumbai city coming
under the limits of the MCGM is divided into 24
wards. The existing land use report classifies the
area of each ward into 14 land use types, 38 land
use categories and 145 sub-categories of land use.
The sub-categories are analysed from the point of
view of their suitability for providing structures
having sufficient structural strength to support
rooftop solar photovoltaic systems. From this
analysis 58 sub-categories belonging to 23 land
use categories from 8 land use types have been
identified as fulfilling this criterion. For each of
these land use sub-categories some sample buildings have been analysed to estimate the Building
Footprint Area Ratio (BFA Ratio), given by eq. (1).
BFA Ratio =
Built up Area
Plot Area
(1)
Using several random samples for each permissible land-use type, the overall BFA Ratio for
each land use sub-category has been estimated.
Thus, the total building footprint area has been
estimated for each sub-category in all the wards
of MCGM. The summation of all these areas gives
the total built-up area for Mumbai city.
The entire built-up area, however, cannot be
used entirely for photovoltaic installations. For
estimating the effective photovoltaic-available
roof area (PVA) for this purpose, another factor,
named as PVA Ratio has been estimated. The PVA
Ratio has been defined as given in eq. (2).
PVA Ratio =
PV available Roof Area

Building Footprint Area
(2)
The PVA Ratio has been estimated by microlevel simulations on several sample buildings
in a photovoltaic system designing and analysis
software, PVSyst.
41
Table 2: Preliminary estimates of rooftop PV potential for 20 Indian cities.

Annual
Annual
Ave. DNI
Ave. DHI
(kWh/m2/ day) (kWh/m2/ day)
Popul. Density Rooftop PV

(/km2)
Estimate (MW)
City
Municipal
Limits
Mumbai
MCGM
4.860
2.208
603
20,694
2190
Delhi
MCD
3.528
2.559
1,397.3
7,878
2965
Bengaluru
BBMP
5.217
2.180
709.5
11,876
2395
Hyderabad
GHMC
4.821
2.295
621.5
10,958
1907
Chennai
GCC
4.898
2.205
426.5
15,240
1431
Area
(km2)
Ahmedabad
AMC
5.193
2.156
475
11,728
1592
Kolkata
KMC
3.277
2.519
200.7
22,355
504
Surat
SMC
4.930
2.222
326.5
13,666
1074
Pune
PMC
4.936
2.247
243.8
12,779
791
Jaipur
JMC
4.839
2.273
485
6,337
1371
Lucknow
LNN
3.377
2.577
350
8,045
713
Kanpur
KMC
3.517
2.559
260
10,642
579
Nagpur
NMC
4.881
2.190
217.6
11,054
677
Indore
IMC
4.870
2.237
134
14,632
443
Thane
TMC
4.700
2.235
128.2
14,188
406
Bhopal
BMC
5.064
2.176
287.2
6,252
848
Visakhapatnam
GVMC
4.631
2.195
534
3,240
1357
Pimpri-Chinchwad
PCMC
4.852
2.274
170.5
10,143
519
Patna
PNN
3.471
2.525
99.5
16,917
243
Vadodara
VMC
4.953
2.218
159.3
10,463
498
Total rooftop PV potential estimate for 20 cities
From this analysis, the total PVA for Mumbai

city has been estimated as 1510 ha, derived from
a total BFA of 5394 ha; which in turn has been
estimated from a total area of 45829 ha for
Mumbai city.
Further, the insolation estimation model is
developed using the Liu-Jordan Model (1960) and
the monthly mean solar insolation values for each
hour of the day for Mumbai. Using standard fixedtilt PV panels of around 15 per cent rated solar cell
efficiency, standard panel orientation configurations and standard PV system configurations, the
total rooftop solar photovoltaic potential has been
found to be around 2190 MW.
extrapolating the estimates for other cities
For getting the exact rooftop photovoltaic potentials for different Indian cities, detailed studies will
42
22502
have to be conducted for each city. However, some

first-cut preliminary estimates for other cities can
be derived by empirical calculations taking the 2.2
GW figure for Mumbai as a benchmark. For this
purpose, as a beginning, top 20 Indian cities with
respect to population are considered. An important point to be considered here is that city in this
context refers to the municipal limits and not the
urban agglomerations. The preliminary estimates
have been derived by taking into account the
annual average daily DNI and diffused horizontal
irradiance (DHI) values for the cities (National
Renewable Energy Laboratory); the population
of and the area under the municipal limits of the
city (Census of India 2011). To get the rooftop PV
potential estimate of a city, the potential estimate
for Mumbai given by Singh and Banerjee (2015)
has been normalised with respect to the DNI and
DHI values of the respective city. Then the population density of the given city has been translated
into a corresponding building density using an
empirical relationship derived from the analysis
presented by Singh and Banerjee (2015). This
building density has been used in tandem with the
total area of the city to finally reach at a rooftop
photovoltaic potential estimate for the given city.
The results have been summarised in Table 2.
endnote
This sample case-study for Mumbai and its

extrapolation for 20 largest Indian cities shows
there is a large untapped rooftop solar photovoltaic
potential in India. The total potential estimate for
these 20 cities stands at 22.5 GW, which is almost
55 per cent of the 40 GW target envisaged for
rooftop photovoltaic installations under the NSM.
However, there are several other pertinent issues
which need to be addressed for translating this
into actual installed capacity and power generation. The system integration challenges and power
quality and grid-stability are the major issues on
the technical front. These, however, are not the
most critical of the challenges; since an implementation of this widespread scale and distributed
nature involves several other non-technical
complexities. The formulation of favourable
government policies and a proactive stance by the
government to push forward for such a large-scale
deployment are the pillars on which the success
of such an initiative rests. Over and above that,
designing a host of appropriate financing models
for the different types of deployments needed
for a variety of cities is another major challenge.
Last but not the least, sensitisation of the public
in general, and the larger institutional and private
players, for taking up the cause of transition to a
cleaner and more secure form of energy needs a
paradigm shift in the vision and understanding of
the interdependencies of economics, availability,
security, viability and environmental aspects of
energy. If all these challenges could be addressed
progressively in a sustainable and participative
manner, then such deployments can be extended
to all the cities of India. Given the smart city
initiative of the present government and its keen
interest and approach for accelerated deployment
of renewable energy technologies at a large scale,
such an achievement doesnt sound impossible,
though not really imminent. Thus, gradually but

surely, one can expect the Indian cities to, reach
out to the sun.
references
Government of India. India Solar Resource Data:

Hourly Data and TMY Files. Retrieved from
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/new_data/India/
nearestcell.cgi.
Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs.
(2011). Houselisting and Housing Census
Data Highlights 2011. Retrieved from
http://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/hlo/
hlo_highlights.html.
Government of India. (2013). Existing Land Use
Survey for Development Plan for Greater
Mumbai (20142034). Retrieved from: http://
www.mcgm.gov.in/irj/portal/anonymous/
qlELUSurveyData.
Liu, B.Y., & Jordan, R.C. (1960). The
interrelationship
and
characteristic
distribution of direct, diffuse and total solar
radiation. Sol. Energy, 4 (3), 119.
Manoharan, Hari. (2014, April). Solar India adds
453 MW in Q4 of FY 2013-14; Total addition in
FY 2013-14: 948 MW. Retrieved from http://
www.re-solve.in/perspectives-and-insights/
solar-capacity-in-india-inching-towards-the3-gw-mark.
MNRE, Government of India. (2010). Jawaharlal
Nehru National Solar Mission: Mission
Document. Retrieved from http://mnre.gov.in/
file-manager/UserFiles/draft-jnnsmpd-2.pdf
Press Information Bureau, Government of India
Cabinet. (2015, June 17). Revision of cumulative
targets under National Solar Mission from
20,000 MW by 2021-22 to 1,00,000 MW.
Retrieved from http://pib.nic.in/newsite/
PrintRelease.aspx?relid=122566.
Singh, R., & Banerjee, R. (2015). Estimation of
rooftop solar photovoltaic potential of a city.
Solar Energy, 115, 589-602.
Solar Energy Centre, Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy, Government of India.
(2013). India Solar Resource Maps. Retrieved
from http://mnre.gov.in/sec/solar-assmnt.htm.
The author is Assistant Professor, National Institute of
Construction Management and Research, Pune, India,
rsingh@nicmar.ac.in
43
Cl im at e Ch a n g e P ol iCy
By Arun KumAr TripAThi and Anshu
Climate JustiCe
and COP21
The developed countries while understanding their historic
responsibilities towards climate change should assist the
developing countries with technology transfer, mitigation and
funding to ensure climate justice.
he concept of climate justice is based

on the tenet that unprecedented
climate change will bring about huge
inequities, particularly in social and
economic spheres in developing
and underdeveloped countries which are already
under tremendous stress in terms of their ability to
withstand such crisis. We all are dependent on our
surroundings to a large extent. Persistent resource
scarcities have potential to destroy world peace
and may lead to various conflicts especially in the
underdeveloped parts of the world.
Climate Change and Climate Justice
The concept of climate justice is an ethical, social

and political issue which puts a human face to the
subject of climate change. It advocates greater space
for the underprivileged sections of the world population particularly farmers, fishermen, women and
indigenous people of the world who have lived in
a harmonious relationship with the nature since
time immemorial (Tripathi, 2009, March 18). These
people are the most vulnerable to the ill effects of
climate change and suffer the most adverse impact
of this crisis.
The Prime Minister of India in his address to the
United Nations General Assembly on September
26, 2015 stressed upon the difference between
climate change and climate justice. He emphatically
advocated that the responsibility of saving the poor
44
from the vagaries of weather is something that will

help us evolve positive thoughts and the bedrock of
our collective enterprise is common but differentiated responsibilities (Srivas, 2015, October 26).
development before Cop21
In 1992, countries across the world raised the debate

on environmentalism to encompass the issues of
biodiversity, climate change and desertification.
The three issues are intrinsically linked, operating
in the same ecosystem. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
was agreed as a framework to combat climate
change at the international level for the first time in
the Rio Convention in 1992. It called for intergovernmental measures to curb the menace of climate
change. The principal objective was to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere to
a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, allow
ecosystem to adapt naturally to global warming
and to enable economic development to proceed in
a sustainable manner (Das Gupta, 1994).
Since the adoption of the Convention in 1994,
parties have continued to negotiate as to how to
carry forward action to mitigate climate change.
The formal meeting of the UNFCCC parties takes
place annually (since 1995) to assess the progress in
dealing with climate change, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP). The COP is the supreme
decision making body of the UNFCCC and all

