Dated-1st Dec.'97

To,
Shri V. Suresh,
CMD, HUDCO,
HUDCO Block,
India Habitat Centre,
Lodhi Road,
New Delhi. 110 003

Dear Shri Suresh,
Congratulations for the impressive interview carried in the Times of India, dtd. 20th Nov,'97 pg.7, (copy enclosed) and your very apt intervention in the Academic Curriculum of the Schools of Architecture. Rationalised use of materials is the need of the hour if Appropriate Technologies are to be furthered and there is no other way to do this better than at the Academic level itself. As correctly pointed out by you, most Materials behave best when used in compression and this is where some of the most fundamental mistakes occur. It is in trying to make materials behave in the manner that we wish them to behave, that we start the problems and then continue to aggravate them in attempting to sort out the problems that need not have been in the first place. Even though that which you state is totally correct, I feel that you have made a hurried statement in the attempt to show that you have pinned the problem correctly. This statement as you make it can have repercussions that would negate the very fundamentals that you wish to propagate.

So far there has been no concerted effort towards building a cadre of people that actually believe in this rationale and are willing to propagate these systems. The little effort made in this direction is continuously thwarted owing to the fact that neither HUDCO no the BMTPC have bothered to effectively carry out the Mandate given to them. In the absence of this cadre, I do not understand how the staff that is to teach this to the students will do so considering the fact that they themselves do not have the conviction, awareness and adequate documentation to do so. So far HUDCO has idealised the Filler Slab and the Rat Trap Bond as propagated by Laurie Baker. This does not follow the principles of structures in compression.

On the other hand, BMTPC has documented several technologies in a very cursory manner without going into the rationale and relating to cost only. This is highly inadequate. Appropriate Technologies if they are to be convincingly propagated must be well documented and have a broad based co-related rationale so that the propagators are effectively armed to answer the queries that the students want answered. I make this statement with a reasonable amount of authority, owing to the fact that I had taught Appropriate Technologies at the School of Planning and Architecture for eight years, and had to bail out several students during their Thesis or Dissertation. These students were usually on the brink of failing owing to the fact that the staff was inadequately informed on this subject and lacked supportive documentation. On the other hand, one cannot fault the Staff because they only teach what they have learnt and the basis of the books as were available some half a century ago. The ideology of the Habitat Polytech, which I Chaired, got mutilated into two separate streams. One aspect became the TVB School of Habitat studies and the other became a Centre for training NGO's. Both missed the very fundamentals. The success of the Building Centre Programme will therefore hinge around the manner in which the documentation is done and propagated. In the absence of a comprehensive approach, the Building Centre programme is likely to languish and become a series of Centres that will provide Replacement Technology only. This approach by itself will not provide for Sustainable Human Settlements.

I therefore would suggest the following:

1. Since there are some 80 Schools of Architecture, one should draw from the third year students and ask them to take a drop from academics for a period of one year. Only a limited number, say 5 to 10 students from the 80 schools be selected. They may be asked to join one of the Nodal Centres where there is a live project in the making and they are posted to this project for a period of one year. They are paid a stipend at par with a Junior Engineer during their one year training. Nizamuddin Building Centre is one such Centre that could be used to start with, considering the fact that we today have four acres of land. Resource is also available and so is a very large live project, namely the Rehabilitation of 3600 families from the Southern Ridge to Jaunapur. The propagation of Technologies is primarily Compression Structures. In addition the materials are being used for their inherent qualities as related to Surface Engineering. This project covers a vast range of Materials, their manufacture, their application and other benefits such as the costs etc. Alternatives in relation to site, water supply and sewage disposal on a sustainable basis, as well as alternative methods of infrastructure as should be propagated. In other words this scheme is one of comprehensive Human Settlements and their Design. A large amount of inspiration has been drawn from Tradition in the practical manner without Romanticism. One other place where this can be taken up immediately is in Kerala with KESNIK. Subsequently various such Centres at State levels can be created.

2. When these students go back into Academics, the change would be so visible that others will endeavor to join this the next year. The Staff who is currently resistant to change will be compelled to take a fresh look at the Academic options. Students who have trained here would be given an additional certificate stating their having trained in Appropriate Technologies as applicable to Sustainable Human Settlement Planning. These students should form the core of the Building Centre Programme, in Academics as well as in the Building Centre themselves. In less than 5 years you would have a cadre who will be able to deliver the nature of housing required. This would more than justify the utilisation of the second installment of the KFW grant that HUDCO has just received.

3. HUDCO would subsequently, in about three years, route the entire Building Centre Funding through this system instead of the present manner of analysis and valuation. Thus HUDCO would become the trustee of the programme and the entire movement would get a tremendous boost. Today the Building Centre Programme has become a numbers game and even though there are more than 450 Building Centres, nothing major seems to have been achieved. Material replacement is the mainstay of several of these Centres. Sustainable development is more than just materials and must look into the issues such as the Choice of Land, the Water Supply and Sewage Disposal Systems, Planning Methodologies, Traditional Systems of Human Settlement Planning and Management and the Rationalised Delivery Systems.

AREAS THAT HUDCO AND BMTPC SHOULD LOOK INTO, IN ORDER TO SUPPORT THIS ON AN INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL.

1. A centre for documentation in the Written form as well as the Electronic media should be set up which should be run with the specific mandate of Documentation and Propagation only. The documentation must delve into Traditional Wisdom and must also explain the Rationale. This Centre must cover all developments in the Governmental Research Centre's as well as in the private sectors inclusive of the Building Centres.

2. Specific Air Time be got from Doordarshan for Airing these programs. This had been available to HUDCO in'91 and the issue should be reopened with Doordarshan.

3. Interaction be set up with all Schools of Architecture and students be made aware of all the Developments that are taking place.

4. HUDCO should move to the Governmental Agencies in each State, giving a clear directive to their borrowing agencies that 3% of all works are assigned to the Building Centres. This is based on the fact that the PWD manual provides that 3 % of their turn over be used for R&D. The work should be awarded on the basis of a Turnkey Performance Contract Basis, as contained in the recommendations in the Paranjpae Committee Report.

5. HUDCO and BMTPC work on the typical Turnkey Performance Contract agreements and make them available to all agencies.

6. HUDCO and BMTPC should set up a Risk Fund to cover lapses that may occur in development and propagation of technologies. The Basis has already been cleared some Five to Six years ago.

The above are suggested so that a perfectly good intervention as proposed by you may deliver desired results. Yet if propagated in a piece meal manner, the results may end up being counter productive, as is the case with hurriedly pushed policies, with inadequate homework.

Regards,

ANIL LAUL

Copy to: Mrs. Kiran Aggarwal, IAS, Secy., Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment.