Gujarat fails to treat nearly 98 per cent of the municipal solid waste generated in urban areas: Report

% of municipal solid waste treated per day

At a time Gujarat government went in massively into Swachh Bharat campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Gandhi Jayanti day, facts have come to light which show that the state is the worst performer when it comes to treating municipal solid waste (MSW). A Planning Commission report, prepared in May 2014, has said that while Gujarat’s urban development authorities may be collecting most of the MSW – 7,378 out of 8,336 tonnes per day (TPD) – they are able to treat just 118 TPD, which comes to a mere 1.57 per cent of the total collection.

Interestingly, these figures find their place in the appendix of the report, with no explanation in the main body as to why Gujarat is such a poor performer.
This is particularly shocking, as it is way below the total municipal waste treated in the country, 28.4 per cent. About 1,33,760 TDP of municipal waste is generated in India, out of which 91,152 TDP is collected, and 25,882 TDP is treated. The Swachh Bharat campaign in Gujarat was launched by chief minister Anandiben Patel from Mahatma Gandhi’s birthplace, Porbandar.

In Porbandar district, significantly, out of 1.25 lakh households, 52,483 households (38,673 in rural areas and 13,809 in urban areas) – or 42 per cent – do not have any toilet facilities within their premises, according the Census of India 2011 data, which means that majority of these people go in for open defecation, forcing manual scavenging upon Valmiki Dalits.
An inter-state comparison, on the basis of the data provided by the Planning Commission report, suggests that the urban areas of all major states, including the poorer ones, treat a much higher proportion of MSW than Gujarat. While Odisha performs the worst by treating just 1.25 per cent of the total 2,383 TPD of MSW generated, data for two “Bimaru” states have not been given (Uttar Pradesh and Bihar).

The states performing better than Gujarat are Jharkhand (which treats 1.59 per cent of 4,450 TPD), followed by Punjab (9.45 per cent of 3,853 TPD), Chhattisgarh (9.85 per cent of 1,896 TPD), Tamil Nadu (11.06 per cent of 14,532 TPD), Haryana (16.57 per cent of 3,490 TPD), and so on.
The best performer, according to the data released by the high profile report, is Andhra Pradesh, which treats a whopping 88.38 per cent of the total MSW generated (11,500 TPD). This is followed by Delhi, India’s national capital, which treats 33.33 per cent of the MSW (7,500 TPD) and Maharashtra 27.65 per cent of 17,000 TPD.

Significantly, the report was released about two years after the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation got involved in an ambitious task of implementing a “zero waste policy” under an agreement with the United Nations Centre for Regional Development. Signed in 2012, it seeks to achieve zero waste by 2031.
The report regrets that most of the MSW in India is dumped in “low lying urban areas” (in Ahmedabad, it is dumped near Pirana, across Sabarmati river, for instance, next to spot where huge slum ghettos exist), adding, it is a major cause of “unhygienic conditions” for the people living in the nearby areas. It believes, the reason for failure to treat MSW is “casual attitude of the citizens as well as the municipal authorities towards managing solid waste.”

The Task Force was chaired by K Kasturirangan, member, Planning Commission. Among other things, it recommends that it is necessary to minimize the wastes going into landfill of at least 75 per cent of MSW by processing it through “appropriate technologies.”

Comments

Irrational? Basis for fear among Hindus about being 'swamped' by Muslims

I was amused while reading an article titled "Ham Paanch, Hamare Pachees", shared on Facebook, by well-known policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy, an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Guruswamy, who has also worked as an advisor to the Finance Minister with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, seeks to probe, as he himself states, "the supposed Muslim attitude to family planning"—a theme that was invoked by Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister ahead of the December 2002 assembly polls.

Why's Australian crackdown rattling Indian students? Whopping 25% fake visa applications

This is what happened several months ago. A teenager living in the housing society where I reside was sent to Australia to study at a university in Sydney with much fanfare. The parents, whom I often met as part of a group, would tell us how easily the boy got his admission with the help of "some well-meaning friends," adding that they had obtained an education loan to ensure he could study at a graduate school.

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

Gujarat slips in India Justice Report 2025: From model state to mid-table performer

Overall ranking in IJR reports The latest India Justice Report (IJR), prepared by legal experts with the backing of several civil society organisations and aimed at ranking the capacity of states to deliver justice, has found Gujarat—considered by India's rulers as a model state for others to follow—slipping to the 11th position from fourth in 2022.

Punishing senior citizens? Flipkart, Shopsy stop Cash on Delivery in Ahmedabad!

The other day, someone close to me attempted to order some goodies on Flipkart and its subsidiary Shopsy. After preparing a long list of items, this person, as usual, opted for the Cash on Delivery (popularly known as COD) option, as this senior citizen isn't very familiar with online prepaid payment methods like UPI, credit or debit cards, or online bank transfers through websites. In fact, she is hesitant to make online payments, fearing, "I may make a mistake," she explained, adding, "I read a lot about online frauds, so I always choose COD as it's safe. I have no knowledge of how to prepay online."

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Not just Haren Pandya, even Dhirubhai Shah, youngest assembly speaker, wanted to be Gujarat CM

Dhirubhai Shah with Keshubhai Patel When Keshubhai Patel was sought to be replaced by the BJP high command in 2001, everyone knows that Narendra Modi became the final choice. However, someone who was part of the top circles those days now tells me something I had no knowledge of—that the choice was between Modi and a Kutch MLA, Dhirubhai Shah, who served as the 16th Speaker from March 1998 to December 2002 during the 10th Assembly, the youngest to take the office.

Of lingering shadow of Haren Pandya's murder during Modi's Gujarat days

Sunita Williams’ return to Earth has, ironically, reopened an old wound: the mysterious murder of her first cousin, the popular BJP leader Haren Pandya, in 2003. Initially a supporter of Narendra Modi, Haren turned against him, not sparing any opportunity to do things that would embarrass Modi. Social media and some online news portals, including The Wire , are abuzz with how Modi’s recent invitation to Sunita to visit India comes against the backdrop of how he, as Gujarat’s chief minister, didn’t care to offer any official protocol support during her 2007 visit to Gujarat.

Just 5% Gujarat Dalit households 'recognise' social reformers who inspired Ambedkar

An interesting survey conducted across 22 districts and 32 villages in Gujarat sheds light on the representation of key social reformers in Dalit households. It suggests that while Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's photo was displayed in a majority of homes, images of Lord Buddha and the 19th-century reformist couple, Savitribai Phule and Jyotiba Phule, were not as commonly represented.

Search This Blog