countries that are parties of the Convention are
represented at COP. Till date 21 COPs to UNFCCC
have taken place (Global Environment Facility,
2015) Table 1.
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted at COP3 held at
Kyoto in 1997. It extended the 1992 UNFCCC and
established legally binding emission targets after
intense negotiations. The Kyoto Protocol entered
into force on February 16, 2005 after 55 parties to
the Convention ratified the agreement including
industrialised countrieswho have specific
targets, to encompass 55 per cent of that groups
carbon dioxide emissions in 1990 (Kyoto Protocol
UNFCC, 1997).
Cop21
The Paris Agreement consists of two partsa decision of the COP to the UN Framework UNFCCC,
which is non-binding, and a Paris Agreement,
which is legally binding. There is no overall global
reduction target and no mechanism for supervision and monitoring of the action taken to mitigate
climate change. Each signatory nation to the Paris
Agreement can peak their emission by following
Table 1: Conference of the parties
Conference of the
parties
COP 1
COP2
COP3
COP4
COP5
COP6
COP7
COP8
COP9
COP10
COP11
COP12
COP13
COP14
COP15
COP16
COP17
COP18
COP19
COP20
COP21
COP22
Year
Venue
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Berlin, Germany
Geneva, Switzerland
Kyoto, Japan
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bonn, Germany
The Hague, Netherlands
Marrakech, Morocco
New Delhi, India
Milan, Italy
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Montreal, Canada
Nairobi, Kenya
Bali, Indonesia
Pozna, Poland
Copenhagen, Denmark
Cancn, Mexico
Durban, South Africa
Doha, Qatar
Warsaw, Poland
Lima, Peru
Paris, France
Marrakech, Morocco
(to be held)
Source: Global Environment Facility, 2015.
the issues of funding

and technology transfer
remains the grey areas as
far as developing nations are
concerned.
business as usual model and choose their timing

and target emission reduction. No sanctions are
applied if a country fails to abide by its announced
plan (Foran, 2015).
It envisages a pledge and review system,
whereby countries are committed to take actions
on climate change, subject to five yearly reviews
(Saran, 2015, December 15). However, there will
be no penalties for not abiding by these voluntary
targets. The current plan is to re-visit and attempt
to tighten national commitments every five years.
As a result, the Paris Agreement does not address
the phenomena of climate change. It is simply a
scheme for reducing emission of green house gases
on a voluntary basis.
The significance of the Paris Agreement lies in
the fact that climate change action in future will
be conceived and carried out under this template
rather than UNFCCC and more than 190 countries
have agreed to it.
Climate Justice and Cop-21
From a developing country perspective, the Paris

Agreement is only a pale shadow of the UNFCCC
which was a much stronger instrument defining
rights and obligations of developed and developing
countries. The Paris Agreement obliterates the
distinction between developed and developing
countries, designating them as Annex I and the
non-Annex I Parties and thereby dilutes the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
Paris template also obliterates the principle of
historical responsibility of developed nations to
take stringent action to ensure economy wide emission reduction and to create enabling environment
for developing countries to opt for reduced emission through financing and technology transfer.
One of the biggest disappointments for developing countries has been that there is no binding
45
outcome on how to transfer green technology and

how to finance climate change actions especially
post-2020. However, establishment of the principle
that there cannot be any backsliding from targets
already submitted is welcome. If this principle
applies to climate financing then the already
committed 100 billion USD by 2020 should only go
up (Narain, 2015, December 20).
So far, we have tried to address a global
phenomenon, climate change, within the broad
parameters defined by two overarching institutionsthe nation state and the free market. Paris
Agreement is an example of how supremacy of
nation states and free market has constrained
ambitious goal-setting to address climate change.
Provision for only voluntary action by individual
nation states without any penalty and supervision
is derived from self-serving nature of nation states.
No binding commitment of public financing and
transfer of technology by developed countries leave
both these aspects to be determined by free market
which has so far proved to be woefully inadequate
to meet the requirements of developing countries in
building capacities for mitigation and adaptability
to climate change. Henceforth, it would depend on
political willingness and diplomatic prowess on the
part of both developed and developing countries to
ensure that meaningful action is taken to mitigate
climate change.
endnote
We are entering an era of climate apartheid

where developed countries are doing away with
their historic responsibility for climate change. A
climate change agreement is necessarily an agreement to regulate levels and patterns of energy
generation and consumption. The Paris Agreement did not set any target for developed countries
to cut down their emissions aggressively and did
away with common but differentiated responsibility. Since Rio and Kyoto, we have moved
backwards probably as the developed countries
have succeeded in imposing a regime change in
successive COPs in their own interest and exposed
the poorer section and countries of the world to
the vagaries of weather by denying them climate
justice. The issue of funding, mitigation and technology transfer remain the grey areas and are still
to be sorted out in the absence of clear directions
and substantive proposals. However the language
46
in the Paris text keeps these issues open for further

negotiations.
references
Das Gupta, C. (1994).The Climate Change

Negotiations in Mintzer, M.M. and J. Amber
Leonard (eds.) Negotiating Climate Change: The
Inside Story of the Rio Convention.Cambridge
University Press.
Foran, John. (2015, December 13). The Paris
Agreement: Paper Heroes Widen Climate Justice
Gap. The Climate Justice Project. Retrieved from
http://climatejusticeproject.com/2015/12/13/
the-paris-agreement-paper-heroes-widen-theclimate-justice-gap.
Global Environment Facility, Investing In Our
Planet.(2015). Report of GEF to 21st Session of
COP to the UNFCCC. Retrieved from https://
www.thegef.org/gef/node/11369.
International Conference on Climate Change and
Global Environmental Politics, Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi.
Leonard,Amber J.,(eds.) Negotiating Climate
Change: The Inside Story of the Rio Convention.
Cambridge University Press.
Narain, Sunita. (2015, December 20). The Endgame
for Justice. Business Standard. Retrieved from
http://www.business-standard.com/article/
opinion/sunita-narain-paris-the-endgame-forclimate-justice-115122000640_1.html.
Saran, Shyam. (2015, December 15). A Long Way
from Rio. Indian Express. Retrieved from http://
indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/
paris-climate-talks-a-long-way-from-rio.
Srivas, Anuj. (2015, September 26). Fighting
Climate change needs Climate Justice, says
India. The Wire. Retrieved from http://thewire.
in/2015/09/26/international-partnershipsmust-for-fighting-climate-change-saysmodi-11668.
Tripathi, Arun Kumar. (2009, March 18). Climate
Security and Geopolitics of Climate Change.
UN Climate Change Newsroom. Kyoto Protocol to
the United Nations Framework Conventionon
Climate Change (1997). Retrieved from http://
newsroom.unfccc.int.
The authors are Assistant Professor and Associate Professor,
respectively, Department of Geography, Kirori Mal College,
University of Delhi. anshubha@gmail.com
Cl im at e Ch a n g e in br ief
Aquifer Mapping
and Management
Programme
entral Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation is implementing a scheme during the XII Plan Period
for ground water management and regulation in which aquifer mapping is a component.
The aim of the new scheme is to delineate aquifer disposition on a scale of 1:50000 in 3D
and their characterisation along with area specific ground water management plans. An
area of 8.89 lakh sq km has been targeted to be covered during the XII Plan period, which
includes over exploited, critical and semi-critical areas prioritised for mapping in this phase.
An area of 116347 sq km, out of which, 17893 sq km area falls under Uttar Pradesh has been covered
under the aquifer mapping programme and an expenditure of INR 410.49 crore has been incurred by the
CGWB till January 2016. On completion of this programme information on aquifer mapping will be shared
with the respective state governments for ground water management with community involvement, wherein,
details on aquifer-wise ground water quantity and quality will be shared with stakeholders. The prepared
management plans will include strategies and measures to be adopted for sustainability of ground water
resources including its proper utilisation.
The central government has undertaken several steps towards proper utilisation of water resources:
The National Water Policy (2012) formulated by the Ministry, inter-alia, advocates conservation, promotion
and protection of water and highlights the need for augmenting the availability of water through rain water
harvesting, direct use of rainfall and other management measures. The National Water Policy (2012) has
been forwarded to all state governments/ UTs and concerned ministries/ departments of central government for adoption of the Policy.
This Ministry has circulated a Model Bill (2005) to all the states/UTs to enable them to enact suitable ground
water legislation for its regulation and development, which includes provision of rain water harvesting. So
far, 15 states/UTs have adopted and implemented the ground water legislation on the lines of the model bill.
30 states/UTs have made rain water harvesting mandatory by enacting laws or by formulating rules and
regulations or by including provisions in building bye-laws or through suitable governmental orders.
CGWB has also prepared a conceptual document entitled Master plan for artificial recharge to ground
water in India during 2013, involving ground water scientists/experts. The Master Plan envisages
construction of 1.11 crore rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures in the country at an
estimated cost of INR 79,178 crore to harness 85 billion cubic meter (BCM) of water. The augmented
ground water resources will enhance the availability of water for drinking, domestic, industrial and irrigation
purposes. The Master Plan has been circulated to all state governments for implementation.
As per Schedule-I of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the
water conservation and water harvesting structures to augment ground water constitute a special focus
area for MGNREGA works and about 2/3rd of the expenditure is directly related to construction of water
harvesting structures.
Besides, the CGWA has issued directives to the chief secretaries of all states and the administrators of all
UTs to take measures to promote/adopt artificial recharge to ground water/rain water harvesting.
CGWB has been organising mass awareness programmes in the country to promote rain water harvesting
and artificial recharge to ground water. Inputs from the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga
Rejuvenation, March 2016.

47
Cl im at e Ch a n g e P ol l u t ion
By Mohanraj r, SoMaSundaraM L and niShadh K a
Water Pollution in
river noyyal
River Noyyal, an important tributary of the Cauvery, was a significant source of
water in Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode and Karur districts in the 1980s. Since the
1990s, effluent discharge from the dyeing and bleaching units in and around
Tiruppur has ecologically damaged the river basin, bringing agriculture to a
standstill. Despite judicial intervention and the setting up of common effluent
treatment plants, the water quality remains unchanged.
ivers are among the key natural

resources of any country. Since a river
flows over a large terrain, it supports
a wide range of biodiversity and
sustains the livelihoods and the well
being of a myriad people and civilisations. Over
the last few decades, haphazard urbanisation,
unbridled expansion of manufacturing activities,
burgeoning growth in the use of chemical inputs
in agriculture and the sheer pressure of growing
populationsboth resident as well as floating,
has made river ecosystems unsustainable in
many parts of India. Many river basins are either
moderately or severely polluted irrespective of the
48
vastness of the respective basin area. For example,

the Ganga, which boasts of the largest river basin in
India, remains polluted in most stretches despite its
overall drainage accounting to 6080 million litre per
day (MLD).
To address pollution, the government of India
launched the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) way
back in 1986. This was followed by GAP-2 in
2009. However, till date the scenario remains
unchanged or even worse in certain stretches. In
Varanasi alone, over 250 MLD of untreated sewage
is discharged into the Ganga (Singh, 2014).
The river Noyyal in Tamil Nadu which
commands one of the smaller river basins in the
country is among the most polluted in India. The

