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Thanks A2A for the question,Waste Management in Kerala is a serious problem and I must admit, we are still clueless and not accustomed to resolve due to a combination of many factors.Kerala is indeed known for its natural beauty and the blot on it is unscientific dumping of waste on roadside and lakes by commoners. Keralites take extra care when comes to personal hygiene. Malayalee culture insists taking bathing twice a day, daily house cleaning, concepts of regular fumigation of house, deep cleaning of the facility, drinking only boiled water (and even hot water with traditional ayurvedic herbs to ensure the water is 100% safe) as well as eating fully cooked food etc.But this doesn’t apply when Malayalees throw their home waste carelessly to public roads or next plot (unused) etc. The logic (I would say Stupidity) is that cleaning means keeping one’s house and its premises in extra ordinary way and not caring whats happening in streets.But this is not a simple issue that can be answered in straight forward way. Rather its multi-layeredBeing RurbanKerala is the best example of the concept of being RURBAN.Rurban is a specially coined word which means Neither Urban nor Rural or an amalgamation of Rural-Urban continuum. Its an weird urbanization concept, where a series of rural areas cluster together under one urban identity and it has a continuum of such identities.Anyway who travelled in Kerala, particularly its west coast would note, one village or town or urban area ends with another village or urban area. There is no clear demarcation where a settlement ends and where a new one starts. As a result, a cluster of multiple villages and towns come together under one Urban identity and at the borders of that urban limit, another urban cluster starts, forming a chain.In simple words as explained by veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta of The Print- In Kerala you have a strange sitution where you will find Urban in a rural area and Rural in an urban area and all forms one identityLook at the below map to see the way Urbanization spreads. Hard to distinguish one urban entity separated from another, thus it forms a series of semi-urban chain which we call Ribbon DevelopmentThe above highlights only officially classified Urban areas spread which itself forms a chain like thingWhat about this below one which includes Towns and Out-grown towns as clusters (includes urban areas that officially classified as Villages)Barring the yellow and Light pink areas (which are mostly Mountains, Dense forests and water bodies, every inch of plain or midland or even semi-highland has been inhabited to form a settlement and linked to another.This has a clear problem too. The urban areas is almost state wide. In reality the west coast of Kerala is emerging as ONE SINGLE CITY, rather multiple cities.So where you place a waste management? Go 50 Kms north, South, East and west of a major city like Kochi, you see only cities… Cities like Muvattupuzha or Chalakuddy or Cherthala or Kodungallor are never inferior to Kochi in any ways (Standard of living or culture or prosperity etc). So where you will built a centralized waste plant for Kochi?This dilemma exist for all Urban corporations and municipalities of Kerala. A small state like Kerala has more than 47.7% municipalities standing close by and nearly 30+ Panchayats being outgrown and waiting to be upgraded to Municipalities.2. My waste, your wasteThe bigger issue of continuous urban belt is that, waste of one municipality or corporation cannot be taken to outskirts of the city to build a waste plant because that outskirts actually is another municipality or outgrown village panchayat. With a continuous Urban belt, where is the real outskirts of a city? Waste plants are normally built in outskirts of a city where population will be minimal and land available either for a landfill or any sort of waste plant like incinerators or Waste to Energy plant. No one wants such in their backyard. Why should waste of Kochi Corporation be bore by people of another municipality like Thrikkakara or Paravur or Chalakkudy? And where they will built theirs?This is a huge concern. Kochi’s waste issue was somewhat solved (40%) with Greater Kochi region able to procure Brahmapuram land (though its still a major problem with pollution and unscientific treatment etc). But the worst comes cities like Trivandrum or Thrissur etc. Trivandrum’s waste plant was supposed to be in Vilappilsala which originally was a small village, but in last one decade, it grown into out-grown town though officially its village. It has a population of nearly 40K people living. Naturally they fought so hard to close Vilappilsala plant. The anti-waste plant in Vilappilsala was an iconic protest. Why should they suffer for waste of someone