What Are the Things to be Checked Before Buying a Flat or Apartment in India?

Real estate business has flourished much in India now. Both individual builders and real estate companies are active in most of the cities of India, especially those having a population of 100,000 or above.

Flats (sometimes also called apartments) in high rise buildings have now become common in the Indian cities just as in the highly populated cities of the world. Indians, especially the well educated and well earning middle class have accepted the culture of living in apartment homes in high rise buildings. 

More and more new features are offered by the builders and developers of flats to woo the customers. Depending on the city, location, construction features and luxuries as provided, buying a flat in India costs any thing between Rs.2000 to Rs.20,000 per sq.ft living space. While the cost of construction is more or less similar throughout India with a variation of  of say, 10-20 % from the average, the exorbitant margins above that exist in some localities and cities due to the high cost of land and its future escalation potential. 

Flats having 2 bedrooms, one common living and dining hall, one kitchen with 2 bathrooms are commonly designated as 2BHK types and those having 3 bedrooms, hall and kitchen are called 3BHK types. These are the most common types. These flats may or may not have additional facilities like additional utility space, an extra bath room, one or two or three balconies, etc. Floor area (also called carpet area) of bed rooms typically vary from a low of 100 sq.ft to a medium of 144 sq.ft  to a high of 156 sq.ft. Carpet areas of halls typically vary from 180 sq.ft to 420 sq.ft and kitchen areas vary from 48 sq.ft to 100 sq.ft. Bathroom sizes vary from 30-48 sq.ft.

The best way to understand the size of the flat is to measure its carpet area (the internal usable space excluding the walls, ventilation or pipe shafts). The carpet area of a 2BHK flat may vary from 550-900 sq.ft while that of a 3BHK flat may be between 650-1250 sq.ft. However, builders normally adopt other yardsticks to designate the area of the flat. Sometimes, the flat area is indicated as the built up area ( which is the overall outer area including the walls). At times it is indicated as the super built up area which includes the built up area plus an apportioning of all the common areas in the building divided among the total number of flats. The super built up area of a flat having a carpet area of 550 sq.ft could then be easily indicated as having 750 sq.ft which would be difficult for the buyer to verify. 

Real estate builders are known to exploit the buyers based on the manipulated or misguiding flat area projections. They may provide some plans of the apartment with internal dimensions. However, they would not show how the areas add up to become the projected flat area based on which the basic price of the flat is fixed. The government is reportedly considering to make the carpet area as the mandatory yardstick for all real estate developers, to over come such clandestine activities. Anyway, it is a good idea to get this aspect verified properly without any ambiguity before the deal is settled.

It is a good idea to check all the relevant approvals that the builder has obtained to construct and sell the properties. If possible a copy of all the approved drawings and other statutory approval documents may be obtained from the builders for records.

Now let us examine the technical aspects of the multistory building in which the flat is located. Many people in India are now-a-days get carried away by superstitious pseudoscience popularly known as Vaastu. Personally, I do not believe in such things and I consider it as some thing irrational. However, these are associated with one's personal belief system and therefore I leave it to the decision of the individual whether to check for vaastu or not.

Whether you take time and effort to check vaastu compliance or not, what aspects you should really check for a good living in your flat after you take possession of it are what I would like to discuss further.

The first thing is to check the water supply arrangements that the builder is planning for the building. Check whether the builders have got an assurance from the municipal authorities to have the water supply provided from the existing water supply network. Most probably, this would be missing. The builder might be telling that he has enough bore wells with enough ground water. The builders representatives may even show you the abundance of water that is being supplied from the tube wells that supply water for the building during its construction stage. But remember, this bore wells may not be enough to cater to all the residents when all the flats get occupied. Water would become one of your problems after you have established your flat as your home some years later. In most cities and towns of India, the local municipal authorities are too incompetent to provide good drinking water to the multistory buildings in later years, even while they allow the builders to construct and sell flats in such high rise buildings!

