An avant-garde Architect’s Alcazar

(column by R. Prasad)

Much like those shimmering rays of the sun that not only illuminate Earth, but also bestow bountiful energy for life to grow and prosper, the Hiranandani Group for over two decades has pioneered the art of caricaturing the dream home for millions. They have built up huge green townships that are a testimony to the Group’s continuous endeavour to engage in environmentally friendly practices. With the patience of a truck driver stuck on a mile-long jam on GT Road, we hiccupped through the busy Link Road, witnessing skylines, which were to say the least conspicuous by the vibrant greenery that surrounded them & by the architectural grandeur that has become the Group’s trademark.

Olympia, Central Avenue at the Hiranandani Business Park – the sacred space of the master builder Surendra Hiranandani, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Hiranandani Group of Companies provided the stage for our interaction, where we were warmly greeted by the leading architect himself. We started with a friendly chat, discussing the company’s journey during the last 27 years. Surendra gets candid with us: “The real growth started only after the year 1991 when the reforms began and Indian economy opened up. But it was only after 2003 that we grew exponentially. Needless to say that after over 25 years in this business, I have seen more years of recession than boom.”

With virtually every player wanting to enter the high potential real estate sector, surendra explicates the differentiating factor of his enterprise, “Definitely, it’s all about the passion that you put into your work. It’s all about the experience that you have and we are actually the first to have created a township in India. While everyone was merely talking about the concept of a township, we actually went ahead and created a large scale township in India. People have created small colonies or enclaves, but we have executed it on a large scale, fully integrated township in Powai, Mumbai and in Thane in 1996, we started our second township. So, we have successfully executed two townships where we have residential complex, commercial complex, school, hospital, clubhouse, entertainment facility et al.

Surendra Hiranandani is largely credited for revolutionising the housing scenario in India with his uncanny knack of converting a barren land into a leading property. He has always advocated innovative practices and invested majorly on research and development. Way back in 1989, Surendra introduced processes for rainwater harvesting and sewage recycling in each of their projects, years before water conservation became mandatory. Adding to it, the Hiranandani Group has given a firm impetus to its commitment to offer a green environment by planting more than five lakh trees, shrubs and bushes in Powai, Mumbai. Surendra points out that his company ensures that each of the projects that they handle has at least 40% of land earmarked for open spaces, plantations and greenery.

The Group has constituted a horticulture department which has embarked on research activities for development of indigenous species. Speaking about the environmental need to preserve native species, Surendra points out, “We need to encourage more varieties of rare and indigenous species to preserve our native ecology. The same monoculture plantation is being found in every corner of the nation, simply because they have been found easy to grow. Extensive plantation of these species has led to degradation of flora in the country. There is an urgent need for the government to put a moratorium on certain species of trees, which are over planted and instead plant those that will help preserve variety of indigenous species, as is being done in many countries of the world.”

Interestingly, trees planted by the Hiranandani Group does not include Suru, Rain Tree, Yellow & Red Gulmohar as these trees tend to smother the natural fauna and flora. Also, extra care has been taken to ensure that trees which contribute positively to the environment are planted. So one gets to view rare species of trees such as Dendrecalamus Guganteus (Gian Bamboo), Lodoicea Maldivica (Double Coconut), Guessia Spiritulana, Hirda Behada, Nypa Fruticans (Water Palm) to name a few. With the discussion turning onto Surendra’s personal front, he lets out his secret of striking that elusive balance between work and leisure, “Yoga! Basically in the evening you have to cut yourself off work and you have to follow the principle of Bhagwad Gita. Never get too excited about success; never get too depressed about failure.” On motivating his employees, Surendra maintains, “One needs to give them importance, give them respect and give them opportunity to grow. We have constant training programmes, we encourage our senior staff s to train the junior staff s, we constantly have a focus on R&D, so we create a dynamic environment and give importance to people who are performing, give them scope and opportunities to do more.”

Surendra’s face lights up while speaking about his family. “My children ( ) are very independent. They are studying in the US and have done well in whichever institutes they have been admitted.” Our tête-à-tête with Surendra Hiranandani coming to an end, we drove back witnessing through the rear mirror, the trees lined along the roads of the Powai Hills, amidst the landscape caring for the concrete nests, and realised how a definite vision backed by a name trusted by millions can renovate lives in terms of quality – a lifestyle so lacking in our ever-burgeoning metropolises. Here’s a toast to the avant-garde architect’s alcazar that continues to charm every customer & lures them to experience heaven in the closest quarters!