Noyyal basin is a classic example of upstream
businessrelated operations having serious agroeconomic and ecological overtones downstream.
Water pollution in the noyyal basin
Noyyal originates in the pristine Vellingiri hills

in the Western Ghats of southern India, which is
a major biodiversity hotspot in India. Considered
an important sacred river, it is a river with an illustrious history. Way back in the tenth century BC,
the Chola kings built 40 check dams and lakes to
offset the low rainfall in the basin so as to make the
most of this riparian ecosystem.
Notwithstanding the scanty rainfall in this
region, the many lakes in the upper reaches of the
river basin are important habitat for rare pelicans
and ibis. Unfortunately, rapid urbanisation of the
industrial centers of Coimbatore and Tiruppur over
the last couple of decades has turned the Noyyal
into a cesspool (Sivakumar et al., 1996; Mohanraj et
al. 2000). The canals, lakes and check dams are in a
sad state, and prolonged negligence by civic officials
has totally destroyed the river basin, along with the
canals designed to irrigate an area of 8052 hectares
gradually shrinking in their capacity. The same is
true of the 3510 sq km catchment area.
The industrial town of Tiruppur, located 40
km down the river, has emerged as an important
garments production centre during the past
three decades. A centre for knitwear production,
particularly summer garments, Tiruppur exports
nearly 80 per cent of its production. Its exports have
grown from less than 2.2 million USD in 1984 to
3019 million USD in 2014 (The Hindu, 2015).
During the (19952004 boom period), more than
600 dyeing and bleaching units mushroomed in
Tiruppur. For every kilogram of yarn production,
nearly 200 litres of water is used. The daily intake
of water here is about 80,000 to 1,20,000 m3. Both
natural and synthetic dyes, along with more than
150 chemicals, such as common salt, detergent,
caustic soda and hydrogen peroxide are used to
colour the textiles.
In the initial years, since most units lacked
effluent treatment facilities, the effluents and solid
waste were disposed off into the river. Thus, the
effluent discharge into river Noyyal was around
75000m3 to 100000 m3 per day (Senthinathan,
2004). Consequently, the water quality down-
in 2013, the madras high Court

ordered the closure of all
dyeing units in tiruppur that
failed to comply with the ZlD
requirement yet pollution
continued unabated.
stream, and the groundwater in the area ended up

highly deteriorated.
Growing pressure from the public, intervention
from judicial bodies and various governmental
agencies forced the dyeing industries to ultimately
consent to treat their effluents prior to discharging
them into the river. While some units installed their
individual plants, others subscribed to common
effluent treatment plants (CETP) to collect and treat
effluents from member units.
Unfortunately, the existing CETPs largely follow
conventional treatment techniques which end up
producing a large quantity of solid waste, which is
another serious problem. When 5000 m3 of effluents are treated, about 6000 kg sludge is produced.
A suitable and safe site for the disposal of this huge
Fig. 1: A river management information system
(MIS) may typically contain
Real Time water

quality sensors
Open geospatical
consortium
platform sensor
observation
services
Data
validation
Data
visualisation
(Maps)
Sensor observation services

Python script to comma
separated values
Server
FTP
SMS
Components of
real-time water quality
monitoring, integration
with Sensor Observation Services (SOS) and
data dissemination.
Water quality sensors

Global system for
mobile communication
data card
Raspberry
pi
Source: Mohanraj R, et al
49
Fig. 2: Data visualization (MIS)
Source: Mohanraj R, et al
quantity of sludge, classified as hazardous waste, is

not easy to find. Moreover, solid waste needs to be
managed in an eco-friendly manner to avoid any
untoward environmental contamination in future.
For reuse and recycling of water, reverse osmosis
(RO) is now generally done in Tiruppur, notwithstanding the high initial cost, running costs
and power requirements. However, the issue of
pre-treatment prior to RO/ion exchange/nanofiltration techniques is daunting. Certain treatment
plants have opted for membrane bio-reactors
(MBR) and such techniques. But, till date, no
cost-effective treatment has been implemented to
alleviate the problem of water pollution either individually or in an integrated manner in Tiruppur. In
2013, the Madras High Court ordered the closure
of all dyeing and bleaching units in the Tiruppur
knitwear cluster that failed to comply with the zero
liquid discharge (ZLD) requirement. Yet, the pollution in River Noyyal continued unabated.
According to a recent report, in the last three years,
the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB)
reportedly found over 300 units involved in illegal
operations and discharging of untreated effluents
into the water bodies (Kumar, 2014 & Kumar, 2015).
Rajeswari, Subashkumar and Vijyaraman (2013) in
a study noted high concentration of total dissolved
solids (TDS) ranging between 68009870 mg/l in
50
the CETP effluent. It should be noted, though, in

tandem with the growth of knitwear industries, the
urban population of Tiruppur has shown a 27.4 per
cent decadal growth (2001-2011). However, there is
a substantial lack in the development of sanitation
and sewage treatment facilities for the growing
population. This has resulted in discharge of
substantial quantities of untreated/partially treated
sewage into the river (Matthews, 2015).
MIS for Water Quality Management
Given the complexities involved in managing

pollution in the Noyyal basin, a management information system (MIS) can provide the best solution
to the problem. MIS has been long used as a tool
for decision making in agricultural management.
Today, in tandem with open-source computing,
MIS is being increasingly used in various other
sectors such as disaster management, agricultural
forecasts, river water management and urban sanitation. Although the concept of MIS is complex;
however, it can be simply expressed as: data transformation information decision - action.
In MIS, a set of observations (data) made manually or by automated systems is transformed into
information, which contributes to decision-making
process (Fig. 1).
The MIS system has the following components:
Data
capture and processing (from sensors)

The data from sensors is integrated with
sensor observation services (SOS) via a serial
connection and networking with central
server for real time updating of the SOS. As per
the deployment situation either Internet file
transfer protocol (FTP) based networking or
short message service (SMS) based networking
is used to communicate between server and
monitor. In the case of River Noyyal, sensors
which could monitor real-time parameters such
as total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved oxygen
(DO) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) can
be installed to monitor the surface water quality
of the river and check dams within Tiruppur
(near the locations of CETP and dyeing units)
and downstream (around Kasipalayam,
Orathupalayam, Chinnamuthur).
Data dissemination through analytics as well
as through maps. Here the web map application
based on open source tools comprising a web
map and various menu links, which provides for
viewing the SOS in different formats, can be used.
Fig. 2. shows the various processes and components involved in the web application.
Geographic information system (GIS) MIS
flags for action: in the MIS concept, it is possible
to integrate flagging of issues from real-time
data. For instance, if the data from a particular
sensor has crossed a pre-fixed threshold level,
then the particular flag may be alerted (along
with the geo-reference) so that the authorities
get immediate information either through SMS
or emails to act upon.
Thus MIS linked GIS can alert the authorities as
well as public (through relevant mobile apps) about
the pollution on real-time basis and consequently
pave the way for better management of the water
quality in the basin.
endnote
Creation of MIS linked to GIS can be a starting

point in river management for sustainability.
With data on industries (by type of industry),
population density around rivers loaded in the
same MIS linked to GIS, it is possible to build
a full-fledged information system in the form
of value-at-risk model. This can help not just
monitor the pollution in river Noyyal, but other
Indians rivers as well.
references
Kumar, R. Vimal. (2014 February 11) Pollution

of Noyyal continues unabated. The Hindu.
Retrieved from http://www.thehindu.com/
news/national/tamil-nadu/pollution-ofnoyyal-continues-unabated/article5674
550.ece.
Kumar, R. Vimal. (2015 May 2). Effluent discharge
into water bodies continues in Tiruppur. The
Hindu. Retrieved from http://www.thehindu.
com/news/national/tamil-nadu/effluentdischarge-into-water-bodies-continues-inTiruppur/article7163882.ece
Matthews A. (2015 August 21). The environmental
crisis in your closest. Newsweek. Retrived
from http://www.newsweek.com/2015/08/21/
environmental-crisis-your-closet-362409.html
Mohanraj, R., Sathishkumar, M., Azeez, P.A.,
& Sivakumar, R. (2000). Pollution status of
wetlands in urban Coimbatore. Bulletin of
environmental contamination and toxicology,
64(5): 638-643.
Rajeswari, K., Subashkumar, R., & Vijyaraman,
K. (2013). Physico-chemical parameters of
effluents collected from Tiruppur textile
dyeing and CETP and analysis of heterotropic
bacterial population. Journal of Microbiology
and Biotechnology Research, 3(5), 37-41.
Senthinathan, S. (2004). An assessment of micro
level environmental status of Noyyal River
basin, Tamilnadu, India. Project Report
Submitted to Public Works Department
(Funded by World Bank), Tamilnadu, India.
Singh, B. (2014 August 27). 250 MLD sewage
everyday turning Ganga into a drain. Times
of India. Retrieved from http://timesofindia.
indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/250-MLDsewage-everyday-turning-Ganga-into-adrain/articleshow/41025403.cms
Sivakumar, R., Mohanraj, R., & Azeez, P. A.
(1996). Pollution status river Noyyal in
Tiruppur, Tamilnadu, India. First Indian
Ecological Congress. New Delhi.
The authors are Assistant Professor, Department
of Environmental Management, Bharathidasan
University, Tiruchirappalli; Director, Akara Research and
Technologies, Chennai; and, Research Scholar, Salim Ali
centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore
respectively. nishadhka@gmail.com
51
Cl im at e Ch a n g e in br ief
Improving the
Ambient Air
Quality in India
he National Ambient Quality Standards notify 12 pollutants, namely,

PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, O3, CO, NH3, benzene, lead, arsenic, nickel, BaP
(particulate phase), to be extremely toxic. The ambient air quality is monitored
regularly in 254 cities, towns, and industrial areas of the country by the Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB), State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) /
Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) and NEERI for three to eight pollutants.
Analysis of these data indicates fluctuating trends on the basis of individual pollutants in
ambient air. Out of the 46 million plus cities, ambient air quality data monitored under National
Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) during 2015 available for 41 cities indicate that
the values of SO2 are within the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of 50 g/m3
(annual standard). The value of NO2 in nine cities (exceeded the NAAQS of 40 g/m3 (annual
standard); while the value of PM10, in 38 cities do not comply with the NAAQS of 60 g/m3
(annual standard). The PM10 value in three cities complies with the National Standard of 60 g/
m3 (annual standard). The report brought out by the Greenpeace India is on the basis of NASA
data which is based on the extrapolated and constructed data without field validation.
The steps taken by the present government to mitigate air pollution in metropolitan cities in the
country include the following:
Notification of NAAQS envisaging 12 pollutants;
Formulation of environmental regulations/statutes;
Setting up of monitoring network for assessment of ambient air quality;
Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like gaseous fuel, ethanol blend etc. replacing petrol
and diesel;and,
Promotion of cleaner production processes.
Taking note of the gravity of air pollution, the measures that have been put in place include:
Launched National Air Quality index in April, 2015 starting with 10 cities and now extending
to 23 cities; Implementation of Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) norms in 63 selected cities and
universalisation of BS-IV by 2017; Decision taken to leapfrog directly from BS-IV to BS-VI
fuel standards by 1st April, 2020; Comprehensive review of all waste management rules
including municipal solid waste, plastic waste, hazardous waste, bio-medical waste and
electronic waste. Ban on burning of leaves, biomass, municipal solid waste;
Promotion of public transport network of metro, buses, e-rickshaws and
promotion of car pooling, pollution under control, lane discipline, vehicle
maintenance; Revision of existing environmental standards and formulation of new standards for prevention and control of pollution from industries;
Regular co-ordination meetings at official and ministerial level with Delhi and other State
Governments within the NCR; Issuance of directions under Section 5 of Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986 and under Section 18(1)(b) of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981; and,
Installation of on-line continuous (24x7) monitoring devices by major industries.Inputs
52
from the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, March 2016.
A g r icu lt ur e crop s
By A K SiKKA, B K KAndpAl, Adlul iSlAm and S K dhyAni
Climate Change
and Wheat
Over the last two decades, there is a decline in the average yield in wheat
production. A close examination of the weather data indicates that this decline
may be related to climate change.
heat is the worlds third most

