A Better Urban Future

It’s been a very long journey, more than three decades, almost four decades, and every day is a new day because students today are very different from the students in those days. When I was a student, the library was the only source for us. So every day we had to go to the library, we had to consult books and then that’s the only window to the outside world. Today it’s not like that. The students today, they have the world in their palms.

Well, people refer to me as a workaholic, and maybe I am. I think it’s my passion to know more. I have fixed my limits. My interest is in cities and buildings, specifically architecture and town planning.

Anything and everything that’s happening here is a passion for me. So I would like to gather as much information as possible, not just about events or policies or developments but also about people. I’m also interested in historical facts. But what has kept me going is my passion for the subject and more than anything else, I think a keenness to know more there is that inner urge, and I think hard work is very important. Quite often, people say why are you going there and why are you doing this, what is it that you are going to get out of it, measuring activities with money? So everything doesn’t give you money and if you want to follow your passion, then money is secondary; you need money up to a certain point and not beyond that.

So, whatever I have been doing, I have been doing it to fulfil my desire to learn more. I enjoy doing whatever I am doing. And I believe in time management. I think time management is extremely important.

It was a great honour for me, and then I set about making a few conceptual drawings to begin with. I had to do a little bit of reading to find out how Atal Bihari Vajpayee started his life and what the different facets of his personality were. So, I participated in various meetings in the ministries and other places on the administrative part of the whole thing. But then looking at the design part of it, that was something which I had to do in my personal time and space. So this was a balance that had to be done.

A few days after he passed away, this task was assigned to me. So we got cracking on the job and then after we did all this, I had to present all this to the secretary in the ministry. And then they wanted to understand what this concept is all about and how you are going to do it. They had hundreds of questions because, ultimately, this had to go to the Prime Minister’s office. So the Prime Minister would himself ask several questions. So finally, the big day happened, and then they said, look, we have made a request to the Prime Minister of India and then he is going to call us in a couple of days. So you better be prepared and we have to go and make the presentation. So I went there, and then we were told that the PM is very busy and will not give you so much time, so you need to convey your message in a few words. We were not allowed to take our laptops there, so we sent our presentation by email. They had loaded the presentation there, so there were only three people in the room.

The Prime Minister was sitting, and I had to sit just by the side of the Prime Minister. So it was quite an interesting presentation. I was surprised that the PM did not open his mouth for 30 minutes. I kept on talking – this is the first alternative, this is the second alternative, this is the five different options that we have prepared, what is the difference between the first and the second and so on and what are the plus and minus of each of these – so he was so patiently listening.

After five alternatives were presented to the honourable Prime Minister, he said, “I think we should go with the first alternative; I think that’s a good alternative.” So you need to further develop upon this, and then you come back. Then we will have one more meeting, and then we will finalise it. And he wanted to know what the material was and so on and so forth.

So, some quotations from his famous poems were also to be put up. It was a circular monument, if I may call it the memorial, for all of you who have seen the monument. Because he started with the Jana Sangh, and the symbol of the Jana Sangh was a lamp, we put a structure in the centre, which resembles a lamp. So there is an onyx stone that we had put there which represents the flame, and then we got the best granite from a district called Khamam in Andhra Pradesh. So I had to make again a second presentation to the Prime Minister.

So the second time we went, we tried to explain to him further technicalities. But he was only interested in the physicality of the whole thing. And then, when he looked at it, he said, “Okay, I think this is fine, and you are the technical guys. I know that you will do your best, and please go ahead. You don’t have to explain the technicalities to me. That’s your job. That’s not my job.”

I think that was a good thing about the Prime Minister. He didn’t want to interfere at all, and he gave us a free hand. So that was when the work started. All throughout, I was working closely with the CPWD because we had to. I mean, we were just given 25 acres of land, so we had to look at exactly which spot this was going to come up at. We need to look at that. So we looked at the contours, and we looked at the highest point there because it’s on the banks of the river along the Rajgat. So we wanted a high spot there, and we also had to have a separate entry for the VVIPs to come in every year when they go there. So all that was done and then I think in a very short period of time, the whole thing was implemented, and finally on the inaugural day, the Prime Minister, the President and all the top people, they had all come, and so it was an exhilarating experience. It was an experience of a lifetime and I consider myself extremely lucky to have got this opportunity.

Of course. A couple of years back, we had something called the Global Housing Technology Challenge, and this was again at the instance of our Prime Minister. I was a member of the committee which carried on this challenge. There were as many as 54 technologies from across the world that came to India to showcase as a part of this global technology challenge. Finally, we shortlisted about six or seven of those, and then there were lighthouse projects using these latest technologies to develop housing in various parts of the country.

In six different states of India, one thousand apartments, each using these new technologies, have been built. They are almost ready, and people have started occupying them.

These are sustainable, affordable, modern technologies that are more efficient, and so on. And how do we transfer technology? So, we have been instrumental in introducing a program called NAVRITI, which is actually an acronym for New and Affordable Validated Innovative Technologies for Affordable Housing in India. So this was an acronym that I coined, and the ministry agreed to this because NAVRITI is also showing a new way forward. So I think we are currently doing the 20th program in this series. It’s an online program where a large number of professionals offer this program to various architects and engineers across the country so you have to have a multiplier effect. It’s not enough if you do a technology challenge and you build a certain number of houses and then it’s a one-time effort, but then how do you multiply it on a lot? And so the young architects, the young engineers, they all have to know that this is the way forward. These are the new technologies. This is what is sustainable. So leave the old behind and start embracing the new.

