 Good morning sir, good morning sir, thank you sir Pranav Vijay Vargya Yes Vijay Vargya, you are from Rastanoli? Yes sir, Jaipur Some similar name was there that West Bengal BJP in charge, same? Yes sir, name is same, Mr. Kailash Vijay Vargya Tell me something about this, you have done some, won some award from CM Haryana Yes sir In that full work, what was that? Sir, it was a fellowship which was started by Ashoka University in collaboration with Haryana Government So we were posted in the districts of Haryana to work with district administration and I did a pilot project on solid waste management Which district and when? How many months? In 2016 for one year I was posted in Sonipath So I worked with the municipal corporation on a pilot project It was named solid waste management and our main objective was to ensure segregation at source and we were able to get 1000 kg of waste per day and compost it and convert it into compost How many villages? We did it in two localities of the urban Sonipath Okay urban, urban So for this project I was awarded the impact So how much time you used to devote? Sir, I worked it for almost for an entire year That's full time? No, not full time, it was one of the project and I used to dedicate 3-4 hours every day to this project So it was a continuous project And people have been cooperating? No sir, it was a big challenge So to convince the households and participate in the behaviour change exercise was the biggest challenge But the thing which worked out in our favour is that we had an year long engagement with them We built a team of volunteers to do the door-to-door campaigning But after that 2016 it was over Did you find out whether it is still working or it is just gone? Yes sir, it is still continuing in the district So the future associates, they are continuing the project They are continuing And any lessons learned from this and which have been replicated in other districts? Sir, a couple of districts are also working on the source aggregation The Ambala and the Yamna Nagar And the biggest learning is that for a sustainable waste management exercise segregation at source is essential And for segregation, behaviour change of household is essential which requires active engagement Tell me something about Rastan Rastan, now this government is 3 years or 4 years? So the assembly elections were in 2018 So it's been 3, 3 plus years Tell me what 4-5 good things have done And 2-3 good things, 2-3 things which you don't like of this problem So the government is doing good work in the security of the women the women education also availability of water because water scarcity is a bigger problem What they have done about water? Sir, the government is planning to dig underground wells Planning what they have done in 3.5 years, still planning They have dug some wells and it is also in the pipeline So they are digging more because water scarcity is a big problem Other than that, there is also provisions for mandatory rooftop rainwater harvesting Other than water, the government is actively pursuing the policy of attracting investments So for that the government has launched a policy on MSMEs And another good work which the government is doing is on renewable energy So recently in 2019, the government launched solar energy policy with the aim of 30 gigawatt power production from solar energy So these are some of the good things which the government is doing And one latent potential which has not been tapped because of the pandemic and other reasons The tourist potential of the state So Rajasthan has immense potential for tourists So what things which you don't like? Yes sir, one is the waste management So there is still no segregation at source And the policy has not been adopted by the government So this is the biggest area which I think that the government should actively take Only one? Yes sir, this is the biggest problem which is coming to my mind right now Is there any fighting in politics going on because of which they are not able to concentrate on that development? Sir, I do not have a strong opinion on the political side Because I believe that the parliamentary system of the government works in the tassel between the government That is okay, I am telling that that affects your development If you keep on fighting, where is the time for doing development or what? I agree sir, that there should be better coordination between the government and lesser time should be spent Okay, okay, you appeared in the Indian Forest Service exam also, you are clear? So the interviews are scaled Okay, and the engineering service? That I could not qualify See, you would have read in the newspapers Rajiv Gandhi, sorry, Raul Gandhi has given some definition to GDP Sir, I have not read his GDP but I am aware of the actual GDP I am asking his GDP, his GDP was gas, diesel and petrol rising I have not read sir What is the difference between climate and weather? Yes sir So weather is a short term feature and climate is a long term weather phenomena So climate is a more general term which provides detail about How do we decide about the climate of an area? Yes sir So there are different parameters, for instance the average temperature, the range of annual temperature, the amount of precipitation, humidity These are some of the parameters which decide Israel is called as the laboratory for development of climate resilience measures Can you give some examples how Israel is doing as compared to other countries? Yes sir, Israel is a pioneer in the fields of climate because it is investing a lot of amount and fund in the research and development And with respect to the technologies, sir it is investing a lot in water conservation And for instance the techniques of drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation are pioneered by the Israel So because of investing a lot in research, it is a pioneer sir Savings on even agriculture also, water Yes sir Chandran Mitra was in news recently No sir Line of actual control and LOC and international border What are the differences? So line of actual control is the disputed border between India and China Line I am not asking about India or China, I am asking all these three, what is the difference? Sir as per my knowledge the international borders are the settled borders So there is no ambiguity or dispute between the international borders But with respect to LAC and LOC, there is still not mutually accepted fixed borders And the participation But there must be difference between LAC and LOC Sir I am only aware that LAC is between India and China and LOC is between India and Pakistan And the borders are disputed Delhi has received the highest rainfall in the last 19 years What is happening? Why is there such increase in precipitation? Sir one of the reason is the global increase in temperature because of global warming and climate change Because of the increase in temperature, the air has higher capacity to hold the moisture And because of higher capacity to hold moisture, there is greater precipitation in the region So how can the urbanization model in Delhi be made more climate resilient? Sir I think it requires a lot of efforts from the government side in the planning of infrastructure Like in the design step itself there needs to be consideration for climate resilience Then there needs to be prioritization of afforestation and planting of trees across the district For instance, the urban parks should be designed Then there should be provisions of urban lakes to regulate the climate And then the other thing is on the awareness side So the citizens needs to be aware on energy efficiency and utilization of renewable energy using public transportation So these are some of the interventions which needs to be made Delhi government has opened schools, I think this is after the lockdown of 16-18 months What do you think about this and what kind of safety measures or precautions are being taken while opening schools? Sir since the schools had been closed since last 17 years, they had to be opened gradually And I think it is a right step because education is very important for the development of children And the safeguards which has been taken is that the government has ensured that the staff is vaccinated All the working teachers and the staffs are vaccinated Then they have also ensured that the capacity should be fixed at 50% So that a lot of students does not end up at the same time For instance, every student is sitting on one bench, social distancing is being practiced And one last thing is they have utilized the online education as well So they have integrated online education with opening of schools in their model Okay, green hydrogen, it is in news, can you tell me what is green hydrogen and its application in the automobile sector? Yes, sir, so recently the Honourable Prime Minister has launched the National Hydrogen Mission Which aims to create India as a hub for manufacturing of green hydrogen So it is called green hydrogen because the process of manufacturing of green hydrogen is environment friendly And renewable energy is used for the production in the process of electrolysis So it is energy friendly and its application in automobile sector is immense because of the fewer or no emissions from the automobiles So it is a great step forward What are some of the initiatives or incentives given by the government for EV manufacturing in the country? Yes, sir, one is the tax incentive So under the GST it is under the 5% tax bracket So one is the tax incentive Second is a lot of IEC campaign and the communication campaign has been done by the government to motivate people to go for electric vehicles Then there is dedicated policies and schemes, for instance the famed scheme, fast adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles These are the interventions which I could think of You have one more question Ashoka University was in news with respect to Pradap Manu Bahata controversy Can you tell me what happened, what was the issue and what is the current status? So the main issue was that Mr. Pradap Manu Bahata, he was alleged to be writing against the government, criticizing the government And the argument from him was that he was pursuing his academic freedom and he was well within his rights So because of the issue of curbing his academic freedom, he had to resign Where do you stand? What is your opinion on this? Sir, I believe that academic freedom should be allowed because criticizing the government is the right of everyone and we should not curb the dissent So until and unless there is a major public interest issue, we should allow academic freedom Supreme Court yesterday, I think the day before yesterday talked about social media and the kind of content that is being propagated on social media Are you aware of this? Sir, I am aware of the statement that the honorable Chief Justice has made about the communalization of the news that has been happening What do you think? Yes sir, I agree with him that the social media has been used in creating rumors, misinformation and communalization as well And therefore the government has also come up with the draft regulations to regulate the social media What was your role as an associate at Ashoka University? Yes sir, it was the fellowship which was started by Ashoka University in collaboration with Haryana government So we had to work with the district administration and we had mainly three roles One was to do the pilot project which