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Water purifiers fuel a Rs 9,000 crore economy

You do the research, read lists of reviews, compare the filtration stages, and shell out a significant sum for the most promising, tech-savvy water purifier in the market. Then, just two months into installation, the machine starts throwing a series of confusing, flashing signals. The premium buying experience instantly evaporates, replaced by the sheer frustration of tracking down customer care and waiting at home for a technician to show up.In India’s competitive consumer durables sector, this exact friction point has transformed the landscape of water purifiers. The ultimate battle is no longer just about who can build and sell the best machine; it is increasingly about who can maintain trust after the hole has been drilled in the customer's kitchen wall.While the water purifier market is traditionally viewed through the lens of one-time appliance sales, companies like Eureka Forbes, the legacy player behind AquaGuard, are increasingly betting on a far larger opportunity hidden beneath the surface: the recurring service economy built around filters, annual maintenance contracts (AMCs) and nationwide technician networks.According to internal projections by Anurag Kumar, Chief Growth Officer at Eureka Forbes, the water purifier service market alone is on track to cross Rs 9,000 crore by FY30, nearly matching the projected Rs 10,000 crore size of the product market itself.131582773Also read: Beyond the room: Why India Inc's luxury hospitality bet is becoming an experience businessBreaking down the mathFor decades, the consumer durable playbook was simple: manufacture, distribute, sell, repeat. But water purification is far different from selling a television or a refrigerator; it is an active, evolving health product bound to the fluctuating quality of local municipal and groundwater supplies."The market for product categories for water purifiers is about Rs 3,800 crore today," Kumar says in an exclusive interview with ET Online. "I think you would add another, roughly about Rs 3,500 crore of service category as well to it."Citing independent industry reports, Kumar highlighted that by FY30, this parallel economy is set to explode. The product market will expand to over Rs 10,000 crore, while the service and aftermarket ecosystem will chase it tightly at more than Rs 9,000 crore, growing at a combined double-digit compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11% to 12%.This shifting weight from hardware to service fundamentally changes corporate strategies. For an industry dealing with an urban penetration rate of just 14% (and a mere 7% nationally), the recurring revenue from existing households forms a highly resilient cash-flow cushion that protects margins even during macro-economic slowdowns.131582808Service scale becomes the biggest moatThe Rs 9,000 crore service opportunity explains why tech-first aggregators and rental startups are rushing into the service category. However, scaling an on-demand service infrastructure across India’s complex geography is entirely different from coding an app.For legacy companies like Eureka Forbes, this operational network has become a major competitive advantage."After sales service can make or break a brand," says Kumar. "I think a lot of the trust that AquaGuard has today is really thanks to the fact that people have trust in our service... It's a very, very important integral part of our business and a very, very crucial moat that we continue to nurture."To defend this moat against new-age tech startups, Eureka Forbes operates at a scale that resembles a logistics company more than an appliance manufacturer. The company has deployed more than 8,000 technicians mapping out an operational footprint across 19,500 PIN codes.Also read: Apple expected to unveil new AI features at last developers conference with CEO Tim CookThe push to reduce maintenance costs"Once you sell a product, then you have it for life and there's some revenue which comes with it," Kumar says, referring to filter replacements, AMCs and servicing requirements.Interestingly, the biggest threat to this recurring service revenue is not new-age competitors, it has been consumer fatigue over high maintenance costs. Historically, the dread of paying steep annual fees to replace purifier filters has acted as a primary barrier keeping the remaining 86% of urban Indian households from adopting organised water purifiers.To beat this, Eureka Forbes pulled off a counter-intuitive strategic gear: they disrupted their own short-term revenue model to secure long-term market share.Last year, the company introduced a range of purifiers featuring "long-life" filters extending the replacement cycle from the traditional 12 months to a full two years."We did that because we fundamentally heard from consumers that there was also a barrier to the category around maintenance cost being high," Kumar reveals. "What two-year filters actually did was they actually lowered the maintenance cost because now you don't have to change filters every year. You have to change once every two years."Digitising a 1980s direct-sales DNAEureka Forbes, a company historically known for its door-to-door service, and making Aquaguard synonymous with water purifiers in India, faced a new piece of necessary upgrade with building digitisation. The multi-billion dollar service landscape required a complete digital overhaul of consumer interactions. The brand that built its empire in the 1980s on the soles of direct-sales agents knocking on suburban doors has had to pivot entirely to an on-demand, algorithmic infrastructure.An army of thousands of field technicians is only as efficient as the software directing them. For modern consumers who manage their entire lives via smartphone screens, a bland "technician will visit tomorrow" promise no longer cuts it."We've digitised that service," notes Kumar.The long-term playAs water contamination concerns spike across rapidly expanding urban clusters, the structural demand for pure drinking water will continue to climb, and so for water purifiers.However, as the hardware itself faces gradual commoditisation and intense price competition from newer market entrants, the center of gravity has largely shifted. Where the growth moves nextCapturing a dominant share of the service market is only half the blueprint. As Kumar maps out the strategic trajectory for Eureka Forbes over the next three to five years, the company's growth engine eyes two distinct tracks: aggressive geographic widening and targeted product diversification. Geographically, Kumar notes, the company is bypassing deep rural pockets for the time being to focus heavily on India’s rapidly urbanising Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns. Instead, the company is doubling down on smaller towns where they can immediately deploy their signature localised service infrastructure without stretching their logistics network too thin.Simultaneously, the brand is attempting to de-risk its reliance on the kitchen wall by expanding into adjacent consumer durables. Kumar outlined a product pipeline anchored in high-growth, premium categories, including robotic vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, and household water softeners. The underlying playbook here is pure cross-selling. By utilising the same 8,000-strong technician network to service these newer household appliances, Eureka Forbes is betting that its aftermarket footprint can drastically lower its customer acquisition costs; positioning the legacy firm to evolve from a single-product manufacturer into a broader home-health ecosystem player.

