Wasted: the Messy Story of Sanitation in India, a Manifesto for Change
Wasted: the Messy Story of Sanitation in
India, a Manifesto for Change
by
Ankur Bisen
Monday, 10th February, 2020
@ at 6:30 pm in CR-1; India International Centre
Urban India generates close to 3 million
trucks of untreated garbage every day. If these were laid end-to-end, one could
reach half way to the moon. The need for attention to sanitation and
cleanliness is both urgent and long-term. This book takes an honest look into
India’s perpetual struggle with these issues and suggests measures to overcome
them. Historically, we have developed into a society with a skewed mindset
towards sanitation with our caste system and non-accountability towards
sanitation.
Through stories, anecdotes and analysis of events, this book seeks
solutions to the current entangled problems of urban planning, governance and
legislation, and institutional and human capacity building. Wasted traces
interesting relationships between urban planning and dirty cities in India;
legislative and governance lacunae and the rising height of open landfills; the
informality of waste management methods, and the degrading health of Indian
rivers, soil and air. Arguing that all current solutions of India are
extrapolated from these flawed beliefs and structures and are therefore
woefully inadequate, Bisen draws a benchmark from clean countries of today.
Underlining the need for inclusive human clusters, specificity in legislation,
correction of existing social contracts and governance frameworks, creating a
formal resource recovery industry in India, and the pursuit of diplomacy around
this industry, this book shows how these solutions could lead us towards a
brighter future and better social development.
Discussants
Dr. Rajat Kathuria, Director & Chief Executive,
ICRIER(Chair)
Prof. Awadhendra
Sharan, Professor at Centre
for Studies of Developing
Society
Shri Anurag
Yadav, Secretary, Urban
Development and State Mission
Director
Swatch Bharat Mission (Urban) in Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
Shri Nitin Aggarwal CEO and Co-Founder Attero