In Search of Alternatives

The origin of our organisation lay in that dream, a dream of things that never were.  Our dream came from a dissatisfaction with the development choices currently being made, choices that cater well to the wants of the affluent and powerful few, but at the cost of the poor and marginalised many.  Worse, what the poor cannot pay, nature is made to.  

Such choices appeared to us, and still do, to be not only ethically unjust and socially unacceptable, but also ecologically suicidal. 

Over the fourteen years since our first, faltering steps we have tried to identify the key issues needing attention and to design effective, yet simple responses to them.  The intention at all times was to take responsibility and to see each issue through to final solution ‑‑ with no alibis to justify failure.

In this Special issue, we bring you a few snapshots from previous issues of the Newsletter of some of our activities over the recent past. 

Sustainable Development

The objective we set ourselves at the outset was to design another type of development ‑ one that improves everyone’s life today without jeopardizing the lives of our children tomorrow.  Such an approach, which is now widely called “sustainable development”, is one that promotes efficient use of resources, environmental harmony, and a just and equitable social order.  All at the same time, and quickly  ‑‑  without letting a small class of people capture all the wealth and then devising policies to help it  trickle down to the long‑marginalised majority. 

Sustainable development needs a direct attack on the causes of poverty and environmental destruction.  To do this, we concluded, our technologies and institutions must be designed to bring about greater efficiency and equity while automatically maintaining the environment and its resource base. 

And this, to us, meant that the primary purpose of any development activity must be to create livelihoods – sustainable livelihoods.  Sustainable livelihoods create incomes for people, give meaning and dignity to their lives and do not destroy the environment.  Thus they create the goods and services needed by people and also the purchasing power to buy these.  At the same time, they maintain the productivity of the resource base on which they depend. 
 

Development Alternatives

These were the concerns that led to the birth of Development Alternatives.   Set up in 1983, its aim was to design and implement activities that would create sustainable livelihoods and thus lead to a more sustainable form of development.  A different type of organisation, it attempts to combine the effectiveness of a private sector company with the inventiveness of a university, the social objectives of a voluntary agency and the penetrating reach of the government.

Development Alternatives does this by designing new technologies, new environmental management methods and new policies and institutions that are more appropriate for India.  It generates opportunities for the best young professionals in the country to stretch the limits of their creativity and design new options for a development that work. 

Innovation is our primary product and scientific creativity is the key input.
 

TARA Technologies

The Technology Systems Branch of Development Alternatives works closely with clients and manufacturers to develop new technology packages which cater to the basic needs of the large majority of our rural people.  These technologies are then licensed to enterprises who can make them available throughout the country.  The Development Alternatives process to commercialise technologies for the rural and urban poor employs market based methods similar to those of the many successful corporations working in high tech fields. 

The business wing of Development Alternatives, TARA, manufactures and markets the products of Development Alternatives and also franchises other enterprises to make and sell them.  The products of TARA are carefully adapted to local needs, and widely accepted for their quality, performance and value for money.  The technologies already introduced by TARA into the market include...

The TARA Chulhas, a range of woodburning cookstoves that dramatically cut both fuel use and smoke emissions in the kitchen.  This not only reduces the burden of wood collection but also the health hazards of cooking faced by housewives throughout the country everyday.  Tens of thousands of the successful TARA Shakti chulha have been sold, and many thousands more copied by local manufacturers in various parts of the country and abroad.  The forests saved and the lives improved are incalculable. 

The powerloom brought with it the promise of cheap cloth in large quantities.  But with it came a massive threat to the livelihoods of some fifteen million people in India who depend on handloom weaving as a source of income.  After years of intensive research and testing, Development Alternatives developed the TARA Loom — a new kind of powerloom: one that requires no power.  The TARA Loom and its accessories offer the traditional weaver an efficient and profitable route to the modern economy without foresaking age‑old aesthetic values.  The versatile TARA Loom is now used in every state of India to weave wool, cotton, polyester and silk into products ranging from blankets and rugs to the finest sari and dress fabrics.  Ancilliary devices like the TARA Pirni, the TARA Warp, the TARA Reeler and the TARA Dyer are now also on the market, bringing the associated processes of pirn winding, warping, reeling and dyeing to levels of efficiency matching that of the TARA Loom.