else?Villappilshala protests against operationalizing Trivandrum’s central waste management plant was one of the largest protests Kerala ever seen and finally the govt has to yield to local’s wishes.How people power forced a waste-management revolution in KeralaAdministration buckles under protest against Vilappilsala waste plantVilappil residents force police to retreat3. Scattered waste conceptIf you look, Kerala is not in one among top 10 states that generates daily waste. Kerala Municipal corporation cities total wastes produced per day is less than 1430 tonnes (as of 2011 figures) whereas states like Odisha or West Bengal produces moreReport of waste produced by Municipal corporations of each state.But compared to Odisha or WB, Kerala can’t even process 55% of its total waste. The primary reason is because as cities and towns are spread across the state, per city/per town waste is so small/minicisule that hardly attracts any private player or any PPP venture to establish a waste plant. For example, Kochi City produces only 185–200 tonnes of waste on daily basis whereas to establish a Waste to Energy Plant, they wanted 400 Tonnes (Atleast 300 tonnes) on daily basis. In this way, many independent projects by Local bodies often fail to take off due to lack of critical mass for starting a project due to the scattered effect of waste.In many states, wastes are only concentrated in key cities. Take WB, almost 45% its total waste is from one single city- Kolkatta alone. Therefore it makes more sense for any proper centralized facility.3. Prosperous lifestyleThe bigger issue is Kerala as whole is a very prosperous state and one of the most powerful consumer state in whole. Kerala often find itself in top position when comes to Per Capita Consumption index as well as Purchasing Power Parity index. This means Malayalees spends a lot of money for consumer items and durables apart from food. This consumption is never one or two city centric activity, rather a pan Kerala activity. In many states, prosperity as a term is associated with one or two cities. Prosperous villages are very rare and villages are mostly associated with poverty and low consumption. Thats very low in Kerala (Kerala ranks in the lowest Multi Dimensional Poverty index, which means it has very low or miniscule people living under poverty)Multi-dimensation Poverty Index that ranks Kerala in the lowestWhen you have more consumption, you have more waste. When you buy a Colgate Paste or Surf Excel washing powder or even a packet of Milk, you have plastic generated. This happens in every nook and corner of Kerala, not just in cities. Just for example, 80% of milk consumers in Kerala use only packed milk, whereas in many states of India, say Gujarat (the biggest Milk producing state) more than 63% of its public buy loose milk from milkman/vendors. So naturally you don’t have that much plastic generated.Where these plastic be treated? If its in one city, we can devise a city centric solution. In Kerala, it has to be state wide. Lifestyle of Malayalee don’t differ much whether it is a major city like Kochi or a small village like Kondotty due to uniform consumption culture.Total waste produced across Kerala…. Its clear, more waste happens in panchayats or villages in KeralaSo every panchayat, every municipality and every corporation has to work in different ways, rather one city working in one standard waste management solution.4. Sudden UrbanizationKerala’s urbanization has an unique context. It wasn’t a case of progressive growth of Urbanization. Rather it was all of sudden.If someone who travelled in Kerala in 80s or even early 90s, Kerala wasn’t an urbanized state all. You have many small villages, few cities etc. Majority of people lived in rural areas The Urbanization rate of Kerala as per 1991 census was less than 16%..I still remember, how Edapally in Kochi was a small village even in 1998 when my school bus used to pass thro’ that area. Today it is the most happening place in Kochi with all kinds of urban eco-system.A comparative video how a small village/town of Parumala near Thiruvalla was 30 years. Thiruvalla is still a tier 3 town, yet one can see how such a small town radically changed in less than 30 years gap.In matter of 30 years, particularly last 2 decades, the speed at which urbanization happened was beyond any normal speed. In 2001 Census, Kerala Urbanization rate was at 25.9% while in 2011 census, it increased to 47.7% even growing faster than Maharashtra. As per 2011 census, Kerala ranks second most urbanized state after TN.Screenshot of Govt of India- MOHUA’s website where they say how Kerala experienced an unusual urbanization leap in matter of a decade.TN, Maharashtra were in urbanizing curve for a pretty long time, thanks to its manufacturing base and many cities emerging as part of this. But Kerala joined this