The death of almost two dozens Asiatic lions in Gir brings to the fore the challenge of managing the big cats. Nevertheless, the forest department in the state swung into action and did a good job of it.

The death of 23 Asiatic lions (three lions, 11 lionesses and nine cubs above six months) in just two weeks, starting end of September and beginning of October, set alarm bells ringing for the Gujarat Forest Department. Initially, confusion prevailed but progressive deaths compelled the authorities to go for a prompt scientific investigation. Samples of the dead lions were sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Junagadh, and FSL Junagadh to find out the possible reason that killed the lions. Samples of five lions confirmed the attack of a virus — Canine Distemper Virus (CDV). The Veterinary College, Junagadh, confirmed the presence of Babesia protozoa in about a dozen samples. Suspecting an attack of the CDV, all surviving lions from the Sarasiya Round in Dalkhaniya Range were captured and kept in isolation at the Jasadhar lion care centre to avoid any contact with other lions.

Another 33 lions from the adjoining area of Dalkhaniya Range were also captured and sent to Jamwala lion care centre. Of the infected lions kept in Jasadhar, all died but three survived as their immune system was better equipped to tackle the disease. Additionally, deaths of a few lions in August this year in the same region due to a similar disease cannot be ruled out.

The Gir protected area (1,452 sq km) and its surrounding forests cover an expanse of 1,882 sq km, which is distributed in 15 ranges, 60 forest rounds and 152 forest beats. The spread of the CDV disease was confined to 26 lions in Sarasia Round in Dalkhania Range. Other 33 lions in the adjoining Dalkhania range were suspected of such an attack, but a laboratory test proved that they were free from the fatal disease. Statistics reveal that only about two per cent of the Gir protected area and about four per cent of the Gir lions were infected by the fatal CDV and Babesia protozoa, although the presence of the virus in other lions having immunity against the virus is not being ruled out.

When the fatal infection by CDV and Babesia protozoa attacked the African lion in Serengeti-Masai Mara landscape, it killed about 1,000 lions, almost 40 percent of the total population of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania in 1994. The first distressed African lion affected by the disease was detected in the first week of February in 1994. Before authorities could understand the problems, almost one year after the detection of the first case, about 1,000 lions died by the end of 1994.

Subsequently, after seven years, in the much smaller nearby Ngorongoro Crater population, around 100 lions suffered a similar higher percentage of losses in 2001. Unlike the two cases in the known history of the African lions, the administration of the Gujarat Government was fast to act against the problems. The wildlife wing of the Gujarat Forest Department promptly removed the entire population of one or two pride from the Sarasia Round.

Not only the Sarasia lions but also 33 lions from the adjoining Dalkhania round were captured and removed from the wild. Prompt action avoided the spread of the disease to other areas. Blood samples and saliva of the infected and also the non-infected lions kept in isolation at Jamwala were examined to investigate the presence of the disease. After scientific inputs from national and international experts, 300 vaccinations were procured from the US to meet the emergency situation. All lions in the enclosure were vaccinated. Subsequently, they were sent to semi-captivity in Devalia Gir Interpretation Centre, a large safari park which covers an area of about 412 ha.

Like several unprecedented measures in 2007, after eight lions were poached by a gang of raiders from Katani, Madhya Pradesh, the Gujarat Government was prompt to initiate several actions to avoid such a threat to the Gir lion. In collaboration with the Animal Husbandry Department, the vaccination drive was launched in both divisions of the Gir forests.

The problem of the big cat’s management is gigantic in the Gir lion conservation landscape. About half of the lions, 300 individuals, roam around in an area of about 12,500 sq km in 1,400 villages in the four districts. The big cat population in this landscape is over 1,200 creatures (over 600 lions and over 625 leopards), which is more than three times the combined population of tiger and leopard in the best tiger landscape in any part of the country.

The electronic as well as the print media have been covering stories on the Gir lions since the last one month. Many stories were far from the truth and were mixed with politics. Many doubted the intention and efficiency of the administration. Remember, nothing is perfect and absolute. How can an administration be perfect? More action is expected to ensure the safety of the lion.

During the last five decades, the lion population in India has increased three-fold, from 180 in the early 1970s to over 600 in 2018. Their wild prey population too went up from about 6,400 to 83,000 during the same period. The conservation story of the Asiatic lion in the Gir forests is one of the best wildlife conservation stories in the world and it will continue to be so in the future. But increasing lion and leopard population in the human-dominated landscape is expected to throw a bigger challenge in the future, despite good wildlife management practices.

Writer: Hari Shanker Singh

Courtesy: The Pioneer

To stop runaway global warming we will have to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by almost half (45 percent) in the next 12 years. That means we would have to decide to close down all the remaining coal-fired power plants within the next two years

They still haven’t dropped the other shoe. The ‘Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C’ contains terrifying forecasts about what will happen when we reach an average global temperature one-and-a-half degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial average. (We are now at +1oC.) But it still shies away from talking about the feedback, the refugees, and mass death.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ordered this special report in 2015, after the Paris climate agreement effectively admitted that the traditional target — stopping the warming before it reaches two degrees Celsius higher — had been set too high. By then, bad things will already be happening.

So all the countries that want to stop the warming before it goes runaway (everybody except the United States) formally kept the ‘never exceed’ target of +2oC but said that Governments should ‘aspire’ to stop the warming earlier, at +1.5oC. And they asked the IPCC to figure out how hard that would be.

The answer, revealed at a meeting in South Korea on October 7, is: Very hard. We have effectively wasted the past 30 years since the climate change threat first became known and there is now very little time left. In order to skid to a halt, before we hit +1.5oC, we will have to cut our greenhouse gas emissions by almost half (45 percent) in the next 12 years.

To cut emissions that fast by 2030, we would have to decide to close down all the remaining coal-fired power plants within the next two years. It would take the next decade to get that done and get the same energy from expanded renewable sources (water, wind and solar), leaving us just on track to reach zero emissions by 2050.

Climate scientist John Skea, who worked on the report, summed it up: “Limiting warming to 1.5oC is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics, but doing so would require unprecedented changes.” Changes of a scale that people would readily accept if they faced an imminent invasion by Nazis or Martians — but that they are less willing to make when their whole environment is at risk. Humans are funny that way.