TARA paper and the TARA paper‑making technology is now in demand all over the world.  But it started life only a few years back as the product of a small experimental plant to test the possibility of using urban and rural wastes and creating jobs for underprivileged women.  TARA paper units save scarce wood and water resources and create livelihoods in large numbers.  Innovative research, rigorous training,  strict quality control and effective business methods have demonstrated that village production systems can compete with the best factories in the world.  Here is an example of how equity, environment, efficiency, self‑reliance and commercial viability can all be brought together for the benefit of the needy. 

The TARA Balram Mudblock Press addresses the problem of the more than fifty  million families in India who cannot afford steel and cement for their houses.  It compresses ordinary earth into solid building bricks that need no firing.  Thus it saves the precious top soil, needed for agriculture, and scarce forest resources, needed for human survival.  More than one thousand Balram presses have been sold.   Since the Balram is manual and highly labour intensive, the money generated through its use largely stays within the community. 

A roof that keeps out the elements, especially rainwater, is of course the most vital part of a house.  And it is also the most difficult and expensive to make. The cheapest roofs in India are made from thatch.  The cheapest “pukka” roofs, cement or tin sheets cost five times as much.  Until recently, there was nothing  in the price range between these.  Now there is: a remarkable new invention by Development Alternatives called the micro‑concrete roofing tile which sells under the brand name “TARAcrete” and is made of local materials with a little cement..  The tile, and its manufacturing equipment, the TARA Tilemaker, are all set to revolutionise low cost housing by opening a whole new opportunity for businesses to make money and contribute to nation‑building at the same time.  More than one hundred enterprises all over India now make and sell TARAcrete tiles commercially. 

TARA ferrocement products are prefabricated elements that are revolutionising low cost construction practices.  Ferrocement channels offer elegant, rugged and cheap solutions to many shelter‑related needs: inexpensive roofs, water tanks and even doors.  Using small quantities of cement and steel mesh, a complete roof can be installed in just a few hours ‑‑ spanning up to six metres without beams.  The cost can be as low as one half of reinforced concrete.

The manufacture of bricks consumes large quantities of energy and is one of the main causes of land degradation and forest destruction.  Any savings of energy in this business could have a significant impact on the forests, climate change and local air quality. A new technology, the Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln which promises vastly improved fuel efficiencies over existing kilns is being adapted by TARA for commercial viability in India.

The World Headquarters of Development Alternatives, located in South Delhi, is made almost entirely of mud, using the Balram, ferrocement, TARAcrete and other  technologies.  Even the mud domes, vaults and arches need no understructure to support them, saving vast amounts of wood, cement and steel.  Energy efficiency is achieved by an imaginative architectural design that uses spaces, openings and natural shade to bring the light in and keep the heat out. 
 

Environmental Management

The Environment Systems Branch of Development Alternatives is one of the premier institutions in India working in the field of environmental management.  With activities that range from direct action at the grass‑roots level, through development of new methodologies to advocating better policies, Development Alternatives is recognized nationally and internationally as a pioneer of innovative methods for conservation. 

The Geographical Information System brings together data from satellite imagery and on‑the‑ground field studies to prepare maps that are revolutionising planning methods.  Applications of these methods in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka have already demonstrated their great value.

The Pollution Monitoring Laboratory provides water and air quality testing services to other agencies, voluntary organisations and the public.  It has also developed an inexpensive, portable but accurate pollution monitoring kit which is used by school children and others to measure the levels of contamination in their communities. The Delhi Environment Action Network, DEAN, which works with schools and NGOs to monitor the environmental quality of Delhi and map their findings for public information, is now operational. 

The Cleaner Production programme works closely with large and small industries to reduce toxic emissions from factories, while improving their profitability.  A major thrust of this programme is to develop new products and uses for unwanted industrial wastes.  Such a project led to the development of an excellent building material from a combination of sugar refinery waste, fly ash from a thermal power station and lime.

The Environment Branch provides technical consultancy services to government and industry in various areas of environmental concern.  These have led to significant improvements in the environmental performance of iron and coal mines, chemical plants and infrastructure projects.
 

Policies and Institutions

Deep analysis by the Policies and Institutions Branch of Development Alternatives of how tribal and village communities live within the limits of their resource base has enabled Development Alternatives to formulate totally new insights that can help redefine the whole process of modernisation.  Detailed field studies have shown how community based management systems have for generations sustained fragile common property resources in various parts of India. 

A particular area of specialisation is the rehabilitation of people who are displaced by development projects or natural disasters.  Development Alternatives provides services to government and corporate clients to help minimise displacement and to design rehabilitation packages that include appropriate shelter and livelihoods for those who still have to move from their traditional homes. 