I had done in solid waste management Another was we had been assigned specifically designed modules which were focused on good governance and had been designed in consultation with the departmental heads And third was we had to assist the deputy commissioner of the district in whatever work he needs are helping So these were the three main roles focused on good governance in the district of Sonipat The new education policy has proposed something called as an academic credit bank Can you tell me what is this and how does this work? Sir, it is related to higher education so it is giving more autonomy and flexibility to students that they can pursue courses They can exit at their will, work for some time, whatever learnings and credits they have earned It would be stored in the academic bank of credit Then let's say after some time if they again want to do more courses then the newer credits would cumulatively accumulate in the bank So it is giving more autonomy and flexibility to students You have a hobby of bird photography Can you tell me some prominent Indian bird photographer? Yes sir, so Mr. Vikram Grival is a pioneer in the field of bird photography So I am following Where do you take photography? Sir, I try to observe birds in my day to day lives So there are a lot of trees around my area Occasionally I go on morning walks And when I was in Jaipur I also used to visit a few lakes So what is the rarest bird that you photographed? So the rarest bird that I have photographed is I would say the copper smith, Babit We are talking about waste management in length So what is the battery waste management rule? Battery waste comes under the category of e-waste And the government has released the notification on e-waste management rules Under which the manufacturers of the e-waste or the batteries have been given the responsibility For the end of life disposal of the waste So if I have to dispose of a dead battery, how do I go about it? Yes ma'am So ma'am the household has to segregate waste into three categories The dry waste, the wet waste and the hazardous waste So the battery waste would go into the category of hazardous waste And then in a segregated manner it needs to be provided to the waste collector Who then recycles it or disposes it in an environmentally friendly manner I don't have this option of somebody coming and collecting this from me Where do I go for this, for disposing of the dead battery? Yes ma'am this is a major, like you know on the part of the municipal corporation That there is no system in place And as a good citizen what a household can do is to segregate it in an isolation manner And then it needs to be on a volunteer basis It needs to be contacted to the manufacturer, provided him for instance whatever Should I go back to the manufacturer or is there any agency or anything Any department of waste management department of administration We need to contact the municipal corporation that we need to provide this segregated e-waste So it is the responsibility of the corporation You've been living in Delhi for some time now So how is Delhi government handling waste management? We don't see it in news anywhere, Delhi government is taking up a lot of other initiatives But there is no initiative, we have never read in news about waste management Is there a problem of waste management in Delhi or non-frustration? There is a problem because although the waste collection has been streamlined But there is no focus on segregation And without segregation the management of waste is very very difficult So there is a problem So if there is a problem and it is not anywhere in the news Is Delhi government doing something with regards to waste management? Ma'am the government is working on the finalization of waste to energy plans So the government is currently focusing on secondary segregation Wherein the mixed waste is collected from the households And then before taking it to the plant the workers segregated But secondary segregation is not very useful And there is very less efforts in household behavior change to segregate the waste at the source So the government is focusing on energy and secondary segregation rather than primary segregation Energy by energy, what do you mean? Ma'am the waste to energy, for instance the incineration, the gasification These are some of the technologies So you have heard about this waste thing in Banwari That mountain, that Gurgaon Faridabad road Since you live in Delhi and it is very very you know something which everyone is familiar with And there also the government is trying, the administration is trying to convert the energy So basically waste to energy plant and they have already identified places But activists are against it So what do you think that is the reason? Ma'am I am not aware of why activists are opposing it Because the government is doing a right thing in establishing waste energy plants And reducing the volume from the landfill side But there are implications if they do that So just wanting to know if you are aware of it Ma'am one issue is that if we supply mixed waste to a waste energy plant Then there will be a lot of harmful emissions from the plant which may result in air pollution So we need to ensure that we provide segregated waste to the plant So that it could function optimally So this is one of the reason that the government is not focusing on waste segregation at source Providing mixed waste to the site That you already have mixed waste with you And then you are converting this into energy And then there will be a lot of poisonous harmful gases which will come out So is it a good step of the administration to be doing this? For the waste that has already been landed at the landfill side We have no