The report is a bracing dose of realism in many ways. It effectively says that we can’t afford to go anywhere near +2oC. It talks bluntly about the need to end all fossil fuel use, reforest vast tracts of marginal land, and cut down on meat-eating. It even admits that we will probably have to resort to geoengineering — ‘solar radiation management’, in the jargon.

“If mitigation efforts do not keep the global mean temperature below 1.5oC,” says the report, “solar radiation modification can potentially reduce the climate impacts of a temporary temperature overshoot, in particular, extreme temperatures, the rate of sea-level rise, and intensity of tropical cyclones.” Pumping sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere is a scary stuff, but so is runaway warming.

So far, so good. At least it’s being honest about the problem — but only up to a point. ‘Not in front of the children’ is still the rule for Governments when it comes to talking about the mass movements of refugees and the civil and international wars that will erupt when the warming cuts into the food supply. And they still don’t want to talk openly about the feedback.

People forget that this is a governmental project run through the United Nations — the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — not just a scientific one. Scientists write the body of the report, but the executive summary (the only part that most policy-makers and journalists will ever read), is negotiated between the scientists and the Governments.

The Governments take climate change very seriously these days, but they worry that too much frankness about the cost in lives of going past 1.5oC will create irresistible pressure on them to take radical action now. In the ensuing struggle between the scientists and the politicians, the executive summary always gets toned down.

What got removed from the summary this time was any mention of “significant population displacement concentrated in the tropics” at +2oC (ie mass migrations away from stricken regions, smashing up against borders elsewhere that are slammed shut against the refugees).

Even worse, ‘tipping points’ are barely mentioned in the report. These are the dreaded feedback — loss of Arctic sea ice, melting of the permafrost, carbon dioxide and methane release from the oceans — that would trigger unstoppable, runaway warming.

They are called ‘feedback’ because they are self-reinforcing processes that are unleashed by the warming we have already caused, and which we cannot shut off even if we end all of our own emissions.

If you don’t go into the feedback, then you can’t talk about runaway warming, and going to four, five or six degrees Celsius higher average global temperature, and hundreds of millions or billions of deaths. And if you don’t acknowledge that, then you will not treat this as the emergency it really is.

(The writer is an independent journalist)

Writer: Bhagyashree Dengle

Courtesy: The Pioneer

For a long time, the Royal Bengal Tiger and the Asiatic Lion have been stealing the national limelight, but now the Indian leopard is drawing our attention for a good reason.

The two supercats, the Asiatic lion and the Royal Bengal tiger, drew the maximum attention of conservationists in India. But the third largest cat, the Indian leopard, has its own story under the shadow of its two big tribes. Two recent stories — one, the death of 23 lions in Gir due to CDV and Protozoa infections and second, the hunt for a man-eating tiger in Maharashtra  — grabbed headlines in Indian newspapers and electronic media.

But this story is about the smartest big cat — the Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca), a sub-species of the nine subspecies of all leopards in the world. It is widely distributed across the country — from Jammu & Kashmir in the north-west to the southern part of Tibet in China in the north-east Himalayas to Cape Comorin in the south and from the Gir forest (Saurashtra) and thorn forest in the arid zone of Kachchh in the west to the moist forest of Myanmar in the eastern border of India.

Although a majority of the leopards are confined in India, small populations are also found in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan and small areas of southern China adjoining Myanmar. Each of the other seven subspecies of the Asian leopard has a small population, below one thousand, in different Asian countries.  After the African leopard, only the Indian leopard has a viable population.

The Indian leopard occurs up to a height of about 5,200 meters in the Himalayas where their habitat meets the lower altitude of the snow leopard.  A study revealed that the distribution range of the Indian leopard reduced to 28 percent of its historical distribution range, although the big cat enjoys the highest protection level in our country as it is placed in Schedule-I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

According to an article published in the Indian Forester in January 1907, a total of 811 leopards and 1,355 tigers were officially killed in 1905 to reduce their menace. Level of killing in the preceding year (1904) was also at the same level. Thus, about 800 to 900 leopards were killed annually in the beginning of the 20th century which increased subsequently later.

It was also mentioned that leopards killed 401 human beings and 44,845 livestock in 1905. Hunting licenses were issued freely to kill wild animals, including leopards. A total of 37,720 hunting licences in 1904 and 37,833 in 1905 were issued in India.  As per records, 150,000 leopards were hunted in British India during a span of 50 years (1875-1925) at an annual rate of 3,000 leopards. It was estimated that 100 years ago, India had over 10 times the present population of the tiger. By extending similar logic and studying hunting records, it can be said that the Indian forests had a high population of the leopard before the Second World War. Thereafter, they were killed in thousands, which pushed them to become near extinct. However, conservation measures have reversed the trend.

Distribution range:  In a majority of the Indian States, the leopards are dispersing in new areas due to which its population is recovering. Until a few years ago, Punjab was considered to be a non-tiger State as the animal occasionally visited in the winter from the hills of Himachal Pradesh. But in recent times, the Leopards have made a come back in the lower Shivalik hills of Punjab,  bordering Himachal Pradesh.

Similarly, about two and a half dozen of leopards marked their presence in the Shivalik of Haryana a decade ago. The animal dispersed from the Shivalik of Himachal Pradesh and from the Aravallis hill ranges of Rajasthan to the forests of Haryana. At present, forests in 10 districts in Shivalik and the Aravallis of Haryana have been captured by the leopards in good numbers.

At present, the Indian leopard is distributed in 29 States and one Union Territory.  Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh have over two-thirds of the total leopard population of the country. In the 1990s, the leopard’s presence was recorded in 196 sanctuaries and national parks across 26 States of the country.

Since then, the number of States and protected areas has increased and expanded. As per latest reports, the animal’s presence has been registered from 384 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across the country, although few other protected areas are seasonally or occasionally visited by the leopard.