important cereal crop, after
maize and rice. Globally, it
occupies 222 million ha areas
across all major regions of
the world and produces 729 million tonnes (MT)
grains. India contributes 13 per cent to the global
wheat production of 729, with 94.5 MT grown on
31.2 million ha areas (fao.org).
Since 1961, there has been an annual growth rate
of 4.19 per cent, with a 1.5 per cent annual horizontal expansion in area and 2.64 per cent vertical
expansion in yield. However, despite an augmented
availability of critical inputs, there is a significant

average decline in annual wheat production over
the last two decades (Fig. 1). A closer examination of
the weather data indicates that the declining trend
in yield may be attributed to climate variability and
climate change (Kumar et al., 2012).
recent climate change trends
Climate change and variability are emerging as

major challenges for the Indian agricultural sector.
The high inter and intra-seasonal variability in
rainfall distribution, rainfall events and extreme
temperatures are causing crop damages and losses
53
Fig. 1: Area (Mha), production (MT) and yield (kg/ha) of wheat in India during 1961-2014, and decadal
annual growth rates (per cent) since 1961.
100
4.0
Area, production and yield of wheat in India (1961-2014)
3.5
Area (Mha)
80
Production (Mt)
3.0
60
2.5
2.0
40
Yield (t/ha)
Area (Mha)/Production (Mt)
Yield (t/ha)
1.5
20
1.0
0.5
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
Source: FAOSTAT, 2014.
Annual growth rates (per cent)
8.0
Area
Year
1990
1995
Yield
2000
2005
2010
2015
Production
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
1961
1970 1980
1990 2000
2010
2014 1961
Year
1970
1980
1990 2000
2010 2014
Year
1961
1970
1980
1990 2000
2010 2014
Year
Source: FAOSTAT, 2014.
Fig. 2: Impact of climate change on wheat yield in 2050s and 2080s climate scenarios with different
adaptation options
Relative yield deviation (per cent change from

mean yields of 2000-07 period)
Mean 2050
Mean 2080
0
-5
-10
-15
-20
-25
Impact
-30
Timely sown
current variety
improved
management
Timely sown,
current variety,
improved
management with
additional fertiliser
Source: Naresh Kumar et al., 2014
54
Timely sown
improved
variety
Timely sown,
improved
variety and
management
Timely sown,
improved variety
and management,
with additional
fertiliser
to farmers. Studies pertaining to India show enough

evidence of rising mean temperatures during the
post-1970 period. A warming of 0.21C per 10 years
during the post-1970 period as compared to 0.51C
rise per 100 years during the past century has been
reported. In many parts of India, the frequency
of occurrence of cold nights has declined, while
the frequency of warm nights and warm days has
significantly increased. Besides, the country experienced 15 deficit and 6 excess monsoon years in the
post-1960 period in comparison to only 27 deficit
and 20 excess monsoon years during 1871-2014.
The pattern of climate change has already begun
affecting Indian agriculture adversely through
enhanced abiotic and biotic stresses on crops and
livestock.
Various climate models indicate a consistent
warming trend over India in short, mid as well as
long-term scenarios (Chaturvedi et al., 2012). In
comparison to the 1960-90 baseline period, the
mean annual temperature over India is projected to
increase 1.7-2.0C by 2030s, 2.5-3.0C by 2050s and
4.0-5.0C by 2080s. Similarly, a substantial increase
of 6-14 per cent in extreme precipitation by 2080s is
projected for large areas of India, particularly over
the west coast and west central India (Rupa Kumar
et al., 2006). In addition, droughts and floods as well
as cold and heat waves are likely to increase due to
the rise in temperature which may cause up to 30
per cent crop losses by the 2080s (Singh, 2010).
Impact of climate change on Wheat

production
Wheat is already facing the negative impacts of

climate change in many parts of the country due to
rising temperatures, water stress, reduction in rainy
days and increased incidence of disease and pest
attacks. The rise in temperature, though, is bound
to be a major denominator as almost 93 per cent of
the area under wheat is irrigated. In Haryana, night
temperatures during February-March, 2004 were
recorded to be 3C above normal. This saw a decline
in wheat productivity from 4106 kg/ha to 3937 kg/
ha during this period (Ranuzzi & Srivastava, 2012).
In general, climate change enhances variability
in abiotic and biotic stresses which influence
germination, growth, reproduction, pollination,
fertilisation and maturity processes of crops, crop
duration, and, incidence of diseases and pests.
Consequently, crop productivity and quality, crop
diversity, and input efficiency is affected. Further,

change in rainfall intensity and pattern can affect
water availability and water demand, and hence
cause a proliferation of new and existing pests.
The optimal growth conditions for spring wheat
are achieved when temperatures range between
12 and 23C. In India, this situation usually begins
in November/December, with the growing season
ending by March/April when there is a gradual
rise in temperature. The crop needs sufficiently
prolonged cool period to promote tillering and
flowering. Any departure from the optimal range
causes some level of stress, decline in yield attributes
and hence loss of yield. Temperatures greater than
34C significantly accelerate the senescence of
leaves, while a temperature of 40C is considered to
be the critical threshold level.
If a maximum temperature above 47.5C occurs,
it is lethal for the crop, and can cause immediate
drying or maturing (Koehler et al., 2013). Further,
high temperatures combined with high air
humidity encourage disease and pest incidence
especially rust problems.
Several studies have been carried out to quantify
the impacts of climate change on Indian agriculture, and particularly wheat (Kumar, 2011).
Although there are variations across the models
for the magnitude of the impact, all models predict
similar changes.
Recently, the Infocrop-Wheat model projected
an overall yield reduction of 6 to 23 per cent by the
2050s and 15 to 25 per cent by the 2080s. A higher
reduction in yield is projected for warmer central
and southern regions (Kumar et al., 2014). Thus,
the major predictions for the wheat scenario in
the country include: higher temperature range
in future with increased number of heat events
(likely to double in the next 50 years), disruption in sowing due to high temperatures during
sowing period, possibilities of losses upto 4-6 MT
in wheat production in future with every 1oC rise
in temperature throughout the growing period,
substantial loss of suitable production environment due to overall increase in temperature,
increase in CO2 to 550 ppm may augment yields
of wheat by 10-20 per cent, significant impacts
on quality of wheat grain increased frequency of
droughts and floods likely to increase production
variability, and considerable threats of pathogens
and insects.
55
With every 1oC rise in

temperature throughout the
growing period, an estimated
decline of 4 to 6 MT in wheat
production may be seen.
Coping with weather aberrations
Studies showed that simple and low cost adaptation options, such as improvement in sowing
time, increased and efficient use of inputs, and
crop management practises could not only reverse
reduction in yield, but also improved yields until
the middle of the century (Fig. 2)
With increase in temperature many physiological and biological activities get restricted which
results in lower fertiliser uptake and photosynthesis. Further, many soil microbial and chemical
processes also discourage uptake of sufficient
nutrients. Overall the net availability of fertiliser
to plants gets restricted. Therefore, enhancing
fertiliser dose could compensate the loss in yield
due to climate change.
These mitigation strategies entail the changing
of the micro-climate for the crop production.
Using this, a marginal gain in wheat by 2050 is
reasonable. But, by 2080, the further rising of
temperature will again shorten the growing season
beyond a critical threshold duration required for
sufficient growth in vegetative and reproductive
stages. Thus, despite advanced technologies, the
shortened crop duration and higher temperature
might cause lower yields.
Field and simulation studies have shown that the
impact of climate change could effectively be offset
through adoption of various adaptation measures. The short term adaptation options include
preparing farmers for coping with climate change,
adoption of improved crop varieties and smart
farming practices, adoption of efficient water and
nutrient management measures and improved flow
of information to farmers. Medium term options
include breeding varieties for better resistance to
heat and biotic stresses, high water and nutrient use
efficiencies and ability to take advantage of elevated
CO2; adoption of improved conservation technolo56
gies, crop diversification, and enabling economic

and policy environment.
Smart practices and technologies
Over the years, arrays of practices and technologies have been developed to manage the seasonal
variations, and adoption of such resilient practices and technologies by farmers now appears
to be more of a necessity than an option. Therefore, Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(ICAR) took a major initiative to strengthen
and converge the random efforts of institutes
through launching of National Innovation
on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) in
2010-11. Since then, the project has identified
several smart practices and technologies that
could help wheat farmers to cope with climate
variability. These include: (i) short duration and
heat tolerant varieties, (ii) recharge of shallow
aquifers, (iii) rainwater harvesting and recycling
through check dam, jalkunds and farm ponds,
(iv) improvement in conveyance efficiency and
adoption of micro-irrigation techniques, (v)
improved planting methods, (vi) adoption of
integrated nutrient management practices, (vii)
adoption of conservation agriculture based
integrated crop management practices including
zero-till drill wheat, (viii) adoption of resource
conservation techniques viz. laser levelling and
broad bed-furrow (BBF) planting, (ix) surface
mulching and in situ incorporation of biomass
and crop residues, (x) building village level seed
banks, (xi) integrated farming system modules,
(xii) custom hiring centres for farm machinery,
and (xiii) crop diversification.
Farmers adaptability
The climate change scenario has made a paradigm

shift in farming objectives from enhancing
productivity to sustaining production. This
requires a change in the mindset and capacity
building of farmers. Our experiences through the
technology dissemination component of NICRA
has demonstrated that this could be achieved
through participatory R&D processes, promoting
adaptive research and field demonstrations,
trainings and capacity building of farmers and
extension workers, and strengthening farmerextension worker-scientist linkages (Prasad et al.,
2015) through farmers field schools.
Table 1: Recommended stress tolerant wheat

varieties for different zones
Wheat varieties
Traits
Zone/State
PBW550
Resistant to yellow rust
Punjab, Haryana, West
Uttar Pradesh (except
Jhansi division)
VL 892
Medium fertility and
Hills of Himachal Pradesh
restricted irrigation
and Uttarakhand
condition
H1 1544
High fertility and irrigated Madhya Pradesh, Rajasconditions
than (Kota and Udaipur
divisions) and Gujarat
PBW 527
Drought tolerance
North west plains
HI 1531, HI 1500, HI 8627
Drought tolerance
Central Zone
HD 2888
HPW 349, PBW 644, WH
1080, HD 3043, PBW 396,
K 9465, K 8962, MP 3288,
HD 4672, NIAW 1415, HD
2987
NIAW 34
Raj 3765
Raj 4037
KRL 14, KRL 19, KRL 210,
KRL 213
HD 2967
Narendra Wheat 4018
Drought tolerance
Drought tolerance
Eastern India
Northern and central wheat
growing areas
High temperature stress

tolerance
tolerance
tolerance
Salinity stress tolerance
Peninsular zone late sown

conditions
North western plain for late
sown conditions
Peninsular India for normal
sown conditions
Inland saline areas
Rusts resistance
North Western Plain Zone

and North Eastern Plain
Zone
Uttar Pradesh
Resistant to brown rust and

leaf blight
Source: ICAR, 2015. The high yielding varieties that can withstand severe change in weather pattern including
deficient rainfall/drought and varieties suitable for biotic and abiotic stresses. (ADG-Seeds, ICAR, New Delhi).
dissemination of information
Timely information is a critical tool to act against