(End of R.Prasad column)

Mercury
This is, of course, about the fight against global warming; and about the ludicrous ideologies opposing it!

“Global warming?!? What global warming? Solve our damned water and electricity problems first and then we’ll talk about... what was that again?!?” Ask any average working Indian Joe about how worried he or she is about global warming, and we bet that the deeply choleric and ill-tempered scowl you see with the ruthlessly ‘warm’ and snappy retort mentioned above would be more than enough for you to conclude your search for enlightenment right there in your tracks... Relax, it happened to us too, and we hadn’t even started discussing the international analyst forecasts that because of global warming, India would suffer a major freshwater shortage by 2030... “2030?!??” Oh alright, we get it... But what about the really poor Indians? Allow us, please. You see, poor, homeless, destitute, illiterate, jobless Indians (400 million plus of them), really had it good before global warming set in. And now, they’re all running scared and worried stiff about the fearful destruction this ‘warming stuff ’ is going to unleash upon them... Got it? Phew, it’s already getting hot!

That, dear friends, Romans, and countrymen, is the irony of it all, and not just for India, but also for any similar demographies across the world. For it’s really not about how individual citizens react to this threatening factuality called global warming, but fanatically about the combined commitment of countries and generations towards protecting the earth from the harm being done, whether naturally or unnaturally, industrially or agriculturally, for business or for pleasure! The story is about how, decades later, humanity would perceive the actions of today’s mankind and their efforts to save the earth. Well, everybody’s heard about the melting glaciers ad nauseum, and nothing seems to have happened to our homes, right? So the first common question that comes to mind is, whether the issue is indeed so serious. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has forecasted that average global temperatures would rise between 1.1% and 6.4% by 2100, that is, by around 30c by 2100. Fans of the Michael Crichton best-seller, State of Fear, which largely ridicules the green brigade, might say – “That’s it? We are worried about 3 degrees?!?” Well, this ‘minuscule’ 3 degrees is enough to put a whopping 4 billion people by that time at a serious risk of dangerous water shortage for starters, apart from ensuring that the severity of climate events would increase.

Already, there are instances of increased precipitation in many areas and excessive droughts in many more, and phenomenal heat waves in many more. Pest population of locusts, mosquitoes, rodents et al are also on the rise, thanks to shorter winter spans that would otherwise have killed them, which means more diseases for crops as well as for humans. Sea levels too would continue to rise with the melting ice, which is putting coastal regions across the world at risk. And knowing how soon this could happen is as tough or as easy as predicting how quickly and dramatically the melting Arctic ice sheets would cause sea levels to rise.

So consider millions dead due to unprecedented rise in sea levels and millions more losing their homes. Think about unprecedented famine, epidemics, heat waves and water shortages, and how they would threaten so many lives. Think about losing glaciers and the related tourism industry, not to mention the loss of so much of flora and fauna. And all this is not fiction, not any more... But hey! Like we mentioned, haven’t we heard all this many times over?

Sadly, over the past few years, this debate on global warming, instead of becoming a straightforward search for solutions (and working out of differences between individual countries over how to control emissions), became an intense propaganda war with two extreme sides – one predicting doomsday, and the other rejecting even the existence of the phenomenon. But of course, there also came to be those intellectual pockets between the two extremes that talked with moderation, yet with almost undeniable statistical support, either for or against the impact of global warming. And inadvertently so, perhaps because of his non-extremist and most logical slotting of climate issues at par with health and social problems, the leading face of the ‘for’ pack of environmentalists became a person named Al Gore, former Vice President of United States of America, the country with the biggest contribution to global warming! Gore’s award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, ensured that not only were the ill-effects of global warming documented intellectually for the common man to see across nations, but also that reams after reams of utterly confusing statistics got converted to simple, concise, and very much understandable presentations.

When we questioned him on the way forward to tackle this global conundrum, Al Gore’s belief in democracy came out definitely resolute. Commenting exclusively to B&E, Gore mentions with a definite edge, “We are facing so many long-term challenges; from the climate crisis & the war in Iraq to healthcare & social welfare. To solve these problems and move forward, we need to reverse the damage done to our democracy. We have little time to waste.” Truly, there’s little time to waste! And that’s from the man whom Americans voted to be their Vice-President! Twice!