Area of these leopard supporting national parks and wildlife sanctuaries is about 136,550 km. Of this, about 50 tiger reserves and their buffer zones in 17 States are occupied by the Tigers and five national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in Gujarat by the Asiatic lion. In the rest of the leopard supporting protected areas, the leopard is a top predator but compete with the hyena.  Experts believe that though the sanctuaries and national parks accommodate a good number of the animal, a large number of them are found outside these boundaries than those within, and some are using non-forest areas, including scrublands, tea garden, ravines, sugarcane fields and another vegetation cover.

In the State of Gujarat, as per the leopard census report in 2011, about 38.2 per cent of the leopard population was counted in the protected areas, 18.0 per cent in the sugarcane field, agricultural lands, plantations and ravines, and the rest in the forest areas beyond the boundaries of the protected areas.

Leopard population in protected areas of Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Odisha were about 25.2 percent, 44.1 percent and 35.3 percent respectively.  An analysis of data from 12 major leopard States reveals that about one-third of the total leopards were found in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Also, based on census reports of a few States, about 15 percent of the leopards used habitat beyond the boundaries of the forests.

Leopard’s occupancy in the major part of 14 tiger States was 173,900 km in 2014. As per the rough leopard distribution range, provided by the Chief Wildlife Wardens and wildlife experts in the States, the leopards occupy about 114,000 km in other 15 States and Union Territories. Thus, the leopards occupy over 287,900 km forest areas of the country.

Tea gardens have become a major man-leopard conflict zone because a good number of them breed and hunt in these areas. At least 5,670 km area of the hilly terrain or slopes in Nilgiri hills (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka), Darjeeling hills, drained land of Dooars and Terai down the hills in West Bengal and moderate hills and slopes in Assam and other such lands in the North- East States, Uttarakhand and Himachal are under tea cultivation. Presence of leopard and human-leopard conflict in these tea gardens have been recorded for over 100 years. Most of these areas form contiguous leopard habitat with the adjoining forests.

Recently, maximum human-leopard conflicts were recorded in and around the sugarcane fields in some States. Sugarcane cultivation has expanded with the expansion of irrigation network. The adaptive big cat has successfully exploited the dense sugarcane crop for littering. During the last five years, the extent of sugarcane cultivation in India ranged from 44,360 Km to 50,670 km.

Leopards are frequently seen in the sugarcane fields. Majority of such dense tall crops in the four States — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, which cover about 31.9 percent of the sugarcane cultivation area in the country — are inflicted by the leopard. The animal is also seen in the sugarcane fields in Terai belt in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

A recent paper, ‘Big Cat in Our Backyards’, published by the journal ‘Public Library of Science’, made headlines by reporting up to six resident leopards per 100 km in the sugarcane fields in Sangamner region of Maharashtra. The big cats hide in the dense cover of sugarcane crops during the day, preying on dogs, pigs, cattle and poultry in the night in the villages and towns.

When one or two leopards killed five people in Mandvi Taluka of Surat district, Gujarat in the post-monsoon and early winter in 2010, while hunting and trapping the man-eater, about two dozen leopards, including cubs, were eliminated from the sugarcane areas of the villages in three months. When a leopard killed four people in sugarcane zone in Veraval in Junagadh (Gujarat) in March 2012, a total of nine leopards were trapped and removed from the area. There are several such stories in the sugarcane belt.

The extent of forests cover with canopy density of more than 10 per cent is 683,925 sq  km in 29 States and one Union Territory which support leopards. The shrublands and ravines outside the forests also support leopards. In the leopard State, about three-fourth of the forest cover is expected to be potential habitat, although present occupancy area of the leopard is lesser than the potential habitats.  The analysis indicates that the leopard occupancy area in India may be in an extent of over 300,000 km, although potential habitat is high.

Writer: Hari Shanker Singh

Courtesy: The Pioneer

A recent report on climate change, from the UN, reveals shocking findings about the how the Earth is doomed unless there’s a mass movement to save it

The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at Incheon, South Korea on October 7, 2018, makes chilling reading. Most of the predictions made in it — or their almost identically-articulated equivalents pronounced elsewhere — have been heard before. If these are most daunting, much more so is the new and breath-taking statement that at the current rate, the global mean temperature — which is already one degree Celsius above the pre-industrial revolution level — is likely to rise to the 1.5-degree mark sometime between 2030 and 2052.

It is important to recall here that the Paris Agreement on climate change, signed on December 12, 2015, calls for holding the increase in global average temperature to well below two degree Celsius above the pre-industrial revolution level and to try to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degree Celsius above it, stating that this would significantly reduce the risks and impact of climate change.

The world has already warmed one degree Celsius since the industrial revolution, hence it is really a question of a difference of another half-degree. The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, however, clearly indicates that warming, even if limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, would not reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. Sea levels will continue to rise beyond 2100, threatening coastal ecosystems and infrastructure. Flooding, drought and extreme weather events will wreak havoc on communities around the globe. Many species will continue to be driven toward extinction and marine ecosystems could face “irreversible loss.”

A warming of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) would make things much worse with global sea levels rising 10 centimetres higher, and the Arctic Ocean being free of sea ice in the summers at least once per decade instead of once per century, as is forecast under a 1.5 degrees scenario. Coral reefs, which have been devastated in recent years by mass bleaching events, could decline by between 70 and 90 per cent with 1.5 degrees of warming, and by 99 per cent at two degrees.

The IPCC’s Special Report enumerates several ways of pegging down global warming at 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius). These require unprecedented reduction of fossil-fuel use by half in less than 15 years and almost total elimination of their use in 30 years. This means no gas or oil heating of homes, business or industry establishments; no running of vehicles by diesel or gasoline; closing down of all coal and gas power plants; wholesale conversion of the petrochemical industry to green chemistry; and heavy industry like steel and aluminium either using carbon-free energy sources or employing technology to capture Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions and permanently storing these.

Besides, the Special Report further states, that depending on the speed of reducing the emissions, between 0.4 and 2.7 million square miles of land may have to be converted to growing bioenergy crops and up to 3.86 million square miles of forests added by 2050. Even that would not be enough, the report warns. Every pound of CO2 emitted in the last 100 years will continue to trap heat in the atmosphere for hundreds of years to come. By 2045 or 2050 there will still be excessive CO2 in the atmosphere. More forests or some form of direct capture that takes CO2 out of the atmosphere will be essential to stabilize global temperatures at 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius), above the pre-industrial revolution level.

