Equitable Relocation of
Government funded Elite Higher Educational/Research and Training Institutions and PSUs
from Greater Hyderabad and other big cities of Andhra Pradesh, India into
Clusters of Rural Villages in the Remaining Districts as Multiple Campuses
An appeal / Feedback from
FoRum for Inclusive, Equitable and Natural Development of Societies : FRIENDS
Suggestion#1 to Group Of Ministers (GOM) regarding Andhra Pradesh sent by email to feedbacktogom-mha@nic.in
[For
reasons of brevity, the details of implementing the relocation process
are not mentioned here which can be worked out by those who are familiar
with the art and science of the process and several innovations are
possible. For one, acquisition of needed lands in the rural village
clusters is presumed to be long term but rational ‘dynamic lease’. For
another, some of the multiple campuses of a given elite institution
under ‘its own name and style’ are to be located equitably in
different regions of the state and preferably face the campus of another
institute from a different region in a cluster or a nearby cluster so
that a healthy competition and cooperation can follow with due respect
to the different cultures and styles. Relocation versus additional
campuses or just new institutions is debatable, but for reasons of
brevity, it is confined to ‘why and how’ relocation can be a better
option for not only the holistic development of the societies in an
inclusive, equitable and natural manner but also from the market
economics and mass support. The basis for the sustained mass support
would be the sincerity of expert teachers’ efforts in which they are
direct partners with their local ‘talents and renewable resources’ and
the extent of success of their innovative and operational production
systems in the four vital sectors of local and global interest,
namely, ‘drinking water, energy, food and housing’ which also figure in
the millennium goals adopted by the UN.]
We, the FoRum for Inclusive, Equitable and Natural Development of Societies(FRIENDS),
hereby humbly submit our suggestions regarding Andhra Pradesh in
response to the invitation for the same from GOM under the Ministry of
Home Affairs, GOI as detailed below for due consideration in three
parts:
Subject Matter Or The Appeal : Equitable
Relocation of Government Funded Elite & Higher Educational /
Research and Training Institutions and PSUs, from Greater Hyderabad and
other big cities of AP into Clusters of Rural Villages in the
Remaining Districts as Multiple Campuses.
I. The positive outcome of implementing the above Appeal
II. The action to be taken
III. The mandate to the elite institutions
I. The positive outcome of implementing the above Appeal
I.1.
The actions, related to the relocation, is based on the age old
pragmatism expressed in, “A bird in hand is better than two in the bush”
and lend the vital completeness to the famed, much debated and
nationally agreed ‘PURA’ since elite Education, Research and Training
are hither to the most characteristic features of all the ‘Urban
Amenities’. The relocation alone has the potential to exert a healthy
influence on the way path of development is chosen in our democracy.
Further, the suggested actions would also have ‘mass appeal and
support’ with a huge potential even in the periodic election based
multiparty democracy on several counts. But the prime ones that can be
assessed immediately by snap opinion polls among the rural areas and
emerging towns and cities would be:
I.1.a) the sheer joy of the rural folks with the unheard and undreamt possibility of
the
physical proximity of elite institutions that attract the best talent
in students, youth and elders from all over the state and the country
and
the
sense of ownership of every impactful innovation that comes up from
the cluster by some rural community or the other in the entire country,
if the same is replicated all over the country.
I.1.b) the poor farmers, including the landless ones, would be thrilled by the economic prospects, some of which would be
i)
the very possibility of guaranteed monthly lease incomes from the
state, like inflation compensated salaries for generations to come, the
most secure insurance against the vagaries of Nature. (land is only by
lease for the institutions in the new clusters and the lease is tied
to the land rates) .
ii)
it would be they who would take care of the plants and all the greenery
of every beautiful campus in which ever capacity: either as the sole
owner of the approved horticulture horticulture / floriculture plantations that they
are comfortable with or as contract farmer for the fancy greenery like
exotic lawns, shrubs or trees, that bring beautiful biodiversity to
the campus.
I.1.2.
The finance ministry should be happy to note that the lease cost of the
land in the remote rural areas would be a tiny fraction of the
astronomical opportunity cost of the prime urban lands that would become
available to GOI in the mega / big cities anywhere in the country.
I.3.
The institutions and PSUs would act as catalysts for inclusive,
equitable and natural development of rural societies that is
sustainable. Thus the above initiative has the potential to address the
projected mega problems of mass migration to urban areas by
containing/limiting the very migration from the rural areas in the
first place.
I.4.
The above would naturally spur a healthy growth of urban societies as
well. The immediate pain of the loss of the proximity of elite
institutions would be soon compensated to a large extent by the
quantum jump in the primary and secondary school facilities, enormous
urban beautiful green and open spaces with several world class
facilities in sports and convention centres with the attendant
hospitality services.
Further,
everyone in the communities at the bottom of the urban pyramid should
also be thrilled by the prospect of a tiny home that they can call their
own. It would give a great opportunity to the urban politicians of
promising homes to homeless and the poorest of the poor in the prime
urban areas. None of these could ever even be dreamt of so far.
I.5.
Right now the urban growth is near chaotic at best and is more like a
cancerous one, with the successive governments( of whatever parties) for
ever engaged merely in fire fighting and often resorting to appease
some one or the other of the societies. Such short sighted actions and
knee jerk reactions ultimately threaten the very unity and survival of
Indian democracy.
II. The action to be taken
II.1.a)
All the central and state government institutions and public sector
undertakings presently located in the Greater Hyderabad of today
spreading over four districts, about 160 or so, may kindly be
relocated equitably in the remaining 19 districts of Andhra Pradesh
(remaining six of the districts in Telangana region and the thirteen
districts of the rest of Andhra Pradesh).