Assuming that there is some assured source of water supply (including water supplied through road tankers) the next thing to check is how this water is being planned for distribution in the building to the individual flats. Normally, there should be one underground closed tank preferably made of RCC with enough capacity to store water received from various sources including the bore wells. If the storage capacity of this tank gives an average of at least 500 litres per flat it could be considered quite okay.[for example, if the building has 50 flats, then the underground common water tank should have a minimum storage capacity of 50x500=25000 litres or 25 cubic meter]

Water from the ground level has to be pumped using pumps so that it is distributed to the individual flats located at various levels above ground level. Hence pumps are required to be installed for this purpose which draw water from the underground tank. Though there are many ways to do the water distribution, the best way to adopt to ensure 24x7 water supply  in the individual flats is by pumping the water first to over head tanks installed at the roof top of the building. The roof top tanks also should have a capacity which is preferably not less than the ground tank capacity. From the roof top tanks pipes are laid to the individual flats below through which water flows by gravity. There are a few things which need to be specially noted in this.

First the water supply pumps which have to supply the water from the ground tank to the over head tanks. The flow capacity , the pressure that these pumps generate and the number of pumps provided as standby are very important. I would now explain it with the help of a typical example:

Suppose that the building under consideration has 12 floors including the ground floor. The average roof height maintained in normal Indian apartment building is approximately 3.3 meters. Thus the roof top would be at a height of about 40 meters (12x3.3~). Normally the bottom level of the underground reservoir would be 5 meters below ground level and the overhead tank would have a height of about 5 meters. Thus the total height through which the water is required to be pumped would be 40+5+5=50 meter. Additionally the pump has to overcome the friction that is caused by the pipes and should have enough margin pressure to deliver water. Giving proper allowances to that, we need a pump which should be able to generate at least 60 meters of head which is approximately 6 kg per sq.cm pressure. 

The pump should have a pumping capacity in such a way that it could fill the overhead tank at a rate more than the average total consumption of water from it. During the peak hours of the morning, the water consumption in a typical 2BHK and 3BHK flat be an average of about 250 litres per hour or 0.25 cu.m/hr. Thus the peak rate of consumption for a 50 unit building could be 50x0.25=12.5 cu.m/hr. Thus the pump selected should have a capacity preferably not less than 12.5 cu.m/hr. This pump would be sufficient to fill the overhead tank from an empty state within 2 hours. This pump with a flow capacity of 12.5 and pressure of 6 kg would require a motor having a power of approximately 5 HP. There should be at least one additional pump installed having the same capacity which should serve as the standby in the event one of the pump is required to be taken out for breakdown repairs. Remember, the pump is the life line of water to the high rise building. If there is no pump to supply water to the top floors, life in the flat would be a nightmare!

Builders and their designers would some time try to save some money by installing lower capacity pumps than what I have indicated in the above example. In that case, the pumps would take more time to fill the tanks and are required to be operated for more hours. A lower HP rated pump would not give any real saving on electricity to the flat dwellers or their association. But it might reduce some initial cost saving to the builder. However, this saving is not very remarkable. The selection of pump capacities and the water supply designs often go wrong because of the technical incompetency of the engineers who work for the builders. 

The next aspect to be given importance is the provision of reliable level gauges for the underground and the overhead tanks and their linking to the pumps for automatic operation of the pumps. Such provisions would greatly help in reducing the wastage of water and the manpower that is required to operate the water supply systems of the high rise building. Make sure that your builder is giving due attention to this aspect.

When water is gravity fed from the over head tank to the flats below, the top floors would get lower pressure in their taps. The highest pressure would be at the lower floor flats. This uneven pressure has to be regulated with the help of suitable pressure reducing devices installed in the respective pipelines. If this is not done, the high pressure in the lower floors may even cause the water taps to fly out or rupture due to high water pressure.

Some builders or their water supply design engineers may not provide individual water supply lines to each flat which could be regulated from a common source point ( say the roof top). When flats are handed over to the buyers, it is the responsibility of the flat owners association to manage the common facilities. It would be difficult for such associations to regulate or stop water to those residents who are not paying their dues properly when individual water regulation valves are not provided. Absence of such a facility would also cause several flat owners facing problems together when some repairs are to be carried out for any one flat.