Even if the proposed cuts in the use of fossil fuels were to begin immediately, it would only delay, not prevent, a 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming. Worse, as of now it would seem impossible to achieve these goals. This is clear from the fact that the current pledges to cut CO2 emissions are so inadequate that that the global warming rate is set to rise by 2100 to at least 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (three degrees Celsius), risking natural tipping points such as thawing of large areas of permafrost. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement has made things worse. While it would become effective from 2020, steps to dismantle measures to implement the goals set up by the Paris Agreement have already been initiated.

The question is: What is to be done? As long as Donald Trump is President, one can hardly expect the US to reverse its decision to walk out of the Paris Agreement or change its attitude toward global warming. He has been publicly dismissive about climate science and had even called it a “hoax”. His initial observations about the Special Report, available at the time of writing, did not reflect any inclination to take it seriously, to say nothing of accepting it. Saying that the report had been given to him, he had added, “And I want to look at who drew it. You know, which group drew it. Because I can give you reports that are fabulous, and I can give you reports that aren’t so good. But I will be looking at it. Absolutely.”

In many cases Governments are stymied by the opposition, sometimes violent, by sections of the public to the implementation of measures critically important for impeding global warming. For example, it is known that post-harvest burning of plant stubbles in agricultural fields in north India is a major cause of air pollution in Delhi and the surrounding areas from roughly the time around Diwali to the end of winter. Nor is it a secret that it continues because farmers would not hear of ending it and Governments are unwilling to use compulsion.

The answer clearly lies in building up pressure from below to compel Governments to take politically-difficult decisions and groups of people to abandon their opposition to measures critically important for combating global warming, which affect their individual or sectional interests. This would require a mass movement. The latter is also necessary to persuade people to give up ways of living — such as compulsive use of air conditioners — that conduce to global warming, and adopt lifestyles — shifts to vegetarian diets — that hinder it. If it was possible in the pre-Independence days to turn Khadi clothes into virtually the uniform of freedom fighters, there is no reason why we cannot persuade people to adopt an environment-friendly lifestyle by showing that the alternative is the extinction of human and other living beings, including plants, through global warming.

Writer: Hiranmay Karlekar

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The situation at the Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary and adjacent areas is getting worse as the death toll of the Asiatic Lions rose to 14 with three more fatalities.

All these casualties of this endangered species belonging to the cat family occurred within a span of a fortnight. Sources in the State Forest Department confirmed that two lionesses aging four and nine as well as a six-month-old cub succumbed to illness.

“Forest beat guards found carcasses of lioness in Dalkhania range of Gir Sanctuary. The cub which was found ill was brought to a rescue centre, but died during treatment,” said an official. Interestingly, two more deaths of lions registered despite the fact the State forest department has formed 64 teams to screen and shift sick lions to rescue centre to prevent further casualties of lions.

Talking to The Pioneer Chief Conservator of Forest, wildlife circle DT Vasavada prima facie the cause of deaths of two big cats seemed to be infection and some disease, but the exact reason of death would be known only after the post-mortem report.

From the first death of lion on September 12, 2018, the State forest officials are maintaining that the cause of death was infighting and territorial war amongst the lions and there wasn’t any human interference in the death of the big cats.

Around a decade ago in the year 2007, poaching of eight Asiatic Lions created lots of hue and cry over the conservation of the endangered species. The then Narendra Modi led Gujarat Government had allocated special funding to protect the lions in the Gir area.

In fact it was because of Modi’s effort to hard sell Asiatic Lions through a tourism campaign in  which Amitabh Bachchan was the brand ambassador, tourists from all across the globe are pouring during winter season to see the majestic animal. The deaths would definitely impact tourism activities in the area.

Writer: Nayan Dave

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Before getting into the details, it is important to understand the fundamentals and the basics behind the factors that need to be considered when designing a foundation for a new education system. All in all, several factors influence the decision, some of them include dynamic curriculum, an emotional bond between teachers, learners, and the school, and experienced teachers.

Education systems are under stress even in educationally developed societies. This is inevitable, as by its very nature, education is a dynamic process and, hence, it must keep pace with changing expectations of the society and emerging aspirations of the young. In India, as in most nations that suffered under foreign yoke for centuries, education received new impetus in the last five decades, more prominently after the World Conference on Education, held in Jomtien, Thailand, in March 1990, that resolved to universalise elementary education in the next 10 years with extensive global collaboration.

India can rightly boast of its achievement in widening access to education to the remotest, far-flung, hilly, tribal areas. It required extensive efforts, plans and programmes to reach an estimated enrolment percentage of over 96, in spite of a population increase of more than three times. India now has around 1.5 million schools and over 230 million children enrolled in these schools. This is not a mean achievement for a country that began after independence in extremely tough conditions, with a literacy rate of less than 20 per cent, and huge paucity of resources, both in men and material.

While the expansion of access meant opening of more and more schools, at a pretty fast pace, there was a serious dearth of trained teachers, and even States’ capacity to provide infrastructure support at the optimal level. Things, however, did move. One of the biggest and most tangible achievements was attitudinal transformation: Every community, social and cultural group, now realises the importance and value of education; is keen to give ‘good quality education’ to their children; and this includes both boys and girls.

Young people may today find it strange to comprehend that to prepare people to send their daughters to school was a daunting task during the first four decades after independence. They may also find it strange that before the National Policy on Education, 1968, it was officially accepted that girls were not fit to study science and mathematics, and were generally encouraged to offer such choices as spinning and weaving, home science or social science subjects only. It was possible only because of the presence of visionary educationists under the leadership of Prof DS  Kothari that the National Commission on Education (1964-66) recommended compulsory teaching of science and mathematics to both boys and girls till they complete 10 years of schooling.

This can be one of the historic examples of dynamism needed in education, its policies and implementation. The shape of schools, laboratories and also the intent and process of education and teaching have undergone significant changes. From the Tat-Patti stage, India is rapidly transitioning to smart classrooms.