Dawn (Pakistan)

What’s eating Pakistan’s mangoes?

Fruit sellers at roadsides and bazaars are bracing for Pakistan’s yearly mango madness. Their baskets are filled with the early Sindhri crop for now as they wait for the Punjab Langra and Dusehri, soon to be followed by the Chaunsa and Anwar Ratol. This year’s season arrives with as much anxiety as anticipation. Fluctuating temperatures, erratic rain and hailstorms early in the year, the period critical for flowering, fruit set and ripening, have damaged orchards across Punjab’s mango belt, covering Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur divisions in the south and Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Sargodha and Lahore in the central and northern parts of the province. The prolonged stagnation after last year’s floods weakened root systems and stressed trees already battered by climatic shocks. These setbacks, coupled with uncertainty in export markets amid tensions surrounding the US-Iran-Israel conflict, have kept growers, contractors and traders on the edge over the season’s fragility. “I can safely say that around 40 per cent of the crop in my area has been damaged,” said Rabia Sultan, a grower who cultivates several varieties, including Summer Bahisht, White Chaunsa, Anwar Ratol and Sindhri, across nearly 100 acres of fertile land in Kot Addu, South Punjab. Major Tariq Khan, director Lutfabad Farms and director operations Progressive Mango Growers Group, said the yield has been dropping over the last few years, but this year has been particularly “troublesome”. “If you drive through the mango-growing belt of South Punjab for instance, you’ll witness the extent of damage,” he said. Although the Dusehri and Langra have been spared somewhat as they develop earlier in the season. “They had matured before the early-season stress set in. Chaunsa and Ratol that ripen later in the season have been most affected.” Bad weather Usually, from the cool days of February to the scorching months of May and June, each stage of the mango cycle is delicately timed. The trees emerge from dormancy, begin flowering, pollinate, and eventually bear and ripen fruit in smooth succession. This year, however, abrupt temperature swings tore through this cycle. News reports, AccuWeather forecasts, and Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) outlooks say that February clearly departed from normal winter conditions across Punjab. It turned unusually warm, with day-time temperatures rising to 24°-28° Celsius and night-time lows ranging between 11°-14°. The PMD said the monthly mean was 17.1°, which is about 2.5° above average. If it was warmer, it was also parched. It rained 88.8pc less across Punjab in February, leaving orchards thirsty at a critical stage of crop development. Perhaps the only upside to this pattern was that it sped up flowering earlier than usual. “We surveyed the orchards in February and saw trees profusely laden with boor (flowering),” said Hafiz Asif Ur Rehman, Principal Scientist, Mango Research Institute in Multan. This development initially gave them the impression that 2026 would yield a bumper crop. Unexpectedly, the mercury stayed up as March rolled around, with day-time highs inching to between 32° and 37° — roughly 2° to 6° higher than normal. The night-time temperatures stayed at between 14° and 18° which was around 1° to 3° above normal for this time of the year. “The high temperatures during this flowering period suddenly reduced pollen viability,” said Riaz Hussain, a scientific officer at the Mango Research Institute. “[This] disturbed pollinator activity, and conducive flowering. It also caused some premature fruit to drop.” Worse, by mid-March, the pattern shifted again. Instead of temperatures transitioning into warmer degrees, they sank from the 30s to the 20s during the day. The night-time temperature remained more or less consistent. This contrast between an unusually hot start and a cooler, unstable end of the month, complicated the crop cycle. Many orchards showed uneven flowering, multiple fruit-setting waves, delayed fruit maturity, and “increased bator or malformed clusters that favour pest infestation, particularly mango hoppers and fungal problems,” said Hussain. April and May settled back into seasonal norms but sporadic hail, rain, and windstorms continued to disrupt the pattern. Temperatures would fall several degrees below average in affected areas. “Such bursts of temperature may scar the mango skin and make it less suitable for export and reduce its market value,” said Waqas Bucha, who manages 30 acres of orchards along Bosan Road in Multan. Drowning Even before the temperatures played up, prolonged waterlogging after the 2025 floods had damaged feeder roots, reduced soil aeration, and weakened overall tree