But the same America rejected him in favour of George Bush, coincidentally (or perhaps, not so coincidentally), his chief target. Unfortunately, it’s indeed a shame that the US, which is the largest contributor to carbon emissions, has refused to take the lead in retrieving the world. Statistics clearly show how the US alone contributes to over 30% of the world’s greenhouse gases, yet Bush very conveniently backed out on his election pledge to cut down on CO2 emissions. The US asserted that capping carbon emissions is akin to slowing down economic development. Bush also reversed a ruling for mandatory reductions in CO2 emissions in electric power plants in the US. But interestingly, he refused to ratify US support to the Kyoto Protocol (Australia supported the US on this) stating that this Protocol wrongly exempted developing nations (like India & China).

And here lies the other side of the world order. China (Asia’s largest contributor, accounting for nearly 18% of world emissions: US government data) and India, (which contributes around 5% to global warming today) have refused to accept strict curbs on their greenhouse emissions, stating that this would seriously undermine their economic growth. While India feels that the developed countries, with their wasteful habits, are to be blamed and should be setting higher emission caps for themselves, the Chinese stand is not very different. After recent talks with EU officials, Chinese Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, stated in no uncertain terms that developing countries were not to be blamed for global warming. He further added that it was the responsibility of every country “to do what it can for the environment.”

However grudgingly one might accept, there is logic in this anti-developed countries debate, that while developed nations had their years of passionate romance philandering away natural resources and emitting as much gas as possible, it seems quite extraordinary for them to ask developing nations to invest in technologies that have the potential to decelerate economic growth. As per the latest data from the Energy Information Administration (for 2004), the US per capita emission is at 20.18 metric tonnes, which stands far ahead of UK’s 9.62, Germany’s 10.46, Japan’s 9.91 and France’s 6.71. Of course one of the so-called environment- friendly nations, Canada, comes pretty close to the US at 18.09. And you can well understand why countries like China with 2.9 and India at 1.09 feel shortchanged when accused of global warming!

But isn’t that what they call a stalemate? With the world’s largest economy and the two most formidable developing economies refusing to budge, the cause of reversing the damage looks doomed from the very outset. The Kyoto Protocol is going to expire in 2012, and world leaders are groping for an effective post-quota regime, which could gain consensus, in particular, for these countries. In the upcoming G-8 summit starting June 6 in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm, global warming is going to be one of the flashpoints, as other industrialised nations would try to make the US blink. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will host the meet, has been quite reticent publicly about the prospects, “I don’t know if we will succeed in that at Heiligendamm. But for me, it is clear that the big developed nations must take the lead on this issue if we are to have a chance...” A recently released Oxfam report projects that developing countries would require around $50 billion every year to combat global warming. It says that G8 nations must pay 80% of this cost, out of which the US should pay 44%. But if George Bush would start doing things that he ‘must’ do, wouldn’t half the world’s problems be over? Or perhaps all!

The imbroglio seems quite familiar, as the multilateral debate on climate change moves in the same direction of the WTO, where the entire process has reached, we mentioned it before, a stalemate! So is all lost? But is it too late for real action? Not quite, and thankfully so. A precedent has been established by the Montreal Protocol of 1989, which enforced a universal ban on chloroflouro carbons (CFCs). Research has shown that this landmark legislation has reduced the rate of global warming by 50% More recently, the EU has taken a landmark initiative this year. A deal has been signed by 27 leaders, which mandates a 20% cut in carbon emissions by 2020. Of course, every country has the flexibility to adopt its own means to the end. In fact, the EU is ready to reduce those emissions to 30% if the US and other developed countries join in.

In the US, states like California, Texas and New York are taking the cause with seriousness. California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stated in a symposium in California recently, “This is our race to the moon. And like that race, this too would be one giant leap for mankind.” He has vowed to make California “number one” in the fight against global warming (though the Bush government has recently refused to budge on a critical Environmental Protection Agency waiver that California sought to cut down emissions). The AB-32 bill by California mandates around 25% cut in carbon emissions in the state by 2020, which would bring it back to 1990 levels. Eleven states have now followed the California standard.