Perhaps the most fundamental issue addressed by Development Alternatives is the question of governance in the kind of genuine democracy our country deserves.   Such a democracy calls for the empowerment of all our people — and this needs decentralisation of government, transparency of decision‑making and access to good information.   To promote implementation of the concepts developed, a sister organisation, People First, has been established and is now an active and successful advocacy partner.

The information service of Development Alternatives, DAINET, connects those who need technical information for sustainable development to those who have it.  Using a combination of high speed computer data transmission and conventional methods, DAINET is accessible by all levels of users, not least the grassroots organisations whose information needs have been long neglected. 

A large part of the work of Development Alternatives naturally lies in communicating its insights with others.  For this, the organisation has an extensive publications programme, and this monthly newsletter that reaches thousands of readers all over the country,  It also produces regular programmes for broadcast on national television, covering a wide variety of issues on environment and development. 

The Operations

The operations of Development Alternatives now extend to virtually every state of the Union.  TARA products are exported to more than a dozen countries.  The main branches of the organisation are in Delhi, Bangalore, Jhansi and Orchha.  Field stations have been set up in other parts of the country. 

The construction wing of Development Alternatives, TARA Nirman Kendra, undertakes to build houses and institutional buildings in different parts of the country to demonstrate the cost‑effective techniques that it is promoting.  Thus, it has constructed the Exhibition Hall of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts using compressed earth technology.  In earthquake stricken Latur district of Maharashtra, TNK has built more than 300 houses involving highly innovative designs and techniques. 

Development Alternatives is one of the nation’s major agencies working in the field of wasteland development.  It has created whole new forests on tens of thousands of hectares with pioneering techniques for natural regeneration and water conservation.  In Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the organisation has built more than a hundred dams varying in length from 10 to 100 metres.  Dead streams have been brought back to life, and the economies of dozens of villages have been raised to a totally new level. 

A technology village, “TARAgram”, has been set up in the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India which presents a whole range of alternatives for sustainable development in a real life situation.  It serves not only to demonstrate TARA technologies and provide facilities for training, but also to host a number of enterprises creating on-site employment as well as off-site work opportunities.  As the first of its kind, TARAgram has quickly become a flagship among the rural development and appropriate technology communities, leading to widespread interest in replicating similar facilities elsewhere.

A subsidiary of TARA, TARA-BKF Rural Technologies Private Limited (TBRT) has been set up as a company to franchise TARA technologies to enterprises in various parts of India.  The first technology introduced by  TBRT  is the TARAcrete production unit, of which several hundred are planned to be installed commercially by the end of 1997.

Decentralised Energy Systems India (DESI Power), another subsidiary of TARA, is an electricity generation utility supplying turnkey power plants to village communities.   Its first power plant at Orchha was established in March 1996 and has demonstrated the possibility of using local biomass and waste materials for generating electricity through gasification by pyrolysis on a commercially viable basis.

The Synthesis

Whatever little success so far achieved by Development Alternatives and its sister agencies lies in its unusual combination of activities, bringing together social objectives and business methods.  As important is the mix of functions in the organisation, giving equal emphasis to research,  manufacturing, and marketing.  A third area of strength lies in combining policy studies and theoretical design work with direct, practical action in the field.  And fourth, a total commitment to network building, and helping to empower other organisations through technical support, training, consultancy and advocacy.

The People

To do this, Development Alternatives has been fortunate in gathering together highly competent and dedicated young professionals from all parts of the country to focus their talents to identify and understand the development problems facing our country and to design effective solutions to them. 

Practising the transparent and participative management methods it advocates for all aspects of governance, it has been able to establish an unusually creative working environment where the best young minds are encouraged to push forward the frontiers of knowledge and action.

Conclusion

Some of our technologies are now the basis of successful commercial enterprises: TARAcrete manufacturers, Tara loom operators and Tara handmade, recycled paper producers. 

Many projects of government, the United Nations, the World Bank and corporate industry have benefited from the advice of our environmental scientists. 

Our researchers make regular and significant inputs to policy makers in local, state, national and international agencies. 

To achieve these goals, Development Alternatives has pioneered new approaches to organisational self-reliance.  Largely financing its operations from its own earnings, it has demonstrated that development can be good business. 

Some successes, many failures — but, at least, no alibis. The dream continues to unfold.

In a large country like India the scale of problems is immense .. and for Development Alternatives the work has just begun ...   q

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