physiology, particularly in low-lying orchards near riverine areas of Chenab. According to the Pakistan Society for Horticultural Science, last year more than 41,000 acres or over half of the total orchards in Multan, Shujabad, and Jalalpur were left under water. “The brunt fell on small and medium-aged orchards, where trees, still in their most productive years, were uprooted or severely stressed,” it said. In several areas, late vegetative growth remained tender for longer periods, making them more vulnerable to insect attacks and nutrient imbalance because saturated soils don’t absorb fertiliser the same way. These conditions created an environment for the hopper and other stubbornly resistant pests. Waqas Bucha has already sprayed pesticides twice, but the disease refuses to go away. Major Tariq Khan has done it thrice, yet the infestation persists. “In some areas,” he added, “farmers have gone up to eight sprays, but still cannot bring pests under control.” Dawn reported on May 13 that the Ministry of Commerce has extended the start of export season to June 1, 2026, saying it was doing so because of stakeholder requests and climatic shifts that have delayed fruit maturity, particularly for the Sindhri. Long-range shifts In the last five years Punjab has had a clear officially documented shift from seasonal stability to exceptional high heat and rainfall. It has prolonged summers, hitting up to 40°-45° Celsius, and shorter and milder winters, with day temperatures ranging between 18°-24° and night-time lows of 5°-10°, both reflecting an estimated 3° rise in mean temperature. Rainfall has become far more unstable. The 2022 monsoon delivered about 77 per cent above-normal rainfall while 2024 again recorded above-normal monsoon activity. Shrinking acreage Across the five-year trajectory, according to the Final Kharif Estimates by the Punjab Agriculture Department, the mango economy shows a clear move from a stable, productivity-led system to an expansion-driven model in which land increase is beginning to compensate for weakening efficiency per acre. In the early phase (2019-20 to 2020-21) the cultivated area was relatively stable, hovering around 240,000-244,000 acres. But yield fell 6pc from 143.79 to 135.02 maunds per acre. In the next phase (2021–22 to 2022-23) the area stayed at 244,500 acres, but yield dropped 4 per cent from 148 to 142 maunds. In 2023–24, the yield increased sharply to 173.5 maunds per acre despite unchanged acreage, possibly due to better weather. Last year, 2024–25, cultivated area jumped 55 per cent to 378,975 acres. But yield dropped to 148.4 maunds per acre, 14.5 percent lower. Dr Azeem Sardar, an Agricultural Development specialist with The Urban Unit, is clear that the changing weather is “one of the major reasons behind the lower mango yield.” Warning signs Tariq Khan’s area was once known for its thriving cotton fields, which were slowly abandoned by farmers who could not keep fighting climate change, pests and sinking yields. He fears mangoes could meet the same fate unless growers adapt. Hafiz Asif Ur Rehman said they advise farmers to adopt careful irrigation, like avoiding watering already wet soil, maintaining a green grass cover outside the canopy to reduce heat stress, spraying water on the sun-facing side of fruit-bearing trees during extreme temperatures above 45°C, and applying mulch under the canopy to regulate soil temperature. Farmers who combine good agricultural practices, such as timely pruning, nitrogen application during dormancy, and scheduled pesticide sprays, have been better able to protect their crops. Weather forecasting and early warning systems help, but Dr Azeem Sardar added that “climate-smart orchard management remains an evolving field in the country.” Experts say transitioning from traditional mango cultivation practices to climate-resilient approaches remains gradual and faces several challenges. “Many small and medium-scale farmers continue to rely on conventional farming practices due to financial limitations, lack of technical knowledge, and restricted access to efficient irrigation systems and quality inputs,” said James Robert Okoth, Officer in Charge, FAO Pakistan. Farmers are slow to pivot but so is government. “We have approached the climate change ministry, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture, and other bodies, but it is always the same response, ‘yes, yes, let’s do something,’ and then nothing materialises,” he said. Around 92 per cent of mango growers in South Punjab are small landholders who don’t have the capacity to innovate or independently adapt to climate pressures. And each damaged crop and shrinking yield is spreading the fear that the king of fruit, the Pakistani mango may become another casualty of the global climate crisis.

