Reimagining Policy
Frameworks for Integrated Rural Development in Uttarakhand
The
hill state of Uttarakhand, nestled in the western Himalayas, hosts a
fragile ecosystem that is among the most hazard-prone regions of the
country, suffering from successive natural and man-made disasters with
increasing vulnerability to climate change impacts. At the same time, a
rapid increase in construction activity with a large extent of
technically incorrect and unsupervised habitat development in the rural
areas further increases the disaster-vulnerability of buildings and risk
to human life. The shifting of construction practices from the rich
heritage of vernacular to ‘modern’ RCC-based technologies has further
exacerbated this condition, while also proving to be more energy and
carbon intensive. There is a dire need for policy interventions to move
away from current trends in the construction sector and effectively
address these critical issues, while building strategies and frameworks
for integrated rural development in Uttarakhand.
![](images/pg1.jpg)
Figure 1 Community
building constructed in Kamad village in Uttarkashi using appropriate
materials and technologies procured through micro-enterprise based
delivery systems
Some innovative development mechanisms and improved technologies for
construction were explored by DA through the project, ‘Delivery Model
for Eco-Friendly Multi Hazard Resistant Construction Technologies and
Habitat Solutions in Mountain States’, which was piloted in three
villages in Uttarkashi district under the DST TIME-LEARN programme
focusing on improving disaster resilience of building using locally
appropriate materials and technologies delivered through local
micro-enterprises. The project shed light on various policy gaps which
hinder the large-scale applicability and implementation of sustainable
habitat projects. We discuss them here.
Firstly, there is a general lack of focus on low carbon systems in the
construction sector. Considering that India’s greenhouse gas (GHG)
emission rates are much lower than those of developed countries, most
current policies including the National Mission for Sustainable Habitats
(NMSH), do not prioritise the need for replacement of high-energy
materials such as cement, steel and burnt red bricks for construction.
While these priorities may partly reflect in building codes like ECBC
and green building certification systems such as LEED, GRIHA, and IGBC,
these focus majorly on urban settlements with low adaptability of the
concepts to the rural context where there is need for technical guidance
for developing resilient low-cost, low-tech and environment-friendly
habitats.
Another pressing need in this arena is for coherent and improved
communication between various stakeholders and across different levels
of government in order to eliminate knowledge gaps towards use of
relevant policy instruments, while avoiding overlaps and multiplicity of
interventions. There is a need to strengthen capacity building measures
among these stakeholders for efficient implementation using
state-of-the-art technology and data. This communications strategy must
also include measures for improving awareness among both policymakers as
well as consumers with localised dissemination in vernacular languages
to improve the message delivery.
To address challenges of rural development, strategies for the building
and construction sector must take into account forward and backward
linkages with respect to local economic activities. For this, policies
must recognise the potential benefits from fostering a healthy
enterprise ecosystem to improve the supply chain of eco-friendly
building materials and enhancing the scope of micro-enterprise-based
delivery systems in the region. This requires a cross-sectoral approach
to livelihood generation and integration into policy frameworks for the
buildings and construction sector, building on complementarities from
important sectors in Uttarakhand such as rural development, MSME, skill
& entrepreneurship, disaster management, forestry and ecotourism as well
as leveraging financing through policy initiatives such as PMEGP, PM
Mudra Yojana, Credit Guarantee Trust Fund for Micro & Small Enterprises,
etc.
The need is for a strategic framework to address these policy gaps and
creating an integrated model of development that builds on local
strengths while addressing the twin issues of strengthening supply
chains and also inducing demand for sustainable goods and services for
truly effective integrated rural development.■
Mohak Gupta
mgupta@devalt.org
Anoushka Das
das.anoushka@gmail.com
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