Part II of Dunu's Talk

After touching upon various issues related to the individual, he went on to offer his thoughts on the Policies of the Governments, the Delhi state government in particular. Again, this was centered around the idea of trying to maximize usage and not attempting to optimize resources and he quoted two examples.

One is the number of Cycle Rickshaws in use in the city of delhi. In a city where only 8% of the population using cars and the rest using the public transport, the policies are grossly imbalanced. While there is a cap on the number of cycle rickshaw's to be added to the city every year (around 50,000), there is no cap on the number of cars. The reason cited is that rickshaws will add to congestion.

The second is about a proposal given the Rag Pickers Association of Delhi. The waste generated in the city is technically the property of MCD. The rag pickers association offered to segregate the waste before sending it to the dump. The proposed to separate the plastics, the degradables and other consumables so that the load sent to the dump is a fraction of the total waste generated. Also from the vegetable waste they proposed to have a small composting pit in every local park of size 10ft by 10ft and make manure out of it. The government rejected the proposal and chose to lease out the work of transporting the waste to the dump to private players who get paid per the kilogram of waste they transport.

He concluded by stressing on the importance of taking action which invariably would be initiated by the people who are affected by the policies. People who care about the environment and climate would obviously find many of these policies disappointing and therefore have to come together to take action and urge the power wielders to create more appropriate policies.