The next aspect to be looked in to is the type and numbers of electric lifts that are provided in the building. Never allow the builder to use the lifts for completing their construction work. The buyers should insist for newly installed lifts from reputed makes with all safety feature and service facilities in writing from the builder. In most flats in India, especially in the non metro cities, problems caused by non working lifts are very common. Your life would be miserable if you are to climb more than 5 floors every day due to a non working lift. People normally overlook this aspect. Lifts that are not proper are also a major cause of fatal accidents in high rise buildings. So, make sure that you and your co-buyers are aware of this and are capable of resolving this when you are to manage the show yourself when the builder quit the place after all his flats are sold out. Lifts are expensive machinery. The cost difference between cheap makes and reputed makes is too wide. I have seen many builders cheating the flat buyers on this issue.

It is important to give attention to the structural strength of the building and its construction quality. However as per the prevailing laws the builders are responsible for it for 80 years. They know if any thing untoward happens they are likely to go to jail. Hence, normally no builder would like to overlook this aspect. But, lack of experience and expertise of the builder and his construction group could cause many defects in the building as constructed. 

One should check how the builder has planned to dispose the sewage and the solid wastes that would be generated in the flats. Fire safety is another thing. Many builders do not have expert engineers in their roles to plan and execute these issues properly. It is a common practice in India that the statutory authorities are often and easily bribed that they give all such clearances without any hitch. It would be better for the buyer to ask for more details about these aspects and get himself convinced.

Insist for the layout plan of the building with the internal movement spaces and the parking spaces. In the drawings these might appear as okay. However, it is a good idea to check their dimensions to see whether such spaces are enough to turn and park your cars without facing difficulties. Also it is a better idea to get the parking space reserved for your flat in a written agreement.

It is now common that many builders are wooing the buyers with many luxuries. Swimming pools, play grounds, luxury fittings and finishes are all in the offering that make the flats to be like five star hotels. However, the five star hotels are managed and maintained by trained and experienced staff who are paid decently. When such facilities are offered by the builders initially, it is a good thing to check how these facilities would be maintained through out the future years with regard to their management and its recurring costs. 

Many people buy flats as an investment opportunity. In the metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and in many other tier two cities, the flat costs are now at such high levels that one may not get the desired appreciation in the future as it used to be in the past. Buying flats in remote places where it is difficult for you to look it after could become a headache for you later on various counts. It is better you think about these too before taking your final decision. Remember, there are several thousands of unsold flats held by many builders in the major cities of India.

Unless the government changes its laws that enable the owners and builders to rent out their apartments, houses and flats without any risk, it would not be much beneficial to own flats as investments or as an income source. I had written about it earlier.[ read it here!]

You may also read these related articles that I wrote earlier in this context [ article-1 ; article-2]  
  

Water Supply , Sanitation and Solid Waste Management : Why does India Fair Poorly ?

While I was an engineering student pursuing my chemical engineering, I was thinking that some day I would be doing my career in some chemical process industries which produced petroleum products, fertilizers, insecticides, bulk pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, etc. I had never imagined that I would spent a good deal of my career in water supply, sanitation, water treatment or waste water engineering. 

I began my professional career in a captive thermal power station of an integrated steel plant. My job was to manage the production of de-mineralized (DM) water for steam generation in the boilers. The steam is used for rotating the turbo-generator machines which produced electricity. Steam is also required for various other heating and process applications in the steel plant. After its thermal energy is used up, steam gets condensed to become condensate water which is recycled to the boilers again for generating super heated steam. The losses of steam and water in the boiler water system required addition of make up water in the form of DM water. Quality of water and steam is very critical for the smooth operation of high pressure boilers and high speed steam turbines. Hence, all aspects of water chemistry is given due regards and attention in a properly managed thermal power station. My first job helped me to understand the nature of water and water treatment in much detail, including the chemical quality management aspects. In reality my function was of dual nature, because I was required to look after both the production processes and the quality control aspects of the chemical testing laboratory.

My second innings in my professional career was as a water supply and sanitation design engineer, a job conventionally done by civil engineers. I considered this job a bit inferior to my status initially. But soon I realized that this field is essentially sanitation engineering which is a very important aspect of city and town management and also one of the most neglected engineering area in modern India. My senior was an en experienced civil engineer who spent almost whole of his life time in this field. It was not much difficult for me to master the conventions of practical designs of this field and there was opportunities for me to improve upon the conventions because of my chemical engineering background.

