Working out of a historic address, a bunch of experts are healing the planet one project at a time

Indian Express

04-06-2025

A new village, named Mandede, will soon emerge in Mulshi as a postcard to the future — it is a Net-Zero Climate Resilient Village Project. If the Pune Metropolitan Region achieves sustainable and efficient water usage, a part of the credit would go to a project called Jal-mulya, whose model promotes a cost-price approach to strengthen water security.
These are among the many initiatives that are taking shape at an unobtrusive cottage that houses the Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD) at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) in Pune. While GIPE has been generating controversies for more than a year, CSD has kept its head down and worked.
CSD is one of the core areas of the country where real-world ecological challenges are taken up as projects and worked on by multidisciplinary teams, made up of economists, botanists and energy engineers, among others. CSD's mandate is to engage in research that leads to workable solutions that ensure equitable, inclusive and sustainable growth.
It is symbolic that the entrance to CSD is past a butterfly garden that is visited by more than 14 species of butterflies. It is an equally powerful statement that the staff at CSD is 60 per cent women. And that at least five members of the staff cycle to work.
Four Steps Ahead
One of the successful projects at CSD is Mission Sahyadri. Even the chief minister is interested. The project confronts the crisis in the Northern Western Ghats where mining, tourism, dairy and timber and non-timber industries have depleted natural resources, caused biodiversity loss and degraded the ecosystem. Young people have migrated towards Mumbai for jobs in such numbers that the weaker demographic, such as the elderly, children and women, are bearing the socioeconomic burden. CSD used a range of strategies — from economics to emotions — and after roping in administrators — from the sarpanch to the Collector — have worked out a pathway that not only doubles farmer income and turns back distress migration but also ensures a rejuvenation of the landscape and ecosystem.
'Our theory of change is that what we see are essentially symptoms of something going wrong. We try to delve into the root causes of the symptoms. Every root cause has got some lever of change. We try to engage with that lever,' says Prof Gurudas Nulkar. He is a widely respected expert, with many leadership roles, including being in the Committee on Implementing Green Hydrogen of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. One of Nulkar's books won the CD Deshmukh Award in Economic Literature for 2019 and another received the 2022 Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad Award.
Nulkar, one of the cyclists in the team, is quick to add that he does not function alone. CSD is made up of Senior Research Associates Aditi Deodhar, who is also a Founder-Director of Jeevitnadi, a Pune organisation that is working for river revival; Komal Dhiwar, whose areas of interest include Development Economics, Environmental Economics and Circular Economy in the Indian Fashion Industry; Hrushikesh Barve, an engineer, who is passionate about clean energy & sustainable development; and Soomrit Chattopadhyay, whose post-graduation was on Water Policy and Governance. The Research Assistants Pooja Sathe, Shruti Ghag, Nikhil Atak and Vaidehi Dandekar, cover a wide range of interests while Nitin Raut, a project coordinator, is making a transition into the sustainability field after a decade working on government and telecommunications related projects.
The staff is split into teams that work in four thematic areas — biomass-based renewable energy, climate-resilient rural development, circular economy and urban challenges. The segment on biomass-based renewable energy involves 'a business model for making uncultivated and degraded lands useful for the production of biomass for India's hydrogen revolution'. CSD is working with Union ministries to deploy this model across India.
New beginnings in a new year
CSD came into being on January 1, 2023, thanks to two funders, Praj Industries and Ravi Pandit, the chairman and co-founder of KPIT. Nulkar, who had earlier headed the Symbiosis Centre of a Climate Change, saw potential when GIPE approached him. 'The donors had agreed to fund the centre for three years, after which we are supposed to be self-reliant,' says Nulkar. CSD initially worked out of a small room before the team came up at the present address, which was packed with history as Mahatma Gandhi and Md Ali Jinah had stayed here pre-Independence. 'When I was shown this place, I said, 'Yes, this is a place I want,'' says Nulkar. As he and the team immerse into yet another problem, it is evident that their greatest challenge will be apathy or even climate denial from powerful people, such as Donald Trump. 'One can't argue with stupidity. If anybody talks science, that can be argued, but I can't counter a stupid person,' says Nulkar.
Dipanita Nath is interested in the climate crisis and sustainability. She has written extensively on social trends, heritage, theatre and startups. She has worked with major news organizations such as Hindustan Times, The Times of India and Mint. ... Read More