remedy, we have to segregate it as a post mortem itself But as a long term measure we need to focus on source Delhi transport department has issued an advisory to get old vehicles scrapped And recently even the central government has also come out with this scrappage policy So what is the difference? This is in news nowadays again So what is the difference there? What is Delhi government saying? And how it is different from what central government is saying? Their policy I am not aware of the differences I am only aware that the diesel vehicles and the petrol vehicles Who are 15 years and 20 years old, they need to be scrapped So fine differences between 20 or 10-15 I am sorry sir, 10-15 Now coming to Rajasthan So there is a railway station in Rajasthan which has got a green tag You are aware of it? Fine And coming to trekking and mountaineering So which has been your favourite destination for trekking? Ma'am I did a basic mountaineering course in the Ladakh region So there I went on a snow trek which was an amazing experience for me For how long? How many days? The mountaineering course was of 28 days 28 days and what was the criteria? Ma'am we had to fill an application form So based on the first come first serve basis So no fitness test nothing? Fitness test is done after the selects So the first three days was the fitness test And who qualifies stays and who does not was sent back There are a lot of treks which are banned in India So are you aware of it and very well known treks? Or they are on the verge of banning? Ma'am there is still no clear guidelines on the regulations of trekking And on an occasional basis based on timings Some of the high mountain treks are not allowed in the winter reasons Because of the associated risk of landslides So in the high mountain snow region some of the treks are banned You are from North Delhi There is a park in North Delhi known as Coronation Park What is the historical significance of that park? Sir I have not heard Okay no problem And you were in associated Ashoka University Ashoka University was in use also So Pranam do you think student politics is necessary? Yes sir I think student politics is necessary Because it is a very good platform for students to develop leadership qualities And excel future in life So I agree Leadership qualities or controversial qualities? Sir I would say leadership qualities Leadership qualities Okay no problem So you have mentioned mountaineering is one of your hobbies Yes sir Okay sir can you tell me what is the highest peak in India? Yes sir So the K2 is the highest peak of India K2 or Kanchanjanga Sir K2 is in Pakistan occupied Kashmir Which is a territory of India Okay good Pranam you are born in Rajasthan right? Yes So can you tell me we see that there is a conflict on the JNK border Something on the Punjab border But there is we don't hear of any conflict on the Rajasthan or Gujarat border So why that phenomena is there? Why the borders of Rajasthan and Gujarat quite peaceful? So the Interstate borders? No no the international border with Pakistan Sir because the borders between India and Pakistan in the Gujarat and the Rajasthan region is international borders So they are settled borders But the borders of JNK So they had a history since the time of partition When the instrument of accession was signed by the Maharaja of Kashmir So since then the border is categorized as LOC border Which is conflicted So I think that is the reason Okay okay Has it got something to do with the weather? Sir I am not aware Bird photography So can you tell me what is the state border of Rajasthan? Yes sir it is a great university And what is the state border of Delhi? Sir House Paro Okay Pranam you must be observing that currently in Afghanistan A resistance is going on in Pansheer valley And the leader of the resistance has also appealed to the international community To help them in whatever way possible So do you think as a sovereign government we should actually help out the rebels there? Sir I do not think we should participate in the internal conflicts of the region What we should do is to have a conversation with the major stakeholders To secure Indian interests and not go beyond that So we should not interfere and we should not support the rebels But the rebels are led by the former vice president of Afghanistan Who has also said he is the acting president And we had our diplomatic relations with that government So why we should not support them? I think we should Yes sir because India has a foreign policy of non-interference So we as a country do not want other countries to interfere in our internal conflicts So as a reciprocating effect India should also not interfere in their internal politics and the struggles Okay okay Pranam there is a term in diplomacy called as rule warrior diplomacy So what do you understand about that term? Sir I have heard of the term in the context of China but I do not know the exact definition Okay okay have you heard of the Wakhan Corridor? Yes Which countries does it connect? Sir it is in Afghanistan in the border region with Pakistan Pakistan or China? So I am confused Okay You can read about it You were in IIT Bombay for your graduation Can you tell me the historical significance of gateway of India? There were two important events associated with it Sir I am aware of one of the attack Not historical significance but a plot on In which some of the terrorists came via the gateway of India and attacked the city of Mumbai So I am able to think of this incident right now Okay okay So you must have seen that currently US troops left Afghanistan So British troops also left India in 1948 Is it associated with that gateway of India? Sir I would have to read Okay Thank you Pranam