race all of the sudden from no where and without any big manufacturing industries.The sudden urbanization put the scale beyond any planning or organizing urban space. Many villages overnight became cities, more people started living there and its administrators who were traditionally with a Panchayat mindset suddenly found themselves managing a Municipality with no expertise or idea about it.Just for example, take Thrikkakara. It was always a small remote village with one small temple there. In gap of 20 years, that Trikkakara became a major city and eventually absorbed into Kochi’s identity as Kochi’s new quarter. Just because one Infopark came in 2005 period, in matter of a decade, it became a major town and municipality, leaving no gap for its administrators to plan for anything. As a result, Thrikkakara donot have an efficient waste management system, despite of Kochi’s waste management plant- Brahmapuram is officially located there (Thrikkkara recently joined itself with Greater Kochi and hence now using Brahmapuram plant)This sudden and fast urbanization played a key role in not allowing many towns and cities to have any form of waste management mechanism.5. Individualistic cultureI often feel, this is one key issue that waste management issue in Kerala is always aggravated. Malayalees society is more or less individualistic in nature. The concept of community living is never a big thing in Kerala.In TN, there were various forms of community living for centuries. The Brahmins lived in Agraharams where one wall of their house shares neighbor’s wall with common verandah etc. So as if in any traditional villages, houses were so close by. This is same in most parts of India. When you live so close by, when you have your house’s door opening close to your neighbour’s, automatically you have a community sense. Its unlikely to dump your home’s waste in front of your neighbour’s in such context, how much lack of space you have. I have learnt that during my Gujarat days where my open small Apartment’s door opens next to my neighbour’s and we had to live adjusting each other.In Kerala’s traditional concepts, we are accustomed living independently in a house. The basic Malayalee housing concept is having a House in middle of a large plot, completely detached from neighboring houses. In olden rural areas, the distance could even be 10–20 cents of land away or in some cases even in acres away…Naturally culturally we aren’t trained to be sensitized for neighbourhood or community lifestyle. We keep our houses and premises clean, least bothered how our neighbour’s would be. This attitude has resulted Malayalees spending hours to clean up one’s house as well as maintain highest degree of personal hygiene, but throw the waste of home outside one’s gate (thinking its out of one’s business) or even dumping secretly into neighbour’s plot or any open plots.Due to this attitude, we least care about cleanliness of road or public spaces, but too concern about cleanliness at home.In olden days, it was okay to throw waste outside one’s gate in public spaces. Most of the wastes were biodegradable (like Banana leaves with leftover food etc or some old cloths or even paper etc), that fastly decompose in Kerala’s tropical climate. But as time passed, with lot of non biodegradable objects like Plastic or similar as well as those biodegredable waste packed inside non-biodegradable like plastic etc, would simply affect the society and environment. To hide, many simply throw in water bodies etc, which again causes more damage.I feel, this attitude is primarily because of Individualistic culture of thinking only self and one’s own premises rather than society beyond the gates of one’s homes.6. Poor fundingCentralized waste management is a costly affair and any Local body (Panchayats or Municipalities or Corporation) needs huge money to maintain such. They have very little. The small size of Panchayats or Municipalities often leads to less revenue scope and within these limited revenues, its too hard for Local bodies to spend huge sum for Land acquisition and establishing plants as well as procurement mechanisms. There are many problems too. Some corporations or municipalities haven’t been redefined as to today’s context. For example, the state’s biggest Metro- Kochi, still has a corporation as defined in 1967, which means 2/3rd of real Kochi is outside Cochin Corporation. Now how Cochin Corporation procure land outside its corporation limits in some other Municipality and dump wastes there.With very limited revenue, they all have to depend State govt. In short, State will be forced to find waste management solutions, not just for some 5 or 10 cities, rather more than 1200 Local bodies spread across the state. Such wide scale Waste management mechanism is unheard anywhere in India and never beyond any state’s ability or