So we are now on that path and brought out a few documents that will help this new paradigm shift in technology for housing. That is happening but again as I said we have a very very long way to go but then we have to begin somewhere. So, we began at zero and we are now moving forward.

Yes, I think the environment is an extremely important area.

I started realizing this when I was put on an expert appraisal committee on environment in the Ministry of Environment and Forests. I was there as a member for three years and I could see that these meetings would go on for three days continuously every month I was surprised to see that there are so many projects that are coming to the ministry to get environmental clearance and then the kind of an impact they are having on the environment is humongous, unimaginable.

So when I started facing these right in front of me, then I realised that these are areas which are extremely important. I also was a member on the National Wetlands Committee. There are a large number of lakes and water bodies which are called the wetlands and the way in which the wetlands are being destroyed is really very shocking. So, these have given me opportunities to get myself acquainted with this area and I believe that we need to put the environment right at the top.

Development does not always mean building more. Development also means freezing certain areas, not building at all or building differently. That is also development. Not destroying, not cutting down trees is also development. Development by way of cutting trees is not development actually. So one has to be very, very careful when you talk about development. It’s not just mindless clearing sites and building but there are alternative ways in which you can look at it.

I was also chairing a committee at the NITI Aayog on hill area architecture and planning, and that was one area, one assignment that I really enjoyed because hills are very environmentally sensitive. All our hill stations are completely being ruined today with over-tourism and overexploitation, widening of hill roads and doing all kinds of things. You have seen Joshimath and several other things that have happened in the recent past. So, these disasters or a wake-up call for us. Even the urban flooding that is happening in our cities is a wake-up call for us. So wherever I might have tried to emphasise on the importance of the urban environment. Man and nature’s relationship is extremely important. It is not only the plants or the trees or the air or the water, it is also the animals, the birds and the butterflies, and the bees, as they say, they are very important.

Today, tigers are rushing out of the forest because the man-tiger conflict and the man-animal conflict are becoming very serious. So, I think we need to take development in a very comprehensive manner.

Yeah, the private sector has a major role to play because private capital is required to be brought into the urban sector. There are no two ways about it because we don’t expect the government to spend all the money. The government has other responsibilities as well. So the government can get more money only by taxing you more. There are various methods, but ultimately, the private sector can come in.

So in the highways, the private sector has come in in a very big way. Instant capital is available, and then they put in the capital, and they try to plough it back. But then when you are dealing with the private sector, you have to be very careful because private interests in terms of profit-making are obviously there. That is what private enterprise is all about. That is what capitalism is all about. But then, nowadays, you do find that the private sector is also sensitised to environmental requirements. So, they are also doing a lot of corporate social responsibility, environmental, social responsibility, and the private sector. There are many companies; I will not name them. They are doing a lot of good work in the area of environment. They are very sensitive in their projects to ensure that their projects are green projects. So, it is a positive development, and the government has a responsibility to ensure that this happens.

You need regulations, but you also need nudging and awareness, and citizens also have to play their role as environmental ombudsmen so that we can move development forward.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate IPE Global. You’ve come a long way, so hearty congratulations. I’ve been associated in a very, very small way in the initial years. It is very nice to hear that you are now in your silver jubilee, and I wish you all the best. Yes, I know that because a large number of our students have been working with the IPE Global and then I keep meeting them on various occasions. So you are consulting various local bodies, governments and so on, and you have a major role to play in creating these products.

So, the more environmentally aware you are, the better you will be able to advise these organisations. I am sure that you are doing this because you appoint and employ a large number of professionals who are well-trained and aware of their environmental responsibilities.

I believe that every human being cannot do everything. There are so many things that I would like to do, but I know that I cannot do. So we all have to be in it together because this world, this planet Earth is for all of us, not only human beings but other living beings as well who occupy this planet. So, our job is shaping the minds and the lives of the younger generation and that is what we have been doing; that is what I have been doing. That is what a teacher is supposed to be doing because in an age where minds are highly impressionable, students believe that whatever the teacher is saying is right. Then they move forward in their life. So, if we are not sending the right image, if we are not conducting ourselves in a proper manner and if we do not uphold those responsibilities or those virtues or those ethics, then obviously you cannot expect the younger generation to follow that path. So, we need to be a role model and we need to guide them and tutor and later on they will start building lives on their own. Once they are out of the portals of this institution, they are totally on their own and I do bump into my former students may be at the airport or wherever when I am travelling and then I see that they are all holding positions of great responsibility at various places. So they will carry the message forward and that is how things have to move forward.

Two facts about my work. Well, as I said, I like to work and work and work, but I also like to travel and enjoy. So, I believe in punctuality and doing things right: ethics. Common misconception, yes, yeah, people think that I don’t socialise much,which is perhaps not really true. I do have a close circle of friends and I do socialise. I like to pull my hair down once in a way.

Mumbai.

Oh, well, there are many. I would not really say one building, but then I would say Paris is one place.

There are many but probably The Fountainhead.

Yeah, sustainable cities.

Certainly, the Atal, Sadaiv Atal, the Atal Bihari Bajpai Memorial. That was the most challenging.

Oh, I would probably be a journalist.

I think we need to really clean up Indian cities. There are a hundred things that you need to do about Indian cities to set things right. But I think the floor of the city is extremely important. When you come out of your house and step onto the public realm, the footpaths and the roads are the most important things. They’re in terrible shape. So unless and until you clean up the footpaths and the roads and make cities walkable, you can’t make cities livable.

Yes, you have to love your job, be patriotic, and be hardworking. You also have to have a purpose in life, and ethics are very, very important.

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