Dynamic systems, however, never permit lethargy or systemic slumber to relax/enjoy and gloat over achievements. Every issue resolved and every problem tackled generates new challenges. Indian education is no exception and one could list a plethora of issues and concerns that demand urgent remediation. It is because of such imperatives in educational advancements that the educational curriculum at every stage is consistently reviewed and revised. It requires regular execution of surveys, studies and researches to point out what needs to be changed, discarded and deleted; and added and augmented.

Normally, a five-year cycle is considered necessary to bring about curricular reforms in school education. Text books are revised after the curriculum renewal and formulation of syllabi for each area. Certain alert systems do realise that the pace of change is so fast that a five-year cycle may be a bit too prolonged and, hence, provisions for frontline curricula are also incorporated in broader guidelines, and made available to schools and teachers. This provision takes care of urgent requirements and students are not deprived of being made familiar with new  developments.

In India, with over 50 school boards authorised to prepare their own curricula, syllabi and textbooks, the task becomes complex when it comes to national-level competitions. Students from different boards must come with equality of learning attainments. This requirement led to the creation of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which is mandated to prepare a school curricula in consultation with State agencies; prepare  textbooks; and leave it to the State Governments to adopt these as such, or prepare their own books with local elements of curricula included wherever necessary.

NCERT books should normally not be accepted for every subject. Take the example of environmental education. Books must be different in Tripura and Thiruvananthapuram, but the NCERT textbook can offer guidance in maintaining the level and standard. At this stage, even curriculum developers and textbook writers require regular in-service orientations on how things are being analysed and included in an era characterised by the advent of information and communication technology (ICT).

Textbook is no longer the only source available to the student. While it is universally acknowledged that in spite of all that is now available to the learner, courtesy ICT, Internet and ever-improving gadgets, the criticality of teacher-taught relationship shall always be necessary to bring in the human element in the growing up of the learner. This is also the time for every teacher to realise that life-long learning must be put to practice to remain relevant in the profession. Only such teachers can impress upon the child the real import of ‘life-long learning’.

In the Indian tradition of the knowledge quest, yavadjeevait adhiyate viprah was propounded much earlier. Teachers of today and tomorrow would do well if they recall the wisdom of Socrates: “I cannot teach anybody, I can only make them think.” Sri Aurobindo had said it in very simple but meaningful terms: “Nothing can be taught” and that “mind must be consulted in its own growth.”   Once these simple-looking elements are properly internalised by the teacher, it would not be tough for him to visualise his changed role.

Only with such a vision, an alert teacher would be in a position to give wings to the nurturance of creativity and curiosity that are the nature’s gifts to every child. It is no longer implicit on him to transact everything in the classroom, he could support the learner to reach other sources of knowledge, and in the process, learn how to sift information and extract knowledge and skills out of it. In the process, the teacher is educating him in ‘learning to learn’ a skill that has to be a necessary acquisition during the process of schooling.

As the learner moves upwards on the learning curve, the need arises for flexible and individualised curriculum. It helps self-learning, self-actualisation and helps optimise their potential. Motivation and inspiration for all this must come from committed and performing teachers. Essentially, a teacher must be prepared to comprehend the imperatives of assisting the learner in the development of total personality and comprehensive abilities to enable him to contribute creatively in socio-economic, cultural, political and technological sectors. This would be feasible only when teacher preparation institutions realise their transformed role to help student-teachers acquire the skills of developing, what is now known as ‘multiple intelligence’.

At every stage, the role of the teacher educator and teacher remains. Changes in education, though envisioned and incorporated at various levels of expertise, must include teacher participation and his inputs.  A teacher’s role is no longer limited to that of a mere transactor of textual material within the classrooms. He/she encourages the learner to ask questions, acts as an appreciator, guide, counselor, moulder, instructor and much more. In fact, he/she is the first icon after parents, he/she is an exemplar. Only such teachers shall succeed in the future who realise the criticality of their persona in the life of the learners.

What could be more critical to a community than the availability of a functional school nearby? Textbooks, teachers, Internet and other aspects come only afterwards. It is indeed intriguing that teacher preparation and recruitment leaves much to be desired. The situation has deteriorated gradually and has reached rather disturbing proportions. Several State Governments are now ‘merging’  thousands of schools situated mostly in far-flung, rural, tribal and hilly areas with nearby schools to make them viable. When a school has an enrolment of less than 10 or 20, its continuation may not be considered viable in the routine economic consideration but should that be the only criterion? How demoralising and demotivating it would be for the community and children whose school is shifted to another place?

Traditionally, India has successfully experimented with various models of schooling during initial years. Now that educated and literate persons are available in almost every habitation and village, models other than what is demanded in the RTE Act could also be tried to ensure that no child drops out of school because of merger and assimilation of ‘their’ school. Good education requires good teachers, dynamic curriculum and an emotional bond between teachers, learners and their school.

(The writer is the Indian Representative on the Executive Board of UNESCO)

Writer: JS Rajput

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The fundamentals of any education curriculum is to teach and promote core values of the society. Without values, education is incomplete. While a good education system creates values among pupils, ultimately becoming the fabric of social and political lives, the present education system in India is devoid of such characters. Aping the West, Bharat graduated into India only to have a lopsided education system that is a means to an end — to lead a luxury lifestyle at the cost of the value system which is already at a low ebb.

And therefore, sports and music are considered antidote to education. The overall development of a child is not possible without a proper set of sports system. One-third problems of the country are related to physical weakness of the youth, Vivekanand had said.

To address the issues, the Modi Government is leaving no stone unturned to refurbish the education system that empowers people through education. Under “Khelo India” scheme, the Government is trying to improve sport infrastructure in villages.

“One Bharat Shresth Bharat” aims to bridge the regional disparity. The Government is keen to synergies the ingenious knowledge system and modern technology. “Technology is the biggest driver in improving the quality of education,” said HRD Minister Prakash Javedekar. The digital black board is one of the top priorities of the Government. And efforts are on to use technology to enhance teachers’ skills as well.

There are several other initiatives that aim at improving the overall condition of the education system. More than hundred new Kendriya Vidyalayas and 62 new Navodaya Vidalayas have been opened during the last four years. Ekalavya Model Residential schools will be opened in the tribal areas.