competence.And ofcourse- not ignoring the basic level of corruption and Sarkari inefficiency that always exists in any these casesHow can we improveKerala is an unique case. We cannot work using Indore’s strategy or Mysore’s strategy. Our case is very different from those places. Kerala as such is emerging as ONE CITY spread over nearly 650 Km of Length and nearly 50 Kms in breath… Thats alone 32,500 Sqkm, nearly size of Netherlands. Can we have one waste management solution for that huge size?No!!!!Kerala’s solution to waste management lies in purely decentralized waste management techniques, specific to each area and its locality. It never works with one Corporation or Municipality employing several workers and cleaning roads or dumping all in one central plant for processing.Rather we need to work asChange in attitudeThe first step required is change in attitudes, especially unlearning two key beliefs- a) Waste management is one’s own responsibility b) Govt is no longer the key entity to process your wasteIts a huge change of traditional belief, but for a state like Kerala, we cannot dependent on Govt to process entire wasteMore public collectives have to form to process waste at their homes itself. The biggest change required is imbibing the concept of Segregation of waste at source. In general, we Indians never imbibed such a concept anytime, though its slowly started. If we buy a food packet from restaurant, the food waste must be dumped in one box, the plastic can in another and the tin/metal/paper waste in another. We never accustomed to such, but it must be learned, so that some parts of the waste could be decomposed at home itself like food waste (thro’ scientific methods like compost pit or bio gas plant etc), some like metal/paper wastes be recycled and only plastic waste being taken by some agency.The concept of segregation of waste at source needs lot of time to imbibe. Its not as easy as building one central waste plant and clearners/sweepers coming to take waste in their machines and go. It needs a whole lifestyle and cultural notions change. So its indeed time consuming2. DecentralizationFor a state like Kerala, centralized waste plants is near impossible. We too love Indore or Mysore styled large plants, but we need to realize, our terrain and ecosystem is radically different. One concept for all will never work for a country like ours.We need to get into our reality and work accordingly. Decentralized waste management is the only way forward. This needs to work even at ward level or neighbourhood level waste plants. Probably at home plants may not work for all, as many might be living in small plots and have no space to install a bio gas unit etc. In such cases, community plants must come up and community must work togetherSo as community level of collection of waste and safe disposal of it must be worked out.One best example of this model (which won UN’s appreciation and selected as one of the most sustainable examples to be adopted around the world) was Alappuzha model. Its the most heavily decentralized, people run waste management systemAlleppey being a city surrounded by water with more than 104 canal systems and backwaters all around (its often called Venice of East), the waste dumping in canals in past resulted the city being in news for any water borne dieases on a regular basis. The centralized plant no more could take more load, so in matter of 5 years, the decentralized model came in and it became a huge inspiring success.This is the model applicable for entire Kerala, not any larger plant.3. Reduction in wasteFor a highly consumer society like Kerala, that too pan spread across the state with no difference between Urban and Rural areas when comes to consumption, its bound to generate more waste in all areas. The solution is reduction of wastable products.The biggest concern is Non-Biodegradable waste like Plastic etc. In Kerala, with advent of widespread supermarket culture, we normally buy everything in packed form, which means you end lot of plastic bottles, packets, covers etc. This can be reduced thro’ popularizing concept of Loose products that sold in paper bags or bottles or utensils brought from home.There has been an attempt recently in a small town of Kolenchery in Ernakulam district where a No-Plastic store called Green store has been opened where everything including branded products are sold in loose where customers buy either bringing own bottles, utensils from home OR paying those extra at the storeLikewise there can be multiple initatives to reduce waste. Kerala lags in recycling waste which is simply because of lack of awareness.One attempt which is somewhat successful is use of Plastic waste for road construction. Many Panchayats and Municipalities started this method to increase durability of roadsKerala Uses 9,700 Tonnes of Plastic Waste to