March 2020 came with an unprecedented circumstance. The entire country came to a standstill. The Covid-19 pandemic, the lockdown and physical distancing measures forced skill training institutes to adopt innovative measures. This forced innovation majorly involved digital interventions. Digital transformation proved to be a glocal movement, where global problems had local solutions and vice versa. Community radios, WhatsApp, online meeting platforms like Zoom, Google Meet and Webex, simple phone calls – whatever had the reach and availability was picked up by skill training providers. For those who had access to the digital means have taken a quantum leap in terms of know-how of technology.
Modern concrete technology drives with ideas and innovation; new trends are always welcomed. It may transform from material replacement, change in composition or engineering design. This comes with a wide range of opportunities to develop new-age concrete that includes fibre reinforcement concrete for flexural and tensile strength, lightweight aggregate structural concrete, self-healing concrete, ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) etc.
With growing prosperity in the country, 62 million tonnes of garbage is generated annually by 377 million people living in urban India. We are the world’s third-largest garbage generators. It is a disturbing fact that only 43 million tonnes of waste is collected in a year and 11.9 million is treated while 31 million is dumped in unscientific landfill sites, implying that 75-80% of the municipal solid waste gets collected and barely 22-28 % of this waste is recycled or treated (Press Information Bureau, 2016). Incidents like rampant self-ignition of unregulated dump sites in Delhi in recent years indicate the lethal social and environmental hazards awaiting India’s cities and towns.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, conversations around the ‘future of work’ have deepened, as the way we ‘work’ experiences a period of disruptive change. Labour markets are particularly affected by the disruptions, with deep repercussions on employment and inequality. Women and young people are the hardest hit. In India women and youth were already facing significant challenges to their employment with one of the lowest labour force participation rates in the world. Just to address the unemployment crisis in the country, estimates show that India would need to ensure the creation of 30 million jobs by 2030 , which is almost three times the population of Sweden. The marginalised will have to develop the entrepreneurial attributes needed to self-source their livelihoods in absence of comprehensive policies and support. After all, the least affected, economically speaking, are those who can ride the wave of technological progress.
TOut of the total CO2 emissions of the country, Bihar alone contributes around 35 million tonnes from energy and around 16 million tonnes from the burnt clay brick sector. The latter is slated to rise considering the increased construction activity and the resulting higher consumption of building materials. In Bihar the brick sector is the third highest emitter of CO2, after agriculture and energy. This is due to the present technology of clay brick firing using coal as fuel. Bihar has about 6,602 burnt clay brick kilns which produce approximately 18 billion fired clay bricks annually.
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