Later I had opportunities to function as lead design engineer and consulting engineer for many projects involving water supply, cooling water systems,  water treatment, water softening , gas cleaning, effluent treatment, bio chemical treatment, coal chemical processing, etc which gave me much opportunities to expand my experience and knowledge in interdisciplinary engineering. Most importantly, insights into the way of functioning of the Indian system with its complex ,contradictory and vague rules , statutes and influences have also been acquired concurrently.

All these helped me to understand and analyse the root causes of the systemic lethargy in India to a great extent, though no one ever required me to do such a thing !

I have seen some municipal corporations in India taking over three decades to implement even mundane water supply projects which could have been done in one or two years time. I also find many cities and towns with no water supply and sanitation services. Regrettably many cities and towns of India also do not have any plans for making such facilities in the near future. Even progressive cities like Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the most literate state of India, have failed in implementing and managing good waste handling and disposal facilities.

Any developed and progressive country can perhaps call itself developed when the majority of its citizens are able to get good drinking water in sufficient quantities and also when they enjoy decent sanitation and waste disposal services.

Unfortunately, India stands at a pathetic low level of development when water supply and sanitation norms are concerned. [I suggest those interested to read this wikipedia article : Drinking water supply and sanitation in India ] Waste disposal facilities are virtually non existent. 

As a professional engineer with decades of experience in this area, I feel ashamed of such a pathetic situation in this country.

It is not very difficult to design and implement good water supply systems and sanitation systems linked to effective municipal effluent treatment plant systems for any cities or communities having a population of 5000 or more. So also is the case with solid waste management.  However, very few cities and communities in India have such systems.

What are the reasons for this kind of situation in India?

Why is it that the Indian leaders and administrators do not feel ashamed of such deplorable conditions of their country?

In my opinion, such a situation arise out of many things, all linked to each other in one way or the other.

The following are some of the main reasons as I see it:

1. Excepting a few large metropolitan cities, the city and municipal corporations have degraded to become play grounds of local politicians. As a result, the bureaucratic organizations that are required to assist the democratic city governments have become lethargic or non committal or ineffective to do any proper planning or city management.Often, the city administrations are headed by pliable or incompetent bureaucrats who are posted by the state administration as per political compulsions and priorities. Besides, the personnel and staff that get in to these administrative organizations of the municipalities and corporations are selected without any due consideration of their specialist experience or qualifications that they soon become vested interest groups. Specialist wings of the city administration such as the town planning, public health engineering, water supply and sewerage, public works, etc become side tracked to such an extent that their specialists and engineers no more are required to show any professional competence. It becomes all the more convenient for the incompetent political heads and bureaucratic chiefs to have such incompetent technical people as their subordinates that the former never feel the necessity to improve the competency of the latter. Soon, for any infrastructural development involving water supply, water treatment, sewage treatment, solid waste management etc the political heads and bureaucratic chiefs become the decision makers including those matters that are purely technical in nature. Such decisions eventually create nonviable or inferior schemes and projects which would either never get fully implemented or commissioned for the benefit of the people. Such technical incompetence soon creeps in to the operation and maintenance areas as well.

2. Lack of coordination among various governmental agencies and departments.

3. Lack of respect of contractual obligations. Indians are infamous for this kind of an attitude. Once contracts are placed, the Indian authorities at all levels seem to create undue problems for the contractors mostly for personal benefits. Delays of payments and works on account of such objections created by the officers and staff of the city governments often create a situation that good EPC contract firms with expertise and experience in the relevant fields avoid taking up such contracts.

4. Indian top authorities are keen to keep all major decisions to themselves even when they are not competent to take such decisions. Delegation of powers exist only in theory and not in practice. The root cause of this situation is the eagerness to get importance for unfair gains.

5. Incompetence of vigilance personnel and authorities to judge technical issues. Often such a situation makes the technical personnel from taking firm and sound decisions for the overall good of public projects. Again, this situation arises out of the lack of vision of the law makers who create such rules and regulations without due consideration of expert opinions. In my opinion, it is not a good practice to allow non technical authorities to find fault with technical decisions and file vigilance cases based on such findings. Even when there is a prima facie technical error, it has to be based on the recommendations of an expert technical committee.