Pave 246 Km of Roads, Help Local Women.So as re-use of old materials in construction etc. For example, Kochi Metro announced its intention to adopt Circular economy where they will procure used or old materials used in houses to be demolished etc which will be part of a larger scale metro works to avoid wastageKochi Metro to adopt circular economy for sustainable developmentThese kind of sustainable practices must happen at larger scale.4. Education, training and campaignIn a centralized system, there is no much scope to train public. Public puts their waste in their waste bins or community waste bins where cleaners or cleaning company will come, pick the waste and go.But in a decentralized system, the focus must be on public understanding on seriouness of waste management problem. This is one reason any waste redressal problem takes time in Kerala, as lot of campaign time is require to teach about segregation of waste at source as well as use of effective methods at home like bio plants or Compost pit etc.I wish to see waste management being brought as an educational subject in schools so that upcoming generation be trained in that. Further more NGOs is required to funded and sensitized for campaign and re-education purposes.5. FundingOne of the biggest problem is that, waste management is responsibility of Local bodies and they are the lowest tier in governance. When funds trickle down from center, these local bodies get the lowest and with that pittance, they are asked to manage these things. State govt has to increase more funding for waste management programs of Local bodies.But there is also another concern. Central Funds to most of the waste management schemes or similar schemes are associated with its parameters which are unfit for Kerala context. There are lot of central funds available to construct large centralized waste plants in the cities, but in Kerala context, we are unable to procure it because larger plants cannot happen due to public opposition. And practically there is no much funds of decentralized projects. There is no central subsidy or funds available to develop compost pits or pipe composts etc. There is central subsidy available for larger Bio gas plants, but these funds are specifically tied with farms and people who own cattle etc as in Central concept, its associated with farmers, not urban dwellers. In urban settings, the subsidy is too low or negligible for middle class segments. As a result, not much benefits comes to public.The govt of India should realize One-size-shoe will not fit all. It needs to have flexibility in its schemes rather than asking states like Kerala to implement Mysore or Indore model.Saying so, we are on course of improving on this and hopefully we can strive for much cleaner and neater Kerala with scientific Waste Management techniquesWorld Bank to provide Rs 1,470 aid for Kerala's Waste Management Projecthttps://ppri.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PPRI-Working-Paper-Decentralized-Waste-Management-in-Kerala.pdfMaking Money From Plastic Waste? Kerala Village Sets Bar, Shows How It Can Be Done!Waste Management in Kerala: Government charting new courseTen zero-waste cities: How Thiruvananthapuram cleaned up its actHow Kerala's 'Zero-Waste' Alappuzha Won a Spot Among Top 5 Cities in UN ListWhy states are lining up to study Alappuzha’s model waste management systemTime for new lessons in waste managementHe spent three months with ragpickers. Now he owns a Rs 3.8 crore waste management firm

This is a fascinating topic, and one that I have never heard discussed. I tip my iron helm to the one who had the wit to ask this question and apply the cardinal directions to Tolkien’s Middle-earth!In order to make a dent in the subject, we must first resurrect an ancient letter from the Anglo-Saxon: the letter thorn, which represents the sound “TH”.Notice, Dear Reader, the letters that look like a “d” with a cross through them. They appear as diagonal slashes rising to the left - or west? Those are thorns. Alas for this letter, extinct but for modern Icelandic, you CAN have a rose without thorns. Faithless English, to have left such a jewel by the wayside.Which TH, you ask -the unvoiced “TH” that begins such words as “thistle,” “thimble,” “thain,”, “thrall,” “thief,” “thatch,” “thick,” and “thin;” orthe voiced “TH” that begins such words as “the,” “then,” “this,” “that,” “there,” “they,” and “them”?Well, both. Thorn was used for both, but the vast majority of words, and all the nouns I can think of, use the unvoiced form.Be that as it may. Let us give voice once again to thorn!In Tolkien’s little study, four dwarves may be said to have held sway; any why not, since they held up the sky in Norse mythology?These four dwarves together upheld the skull of Ymir, the first created being in Norse creation and ancestor of the Frost Giants; and