Washington Examiner

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Finland’s NATO nerves: A country on Russia’s doorstep wonders about the alliance’s future

HELSINKI — Finland joined NATO just over three years ago, expecting to walk into an efficient and well-funded defensive alliance capable of warding off its belligerent Russian neighbors. Finnish government leaders are not afraid to admit that they found NATO to be much more disorganized and underfunded than they hoped, echoing recent complaints from President […]

Hacker News Front Page

The Economic Times (India)

Efficient and Training-Free Single-Image Diffusion Models

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Iran war hobbles power to shape oil market

OPEC+ ministers meet Sunday to weigh higher production quotas in a bid to cap oil prices that have surged since the Iran war effectively choked off Gulf crude shipments.But even if the cartel members vow to ramp up output by thousands of barrels per day, analysts say geopolitical realities mean they probably won't move the needle on prices.Also read: OPEC+ leaders expected to up July oil output target despite Hormuz disruption, sources sayWith the crucial Strait of Hormuz shut since US and Israeli attacks on Iran in late February, oil prices have nearly doubled, igniting inflation pressures worldwide.Ministers from the 21 member states of OPEC+, the main oil producing nations and their allies, are holding their quarterly meeting online.The group is likely to beef up its production quotas by "188,000 barrels a day", said Jorge Leon, analyst at Rystad Energy, similar to recent increases. But in reality, only seven members -- Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman -- have the capacity to do so.Dwindling supply Tehran's threats of retaliatory attacks to US and Israeli strikes have virtually blocked the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil and gas supplies normally pass.That is equivalent to about 20 million barrels a day. But with key Gulf producers shut out of the global market, pledges to raise output in a bid to ease spiralling prices are unlikely to sway traders. "Any announced production increases or changes to output targets will have limited practical value," said Ole Hansen, a commodities analyst at Saxo Bank."There is very little OPEC can do," he told AFP.OPEC+ itself says daily production has plummeted to just 33 million barrels a day as tankers remain stuck, compared to nearly 43 million before the conflict.A US blockade on Iranian ports means "it will be even less than that" in reality, said Homayoun Falakshahi, head of crude oil analysis at data firm Kpler.Also read: Oil prices fall on mounting hopes for de-escalation in US-Iran WarUAE slams the door The United Arab Emirates' recent decision to quit OPEC further saps away at the cartel's influence, given its huge excess production capacity.And Abu Dhabi has made clear it wants to boost output."They don't want to be dictated to, they want to maximise their revenues," said Lawrence Haar, a lecturer in finance at the University of Brighton in England. And the cartel risks seeing other countries follow the UAE's example."If Iraq were to leave, it could mark the end of OPEC+," Falakshahi said.Saudi Arabia, by far the cartel's most influential member, "is going to do what it takes to stop anyone else from leaving," Falakshahi predicted.That could translate into more flexible output quotas or decreased penalties for any excess production.But "for now, the compensation framework has effectively become irrelevant due to widespread production shut-ins," Hansen said.As a result, the Iran war has largely neutralised the cartel's stated mission "to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, and a steady income to producers". For Falakshahi, the only factor limiting further oil price spikes at the moment is China, "which is buying less oil than normal" by tapping into its vast strategic reserves.

TASS English

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Russian football clubs will not perform in European cubs in 2026/27 season