the vagaries of climate. It needs strengthening of
infrastructure to transmit the information on real
time basis. Concerted efforts are also required to
generate and timely disseminate medium and short
term forecasts and nowcasts with associated risk
management practices, market information and
contingent plans for extreme weather events. ICAR
has already developed and demonstrated dynamic
contingency plans and general crop advisories
to tackle possible weather eventualities for 600
districts.
Climate resilient crop varieties
Climate resilient crop varieties play a crucial role in

coping with climate variability in agriculture. The
ICAR institutes and state agricultural universities
(SAUs) are making concerted efforts to develop

high yielding wheat cultivars with enhanced tolerance to delayed monsoon and drought situations
(Table 1).
economic and policy Issues
A clear and long-term policy support is required

to enhance sustainability in wheat production and
food security of the country. Strategies for water
and nutrient management support to R&D towards
climate change, and management of risk and uncertainties in wheat production are to be assigned
higher priority. The policies on water management
should incentivise its conservation and efficient
use, while policies on nutrient management need
to promote integrated nutrient management
practices, fertigation and crop residues recycling.
Besides this, high priority should be placed on R&D
57
icAr has developed

contingency plans and crop
advisories to tackle possible
weather eventualities for 600
districts in india.
efforts to breed multiple stress tolerant varieties,

production of enough quality seeds, developing
and up-scaling appropriate agronomic practices,
and innovative extension policies. Newly launched,
January 13, 2016, scheme of Pradhan Mantri Fasal
Beema Yojana (PMFBY) has already broadened the
scope of safety net and addresses issues pertaining
to climate change.
endnote
Climate change has emerged as a major challenge

to agriculture, and the ICAR has initiated NICRA
project with the three components of strategic
research, technology demonstration and capacity
building to enhance its resilience. Besides this,
ICAR is already working to strengthen interaction between agricultural scientists and farmers,
and better convergence between research and
development needs. The Indian government is also
addressing the issues of climate change through
National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture
(NMSA launched in 2011-12) as programmatic
intervention to infuse the judicious use of resources
especially through community based approach.
Besides, climate resilient interventions have been
embedded and mainstreamed into missions/
programmes/schemes of Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DAC & FW) through a
process of restructuring and convergence.
references
Chaturvedi, R.K., Joshi J., Jayaraman, M., Bala,

G., & Ravindranath, N.H. (2012). Multimodel climate change projections for India
under representative concentration pathways.
Current Science. 103 (7), 791802.
Koehler, A.K., Challinor A.J., Hawkins Ed., &
Asseng, S. (2013). Influences of increasing
temperature on Indian wheat: quantifying
limits to predictability. Environmental
58
Research Letters. 8, 1-9. Retrieved from

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034016
Kumar, SN.
(2011). Climate change and
Indian agriculture: Current understanding
on impacts, adaptation, vulnerability and
mitigation. J. Plant Biol. 37, 116.
Kumar, SN., Aggarwal, P.K., Rani, S., Jain, S.,
Saxena, R., & Chauhan, N. (2011). Impact
of climate change on crop productivity in
Western Ghats, coastal and northeastern
regions of India. Curr. Sci. 101:3342.
Kumar, Naresh, S., Singh, A.K., Aggarwal, P.K.,
Rao, VUM, & Venkateswarlu, B. (2012).
Climate change and Indian Agriculture:
Impact, Adaptation and Vulnerability-Salient
Achievements from ICAR Network Project.
IARI Publication, 32.
Kumar, SN, S., Aggarwal, P.K., Swaroopa, Rani
D.N., Saxena, R., Chauhan, N., & Jain, S.
(2014). Vulnerability of wheat production
to climate change in India. Climate Research.
Retrieved from doi:10.3354/cr01212
FAO, (2015). faostat3.fao.org/browse/Q/QC/E.
Prasad, Y.G., Srinivasa, Rao Ch., Rao JVNS.,
Rao K.V., Ramana, DBV., Gopinath, K.A.,
Srinivas, I., Reddy, B.S., Adake, R., Rao, VUM,
Maheswari, M., Singh, A.K., & Sikka A.K.
(2015). Technology Demonstrations: Enhancing
resilience and adaptive capacity of farmers to
climate variability. National Innovations in
Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) Project,
ICAR - Central Rsearch Institute for Dryland
Agriculture, Hyderabad. 109.
Ranuzzi, A., & Srivastava, R. (2012). Impact
of climate change on agriculture and food
security. ICRIER, Policy Series NO. 16.
Rupa Kumar, K., Sahai, A.K., Kumar, K.K.,
Patwardhan, S.K., Mishra, P.K., Revadekar,
J.V., Kamala, K., & Pant, G.B. (2006). Highresolution climate change scenarios for India
for the 21st century. Current Science, 90, 334
344.
Singh, AK. (2010). Climate change sensitivity
of Indian Horticulture-Role of Technological
Interventions, 4th Indian Horticultural
Congress, Nov. 18-21, New Delhi.
The authors are, Deputy Director General and Principal
Scientists, respectively, Natural Resource Management
Division, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New
Delhi. basantkandpal@gmail.com
Term Power raTing
DISASTER PROOFING
Below are the answers and explanations to the few terms that we placed before you on page 29.
The categories of your expertise are listed below. Do write back to us with your comments at
editor@geographyandyou.com and let us know how you fared.
1 to 6 Correct - Informed 7 to 10 Correct - Knowledge bank

11 to 14 Correct - Encyclopaedia
1. Retrofitting
Ans. a: Reinforcement or upgrading of existing

structures to become more resistant and resilient to the
damaging effects of hazards.
2. Richter Scale
Ans. c: The Richter scale is a 0-10 logarithmic scale,

which defines magnitude of an earthquake.
3. Seismicity
Ans. b: The frequency, intensity, and distribution of

earthquakes in a given area.
4. Landfall
Ans. a: Landfall is the event of a storm moving over

land after being over water. When a waterspout makes
landfall it becomes a regular tornado, which can then
cause damage inland.
5. Knots
Ans. c: A unit for measuring the speed of ships,

aircrafts, and wind. A knot is one nautical mile per hour
(1 knot = 1.15 miles per hour).
6. Beaufort Scale
Ans. a: A scale of wind speed based on a visual

estimation of the wind's effects, ranging from force 0
(less than 1 knot or 1 km/h, calm) to force 12 (64 knots
or 118 km/h and above, hurricane).
7. El Nio Southern Oscillations
Ans. b: The El Nio-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a

naturally occurring phenomenon that involves fluctuating ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.
The warmer waters essentially slosh, or oscillate,
back and forth across the Pacific, much like water in
a bath tub.
8. Epicenter
Ans. c: The epicenter is the point on the earth's surface
vertically above the hypocenter (or focus), point in the

crust where a seismic rupture begins.
9. Famine
Ans. a: A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused

by several factors including crop failure, population
imbalance, or government policies. This phenomenon is
usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition,
starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality.
10. Lahar
Ans. a: Hot or cold mixture of earthen material flowing

on the slope of a volcano either during or between
volcanic eruptions. The material flows down from a
volcano, typically along a river valley.
11. Aerosol
Ans. a: An aerosol can be defined as a system of

solid or liquid particles suspended in air. Aerosols can
vary in size and composition. When these particles
are sufficiently large, we notice their presence as they
scatter and absorb sunlight.
12. Aquifer
Ans. b: An aquifer is an underground layer of waterbearing permeable rock, rock fractures or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt) from which
groundwater can be extracted using a well.
13. Biota
Ans. c: A biota is the total collection of organisms

of a geographic region or a time period, from local
geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales
all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale.
14. Brine
Ans. a: Water that is saturated or partially saturated

with salt and minerals. It was basically used to preserve
vegetables, fish, and meat in earlier times. It is also the
effluent of desalination plants along the coast, which can
pose to be a hazard for oceanic life-forms.
59
A g r icu lt ur e crop s
AgriculturAl
Biotechnologies
Application of biotechnology in agriculture and husbandry might be the next step

to food security in India. Proper infrastructure, technology and market systems
are crucial to materialise.
By NarayaN G HeGde
pplication of biotechnology in Indian

agriculture gained prominence
with the cultivation of transgenic
BT cotton crop in 2002. Since then,
India has taken the lead in exploring
the potential of biotechnology on various fronts.
The biotechnology programme in agriculture
includes molecular mapping of genes of important
plants, marker genes for selection of quality traits,
development of transgenic crops, tissue culture for
plant propagation, bio-fertilisers, bio-pesticides,
vermicomposting, biodegradation of wastes and
toxic substances and mushroom production.
With regard to transgenic crops, the objectives of
breeding new genetically modified crops were, to
increase crop yield, to improve product quality,
to increase nutritional values, reduce biotic stress,
build tolerance to abiotic stress such as drought,
frost, heat, salinity, herbicide and to produce plantbased pharmaceuticals.
Genetically modified crops
When the genetically modified BT hybrid cotton

was introduced in 2002, 55,000 farmers cultivated
it on 30,000 ha (Clive, 2011). There was an initial
setback because of certain concerns such as low yield,
non-resistance against sucking pests and high cost
of inputs. With the rectification of these problems,
BT cotton was widely accepted across the country.
In 2014, 7.5 million farmers were engaged in cultivation of BT Cotton on 11.6 million ha, covering 96
per cent of the total area under cotton production.
Over 1100 varieties were used and more than 50 per
cent of the farmers were small land holders (USDA
2014). Indian cotton production increased from
13 million bales in 2002 to 40 million bales in 2014
enhancing the income of farmers from 300 to 400
60
per cent (Chopra & Kamma 2015). With the cultivation of BT cotton, BT cotton seed oil and BT cotton
seed cakes have entered the food chain in India. In
2007, the Government of India allowed the import of
glyphosate tolerant genetically modified soybean oil
and canola oil to meet the growing demand for edible
oils. Presently, India ranks fourth among genetically
modified crop producing countries in the world.
Despite phenomenal progress in genetically
modified cotton production, India has been very
hesitant in introducing other genetically modified
crops, mainly due to failure to exhibit resistance
against all pests, low crop yield, high cost of seeds,
heavy dependence on seed companies, lack of
mechanism to monitor safety measures and assess
risk, inadequate bio-safety studies, monopoly of a
few multi national companies and lack of transparency. However, with National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) Government coming to power in 2014,
11 new crops have been approved for field trials
(USDA, 2014). These include corn, rice, mustard,
wheat, sugarcane, groundnut, brinjal, okra,
cabbage, cauliflower and tomato for insect resistance, herbicide tolerance, stress resistance, drought
resistance, enrichment of nutrients, vitamin, sugar,
proteins, etc (GoI, 2015 ).
A number of public and private research institutions have taken up studies on identification
of marker-assisted genes, development of new
transgenic crops and varieties. It is also important
to note that there are alternative technologies to
incorporate genes of positive trait using marker
gene without genetic engineering. Preference
should be given to such varieties.
Tissue Culture
Tissue culture is another important programme
becoming popular and commercially viable in India

for rapid propagation of superior plants, elimination of viral diseases, germplasm storage, inducing
desirable, heritable changes, incorporating
potentially useful genes, somatic hybridisation
and regeneration of transgenic plants through
transfer of genes into protoplasts. Presently, India
is producing over 190 crore plantlets every year
particularly for cultivating horticulture crops
like banana, strawberry, cardamom, sugarcane,
ornamentals, aromatic, medicinal and forestry
crops. Tissue cultured plants are very well accepted
by small farmers due to assured quality and timely
guidance to adopt good production practices.
biofertilisers and biopesticides
Use of biofertilisers and biopesticides are also