Despite these praiseworthy initiatives, higher education is smitten with many ills. The scheme of upgraded autonomy is bound to create further problems in education system. “I am a Stephenian, a JNUite or a LSRite” will only widen the chasm. The existing apartheid system in educational system will further deepen if the Government policies are not implemented in toto.

The debate on the need for foreign faculty members is picking up, even as the concept of “Gurukul” has been pigeonholed as traditional. Rubbing salt into the wound is the exodus of brains from quality educational institutions in India to the US and the EU, indeed for greener pastures. To address this burning issue, the Central Government is trying to reverse the brain drain into brain gain through the scheme of Prime Minister Schemes of fellowships. Though it is not enough, well begun is half done.

One of the fundamental aims of the education is to identify the core values. The core values of India are world peace and betterment of the humanity. It flows from the cultural heritage of India. There is need to connect children with Indian heritage along with the western tips.

Writer: Satish Kumar

Source: The Pioneer

(The writer is Head of the Department of Political Science, Central University of Haryana)

In order to sustain our nation’s prosperity, it is important to make efficient use of abilities and talents of our citizens, bringing together individuals from diverse cultures

India is rich in diversity but poor in harvesting its fruits. Plurality in society is not just limited to inheritance, class or caste divisions, but it also exists in other fields like languages, cultures, religions, choice of livelihood, careers, knowledge, values, beliefs and practices et al. Currently, as many as 780 different languages are spoken and 86 different scripts are used in the country. In the same spirit, higher education institutions too should respond and accommodate such diversities, particularly now when several reform measures have been initiated viz, the grant of graded autonomy to universities, the grant of autonomous status to colleges, regulation of open distance learning for online degrees and the selection of institutions of eminence status, among others.

In continuance with these reform measures, a draft Act that seeks to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC) for setting up of a Higher Education Commission of India has also been proposed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. But these reform measures will not lead to desired results unless the richness of this diversity is reflected by the higher education. Therefore, there needs to be a strong policy that ensures racial and ethnic diversity as one of the important factors among the many considered during admissions.

Campuses: The higher education sector has seen tremendous expansion since independence.  With just 20 universities in 1950, today India can boast of 47 Central universities, 384 State universities, 123 deemed universities and 296 private universities. Many more are to come. One of the positives has been the Union Government’s effort to establish at least one central university in every State. However, some are public, others are private, some are large urban universities, some are deemed, and still others are small rural campuses. There are those exclusively for women.

Similarly, diversity exists in specialisations of various universities ie, some are restricted to performing arts, social sciences, sports, technology, veterinary sciences, health sciences, food technology while others are professional. This collective diversity among the institutions is one of the greatest strengths of India’s higher education system that can help make us one of the best places for education in the world.

Students: However, diversity today is conspicuous due to its absence in the student bodies, faculties and staff, particularly in State universities. In the late 70s, when I was a student at the Kurukshetra University, there were  students from different parts of the country viz Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, North-East, Jammu & Kashmir and Kerala among others. Paradoxically, the number of students from other States saw a steep decline with time, probably with an increase in the number of higher education institutions.

State universities and colleges account for nearly 80 per cent of the total enrollments in higher education. Some students have even stopped moving from one district to another. A majority of students in universities are from local areas. The situation of Central universities is no good either. Over a period of time, universities have become ‘localversities’ as they have lost their ‘universal’ character. However, there is a provision of 15 per cent seats to be filled on an all-India basis to maintain probably some level of diversity. But State universities have managed to fill these seats by giving additional weightage to local students in the name of having passed their preceding examination from their own State university so as to give an edge to the students from other States.

The logic of these State universities is that their own State is also a part of India, and therefore, students must also to be considered in the category of ‘all-India basis’. Local students  now have a double advantage ie, of weightage of five per cent and as well as of reservation (85 per cent seats are reserved for own State). The motive is to fulfill the theory of ‘sons of the soil.’ As a result, the very idea of creating this category of ‘all-India basis’ is getting defeated.

How to ensure diversity: In view of the above, it is proposed that the nomenclature of the category ‘all-India basis’ should be changed to ‘States other than home State’ so as to ensure admission from other States, which will in turn ensure diversity. In addition, percentage of seats in this category must be enhanced to 30 per cent because India aims to attain a Gross Enrollment Ratio of 30 per cent by 2020, which currently stands at 25.2 per cent. To attract talent in this category, the Union Government must institute scholarship for students.

Diversity should be at all levels of institution: It should also be mandatory for universities to appoint 30 per cent teaching faculties from other States than the home State. Diversity in teaching faculties in State universities has continuously declined to almost nil. The Government can, therefore, create a cadre of all India educational services. Similar arrangements can be made for secretarial or administrative posts. This will not only ensure diversity but ensure that bureaucrats are not able to undermine the status of teachers. Financial liability of these 30 per cent staff and students of all State universities should be borne by the Centre. It will be prudent to bear 30 per cent cost of State universities rather than creating Central universities because there cannot be any cost or an alternative to national integration. This is how our higher education institutions can be made more ‘open to diversity and socially inclusive’.

Need for diversity: Diversity enriches the learning experience, promotes tolerance and a healthy society. It will not only foster innovations and help enhance India’s competitive strength but will also help integrate the nation. Sustaining the nation’s prosperity in the 21st century requires us to make effective use of the talents and abilities of all our citizens in work settings that bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

It should be an institutional commitment to promote student body diversity and inclusion on the campus so as to help building democratic societies. The higher education system of the country should be such that the students coming out of this should be capable of making contribution to the growth of the nation.

(The writer is a professor of Biotechnology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana)

Writer: SK Gakhar

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The need of the time is to revisit the Indian education system policies. Some inspiration can be taken from global education practices.

Quality of education and suitability of its products determine the efficacy, pace of progress and development in various sectors of growth and advancement. While none can doubt the sincerity of initiatives, plans and programmes that are launched from time-to-time to bring improvement, these are often impeded by certain practices that have gained ground over the years, thanks to the entry of unscrupulous elements in the sector of education.