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The Hindu National

Health Department to deploy AI for newborn health assessments

‘Shishu Maapan’ app will help ASHA workers monitor vital health parameters more efficiently and accurately; pilot project under way before statewide rollout

Deutsche Welle (English)

High-functioning depression: When success masks suffering

People with depression don't always feel overwhelmed or struggle to get things done — some are highly efficient and productive, despite their low moods. So it can't be that bad, right? Wrong!

Business Insider

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I'm the CEO of a multimillion-dollar cookie company. As a mom of 3, I rely on one key strategy to make my workday as efficient as possible.

After beating Hodgkin's lymphoma, Loren Castle wanted a career that prioritized her health and happiness. She started Sweet Loren's cookies in 2011.

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China unveils world’s first superfast quantum memory, paving way for practical computing

Chinese scientists have created the world’s first superfast memory for quantum computers, solving a critical data-reading bottleneck and paving the way for big-data challenges such as drug discovery and detecting fraudulent financial activities. Quantum computers are expected to solve complex problems at speeds unattainable by traditional computers, and they need an efficient way to access classical data. Without a high-speed data interface, even the fastest quantum machine is slowed down when...

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The AI boom is running into a copper problem

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Dawn (Pakistan)

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PM Shehbaz directs launch of pilot for proposed automated tax collection system in Islamabad

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday directed the launch of a pilot project for a proposed automated income tax collection system in Islamabad, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. In a statement, the PMO said that Prime Minister Shehbaz chaired a review meeting on ongoing reforms in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), attended by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, State Minister for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, and others. “The meeting reviewed the ongoing measures aimed at modernising the tax system and increasing tax collection in detail,” it said, adding that a comprehensive plan was presented to make inland revenue collection more “effective, transparent and faceless”. According to the PMO, the meeting was informed that the proposed new tax system would have the capability to identify under-declared income and assets through data relating to properties, vehicles and banks. “Modern technology and artificial intelligence would be used to make the tax system automated, transparent and effective,” it added. Addressing the meeting, the prime minister said that the “project for an automated, modern and efficient tax management system through the effective use of modern technology would prove to be a milestone in the government’s reform agenda,” the PMO stated. The premier added that minimising human intervention and discretionary powers in the tax collection system was the need of the hour. The prime minister further said that implementation of the project would not only increase revenues but also promote transparency, fairness and public trust in the tax system. He added that the process of FBR reforms would continue for the documentation of the economy and expansion of the tax net. During the meeting, the PM Shehbaz also paid tribute to the provincial governments for their effective action against illegal cigarettes, the PMO said. “Through enforcement measures, additional tax collection of Rs40 billion from the cigarette sector is expected this year for the national exchequer,” it said. Under the new system, it was also proposed to establish a National Faceless Audit Wing, a National Assessment Wing and a Field Operations Wing.