II.1.b)
The four districts, which have the Greater Hyderabad, any way have the
benefit of disproportionately large investments in all other areas
such as infrastructure, private investments etc.,
II.1.c)
The backward districts identified by Sri Krishna Committee and water
problem districts like Nalgonda, Anantapur may be given priority.
II.1.d)
The relocation of the government institutions/undertakings from Greater
Hyderabad is unlikely to affect the economy of either Greater
Hyderabad or of the state or, for that matter, of the nation with no
trace of any detriment to the interests of the common man.
II.2.
Of the above institutions/ commercial undertakings, either under
state or central government control, all the academic ones involved in
educational, research and/or training activities may be helped to set up
more than one campus under their own current brand name and style but
in different regions. It gives a fillip to the higher education,
research and training in the entire state while ensuring equity to all
the districts of the state. In comparison, a new institution would take
much longer (more than a few decades) to grow to compete with the
existing elite ones, if at all they do grow. If the new campus carries
the brand name of an elite institution, it would be in the interest of
its own faculty to ensure that it begins and grows properly while
providing a healthy growth opportunity to themselves besides others.
II.3.
Similarly, all such elite institutions / commercial undertakings in
other major cities like Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada-Guntur corridor,
Tirupati, Kakinada, Anantapur, Kurnool and Warangal, in the rest of
AP (other than Greater Hyderabad), can be relocated into the interior
rural areas of the above mentioned nineteen districts of the state. It
is a different matter that all of them put together would be no match
to even a fraction of the ones in the current Greater Hyderabad.
II.4. The above institutions should also include all the teaching hospitals as well, thus improving healthcare to rural areas and give an incentive for the young medicos to serve in rural areas at the end of their UG/PG degrees, a perennial and all pervasive problem in India. Even then, the big cities would still have a far higher number of doctors and/or beds per thousand population.
II.5.a)
The new location of all the above institutions and public sector units
may be equitably distributed in 19 clusters of rural villages, at
least one but no more than a few, in each of the 19 districts, subject
to 1.d above in reference to the districts with water scarcity/
fluoride/specific water problems. Each cluster may have some 15 to 20
villages of the district, and at considerable distance from even the
tier 2 or tier 3 cities of the district with each village of the cluster
hosting one or at the most two institutions.
II.5.b)
It is preferable to have each cluster spread out in more than one
mandal; may be two clusters of neighbouring districts could be close by
so that the pair could be viewed as one big cluster.
II.6.a)
The new rural clusters may be given due financial packages so that the
necessary infrastructure may be created enabling them to act as nuclei
for growing into centres of innovation excellence at national and
international levels.
II.6.b)
The cause would be well served by inviting/allowing only the top of the
very elite institutions, either public or private, at the national and
international levels into these clusters, under their own name and style
by mandating them to address the issues and challenges of
sustainability while regenerating local resources and restoring the
badly damaged ecology and environment as detailed in Part III.
II.7. The
vast prime urban lands that get vacated in Greater Hyderabad and the
few other big cities of the state can be utilized primarily for
advancing primary and secondary schools with playgrounds, greenery and
other amenities, all of which could be part of complexes of ‘eco tourism, health tourism, sports tourism and world class convention centres’. Further, huge
financial resources can be raised to improve the school education,
healthcare and communication infrastructure, including wide band
internet all over the state. This alone can ensure the much needed
quality manpower for higher education and R&D and transforming the
agriculture and industry to meet the national and global challenges.
II.8. A part of the vacated urban lands in the big cities can be used/reserved for housing the urban slum dwellers.
III. The mandate to the elite institutions:
III.1.
Strive to make every ‘village or sub group of villages in a cluster or
a cluster as a whole ‘self sufficient’ in drinking water, energy, food
and housing, with appropriate smart grids and networked logistics using
only the various local renewable resources. A national level mission
mode approach with experts drawn from academics, R&D, industry, NGOs
of even other countries to help achieve the above mandate. Where local
resources of a village or cluster are inadequate, in any sector,
priority to be given to those available in the entire district or the
neighboring districts.
III.2.
The units of PSUs located in a cluster to adopt all the schools (at
primary & secondary levels) and teaching hospitals in all the
clusters as part of their CSR, with the respective institutions sharing
and owning the responsibility. The schools are to be on par with the
best in the country since all the children of the cluster ‘should
share’ the same schools. Thus the state of the art ‘schools and teaching
hospitals’ available in the neighborhood would help in attracting the
talented and inspired faculty and others to the rural clusters, besides a
unique and healthy intellectual ecosystem bringing out and rewarding
creativity and innovation in meeting the challenges of sustainability.
III.3.
All the possible kinds of renewable energy power plants in each
cluster at appropriate capacities to be planned on ‘BOT’ basis under
the direct responsibility of the experts of the different institutions
and in collaboration with industry. The Operation
part to continue till about 80% of the mandated time so that all the
necessary tests for reliability are done and glitches are solved,
before Transfer to local entrepreneurs. The Build
part to include design and implementing the integration of the already
technically proven ‘individual technologies in isolation’ but may not
have been tried and tested in any hybrid integrated form. The team/s
to pay attention to the local traditional practices, old or on going,
and the skills and knowledge of the local communities in the whole
process.
III.4.
In providing the housing either in the new clusters or in the lands
that would be available in the urban prime lands (for the slum dwellers
and other bottom of the urban pyramid) priority to be given for
‘relocatable light weight per-engineered multi level buildings’ with
local renewable building materials.
III.5.
In the villages that host the institutions, the habitat to provide
housing to all (the locals and the outsiders) in a homogeneous manner
with priority and respect to the traditional local culture and with a
minimal of increase in the area of the village, including that of
schools. Land area constraint may be rationally relaxed in case of
schools since all the children of the locals and the others would have
to share the same schools.
No comments:
Post a Comment