Pune's GenNext icons point to urgent need for attitude change

The young and talented artist says awareness and knowledge about painting needs to be created for the city to develop art patrons

For the last few days, Pune is abuzz with a lot of art activities. This is because of the recently concluded Pune Biennale.

There were many exhibitions and installations in the city. One of the shows titled The Pune Retrospective was quite unique. It showcased artists across genres from the early part of the 20th century to present day. It was interesting to see the changes in style and how artists adapted with time and space.

New shows are held every week in different art galleries in Pune. But still the city needs more patrons of art like in the cities of Mumbai and Delhi. Though Pune has a rich art culture, it lags behind in fine arts.

Awareness and knowledge about the art of painting is still not well spread. There should be more studio spaces for art students, where they can practice. These spaces can be rental, offering printing facilities, easels and light arrangements.

Public spaces should showcase art, which is changed regularly, so that new art reaches people. A painting museum for the art lovers and tourists is also needed. Pune also needs to travel a distance to be a city with a rich visual culture.

A step in the development of visual culture is art education. In this field, our city has some of the better art institutions. My personal experiences of educational years are full of enrichment.

Pune being a melting pot of diverse cultures within the state and outside, has enriched my visual vocabulary which is not stuck in one typical style. Senior artists like Milind Mulick are helpful and their guidance has been valuable for me.

The future of painting in Pune seems slightly more promising than it was five years ago. But this has mostly to do with the private galleries promoting art.

The general apathy by civic body and sub-standard public art galleries have ensured that art remains the ignored cousin of the Oxford of the East.

(Mukta Avchat is an artist)

Shift to renewable sources: Sanskriti Menon
Pune needs an overhaul keeping in line with the environment and governance

The development plan we are using for the city is 25-years-old. It does not consider the today’s situations and development trends.

Our country aims to reduce pollution and has some environmental goals. But there are no discussions on the ground level. Traffic has become the  city’s major problem. The PMC has built around 80-km cycle track but it doesn’t have connective network. Puneites are criticised for their high water consumption.

But why does this happen? We lose up to 40% clean water due to faulty water supply. Why can’t it be corrected?

The municipality should make it possible for people, academia, businesses, and informal sector workers’ associations to participate in evolving innovative solutions for some of the critical issues. These include street designs and spaces, transportation, waste and water management, green and open spaces and affordable housing.

There are many different points of view on each of these. We need new ways of planning and implementation that take different views into account. The aim has to be to improve the quality of life, especially of the poor and vulnerable, while improving the environment. We have to move into a society that respects people’s participation, the views and knowledge of all and not just experts, and is able to foster experimentation and innovations in public policy and projects.

Bangalore is now setting-up ward committees. This is in line with the spirit of the 74th Constitutional Amendment. Pune should do the same and make the governance in our city people-oriented and environment-friendly. The distance between the local government, the elected corporator and we the people should be bridged. We should feel we live in a democracy and can contribute to improving our city.

I hope we can see some projects materialising in the coming years. These include affordable houses for all, a beautiful network of cycle tracks, huge improvement in public transport,  Pune Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan,  reduced energy consumption and shift to renewable energy, total composting or biogas of organic wastes, recycling of all recyclables and phase-out of toxic and non-recyclable materials and reducing our city’s dependence on water sources.

Sanskriti Menon is a programme director, Centre for Environmental Education

Need More hands for environment conservation: Anuj Khare
This aggressive environmentalist tells us why we need to act before it gets too late

Environment education has spread quite extensively in Pune. Ten years ago, there were just a few institutions in this field. One of them was Kiran Purandare’s Nisargvedh Charitable Trust. It used to organise workshops to spread environment awareness through games and case-studies using simple language.

A reference book was provided to each participant so that it could help track the person who moved away. It could also keep the record of bird observation activity. Naturally, people were benefitted by the content of these courses.

“Now, many institutions have come up  to impart environment education. However, most of them arrange picnics under the umbrella of nature observation. As a result, nothing substantial is happening. Only a few institutions conduct their camps. Although this is happening at a professional level, many other activities have begun to give information and increase environmental awareness.

For example, a platform called Katta, lets common people participate and interact with experts. Katta was started by Kiran Purandare. This activity has spread to many towns near Pune. Nature experts share their information with the locals, which is showing good results now.

“A few years ago, people didn’t know about the Department of Forest. But now people get the opportunity to meet and communicate with forest officers once a month. This is the effect of increased awareness created by various activities.

Today, Pune can boast of having environment film festivals and wildlife festivals. Recently, Bird Fest was held here, where many experts and bird watchers from Maharashtra participated. A photographer from Bengaluru had specially come for it. People could interact with him. He also observed that people in Pune have a good environment network.

It is a good sign that the interest in and education about environment is spreading through such activities. But now we have to step forward and go beyond education to reach the level of action. We have various groups, resources and multiple activities here. We have photographers, retired people interested in the subject and about 60-70 NGOs devoted to this field. If we could bring all of them together, we can protect environment.

The consolidated group can act as a pressure group. Though we have environment network, it does not bring people together. Environment conservation is a knowledge-based; only exchange of knowledge can lead to documentation so that people can agitate properly. No single agency can do this work. As all groups try to maintain their own identity, they oppose unity of action.

There is a solution: all individuals and institutions can come together under the banner of the wildlife section of the Department of Forest. I appeal to all to come together and act for our environment.

(An environmentalist, Anuj Khare is founder of Nature Walk)