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The title of this essay is both, ironic and paradoxical and the ambiguity is meant to be so as much as my observation goes which stems from the market place to the many farms that dot the hills around this beautiful place that we inhabit and call our home. In the old days when we were growing up, the market places were small, vegetables were organic and fresh, and foodstuff was cheap. I clearly remember being sent to the evening market at Laitumkhrah with twenty or fifty rupees and coming home with a bag full of produce which included fish and sometimes meat. Nowadays a bagful of shopping is, perhaps, five hundred rupees or more and most of the vegetables are not fresh, over ripe, non-organic and imported from other states – not local!
Now, is there a way out of this apparently dismal situation? Every time, I go out to the hills and look around, I see fertile plains, barren hills and feel rather sorry for the poor villagers and of course, for myself as well! The first thing that one notices, as compared with farms in our neighbouring countries, is that here only one crop a year is grown with little or no winter crop. Another feature is that the farmers practice traditional methods of farming with very little innovation and adaption of modern technology. Third would be the water conservation and irrigation facilities. A formidable task to overcome these drawbacks and as a friend remarked the other day, “we are doomed as we are dependent upon other states like Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, etc. for our sustenance and livelihood.” This had got me thinking and I retorted by telling my friend that we are not doing enough and definitely not in the manner that would be equitable, productive, and sustainable.
One of the first problems that need to be tackled is to take advantage of the immense renewable and recyclable “organic waste” that abounds in the hills, dales, valleys and turn them into value added products: to begin with, methane gas for cooking, heating, production of electricity and bio-fertilizer. I gave below a brief introduction to this scheme:
ZERO-WASTE, ZEROARBON, BUSINESS-MODEL (ZW-ZC-BM)
[A Quadruple Impact Development (QID) paradigm that simultaneously answers the twinproblems of Global Warming and Poverty (GWP)]
THE PROBLEM: Global Warming and Poverty (GWP) are corollary in that both are simultaneously increasing due to the same basic cause: Wastage and Over consumption. This creates a disparity such as about 15% of the population enjoy 85% of world GDP and the balance 85% live on a paltry 15%. Further, this disparity is continually increasing due to the “richer” class wanting to overspend and waste indiscriminately; offsetting what could otherwise be made available to the majority poor. ZW-ZC-BM has the Objective of solving the twin problem of GWP.
THE CONCEPT & DESIGN: The basic principle is that Renewable Resources (RR) in the form of vegetation, animal matter, rainwater, sunlight, wind and soil, in conjunction with a combination of Industrial wastes and locally available usable Inorganic materials, without creating environmental degradation, would be judiciously converted into: Processed Foods; Alternate Energy; Alternate Engineering materials; Alternate Petrochemicals; Bio-Fertilizer; Bio-water. All RR materials would be regenerated, through a Self Regenerated Recycling (SRR) processes. Huge mass-production would give way to smaller Modular systems of manufacture, dispersed everywhere. India has over 650,000 villages/ tribal settlements/ fisher-folk settlements and shifting population groups – a total population of over 950 million people. Currently these population groups do not have minimum decent living standards (including Power, water, sanitary needs, Information systems,Transportation systems etc) and by having over 750,000 Modules of ZWZC- BM dispersed in these places, both Livelihood problems and wealth creation would be possible through Clean Technology/ Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Each Module would offer direct employment to not less than 300 local people, irrespective of their current training or education levels.
By our correspondent
To read the further article please get your copy of Eastern Panorama March issue @http://www.magzter.com/IN/Hill-Publications/Eastern-Panorama/News/ or mail to contact @easternpanorama.in
