By Govind Singh •
November 19, 2008
Prime Minister of India inaugurating the Third South Asian Conference on Sanitation
“Sanitation has a strong connection not only with personal hygiene but also with human dignity and well-being, public health, nutrition and even education. Mahatma Gandhi had once said “Sanitation is more important than independence”. He made cleanliness and sanitation an integral part of the Gandhian way of living. His dream was total sanitation for all.”
With these words, the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated the third South Asia Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN) in New Delhi. The Conference holds a special significance because the year 2008 has been declared as the International Year of Sanitation. Themed on Sanitation for Dignity and Health, the conference is being attended by participants from over eight South-Asian countries. Startling reports indicate the PM’s constituency to have the least number of toilets within India!
By Govind Singh •
October 12, 2008
A usual scene from Chandni Chowk: Delhi’s oldest and busiest market
Chandni Chowk (Moonlit Avenue) - a major street in the walled city of Old Delhi, established by the Mughals over three centuries ago, is one of the oldest and busiest markets in all of North India. The region has retained its historical character amidst considerable urban challenges, and the narrow lanes are now almost always choked with congestion.
In the past few weeks, Chandni Chowk featured in the media twice. Once for being declared India’s most polluted residential area and more recently for seeing the launch of solar-powered cycle rickshaws in the capital city. A package to clean the busy Chandni Chowk area has also been declared and solar energy is clearly paving the way for this change!
By Govind Singh •
September 13, 2008
Baoli - A centuries old step-well in the heart of Delhi city.
The urbanization process in India in the 20th century led to the formation of large city-centers with very high density of population. The urban sprawl also meant an immense pressure on the natural resources of these city-centers thus also affecting, among others, the quality of life of the urbanite. One of the first resource to get impacted was water - that began to both deplete and deteriorate as rapidly as was the pace of urbanization in the respective urban-centers.
Delhi, the capital of India has obviously been one of the cities to have now turned into a mega-city. Delhi faces regular water crisis that only aggravates in summers and all stakeholders agree on the inadequacy of Delhi’s current water supply.
But Delhi is also one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. It has been the capital of many conquerors who ruled Northern part of present day India from here and has always been a populated center. Water was traditionally harvested in a number of ways to support the population that also comprised large armies; something, the planners of today can and should learn from.
Cities and their even larger, fast-growing siblings — megacities (more than 10 million people) and hypercities (more than 20 million people) — aren’t just products of human civilization that dramatically affect their surrounding ecosystems. They’ve emerged as unique ecosystems in their own [...]