A couple of decades ago, realising the gravity of damage caused by copying in mass examinations, the Uttar Pradesh Government had issued a nakal virodhi Ordinance. It had its impact. However, it was repealed by the successive Government, which was, in fact known to be soft towards the examinees. The malpractice has grown to gigantic proportions, particularly in States like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Sadly enough, practices like mass copying in examinations, making degrees available for consideration, fixing up examination sectors and the like, have not only ruined the lives of millions of young students but also contributed to a decline of credibility of certificates/diplomas and degrees awarded by most of the institutions in these States. Improvement in the quality of education and its products in these two States is indeed a daunting task.

News reports showed a dip of over nine lakh examinees in Uttar Pradesh board examinations for 2018-19. Normally, these numbers increase every year with growing population. This unexpected and significant decrease in those aspiring to clear board exams deserve a serious analysis as it dampens aspirations of the young and damages the demographic dividend of India.

One is reminded of what happened during the 2017-18 Uttar Pradesh Board exams. Around 10 lakh students, though registered, dropped out of examinations of class X and XII. The pass percentage was 75.16 in high school and 72.43 in intermediate. Failure, that lasts a lifetime and consequent demoralisation, was the fate of at least 27 lakh students in a single year in one State. Is it not a number that must make the entire nation sit up and think?

On the very first day of exams (2018-19), it was reported that around 1.8 lakh examinees abstained from appearing for the exams. It included 1.27 lakh of class XII students. Numbers kept on increasing. The newly-formed State Government had put in place strict preventive measures to confront the nakal mafia and it made a difference.

The moot point is: The nakal mafia did not acquire “strength, power and credibility” amongst the masses on its own. The obvious inference was its collusion with politicians and bureaucrats. It is encouraging that this year saw a fall in the purchase of certificates of success. A dip in the number of examinees of around a million speaks volumes about how our education system works.

Who can forget visuals of mass copying in board examinations from Bihar’s Vaishali? Or the Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh a couple of years ago? It is widely believed that scandalous practices to get entry into medical colleges and even in recruitment to State Government jobs continue unchecked. All those who could purchase entry, walked into the precincts of much-sought after medical colleges.

Generations of young souls have suffered injustice at the hands of elders, people in position of power, and politicians. This wastage of young manpower is not confined to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar only. It extends its operations to most parts of the country. The original nakal mafia nexus now extends to several other sectors dealing with the youth and their future. Coaching institutions have indulged in prior leakage of question papers to ensure success in professional entrance tests. These groups have created links even with public service commissions, teacher recruitment commissions and one often comes across instances of youngsters being cheated by unscrupulous elements, some of whom may be highly educated and well-positioned.

Absence of social consciousness and awareness, that has led to an  irreparable damage to the young generation, poses a great challenge to the education system of the country as well. If a reduction in the number of examinees in Uttar Pradesh is any indication, it is not tough to imagine how millions of youth are victims of this unscrupulous exploitation.

It is indeed very stressful to be happy about the much-hyped ‘demographic dividend’ that awaits the young of India in the ageing societies abroad. The situation is accentuated by several revealing factors that include 10 lakh vacant posts of teachers in Government schools, upsurge of private teacher education institutions, uncontrollable high fees charged by public schools that indulge in rampant commercialisation that leads to loss of credibility of Government schools.

The way India is treating its youth poses a serious question: Are we really giving them their due? One would like to immediately add that there are no issues with around 30 per cent of children and young persons who are lucky to get education of ‘acceptable level’ in private prestigious schools and a small percentage of Government schools. One is inclined to infer that the remaining 70 per cent is fated to get education that is of little help in settling down in a creative and contributing life.

Countries with strong educational systems are fully conscious of the pace of change all around, and the need to prepare their younger generations for a highly competitive world. This obviously cannot be achieved in an environment highly polluted by practices like copying, bribing State functionaries to get into jobs and having degrees and certificates without acquiring adequate knowledge, skills and value.

While India needs to combat the prevailing malpractices in education system on its own, it will do no harm to look around, observe as to how education has improved globally. India, too, like other educationally-advanced nations must put into practice the adage that investment in education pays the highest returns. No nation can remain slow and reticent on this count.

Renowned columnist, Thomas Friedman, in his latest book, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, attempts to comprehend the pace of unprecedented changes taking place all around, and has called the present times as an “age of accelerations”. Even if India is late in certain aspects of improvement, it must invigorate the system with new ideas and initiatives. Even in tough conditions, young Indians have excelled practically in every field — ICT, space sciences and practically every promising area that could change the world for better. The horizon of quality education, presently available roughly only to one-third of the students, needs to be extended to all, and fast.

Only such systems will be effective in the future that are conscious of their ever-increasing responsibility, and ever-expanding needs and expectations from every sector of the population — right from children to veterans. The youth are etching to be a part of the change. They are the products of educational expansion and extension of access to those who were kept out of what was termed as the ‘mainstream’. For them, the only ray of hope is education, about which Gandhiji had envisioned in 1922: “But there is hope, if education spreads throughout the country. From that people would develop from their childhood qualities of pure conduct, god fearing, and love. Swaraj would give us happiness only when we attain success in the task. Otherwise India becomes the abode for grave injustice and tyranny of the rulers.”

Should the Indian education system not delve deep into ascertaining what has gone wrong within, and outside, the system of education? It demands high levels of professional commitment, dynamism and vision on the part of policy-makers and implementers, with inputs from academics and scholars.

We have issues in accepting diversity, achieving social cohesion and religious amity as the necessary ingredients in baking life better for all. As Nelson Mandela said: “The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation building and reconciliation.” The seeds of growth, development and progress are sown in the primary schools, where value inculcation and nurturance must begin in right earnest by abled teachers working in a conducive environment for learning and interaction.

(The writer is the Indian Representative on the Executive Board of UNESCO)

Writer: JS Rajput

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The Supreme Court asked Delhi’s lieutenant governor Anil Baijal on Friday to consider forming an expert committee to frame a policy on solid waste management in the national capital amid growing concern over garbage being dumped in the city.

There will be no solution to the this problem unless the authorities and citizens come together and take some action.