6. In India, disciplines of engineers do not carry much value once an engineer gets posted. It makes the engineers who are trained in some discipline not getting the appropriate jobs and making the particular engineering discipline becoming a non preferable one for fresh students eventually creating a shortage of trained man power in certain areas. A typical example is the shortage of sanitation engineers or environmental engineers in the Indian city administrations.

7. Indian engineering institutions and technical universities plan their engineering curricula quite arbitrarily without due research on the requirements of the potential employers and their needs. The courses are planned based on the aspirations of the youngsters who are pretty unaware of the usefulness of the courses that they are going to study.

8. Experienced engineers have practically no say in the selection and deployment of fresh engineers within their organizations in India. This function is almost entirely decided by non technical people who have no idea about the work of engineers. This creates adverse imbalances in engineering expertise within even engineering organisations. Technical groups of city administrations are no exception.

9. Technical groups in India which are required to do collective engineering tasks are made up of technical personnel having incompatible capabilities and competence. The continued practice of reservations, favoritism, etc play an important role in this. The result is failure of the group to perform effectively even when there are exceptionally good individuals in the group.

10. Lack of consistent opportunities for EPC firms to maintain their expertise on a long term basis. There is no guarantee of work in areas such as water and waste water engineering, solid waste management, etc from the local authorities. The allocation of budgets and funds are erratic. This causes much uncertainties for EPC firms to maintain their expert engineers and technicians on a long term basis. Much bunching of work also happens making all work to suffer of time schedules and quality . EPC entrepreneurs try to maintain their technical organizations without enough numbers of permanent experts and managing the show somehow by outsourcing or entering into temporary understandings to form consortia or similar other gimmicks making a mess of things that eventually everything proceeds without any proper direction or planning.

11. India now has a number of so-called environmentalists who are text book experts and have no practical experience or expertise. They copy impractical norms and quality parameters and make big noises of not achieving certain values of quality parameters with regard to environmental quality norms on water, treated effluents, land fills, air , etc. These so called experts often make things complicated and often provide much fodder for the non technical media and the public. In the developed countries, often decisions on such things are taken on the basis of best achievable technology (BAT) and best practical technology (BPT) . In India, text book experts are least concerned about practical aspects and costs involved. This compels many organizations to spend huge sums of money for practically achieving no results, especially in the areas of water treatment, effluent treatment and air pollution control.

12. Indian organizations do not allow planned development of expertise in engineering and technology. Whatever experience the engineers gain happen randomly and in much unplanned manner. Hence it is not very easy to identify and evaluate the real experience and expertise of engineers. Again this evaluation is left to the whims and fancies of non technical personnel, making many experienced engineers wasting their times without actually contributing to works where they could do it well or important engineering assignments getting in to the hands of inexperienced engineers and non technical leaders bull dozing them to commit gross errors.

13. There is no political will in India to make these services privatized allowing  reasonable charges to be levied from even the affluent class of urban citizens. There is no reason to fear that the affluent urban citizens are so selfish and ignorant that they resist such facilities that would make their lives better. However, the present political atmosphere is such that every good move by one political party is opposed by the other parties who are not in power. This kind of attitude can change only when the mind set of the politicians change and they think collectively for the citizens and their country rather than for themselves.

14. Indian cities develop and grow in the most unscientific manner due to the absence of effective town planning. Very few cities have free spaces earmarked for development of infrastructural facilities for water treatment, waste water treatment, waste processing, laying of pipe lines, etc. Even after 60 years of independence and even after the whole world has progressed, the Indian authorities feel that these are important matters which require firm actions. Ministries handling urban development, housing, water, environment, etc all seem to work in different directions. Few Indian citizens are aware of the existence of such ministries or their objectives. Incidentally these ministries keep changing every now and then with different names and objectives making any sustained actions never taking place with regard to water supply, sanitation and waste disposal in urban or rural India.

15. No one India seems to be in control of planning and execution of infrastructural projects with regard to water supply, sanitation and solid waste management for the Indian cities. It could perhaps be a good idea to notify the names of the key drivers of such projects with their responsibilities and authorities known to the public.