becoming popular during the last two decades.
During 2012-13, over 0.5 million tonnes of biofertilisers were produced while the potential is 2.5
million tonnes a year. Presently, the biofertilisers
under commercial production are Rhizobium,
Azotobacter, Azospirillum, Herbspirillum, Azolla
and Blue Green Algae species for nitrogen fixing,
Pseudomonas and Bacillus species for phosphate
solubilisation, Frateuria species for potash solubilisation and Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae (VAM)
for micro-nutrient supply (Mazid & Khan, 2014).
Commercial production of biopesticides has
also been undertaken by the private sector for
crop protection. This includes biofungicides,
bactericides, bioinsecticides and bionematicides.
These products have been well accepted by farmers
because of their low cost, easy availability and
safety, while ensuring effective control.
biotechnology for animal husbandry
Use of frozen semen for breeding cattle and buffaloes since mid 1970s has already ushered in a White
Revolution in India. Indeed, BAIF was the leader
in taking this technology to small farmers across
the country. India has been successful in clonal
propagation of buffaloes. However, the major
research focus is on genomic studies of Indian
cattle and buffaloes to identify genes for economic
traits such as heat/cold tolerance, disease resistance,
calving interval, milk yield, high protein and fat,
etc. and marker added selection for productivity
enhancement. Use of embryos for bull production,
Karyotyping for screening of cattle against genetic
disorders and use of sexed semen for producing
female milch animals are the other initiatives in
animal production, which are likely to make a

significant impact on the earnings of small farmers.
Selection of thermo-stable microbial strains for
production of efficient diagnostics and vaccines
is another area of priority. Technologies have
been developed for efficient recycling of dung and
bio-waste through vermicomposting and biogas
production using efficient microbes, which benefit
small farmers who represent 87 per cent of land
holders in India.
Studies on identification and introduction of
bacteria which can suppress methane production in rumen, to improve feed efficiency, while
reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, need
greater attention.
endnote
Biotechnology sector in India is generating an

annual income of 4 billion USD with agricultural
biotechnology having a share of 14 per cent. With
the change in the policy to grow genetically modified crops, agricultural biotechnology is bound
to have a major role in food security and rural
prosperity in India. It is crucial to develop critical
infrastructure to facilitate backward and forward
linkages and build the capacity of the farmers to
have access to appropriate technology and market
information systems.
references
Chopra, P & Kamma, A. (2015). Genetically

Modified Crops in India: The Current Status Of
GM Crops in India. Genetic Frenetics. Retrieved
from:
www.paraschopra.com/publications/
gm/gm.pdf.
Govt. of India, (2015), Annual Report 2014-15,
Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate
Change, 47-48.
James, Clive. (2011). Global Status of
Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: (Brief
No. 43) ISAAA: Ithaca, NY.
Mazid, M., & Khan, T. A. (2014). Future of Biofertilizers in Indian Agriculture: An Overview.
International Journal of Agricultural and Food
Research. 3(3), 10-13.
USDA. (2014) India Agricultural Biotechnolgy
Annual. USDA Foreign Agricultural Report in
4059. Global Agricultural Information Network.
The author is Trustee and Principal Adviser, BAIF
Development Research Foundation, Pune.
nghegde@baif.org.in
61
A g r icu lt ur e in br ief
Detecting Milk
Adulteration
new technology to analyse and detect adulteration in milk has been developed
by CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CEERI),
Pilani. This technology is based on acquiring electrochemical fingerprint
coupled with multivariate data analysis techniques. There are no systems
currently available even globally, based on similar methods. This innovation
represents the first fully Indian concept to implementation effort in instrumentation related to milk and dairy, addressing an unmet need.
The R&D work was started on the basis of industry requirement in the dairy sector and
reports/survey available during the time in electronic and print media. According to the recent
reports, over 68 per cent of milk in the country does not conform to the standards set by the Food
Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) based on the national vide survey conducted by
FSSAI in 2011. According to the FSSAI 2011 survey, the most common adulterant was found to
be the water, besides, other adulterants such as glucose, skimmed milk powder, urea, detergent,
refined oil, caustic soda and white paint, which, according to the study, are very hazardous to
human life and can cause serious diseases.
Deeper understanding of the role of milk in human health, as a critical component has
stimulated interest in the development of the present cost-effective technology. The adoption
and deployment of the innovation in as many villages and milk societies possible would be a step
forward in enhancing and implementing the standards and quality of milk. Besides it can help in
generating employment. The technology excels in its ability to detect known and unknown adulterants in milk and has a great potential to be used widely in the dairy industry. This technology
has been transferred to two industries, namely Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments (REIL),
Jaipur in December 2012 and Alpine Technologies, Surat in December 2015 for manufacturing
and commercialisation. REIL has manufactured system based on the technology costing around
INR 70,000 to INR 100,000. The other industry is in the process of setting up manufacturing
facilities. The recurring cost for testing a milk sample through this new technology is around INR
0.05 - 0.10. The sample measurement time is nearly 40-45 seconds.
Two Indian patents were filed related to this innovation:
P C Panchariya, A H Kiranmayee & S Raghunath, A novel method and a system based on
voltammetry for characterisation and discrimination of liquids India, 0568/DEL/ 2010A.
P C Panchariya, A H Kiranmayee, R S Chouhan, & P Bhanu Prasad, A method and system for
detection of synthetic milk in natural milk, India, 0198/DEL/2013A.

Efforts are on to enhance the deployment of the technology. Inputs from the Ministry of Science &
Technology, March 2016.
62
increasing crop
Productivity in india
he per hectare productivity of most of the agricultural crops cultivated in India is less as compared
to China and many countries in Europe and America. Major reasons for low productivity of
agricultural crops in India are varied agro climatic conditions, pre dominantly rain-fed agriculture,
inefficient use of irrigation resources, weather extremities, fragmented land holdings, complex
diseases and pests scenario, low use of good quality seeds and low adoption of improved package
of practices, etc. Further, in the above countries, the agricultural crops are largely grown in high
input management conditions with long growing period and without any moisture stress.
In order to increase the production and productivity of agricultural crops in the country and improve income
levels of farmers, the Indian government state governments, is implementing several crop development schemes/
programmes such as National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Bringing
Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI), National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP), National
Mission on Agriculture Extension & Technology (NMAET), National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA),
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH); National
Mission on Agricultural Extension & Technology (NMAET); Unified National Agriculture Markets, etc.
Under these schemes/programmes, funds are provided to states for implementation of state-specific agricultural strategies including incentives to farmers for use of quality seeds, integrated nutrient management (INM),
integrated pest management (IPM), farm mechanisation, etc. The states are also provided support for creation of
agricultural infrastructure for optimal use of water and other natural resources.
Also, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is conducting research programmes in different
crops in 24 commodity/theme based research institutes. These institutes undertake basic and strategic research
programmes related to crop improvement, crop production and protection technologies in different crops. The
technical information so developed is used by 31 crop related All India Coordinated Research Projects (AICRPs) to
develop location specific varieties and technologies for different agro-ecological needs to enhance production and
productivity. Improved varieties/hybrids of major crops such as rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, pulses
etc. have been released to ensure supply of quality seed to farmers.
These varieties and hybrids are being promoted through front line demonstrations and other promotion
programmes/schemes through state agricultural universities and krishi vigyan kendras (KVKs). Besides, integrated nutrient, water and weed management strategies have been developed by crop institutes of ICAR to meet
location-specific requirements to achieve higher productivity.
Increase in the productivity of crops is not the only solution to prevent farmers from committing suicide. Farmers
welfare will improve if there is an increase in the net income from the farms along with increase in the productivity of
crops. With this end in view, besides enabling higher productivity, the approach of the government is also to reduce
cost of cultivation and ensure realisation of remunerative prices to farmers for their produce. The important initiatives in this direction include soil health card (SHC) scheme, promotion of neem coated urea implementation
of parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), etc.
In addition, the government is also implementing a number of crop development schemes/programmes such
as a new crop insurance schemePradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to replace National Agricultural
Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified NAIS (MNAIS) from Kharif 2016 season. This scheme would provide
insurance cover for all stages of the crop cycle including post-harvest risks in specified instances. Inputs from the
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, March 2016.

63
Adoption of low
carbon agriculture
techniques
he Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is studying the impact

of global warming on agriculture since 2004. Research studies indicate
more erratic and intense monsoon rains/unseasonal rains and hailstorm,
increasing risk of droughts and floods and rise in temperature including
increased frequency of warm days. This leads to projected average reduction
of yield by 6 per cent in wheat, 4-6 per cent in rice, 18 per cent in maize, 2.5
per cent in sorghum, 2 per cent in mustard and 2.5 per cent in potato. Studies also projected
a fall of 6 MT wheat production with every 1C rise in temperature. The crop yields were
projected more vulnerable in Central and East India for wheat; Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan for irrigated rice, Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Assam for rainfed rice; Central
India for mustard and Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal for potato.
ICAR undertakes comprehensive assessment of crops and traits on a regular basis
as part of the ongoing programmes of its institutes for which development of high yielding
varieties suitable for biotic and abiotic stresses including deficit rainfall/drought is one of the
major objectives. Short duration varieties have also been released to escape or overcome
the vagaries of weather condition. The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DAC
& FW) is promoting these identified/released climate resilient varieties through various
on-going schemes.
The government through ICAR has initiated network project called National Innovations
on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) during 2010-11. Under NICRA, climate resilient
interventions are implemented by taking one representative village in each of 130 vulnerable
districts. Major interventions on low carbon agriculture techniques implemented under the
scheme include efficient management of natural resources, adoption of resilient agronomic
practices, adoption of stress tolerant varieties, efficient management of livestock, poultry and
fisheries and strengthening local institutions. The government is also addressing the issues of
climate change through National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) and promoting
low carbon agriculture techniques/interventions like micro-irrigation system, development
of degraded land, agro-forestry systems, organic farming including integrated nutrient
management, system of rice intensification (SRI), direct seeded rice (DSR), zero tillage etc.
Besides, climate resilient interventions have been embedded and mainstreamed into various
programmes of the DAC & FW. Inputs from the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare,
March 2016
64
S cience a n d T ech nol ogy W e aT her a n d cl im aT e
By Debashis Mitra
Coastal Zones: Remote

sensing peRspeCtives
A coastal zone is one of the most fragile ecosystems on earth.
Managing coastal resources sustainably calls for up-to-date
knowledge, cutting edge planning and trained human resources.
Satellite remote sensing provides synoptic and unbiased content
in a multi-temporal domain that can help planners put suitable
management policies in place.
ndia has a 7516.6 km coastline spread over

nine coastal states with a 2.02 million sq km
exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The peninsular region of India has the Arabian Sea on
the west, the Bay of Bengal in the east and the
Indian Ocean in the south.
The coastal zone is a unique environment where
land, ocean and atmosphere interact and produce
a highly dynamic and important ecosystem. Estuaries, mangroves, coral reefs, sea grass beds, mud
flats and sand beaches are the diverse habitats that
comprise the coastal environment and provide
valuable benefits to human and marine lives.

