As part of World Food Day celebrations, the Indian Water Resources Society (IWRS) and Central Water Commission (CWC) are jointly organising a series of events in Gandhinagar on October 16. The events revolve around the theme ‘Investing in agriculture for food security’ declared by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Events include a roundtable discussion on “Food and political security in India — impact of blockades against water storage projects”, workshop on ‘Preventive vigilance for national development and effective water management’, World Food Day function, and a management committee meeting of IWRS, in Gandhinagar.

According to IWRS and CWC, although agriculture may have become a minor player in many industrialised economies, it has to play a starring role on the world stage if hunger has to be eradicated. Yet, the foreign aid for agriculture and rural development has continued to decline, the bodies also added.

From a total of over US $9 billion per year in the early 1980s, it had fallen to less than US $5 billion in the late 1990s. Meanwhile, an estimated 854 million people around the world remain undernourished.

So, to ensure food and political security in India, the organisations aim to urge people to act fast otherwise “Indian civilisation may be doomed due to severe shortage of food, potable water and reliable power”.

Source: Expressindia.com

Development brings it share of difficulties. Ahmedabad too is facing a problem, the problem of plenty of vehicles and shrinking parking space. Though no city in the country has found a solution to the problem, need of the hour is to tackle the issue before it goes out of hand. Experts who gathered at Nirman 2006 to speak on possible solutions to the problem, blamed it all on unplanned development, a poor public transport system and most importantly, lack of civic sense among people.

The alarming rise in the number of vehicles in Ahmedabad is making the chaotic situation going out of hand, they said.

“The population and the number vehicles keep increasing. We are not giving proper thought to the city’s parking problem. With increasing incomes, the number of cars on the city roads have also grown in number,” said Shivanand Swami, the brain behind Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s ambitious Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), work on which is expected to start soon.

Swami contended while a bus took up as much space of almost two cars, it accommodated 50 persons against six by the car. “A proper public transport system like the one in Singapore could be the most effective answer to the growing parking problem,” Swami said.

Swami said the idea of parking on streets would be of no help as it was possible on only a 300-km stretch of the total length of 1,500 km. “The best solution is to bring down car dependency and the BRTS would the saving grace,” Swami said. Hansal Shukla, senior town planner with Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA), blamed public and builders for having little concern for the problem.

Source: Expressindia.com