16. India has an acute shortage of design and engineering personnel who can formulate and plan an infrastructural project on water supply and waste water management for the cities and to do the detailed engineering works involved. As of now, India may be good in developing computer software, but it is not good in works involving conventional and core engineering due to its  expertise and capacity continuously on the decline in this area for the last many years. Serious thinking and corrective steps at the highest levels only can save India from becoming a slave to other nations in the future. One of the reasons for this shortage is the reluctance of brilliant engineers to take up this career in India because in this country being in this field of work they earn little respect now and of the prospects of being at the receiving end to be bull dozed by their not-so-brilliant colleagues who chanced to climb up the career by taking up other easier routes. No wonder why the brilliant IITians of India prefer to become IIMees by doing an unlearning of their difficult engineering- a thing perhaps never happen in a developed nation !

As some one has recently written in the Economic Times, this situation can be rectified if the politicians of India think about their country for a moment. It is possible if the bureaucrats think of their country for a moment instead of spending time on wasteful tours and meetings and lamenting on the inefficiency of their political masters. In my opinion the latter are better placed to correct the situation if they want. They have a greater responsibility as per the Indian constitution. If they collectively decide to make India a better place, no politician can ruin that. That is the safeguard they have as per the constitution. If politicians are willing to support them, things could move much better. Again, there is much need to enhance the confidence of the engineers working in core areas in this country and their confidence levels. Without them, neither the politicians, nor the bureaucrats can hardly achieve anything!

That was what Singapore had done. That is what China has been doing. That is what the developed nations have been doing.

India needs to learn how to honor and motivate its engineers to perform. If not, much of those brains are all going to migrate to places where they can use their brains effectively and work with some prestige.

It is a big opportunity to prove India's capabilities first in Water Supply, Sanitation and Solid Waste Management and making India filth-less and hygienic before trying to make the missiles, bombs and the rockets using borrowed technologies. This field has enormous potential for job generation. It also has enormous potential to generate income for the government.

I know the stories of many young men from India who never got any worth while employment in India, getting good paying employment in small county water treatment and sewage treatment plants in the USA. If the US could pay over $ 5000 per month to an Indian born supervisor of a water treatment plant of a county of 5000 odd population, why can't India do it ? USA is rich, because the majority there think big. The moment the Americans think like the Indians they too are going to be doomed !

Think India, think! Think and act the way those progressive peoples are doing! Remove your narrow mindedness and your greed and your unjustified fears! You have immense potentials to come out of the pathetic conditions. Even those of you who like to exploit the nation from behind the curtains- it is better to change. You too would benefit a lot than you do at present!

Improving the health of the citizens is good for every one. Even for those who have made vast fortunes in India and thinking of staying in alien countries for breathing well.

And what I said above may be applicable to all other fields as well!

[Please also take some time to come back and read my previous  blogs and blogs on other topics as well. You can reach to those by clicking the links in this page. I would be happy if you take some time to express your views using the comments facility down below. Please  use the same comment facility to interact with me for any doubts or clarifications that you might have. Here is the page link that gives the   list of all my blogs  where you can open all my blog titles.]

Why did the Plastic Carry Bags Get Banned in the Indian Cities?

Polyethylene (PE) or simply polythene, Polypropylene (PP) , Polystyrene (PS) and Polyurethane (PU) are perhaps the most commonly used plastics that have revolutionized the way people used packaged products of various kinds. Without a proper plastic packaging, it is impossible to think of products like food items, medicines, mineral water, aerated drinks and many other consumable items are getting sold to the consumers. Plastic bags, both use and throw types and re-usable ones have made shopping a pleasurable and easy task for people both in the cities and the rural areas. 

The success of the polymer industry that makes these plastics have made tremendous profits for the petrochemical giants of the world. These industrial giants make the monomers and the bulk polymers which are the raw materials to the numerous small and big  plastic making industries around the world. 

But all these success turned out to become a curse in the recent years that even the mention of the word 'plastic' is making the otherwise gentle environmentalists furious and ferocious !