Quartz

25 things every home cook should know how to do

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Antara News (Indonesia)

Blaize and Winmate Bring Rugged Edge AI from the U.S. to the Global Stage at COMPUTEX 2026

Blaize Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: BZAI, Nasdaq: BZAIW) ("Blaize"), a leader in programmable, energy-efficient ...

Dawn (Pakistan)

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If you need to use the loo on the way to Turbat

The bus lurched to a halt on the long, dry highway that takes you from Gwadar to Turbat. A clutch of men jumped out and sprinted towards the makeshift bathroom by the road. Some of them scattered into the bushes. Back in the bus, anchored to their seats, women stared out of the windows stiffly. They must have done the math before boarding: drink enough water to bear the heat, but not so much that you need to empty your bladder. Gwadar to Turbat is a short two hours. But it is eight long ones if you are heading to Karachi. A washroom on the Makran Coastal Highway between Turbat and Gwadar Balochistan’s new and smooth highways are praised as corridors of connectivity and trade and promise progress for a place that has long been politically and geographically distant from the rest of Pakistan. Motorway 8 goes from Ratodero to Gwadar, the N-10 runs along the Makran coast, the N-25 RCD Highway connects Quetta to Karachi and the N-40 that meanders towards the Iran border from Quetta to Taftan. But the praise for this network does not make up for the lack of safe and accessible public bathrooms for hundreds of kilometers. Where you do find one, it is rudimentary at best, a hole in the ground, a door that won’t close or lock and almost never any running water. To make matters worse, the women’s toilets are usually located in male-dominated spaces, such as roadside motels, dhabas, and bus stops. In Surab, washrooms are attached to the mosques and are strictly off limits for women. This neglect is now being challenged in court by Kulsoom Baloch, Fauzia Shaheen and Dr Quratulain Bakhtiari. They filed a complaint in the Balochistan High Court, arguing that the highways are deliberately designed to prioritise the cold mechanics of commerce at the expense of human safety, accessibility and equity. They said that the long stretch between Mastung and Kalat is the worst affected. There isn’t a single restroom for women when you travel from Quetta to Makran through Kalat and Mastung. The Karachi to Quetta-Chaman N-25 Highway is being widened into a double carriageway but toilets for women are missing from the plan. The government has to provide sanitation which is a constitutional right as Article 9 guarantees the right to life and dignity, 14 protects the dignity of the people and privacy at home, and 15 ensures the right to movement. “Men are socially free,” says Kulsoom. “They can go anywhere for nature’s call. Women are restricted socially and culturally, and their biological needs are different.” Unusable washrooms in Ormara and Gwadar Fatima, 46, describes one of her experiences. She was travelling from Turbat to Karachi for eye surgery with her husband and daughter. The bus had been on the road for a couple of hours until it stopped near a roadside hotel in Ormara. Ormara, located in Gwadar along the Makran Coastal Highway, is often the first and only major stop for buses travelling from Turbat and Gwadar to Karachi. During this journey, the first stop is usually this deserted hotel in Ormara, where bus drivers and conductors often receive free meals in exchange for bringing passengers. There were four bathrooms, supposedly for men and women both, and all of them were broken, dirty, and without door locks. She entered the dingy bathroom but her eyes kept darting towards the ajar door. Her daughter came to the rescue. “She held the door while I was inside … we had no other choice,” she says. “There’s a lingering fear that men nearby can see you. It feels humiliating.” At Gwadar’s Zero Point, which is about 90km from Hub town, there are two bathrooms, but both are unusable. “When the vehicle stops for security checks,” says Kulsoom, “women looking to use a bathroom are told to, ‘go as far as you can’.” The story is the same from Yousuf Goth Terminal in Karachi, used by passengers from Balochistan daily, to Khuzdar’s Chamrock Hotel and Restaurant (another bus