The complete failure in the management of the Capital’s waste has led the Supreme Court to term the city’s solid waste problem, which it called “alarming” in 2016, to “critical”. Having pulled up the civic authorities, the State and Central Governments, the apex court has now directed its ire at Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor. He has been instructed to constitute an expert committee which would also include members of civil society and RWA representatives to look for a sustainable system to solve Delhi’s garbage problem. Tracing the Capital’s feeble fight against mountains of waste, one may find innumerable statistics, numerous court orders and telling case studies but results on the ground remain elusive. Of the 1,00,000 metric tonnes of solid waste generated in the country every day, Mumbai and Delhi are guilty of producing the maximum. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the garbage produced every day in Delhi increased from 400 tonnes in 2000 to more than 8,700 tonnes in 2015. Today, Delhi generates about 9,000 tonnes of waste daily. The CPCB has estimated the generation of waste to multiply four times by 2030. Even more worryingly, of the 62 million tonnes of waste generated every year, less than 60 per cent is collected and only around 15 per cent is processed/recycled. In essence, a large burden of the city’s waste is borne by landfills. All landfills in the Capital, as also across the country, are saturated and are functioning beyond permissible limits. Yet lessons were not learnt from the collapse of the Ghazipur landfill site which claimed two lives. The failure is also of the municipal corporations and not just the Central and State Governments for not having implemented the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. Had the Rules been followed, most landfills would have been shut down. Also, a one-size-fits-all solution which is what depending on landfills alone amounts to, will not work. Opening new landfills as proposed by the Delhi Government will do nothing to tackle the problem.

The solution, however, does not lie just with the authorities getting their acts together. In large part, the problem is compounded because citizens do not follow any solid waste disposal practices. Failure to segregate recyclable and non-recyclable waste at source is the beginning of the problem. In searching for a sustainable system for waste management, the proposed expert committee panel must focus on arriving at a point of unity between the municipalities and citizens to come together to segregate waste. The country’s megacities need to take a cue from smaller cities like Mysore, Panaji and Alappuzha which have taken recourse to a simple solution of recycling at source. Localities too must be held responsible for disposing the waste they generate and the not-in-my-backyard mentality when it comes to the location of small, hi-tech waste collection and processing plants has to be demolished. If you produce it locally, you must be prepared to process it locally too.

Writer: Pioneer

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The holy river crying for policy-makers’ attention

The Yamuna river is highly venerated in the Hindu religion and is worshipped as goddess Yamuna, further the river marks its relevance as the daughter of the Sun God and the sister of Yama, the god of death. The river is so holy in Hindu religion, it is strongly believed that bathing in its sacred waters frees one from all sins. The parody is as such that the holy waters of the river is being abused in such a manner that the river is suffering and in connection the lives of the people is getting affected too.

For a long period of time the holy river Yamuna has been the lifeline for Delhi. From a pristine water course that was mesmerised by the Mughals it now meanders wearily loaded with pollutants.

The major cause of pollution of the river Yamuna is basically related to the religious practices that are carried out by the people in day to day lives. Yamuna is a river which passes cities whereby a lot of religious institutions are present like for an instance vrindavan, people in Hindu religion whereby the holy river is thought to be as a place whereby offerings are to be made and this is a general adopted practice by the Hindus.

A recent judgement by the Uttarakhand High Court, the division bench states that rivers Ganga and Yamuna, all their tributaries, streams, every natural water flowing with flow continuously or intermittently of these rivers, as juristic/legal persons/living entities having the status of a legal person with all corresponding.

This judgement by the Uttarakhand High Court has not only mentioned that the river Yamuna is a living entity but also has to protect the river Yamuna.

River pollution is a big menace to the environment and of course human health too, the other factors related to the contribution in the pollution are the Industrial wastes, mixtures of chemicals, heavy metals are all discharged in water and these are difficult to clean up.

It has been observed on the banks of the river people enjoy the call of the nature which adversely affects the river health.

The Yamuna has been sentenced to the harshest treatment by the humans, the Yamuna is a garbage dump for more than 57% of the Delhi waste thrown into it and only 55% of Delhi’s residents are connected to proper sewage system which negates the other 45% of the population which again remains not properly connected to the proper sewage system. According to Centre for Science and environmental Pollution, around 80% of the Yamuna’s pollution is due to raw sewage.

The river pollution leads to number of health problems and disorders in humans. Not only it affects the human life but also affects the aquatic life, leading to the growth of fishes that are unsuitable for human consumption which further results in mass killing of the aquatic life too. Many economic activities are carried out by the people on these water bodies for an instance fishing and there are people whose livelihood depends on the aquatic life. Further it is not only limited to humans and the aquatic life but also animals and birds who drink the water of the river. After drinking the toxic water of the river mostly the animals, birds, humans and aquatic life suffers disorders and result in their death.

In the long term, if the continuous river pollution continues it will be a threat to the biodiversity and also the extinction of some species can disrupt the ecosystem completely, as we are aware about the chains of the ecosystem.

The rivers situation at present is very alarming and people in their references term it to be a huge sewage canal, its water is unfit for human consumption and cannot be qualified for any use, it cannot even support bacteria or any aquatic life.

At present the government has spent hundreds of crores Indian rupees in the cleaning of these rivers but still the river still remains to flow dirty.

Yamuna enters into Delhi at Wazirabad barrage, it is reflected in the picture P.1, the water stored in left beaker is the water of Yamuna before entering Delhi and the water stored in the right side of the beaker is the water of Yamuna after entering Delhi.

It seems that human activity is the major cause by which the river Yamuna is killed, the colour of the water has turned completely black which contains heavy metals, toxic metals, pesticides and nuclear wastes and which results in destruction of the properties of water, the oxygen level of the Yamuna water remains to be zero.

The very first solution of this problem has been mentioned in this article itself whereby it is important to know the stakeholders to the particular issue, once the stakeholders have been identified the responsibility of the cleaning of the river Yamuna can be shifted to them.

Dozens of countries have established regulatory bodies for instance in some states of U.S the regulatory bodies are public Utility Commission, in england and Whales a regulatory body was created OFWAT in 1989, and many countries choose for privatization for the concern of water management which India should also implement.

The another is “awareness”, once the government is successful in creating the awareness that the river contributes a lot to the people and it is their duty to protect it the pollution level will go tremendously down. The government should formulate policy by making field research and identify the polluters and apply the concept of Polluters Pay Principle.

(Ankit Kishore is a law student School of Law, KIIT University)