Close home, Prodipto Ghosh, India’s Environment Secretary, has put forth that by the year 2020, India will have “more than a 25% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.” Promisingly, some Indian businesses (600 odd, as on date) have been given incentives for carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism of Kyoto Protocol, and over 600 projects have already been approved. But the more worrisome issue for India is that we could keep on debating about why developed countries should reduce emissions et al, and it won’t be far when the First World simply Clamps down on Third World products that do not confirm to pristine emission norms! In the contemporary world, they call it an industrial embargo! The issue becomes sickeningly critical as Indian companies in the recent past have now made it more a habit of investing (or wasting) billions of dollars to takeover old-age companies that are at the ends of their technology life cycles. From the Tata-Corus (steel) deal to the Birla-Novelis (aluminium) acquisition – the two largest deals in India – even India Inc. seems to not realize that these M&As are being done at a time when foreign companies are moving towards blatantly new age realms. Companies like GE, DuPont, IBM, Toyota, BP and scores of others have successfully initiated green business opportunities. All preparing for the inevitable future, while India Inc. refuses to face the inconvenient truth, spouting varied reports in defence.

It is not a matter of protecting the environment any more for India, it is a matter of protecting its economic growth from future regulations; the very growth that is supposed to one day trickle down to the 80% disadvantaged masses of India, living currently below $2 per day; masses for whom food, water, health and shelter matter more today, than does global warming. But one day, it’ll all start mattering a bit more... And when the mercury does rise, would it be too late?

A race to the bottom? who dares sins!

The industrialised world – consisting mainly of the US, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and Japan – maintain a vice-like-grip over global affairs. If you thought they just intend to control trade in goods, services & global financial capital (top 300 industrial corporations control 25% of the world’s $20 trillion stocks of productive assets), you may be in for a surprise. The developed world intends to extends its poisonous tentacles into the whole gamut of human activity on planet earth, by subsuming all economic, political and cultural institutions. The creation of the Bretton Wood twins in the early seventies (World Bank controlled by USA & IMF by Europe) to change the structure of international exchange rate mechanism was the first salvo fired to re-colonise the third world and break their monopoly over natural resources. The Bretton Wood twins extended a tranche of loans to the third world nations coupled with strict conditionality to carry out ‘structural reforms’ of their economies. The pliable & corrupt leadership in the third world fell into the Fund Bank trap, only to discover that the prescriptions only pauperised their nations. Nation after nation (Argentina, Mexico, Brazil , East –Asia, Russia) went bankrupt in succession. And now we have the spectre of WTO over our heads. They want the Third World to liberalise agriculture sector, without lowering the massive agricultural subsidies being offered in the West. They are also insisting on liberalising the trade in services, without giving an assurance about free movement of labour. They blame the third world for sweat shops, and themselves twist rules as per their convenience. And when it comes to global warming, they have had their fill of excesses, and now want the third world to adopt green measures. Surely, their hypocrisy knows no limits!!!

Mankind’s future under water!

It’s time to recite Coleridge “Water water everywhere, not a drop to drink….” And surely if the trend of global warming & melting of glaciers continue, ocean levels will rise and swallow up entire nations & cultures. Besides other threats of global warming, the one attracting high concern is thermal expansion of the oceans – a result of water molecules expanding in warmer temperatures, increased precipitation and melting of mountain glaciers which leads to high sea-levels. The sea-levels have been rising tremendously with a rise of over 200 meters since the end of the last ice age, and astonishingly in 20th century alone, sea levels rose 0.17 meters with predictions for the next century rise ranging from 0.18 to 0.59 metres. The brunt will be borne by low lying areas, which would be entirely submerged such as Nile Delta, Maldives and Bangladesh which will suffer great damage if and when sea level rises, as it has an extensive coastline and lies between 2 major rivers. Shrinking coastlines are being observed across the world. The recent spate of hurricanes in the US has also been linked to the phenomenon. Warmer oceans are now being linked to increasing severity of storms. In the past, peak melting has been taking place in Greenland and Arctic, where ice is now half as thick as it was in 1950. And sudden acceleration in the past few years means the catastrophes may not be as far as they seemd to be, earlier. Today it’s polar bears, penguins and seals that are losing their natural habitats and dying out. If this continues, human beings would be the next in line to suffer the same fate.