TERI; Policy and Actions

Given that my Fulbright research will be done in association with TERI and TERI University I think it’s pertinent to focus my first group profile on the think tank and its affiliated Master/PhD program. (I should also note here that I remain solely responsible for the content and opinions in this blog)

General Specs

While the organization, with over 900 employees, was founded and is based India, it maintains four regional centers and is well known in international climate change circles – Director-General, Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, is the acting Chair of the UN’s Interngovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  TERI’s work with government bodies and corporations in India and its broad international presence across Europe, Japan, and the United States make it a key example of globalized research in policy and technology.

TERI University, where my affiliation is based, is an interesting model for those in academia. The university was deemed an academic affiliation of its own accord in 1998. However its initial funding and continued operations are heavily supported by the TERI Institute. Rather than the standard growth of a center for research inside a university, TERI U seems instead to be a product of the supporting think-tank. I won’t dwell on the topic so check out the websites and drag your lazy mouse google to find out more about the general make-up of TERI and TERI U.

(From here on out I will refer to both the institute and university as TERI.)

Waste Research

As in any good thought environment the ideas at TERI surrounding waste management range from the comprehensive and exhaustive to the impulsive and slightly impractical. Earlier this week one student admitted to me his dream of building a system of pipes from every apartment in a community unit. One pipe would be for biodegradable and the other for recyclable. Each pipe would lead to a separate bin in the center of the unit. The idea led me into a flashback of 1960s, or some long time ago before I was born and my parents were still cool, when pop culture thought suction based tubes were the transport mode of the future. In all seriousness the idea of separated garbage chutes for buildings is both simple and brilliant, though I remain less convinced by the idea of a full out piping system.

And, TERI has made significant contributions to waste management policies in India. TERI faculty members regularly contribute reports to the government’s environmental committees including those that preceded the country’s Municipal Solid Waste Rules of 2000. In recent years they have also worked with the World Bank to analyze old dump sites for rehabilitation, produced a heath assessment of EWaste workers, and looked at waste surrounding a religious site in Mathura. The list of TERI publications and reports analyzing the technical environment for waste in India is extensive but the focus of TERI’s research lies primarily in the creation of energy from waste. One interesting project currently being implemented is the spread of TERI’s Enhanced Acidification and Methanation process which is being used to convert cafeteria waste into energy right at the source of production. This will be an interesting project to explore further for its potential across India and abroad.

Policy and Research Vs Implementation

TERI’s main outputs are research and policy recommendations. However one disturbing trend for the waste system in India is the lack of implementation and follow-up from these publications. While the government acknowledges the problems that exist and accepts that investment and must take place, actual change in the system on a local level is harder to find. When change is seen it is usually born on a smaller scale and expanded, such has been the case in Goa. In my research the challenge will be to walk the line between the need for research, data, and a major growth on a large scale and the reality of development.