Editorial Round-Up

Barriers for Disabled

26.8 million disabled in India

Physically challenged girl was made to climb two dozen stairs to reach her seat in a government exam hall

MPHRC has sought an explanation from MPPSC

Our built environment is notoriously disabled unfriendly (Exception: Delhi Metro)

ATMs, Cinema Halls, Monuments, Government Buildings – Not disabled friendly

Even though India was the first major nation to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

PM’s Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan (Accessible India Campaign): Launched 2015; at least 50% government buildings disabled friendly and the development of an index to measure the design of disabled-friendly buildings. But its implementation has been sluggish at best.

Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act 2016 has been amended to include private firms which have to ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with barrier-free access in buildings, transport systems and public infrastructure.

The revised National Building Code of India should incorporate elements of universal design to bring down barriers for the disabled.

Once the physical barriers for the disabled begin to go, prejudices against them will follow.

(177 Words)

Further Proof that Pollution Kills

New international report: The State of Global Air 2017

Prepared by two US-based health research institutes

India’s poor air quality causes nearly 1.1 million premature deaths every year, almost on par with China

India has recorded a nearly 50% increase in premature deaths linked to PM2.5; it is the most significant inhalable pollutant

Pollution in New Delhi in November reached crisis levels, with crop burning, car exhaust, dust and coal plants blamed for the record smog

India’s problem is that it is --- and will remain for years to come --- a coal-based economy

Pollution travels hundreds of kilometers: Need national, regional and city-level action plans with measurable targets

IARI proposed steps to convert agro-waste into useful products such as enriched fodder, biogas, biofuel, compost and so on, little progress has been made

Govt has not been able to supply affordable seeder machinery in sufficient numbers to eliminate the need to remove the straw

India produces 500 MT/year of crop residues; the issue needs to be addressed in mission mode

Easy access to cheap solar cookers and biogas plants will also cut open burning

India’s clean-up priorities need to shift gear urgently, covering both farm and city.

(197 Words)

EC must scrap ban on Exit Polls

Issue: Arrest of editor of the online edition of Hindi daily Dainik Jagran for publishing an exit poll for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh elections

The root of this trouble is the EC’s prohibition of exit polls. The EC believes the results of such polls influence voting behaviour during an election that plays out in multiple phases

Whether exit polls would outweigh the complex calculations voters have is debatable. But even if it is conceded that exit polls influence voting behaviour, why is that a bad thing? Leaders’ speeches and rallies influence voting behaviour. So does advertising. Should these be banned?

The EC should remove the ban.

Such polls will create one additional source of information, remove a gag on media and create a market for opinion.

Democracy gives us choices: let the EC not curb one of them.

(140 Words)

Using municipal bonds to bolster city finances

The news that Pune is getting ready to launch the biggest Indian municipal bond issue needs to be welcomed—but with caution.

The Isher Judge Ahluwalia committee on urban infrastructure had estimated in its 2011 report that Indian cities would collectively need to invest around Rs40 trillion in the two decades to 2031. Some 600 million Indians will be living in cities by then.

Extant Finance Options:

City revenue is less than 1% of GDP. And the share of own revenue in city budgets has been declining consistently.

The net result is that cities do not have adequate financial autonomy

Cities depend heavily on money passed to them from either the national or the state governments.

A robust municipal bond market could be part of the answer.

Need for Caution:

First, bonds are merely a way to collect money today based on revenue to be generated tomorrow. They are not a substitute for city revenue.

Second, India has had a dark history of sub-national governments raising money from bond investors for specific projects but then diverting the money for other uses.

The new municipal bond regulations released by the SEBI in 2016 do deal with many of the problems that we have discussed. (Implementation Required)

India may need to create an agency that is ready to take some of the risk out of municipal bonds—through market making, credit enhancement and underwriting.

Other Measures:

Cities need to generate more revenue as well as get more untied funds from the money collected through the new GST tax.

And to pull this all together will require city administrations that are empowered. Having directly elected mayors is an idea whose time has arrived.

(280 Words)