In the recent past, some city governments in developed nations like the US have considered it wise to ban plastic carry bags in their cities. Indian environmentalists and politicians, all keen to project themselves as green ambassadors and green saviors of the nation are quick to follow with wide spread bans of plastics making the job of the otherwise lethargic local police men more lucrative and active ! It is yet another point to investigate to find out their real agendas in banning plastic carry bags, the item which made life simple for many citizens all throughout these years. 

The thin plastic bags that the local trader happily handed out to the fish, meat and vegetable buyer in the local market for their customer to take home their daily needs without any hassles have all of a sudden have become a dreaded material comparable to perhaps the nuts and bolts of an AK-47 that made a famous Indian actor confined to the dreaded jails of India. Possessing and carrying plastic carry bags of negligible thickness has become a crime in India ! Of course, the Indians are just imitating their big brothers else where!  Unless the big brothers come out with some solutions, the Indians cannot possibly have some solutions !

How could they ? These bloody plastic bags are clogging the drains, the sewers of the apartments, the stomachs of the holy cows and what not ! It is so a big mistake that it was allowed to proliferate to this extent, some of the plastic haters argue ! But my brain is not digesting the logic of banning the thinner plastic carry bags while the thicker ones and plastics are allowed to be used. But this information is hidden in the government orders and not given much publicity that the common man is getting frightened by the sight of any plastics. His fears are indeed genuine because he is not sure how the local policeman would act or react while seeing a piece of plastic in some one's possession !

But allowing the the thicker plastics perhaps would be a boon to the petrochemical giants. Now their tonnage is bound to increase ! It is not yet clear whether the authorities want the citizens to wash their thicker poly bags again and again and use it till they are worn out ! They are also not telling what to do with the thicker worn out pieces of those plastics !

While all these are happening, I am surprised at the silence of the world leaders in plastic production, the petrochemical giants! It clearly shows that they are not affected by these bans ! Even in India, the projected consumption of plastics is continuously on the rise ! ( Read the wikipedia article here !)

The average life span of a plastic item is about 8 years. That means the billions of tonnes of plastics that are manufactured by using petroleum as the starting raw material become a waste material in about 8 years time.

This poses two kinds of problems.

Firstly,  the scarce hydrocarbon petroleum reserves are consumed for the production of plastic materials. Secondly, the used plastics become non-biodegradable polymer wastes.

But they also serve some very useful functions during its life span. Modern packaging industry depends totally on plastic products. A good number of industrial equipment resisting corrosion are also made of plastic materials. Modern automobiles, airplanes, boats and ships depend heavily on plastic materials as their components. A good number of plastics are gets recycled to form inferior products ultimately becoming some sort of non usable waste material. 

But regrettably every usable material is bound to make some waste some point of time. Some wastes are biodegradable in a shorter period of time. But, till that time they are not fully degraded back to join the natural elements they are bound to cause some nuisance. Food is good, but spoilt food is not. Water is good, but spoilt water is not. Plastic is good, but spoilt plastic is not.

All waste materials can be used in some way or the other, provided we know how to do it properly. Thus waste food, waste water, waste soil, waste oil, waste biomass and waste plastics can all be processed for some usefulness. That is the universal law of nature. It there is a will, there is a way. That is as simple as that.

Are you scared of life because your body excretes all that waste materials every day ? Haven't you devised methods and means to tackle that problem ? Will you stop eating food and drinking water because that produce noxious wastes to come out of your body ? You will not. Then, why to ban these carry bags made of plastics ? Are we so underdeveloped that we can not develop a system of collecting and processing these waste plastics ? No, never.

Then what is the problem ?

No problem technically. There are many ways of tackling the problem. There are even ways by which the plastic waste processing would become profitable business options. Of course, no business is possible without administrative blessings by those who rule !

For that matter, 99 % of the cities of India have no solid waste management systems, what to talk about the plastic wastes. Technically and technologically these are not big issues. But, administratively and politically they are !

Because administration and politics are not as simple as engineering and technology. They are not at all straight forward. Two plus two may not be four in these superior human disciplines!

It is very difficult to understand. Have you now understood why there are not many institutions that teach politics and political administration ?

Did you get why the plastic carry bags got banned in the Indian cities ?