What is this blog about?
This is about the author's search for answers to questions like these:
- How can we achieve sustainable and inclusive development of India?
- What is the best development model to adopt?
- Can one single model be considered appropriate and prove equally successful in all the diverse states/regions?
- How can we democratically engage the people in the adaptive development process and deliver what they aspire to achieve?
About the author
My name is R. Mani Murugan. I currently live in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
I studied civil and structural engineering in University of Madras and Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (1962-1969). After a successful career with a few large and reputed consulting engineering firms in India and abroad, I retired in the year 2008. I currently have a limited consulting engineering practice in Chennai.
I am a fellow of the Institution of Engineers, India and a member of the Indian Institute of Plant Engineers.
It was when I was managing an environmental engineering firm just before my retirement that I grew deeply concerned with skewed development of India. My research findings on this serious public concern are reported here
About PULSE - the proposed development model
India's development efforts are currently city-centric with the rural development lagging far behind. In my home city of Chennai, the life led by rural-urban migrants who came in search of better economic opportunities is appaling. Their living conditions in fragile huts along the banks of highly polluted rivers, without water, electricity and amidst
pathetic sanitary conditions set me thinking. The current development initiatives are neither inclusive nor sustainable. They do not have a structure or framework that would address the concerns and aspirations of all sections of people, both city dwellers and rural folks. I thought India needs such a plan and thus began my research, the details of which are are the subject of this blog.
The consensus among researchers is that the future of India (and, for that matter, any developing nation) is urban. Only urban landscape can foster equitable growth for all the people, with the interests of rural India adequately protected. How can we do this? 'Distributed Urbanization' is the right way forward. Which would mean this: Do not let people seek out economic opportunities and quality of life in urban centers; Take such opportunities and facilities to them wherever they live.
Any development plan should address environmental, societal and economic issues. It should not deal with urban and non-urban areas separately. Even if various human settlements are uniformly developed, they need to be networked in order to realize the full potential. The country's development therefore should be planned at the state level and not at urban or rural level. The proposed development model would suggest not only ways to develop various human settlements but also to network them strategically. The model is called PULSE (Paradigm for Urban Landscaping of States as Eco-regions)and has two main elements, viz., People Centers and Logistical Network. It provides an engineer's perspective and prescription for the vital public good so fundamental to the development of any region - land use and public infrastructure. Thus it proposes a sustainable and inclusive land and infrastructure reform model for India (and indeed for any developing country).
India is a great democratic republic of states with such diversity and rich culture. Each state therefore would need to prepare a unique development plan based on its own traditions, culture, geography, climate, etc. PULSE could catalyze the emergence of such a plan. This is going to be a complex adaptive challenge and India should empower the people of the region to evolve their own development plan. How could this be accomplished? A suitable methodology is proposed based on the concept and principles of adaptive leadership.
How can the concept be developed into a practical working plan? This is illustrated in the context of the state of Tamil Nadu.
It is believed that PULSE would not only teach people to fish, but also to design and build their own fishing rod (taking cue from the famous Chinese proverb).
A brief account of the various sections of this presentation is provided in the Home page. Use the links there or the tabs at top to navigate to individual sections and read further details.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I would be delighted to receive your thoughts and comments for further improvement. I shall appreciate receiving feedback from you. Use the comments section below each page, or , preferably, the email form on the Contact Me page.