Eric Bird points out, in his book Coastal
Geomorphology: An Introduction, that the total
coastline of the world is 3,56,000 km, with coastal
zones comprising around 10 per cent of the earths
surface. The population density in the worlds
coastal zones is much higher than that in noncoastal areas because of the economic benefits and
livelihood opportunities that the coastal ecosystem
bestows to the people. Coastal habitats, especially
mud flats, mangroves, coral reefs, sea grasses
and salt marshes are highly productive and serve
65
important ecological functions, besides protecting

populations against coastal erosion. However,
the worlds coastal zones are under tremendous
stress owing to natural and anthropogenic factors.
Critical coastal habitats, are rapidly being cleared
for urban, industrial, and recreational growth and
aquaculture.
Ecologically sustainable development of coastal
habitats requires crucial knowledge about the
natural variability of marine ecosystems and the
dynamics of the coastal environment. Remote
sensing, which can be defined as the acquisition
of information from an object or an event without
physical contact, can help in collecting crucial data
on tidal wetland conditions, mangrove degradation, coastal land forms, shoreline changes, tidal
boundaries, brackish water areas, suspended
sediment dynamics, coastal currents and oil pollution. The data thus collected can help in inventory,
monitoring and management of natural resources
in the coastal areas, and also develop strategies to
exploit coastal resources sustainably.
Major habitats of the Coastal System
Mangroves are important to coastal zones as they

produce detritus, organic matter and help in recycling of nutrients in coastal waters (Balasco & M.,
1977). The worlds mangroves are spread over 30
countries in tropical and sub-tropical regions. The
2015 State of Forest Report by the Forest Survey
of India, estimates a mangrove area coverage
of 4,740 sq km. However significant decline in
the mangroves along the Gulf of Kachchh and
East Godavari has been noticed. At many places,
mangrove forests have been degraded for use as
fuel, fodder and conversion of mangrove regions
for aquaculture cultivation and industry.
Remote sensing enables assessment of mangroves
in terms of extent, density of community, health,
diversity, habitat and heterogeneity in ecologically
rich areas (Fig. 1). Multi-temporal remote sensing
data also helps in estimating changes in mangrove
forest extent, status of degradation and reasons for
deforestation.
Coral reefs are found all around the tropical and
sub-tropical oceans. They live in shallow, warm and
clear water, and are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world comprising tens of thousands of
marine species.
Southeast Asia is home to 30 per cent of the
66
advances in image processing

techniques and high resolution
satellite imagery help identify
smaller reefs, besides noting
degradation and destruction in
the remotest zones.
worlds coral reefs; however unfortunately, 60 per

cent of the existing reefs are already destroyed or
on the verge of getting wiped out. In India, fringing
reefs inhabit the Gulf of Kachchh, Gulf of Mannar
and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The
Lakshadweep Islands have mostly atolls with few
coral heads, a platform reef and sand cays. The coral
reefs of the Gulf of Kachchh and some reefs in the
Andaman and Nicobar are degraded, as is clearly
evident from the mud deposits on them (Desai et
al., 1991). Besides, the felling of mangroves and
clearing of forests has increased sedimentation and
affected the live coral and species diversity. While
global warming and rising ocean temperatures
continue to bleach corals across the world, destructive techniques employed in catching fish, such as
dynamite blasting, as also pollution of our seas and
oceans through oil spills and other effluents have
accelerated the destruction of coral reefs.
Multispectral remote sensing data can identify
the various reef features and help map coral reefs
along the Indian coast in different scales (Fig. 2).
Recent advances in image processing techniques
and high resolution satellite imagery have increased
the accuracy of data and help identify smaller reefs,
besides noting degradation and destruction in the
remotest zones.
Mud flats or tidal flats are regions in between
high and low tide. They are composed of silt/clay
sized particles and are one of the most important
ecological elements of the coastal environment.
Mud flats usually support a large population of
coastal crocodiles, crustaceans, snakes, mudskippers and other creatures. They are the nurseries
for fish, tortoise and various other animals. Most
mangroves thrive along mud flats (Fig. 3).
Fig. 1: Mangrove forest as seen in Odisha coastal belt using satellite imagery
The bright red tone pixels in the

image depict the mangrove
forest at Bhitarkanika, Odisha.
This mangrove covers an area
of 650 sq km in the river delta of
Brahmani and Baitarani and is
considered as Indias second
largest mangrove patch in
terms of area. The image also
shows the Gahirmatha sand
beach , which is the worlds
most important nesting beach
for Olive Ridley Sea Turtles.
techniques (e.g. dynamite blasting) and pollution due to oil spill and other effluents from land
also aggravates the destruction of corals.
Source: IRS 1D LISS III FCC from NDC, 2003, NRSC, Hyderabad
Multispectral remote sensing data have shown potential in identifying various coral reef
features
and mapping
of coral
using
satellite
data though out Indian coast has been done
Coral reefs are found all around the tropical
and sub-tropical
ocean.
Theyreef
live in
shallow,
warm
different
scalesecosystem
(Figure 2).
Recent
and clear water. Coral reefs are amonginthe
most diverse
in the
worldadvances
and oftenin image processing techniques and high
satellite
has increased
accuracy of classification and identification of
compared with the diversity of Amazon resolution
Forest. It houses
tensimagery
of thousands
of marine the
species.
smaller
reefs
becomeactivities.
a reality.In the whole world,
Coral reef around the world is deteriorating
rapidly
duehas
to human
south East Asia contains 30% of the world coral reef. It has been found here that 60% are
Insert Figure 2
already destroyed or on the verse of destruction. In India, these are mostly fringing reefs in the
gulf of Kachchh, Gulf of Mannar and Andaman
Islands.
Lakshadweep
Islands
areBlue colored pixels) as shown on satellite
Coraland
reefNicobar
in Andaman
and
Nicobar Islands
(Dark
mostly atolls with few coral heads, a platform reef and sand cays. Coral reefs of theimagery
Gulf of
Fig.
2:
Coral
reef
in
Andaman
and
Nicobar Islands
Kachchh and few reefs in Andaman and Nicobar are in degraded conditions as indicated by mud
depositions. The felling of mangroves and clearing of forests have increased sedimentation and
affected live coral and species diversity. Bleaching of corals are mainly happening because of
increase of temperature of ocean water through global warming. Destructive fish catch
The dark blue coloured pixels

in the image is a part of the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
where coral reefs are clearly
seen. Here corals are mainly
fringing and barrier in nature.
Along with corals, dense
forest and meandering creeks
are also visible. Good sandy
beaches and small hillocks are
common in this area.
Source: LANDSAT ETM+ 2001, downloaded from www.glovis.usgs.gov
67
Fig. 3: Gulf of Khambhat, Gujarat showing Mudflat regions
Mudflat
The dark red coloured pixels

in the image shows extensive
mud flats in the Gulf of
Khambhat region, Gujarat.
Dhadhar and Narmada
estuaries are also seen here.
Along with mudflats, salt pans,
mangrove at Bhavnagar creek
and industrial set up are also
visible. The different colours
of the Gulf water indicates
different sediment concentrations in the water.
Mudflat
Source: IRS 1D LISS III 2006.
Maintenance of mud flats is important for

protecting coastal erosion. However, mud flats
worldwide are under threat from sea level rise
due to global warming, reclamation of mud flats
for development, salt production, aquaculture,
dredging for shipping purposes and chemical
pollution.
Remote sensing data helps monitor the health of
mud flats and helps study the reasons for degradation. Upcoming salt firms, aqua cultural activities
on mud flats can be closely monitored from high
resolution satellite data and quantitative analysis.
endnote
At a time when our coastal zones are under severe

threat due to natural and anthropogenic factors,
remote sensing data collected through satellite
imagery can help keep track of the health of some
important elements of our coastal ecosystem;
such as mangroves, coral reefs and mud flats. It
can hence help in charting out plans for sustain68
able development of our coastal belts, with little

or no damage to the fragile coastal ecosystem.
references
Bird, Eric. (2011). Coastal Geomorphology: An

Introduction. John Wiley & Sons Limited.
Blasco, F., & M. Aizpuru. (1997). Classification and
evolution of the mangroves of India. Tropical
Ecology, 38, 357-374.
Desai, P.S., Narain, A., Nayak, S.R., Manikiam,
B., S. Adiaga, & Nath, A.N. (1991). IRS-1A
application for coastal and marine resources.
Current Science, 61, 204-208.
ENVIS. (1997). Estuaries of India: State of the Art
Report. ENVIS Publication Series, 2(97).
Govt. of India. (1997). Mangroves in India-Status
Report, Ministry of Environment and Forests,
156.
The author is scientist, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing,
Dehradun. d_mitra@hotmail.com
R ep o R t wat ch
Water use to
be decoupled from
economic growth
Currently, it is estimated that a third of the worlds population is vulnerable to water
scarcity. This could further increase to half of the global population suffering with
water scarcity by 2025 if necessary steps are not taken.
ithout altering current levels

of water consumption and
pollution, almost half of the
worlds population will suffer
severe water stress by 2030,
damaging the well being of millions of people,
according to a new report from the UNEP hosted
International Resource Panel (IRP), a consortium
of 27 internationally renowned scientists, 33
national governments and other groups.
The report, Policy Options for Decoupling
Economic Growth from Water Use and Water
Pollution, finds that as the global population rises,
increased urbanisation, climate change and a shift
in how food is consumed are likely to dramatically
increase future demand for water.
Under current trends, the Report says that the
demand for water will exceed supply by 40 per cent
in 2030, forcing governments to spend 200 billion
USD per year on upstream water supply as demand
outstrips cheaper forms of supply--up from historic
averages of 40 to 45 billion USD.
According to Executive Director of the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Achim Steiner, Reliable access to clean water is a
cornerstone of sustainable development. When
clean water is consistently unavailable, the worlds
poorest must spend much of their disposable
income buying it, or a large amount of time transporting it, which limits development. And since
only half of one per cent of the worlds freshwater
is available for the needs of both humanity and

ecosystems, we will need to do more and better with
less if we are to ensure healthy ecosystems, healthy
populations and economic development.
Despite the importance of water, many countries
have a mixed track record in managing their water
resources, the Report says. Governments have
tended to invest heavily in mega-projects like dams,
canals, aqueducts, pipelines and water reservoirs.
With few exceptions, these solutions are inefficient
and many of them are neither environmentally
sustainable nor economically viable.
On a global scale, water withdrawals have grown
from about 600 billion cubic meters in 1900 to
4,500 billion cubic meters in 2010, almost twice the
growth rate of the human population. According
to 2030 Water Resources Group (2009), under
an average economic growth scenario and if no
efficiency gains are assumed, global water demand
would grow to between 6,350 and 6,900 billion
cubic meters by 2030. This represents a 40 per cent
demand gap compared to currently accessible
water resources, including return flows.
The expected increases in demand for water
withdrawal for human activities by 2030 show
significant regional differences. The highest incremental demand between 2005 and 2030 is expected
to occur in sub-Saharan Africa (283 per cent ) and
the least in North America (43 per cent ) (Table 1).
It is now estimated that up to one third of the
worlds population is currently subject to water stress
69
Region
China
India
Rest of Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
North America
Europe
South America
Oceania
Projected Change from

2005 (per cent)
61
58
54
283
43
50
95
109
Source: 2030 Water Resources Group, 2009.
(those with less than 1,700 cubic meters of renewable

water per capita annually), and if nothing is done to
change present levels of water consumption and
water pollution about half of the global population
will live in areas of water stress by 2025. The majority
of the water-stressed population in 2025 will be in
sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) estimates that by 2030
nearly half of the worlds population (3.9 billion
people) will live under conditions of severe water
stress, where the ratio of total water use to renewable supply exceeds 40 per cent (Fig. 1).
The demand for water to increase agricultural
output is likely to account for 65 per cent of incremental water demand; growth in water intensive
industries for an additional 25 per cent; and
domestic demand for the remaining 10 per cent.
Scenarios suggest that agricultural demand will
be most intense in India and sub-Saharan Africa,
while China may account for the greatest growth
in industrial use. The agricultural sector accounts
for 70 per cent of all global freshwater withdrawals.
As the global population increases, agriculture will
exert growing pressure on water resources. In urban
centres around the world, it notes, about 100 billion
to 120 billion cubic metres of water could be saved in
2030 by reducing leaks in the supply of bulk water in
commercial, residential and public premises.
However, in India, the expected gap between
water supply and demand could be reduced by up
to 80 per cent if techniques such as crop rotation,
mulch and organic fertiliser are used and improved
to increase crop yields.
The most cost-effective way of achieving water
decoupling, according to the Report, is for governments to create holistic water management plans
that take into account the entire water cycle--from
source to distribution, economic use, treatment,
recycling, reuse and return to the environment.
70
Fig. 1: Number of people living in water-stressed

areas in 2030 by country type. The colour scale
shows the degree of stress.
4000
3500
3000
2500
Million of people
Table 1: Increases in annual water demand,

2005 2030.
2000
1500
1000
500
2005
2030
OECD
No
Low
2005
2030
2005
BRIC
RoW
Medium
Severe
2030
Source: OECD, 2008 in UNEP, 2011b.
Specifically, to achieve water decoupling, the IRP

recommends:
Investing more in research and development to
improve technology that reduces water waste;
Building sustainable infrastructure to improve
the efficiency of water use and eliminate water
contamination and pollution;
Introducing policies to curb water demand and
re-allocate water to sectors where it produces
goods and services most beneficial to society
while ensuring protection to vulnerable groups;
Strengthening research into the value of
ecosystem services and water to human welfare
and economic development; and,
Doing more to assess virtual water (the water
used to manufacture goods that are traded internationally), water footprints and related impacts
to better understand how international trade
patterns could be used to support decoupling
where it is most needed.
It also suggests measures to be taken at the
household, sanitation and industrial levels
to optimise use of water. These include using
low-consumption toilets; low-flow showers;
water-saving sinks; efficient laundry methods,
and watering gardens when there is low sun and
no rainfall, so as to prevent evaporation and ensure
better soil absorption of water.
R ep o R t wat ch
The Global
risks
T
report
2016
he Global Risks Report 2016, 11th Edition is published by the World

Economic Forum within the framework of The Global Competitiveness and Risks Team. The Report 2016 draws attention to ways
global risks could evolve and interact in the next decade. The year 2016
marks a forceful departure from past findings, as the risks about which the
Report has been warning over the past decade are starting to manifest
themselves in new, sometimes unexpected ways. Warming climate is likely to raise this years temperature to 1 Celsius above the pre-industrial era, 60 million people, the largest number in recent history,
are forcibly displaced, and crimes in cyberspace cost the global economy an estimate 445 billion USD,
higher than many economies national incomes. In this context, the Report calls for action to build the
resilience imperative, and identifies practical examples of how it could be done. The three scenarios
for possible futures developed in this context inform new ways of building resilience to security threats
through public-private collaboration. The Report also steps back and explores how emerging global
risks and major trends, such as climate change, the rise of cyber dependence and income and wealth
disparity are impacting already strained societies by highlighting three clusters of risks as risks in focus.
As resilience building is helped by the ability to analyse global risks from the perspective of specific
stakeholders, the Report also analyses the significance of global risks to the business community at a
regional and country-level. Read: www3.weforum.org/docs/Media/TheGlobalRisksReport2016.pdf.
World development
report 2016
dividends
digital
igital technologies have spread rapidly in much of the world. Digital

dividendsthe broader development benefits from using these
technologieshas lagged behind. In many instances digital
technologies have boosted growth, expanded opportunities, and improved
service delivery. Yet their aggregate impact has fallen short and is unevenly
distributed. For digital technologies to benefit everyone everywhere
requires closing the remaining digital divide, especially in Internet access. But greater digital adoption
will not be enough. To get the most out of the digital revolution, countries also need to work on the
analog complementsby strengthening regulations that ensure competition among businesses,
by adapting workers skills to the demands of the new economy, and by ensuring that institutions are
accountable. The Report explores the impact of the Internet, mobile phones, and related technologies
on economic development. Part 1 shows that potential gains from digital technologies are high, but
often remain unrealised. The Report shows how digital technologies help businesses become more
productive; people find jobs and greater opportunities; and governments deliver better public services
to all. Connectivity for all remains an important goal and a tremendous challenge. But countries also
need to create favourable conditions for technology to be effective. When the analog complements
are absent, the development impact will be disappointing. But when countries build a strong analog
foundation, they will reap ample digital dividendsin faster growth, more jobs, and better services.
Read: www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2016/01/13/090224b0
8405ea05/2_0/Rendered/PDF/World0developm0000digital0dividends.pdf
71
Website
reclamation of Mineimpacted Land for

ecosystem recovery
KLIMaLoG
www.klimalog.die-gdi
The INDC Content Explorer

allows you to search through
countries national climate
plans (INDCs). Scroll
through countries INDC
content by clicking on
choose a category. This
chosen countrys summary
for all categories will be
instantly visible. You can
also compare countries, or
zoom in on the world map.
eSCap online Statistical

database
www.unescap.org
The ESCAP online
statistical database provides
a regional perspective
on development issues
in Asia and the Pacific.
The database, covering
the 58 regional ESCAP
member states and associate
members, contains 900
data series on a wide range
of topics on population,
education, health, poverty
and inequalities, gender,
economy, environment and
connectivity. The online
database is updated twice a
year.
environment
Information System
(enVIS)
www.envis.nic.in
ENVIS is a decentralised
system, a web-based
distributed network of
subject-specific databases.
It integrates country wide
efforts in environmental
information collection,
collation, storage, retrieval
and dissemination to all
concerned.
72
By: nimisha Tripathi, raj S. Singh,

and Colin d. hills
Cover: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-119-05790-1
Pages/ Price: 232/140 USD
Published: March 2016
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
he book covers methods

of rejuvenation of
mine wasteland including
different practices of physical,
chemical and ecological
engineering methods; benefits
of rejuvenation: stabilisation of
land surfaces; pollution control;
aesthetic improvement; general
amenity; plant productivity;
and carbon sequestration as
well as restoring biodiversity
and ecosystem function; best
management practices and
Smart Green Cities

Toward a Carbon
neutral World
By: Woodrow Clark
II, Grant Cooke
Cover: Hardcover
Published: March 2016
Publisher: Routledge
Pages/Price: 350/ 108.53 USD
Mitigating
droughts
and Floods in
agriculture
policy Lessons and
approaches
By: oeCd Studies on Water
Cover: Paperback
ISBN: 9789264246737
Published: February 2016
Publisher: OECD Publishing,
Paris.
Pages/Price: 72/29 USD
feasible solutions to the impacts

of mining which will reduce
the pollution load. The authors
explain how mining impacts
soil properties and how soil
carbon reserves/soil fertility
can be restored when mining
has ceased. Restoration involves
a coordinated approach that
recognises the importance of
key soil properties to enable revegetation to take place rapidly
and ecosystems to be established
in a low cost and sustainable way.
how the Worlds
religions are
responding to
Climate Change
Social Scientific
Investigations
By: robin Globus Veldman,
andrew Szasz,randolph
haluza-deLay
Cover: Paperback
ISBN: 9781138656536
Published: February 2016
Pages/Price: 344/ 43.4 USD
Governing Marine
protected areas
resilience through
diversity
By: peter J.S. Jones
Cover: Paperback
ISBN: 9781138679238
Published: 2016-03-03
Pages/Price: 256/40.5 USD
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To build an excellent understanding of GIS components

To enable visualization of patterns in data across space
To teach how multiple thematic layers of data can be combined for complex queries
To allow assessment of qualification of sub-contractors
To enable better understanding of scope and budget design for GIS projects
To build capacity to understand the ability and limitation of GIS technology
GIS-OPP
GIS Orientation Programme
NATMO, Kolkata.
Ashok Mallik
Fmr Director,
Vice Chancellor,
MG Kashi Vidyapeeth,
Varanasi; Fmr Surveyor
General, Survey of India.
Dr. Prithvish Nag
Programme under the guidance of:
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Ography and You - January-February 2016

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GEoGraphY and You.

GnY SINCE 2001 Vol. 15, ISSuE 94, 2016

Tropical Cyclones Over NIO 11 Land Challenges in

www.geography and you.com

Training programme being introduced by

Presented by Geography and You Dedicated

In collaboration with Indian

GeoGraphy and you

Vol. 15 Issue 94 January - February 2016

Planning anD Mitigation

GIS for Avalanche

By Pratima Pandey and P K ChamPati ray

Water use to be Decoupled

The Global Risks Report

World Development Digital

Planning anD Mitigation

Tropical Cyclones Over NIO

By jagaBandhu Panda and Kasturi singh

By KaushiK dutta and Prasanna mohanty

Food Resources and

By s V r K PraBhaKar and g V ramanjaneyulu

By tejBir singh rana

By anKit siKarwar and aParajita ChattoPadhyay

Falling Oil Prices and India

By geo jos Fernandez

By t V ramaChandra and ganesh hegde

Climate Justice and COP21

By arun Kumar triPathi and anshu

Water Pollution in River Noyyal

By mohanraj r, somasundaram l and nishadh K a

Climate Change and Wheat

By a K siKKa, B K KandPal adlul islam and s K dhyani

sCienCe anD teChnology

weather anD CliMate Coastal Zones:

Air Vice Marshal (Retd)

Former Member Secretary,

GeoGraphy and you January - February 2016

GeoGraphy and you

The Nov-Dec 2015 issue of GnY, which showcases Indias varied

THE GNY CLIMATE January issue was very

informative. I am currently teaching and

Chambal by Sumit Chakraborty. It was

content and structure of GnY Climate

your current issue, I am inclined to explore

students writing from Varanasi. We have

January - February 2016 GeoGraphy and you

Protect, prevent and conserve

India is morphing. A new information-endowed group is emerging, who

Di s a s t er M a n a g eMen t p l a n n in g & Mi t ig at ion

By Pratima Pandey and P K ChamPati ray

GIS for avalanche

he deaths of army personnel who

January - February 2016 GeoGraphy and you

GIS tools and remote sensing data

Advancing geospatial scienceremote sensing

growth of hazards decide the selection of remote

digital elevation model

A DEM is used to define terrain parameters

the most crucial parameter

Fig. 1: Avalanche zones of Hamtah glacier, Lahut Spiti, Himachal Pradesh

Source: ASTER GDEM

Source: ASTER GDEM

Recent advancements in remote sensing and GIS