stop). Dozens of women line up inside warehouses, waiting their turn to use the few available toilets. Women who regularly need to travel fall sick with urinary tract infections, diarrhoea and dehydration. Urologists warn that holding urine for hours on end causes bladder infections and serious kidney problems. In many parts blanket bans on night-time public transport are imposed when there is a threat of violence. Protests, road blockades, security checks and insurgent raids often leave women stranded for hours, if not days. A student, Saadia, was stuck on the M-8 Motorway for two days last year. “We did not have proper food, water or basic facilities. At one point, we walked several kilometres to a nearby bazaar just to use a bathroom,” she says. The only washroom at the Talaar Checkpost with proper signage and running water Saif owns a hotel on the Makran Coastal Highway at Ormara. He handles 15 to 20 buses daily with each bus carrying roughly 400 passengers. This means up to 800 travellers use his 19 bathrooms every single day. “Business is very weak these days, and on top of that, there is a major water issue,” he says. A broken sewerage system and chronic power failures cripple his efforts to maintain hygiene. He tried introducing a Rs10 upkeep fee to pay a dedicated cleaner but most passengers cannot afford to pay even this amount. He appealed to the transport companies to subsidise the maintenance cost as their passengers benefit from the stopovers without contributing towards sanitation. “The buses only stop for meals and then leave. We have spoken to bus operators time and again but they don’t cooperate,“ he says. It would cost around Rs300,000 to Rs400,000 to build good quality bathrooms. The local authorities hardly help small business owners like Saif who they fine instead of assisting with infrastructure grants or water tankers. “The Assistant Commissioner came once and fined me without any prior warning,” says Saif. He ordered him to build a chabutra (a raised platform) in the bathrooms but didn’t offer any financial support. The Balochistan Development Statistics report of 2018-2019 says the province has 42,911 kilometres of roads, with national and provincial highways connecting districts and towns. International highway design guidelines say that key rest areas should be constructed every 80km to 100km, with smaller stop points at every 50km. Washrooms along the route from Quetta to Makran If such designs were applied, the 653km Makran Coastal Highway for instance, would need at least seven rest stops. The 892km M-8 would need eight and the 487km N-85 Surab-Panjgur-Hoshab highway would need five. To pull this off, safe gender-segregated resting areas should be built in towns along these routes such as Awaran, Turbat, Gwadar, Chaghi, Pasni, and Ormara. In more isolated stretches, eco-friendly and water-efficient technologies could be viable alternatives to provide these spaces lighting, clear signage and proper maintenance systems. And infrastructure is only as good as the insight behind it. If women are not included in the designing, the facilities will fall short of their needs. As Kulsoom Baloch says, “True development begins with the basics. In Balochistan, it is always the opposite. Roads are constructed first, celebrated as progress.” No one even thinks of toilets.

Vanguard (Nigeria)

FG unveils mini-grid interconnection guidelines

The Federal Government has unveiled new guidelines for the safe and efficient interconnection of solar mini-grids to electricity distribution networks, in a move aimed at accelerating renewable energy deployment and expanding electricity access across Nigeria. The post FG unveils mini-grid interconnection guidelines appeared first on Vanguard News.

Vanguard (Nigeria)

Philippine Daily Inquirer

FG moves to accelerate mini-grid deployment with new guidelines

By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja The Federal Government has unveiled new guidelines for the safe and efficient interconnection of solar mini-grids to electricity distribution networks, aimed at accelerating renewable energy deployment and improving electricity access across Nigeria. Speaking at the launch in Abuja, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) and Chief Electrical […] The post FG moves to accelerate mini-grid deployment with new guidelines appeared first on Vanguard News.