each of these powerful dwarves ruled one of the cardinal directions.The Vegvasir, a symbol that represents the Viking compass. Much used in the modern Norse religion, the Vegvasir is made of eight rune staves and has many variants. It is an open question whether real Viking compasses were quite so ornate. In a fight, by the way, my money’s on South - you could knock someone into the next realm with that sucker.And their names were:NorðriSuðriAustriVestriThe canny reader - which includes you, naturally, Dear Reader - will have noticed at once that the names appear strangely familiar.In fact, Norðri’s name looks a great deal like “North,” keeping in mind that the fourth letter in the word is thorn, and could be rendered as “th” in modern English script - hence, “Northri.”Suðri, by the same token, looks a lot like “South,” Austri like “East,” and Vestri like “West.”The Veldismagn, a bind rune that provides protection and power to the wearer. The magical use of this symbol, and many other variations on the Viking compass, shows the power attributed to the cardinal points in the Norse legendarium; the four points were, after all, the pillars of the world.And we realise of a sudden that dwarves supported the sky in the legendarium that Tolkien most loved, the Norse. Small wonder (no pun intended) that the dwarves were one of the leading races in the Professor’s writings.When we discuss the cardinal directions, it is usual to associate each of them with the wind originating from that direction. This practice is no accident, because in the Norse religion, the the Four Winds were also a thing to be revered.Were the Vikings concerned about the wind direction? You bet.The Four Winds were probably not controlled by the same dwarves who upheld the skull of Ymir, however. In the Poetic Edda, the poem Grimnismal presents four stags (male red deer) who feed among the foliage of Yggdrasil, the legendary World Tree of Norse cosmology.The names of these stags, who regulate the winds, are quite interesting. They areDáin and Dvalin,Duneyr and Dýrathrór.Again, we recognise these names, at least a couple of them.Tolkien borrowed the first two names for several kinsmen of Thorin Oakenshield:Dáin II Ironfoot, andDwalin, brother to Balin, second in command of the Company that quested to Erebor in “The Hobbit.”Tolkien even retained the Norse accent mark on the name Dáin, which I personally find adorable.From the second pair of stags, Duneyr and Dýrathrór, he appears to have harvested only the name Thrór, son of Thráin II. These dwarves were the father and grandfather, respectively, or Thorin.Most of Tolkien’s dwarf names were, in fact, taken from the Elder Edda and Poetic Edda, this despite the fact that he developed Khuzdul, the rarely-heard Dwarf language, from the Semitic language branch.Here ends, however, the obvious correspondences between the cardinal directions from Tolkien’s source material and his own writings. We know nothing of the Dwarf religion, or the place of the cardinal points in their cosmology.Similarly, the Norse meanings for the names he borrowed have no application in his writings.In his influential 1824 work, Finnur Magnússon suggested that the stags represented winds. Based on an interpretation of their names, he took Dáinn ("The Dead One") and Dvalinn ("The Unconscious One") to be calm winds, and Duneyrr ("Thundering in the Ear") and Duraþrór ("Thriving Slumber", perhaps referencing snoring) to be heavy winds.Those meanings are - dare I say it - gone with the wind?We may, however, advance a little farther by considering the traditional European medieval associations with the Four Elements, those in turn also being associated with the compass points (Air with East, Fire with South, Water with West, and Earth with North, in perhaps the most common scheme.)As a scholar, Tolkien would have had at least a passing familiarity with the Four Elements, and may have drawn some inspiration from them for locating certain lands, peoples, and events.The East is the direction of the sunrise and the morning of the day; the springtime of the year; childhood in the life of a man.The South is bright midday; summertime; and the youth of a man.The West is the direction of sunset, and the evening of the day; the autumn of the year; and the maturity of a man.The North is night; winter; and old age.EastIn Tolkien, we find the creation of the Children of Iluvatar associated with the East, most particularly in the Firstborn, the Elves, who awakened far to the East on the shores of a lake called Cuiviénen.East is also the direction, relative to the Shire, from whence came the Hobbits.The Element of Air, however, seems to have gone begging. Air is the Element of imagination, music, creativity; but in Tolkien, it is a barbaric region entirely bereft of culture - habitat only of scattered Easterlings.And nothing arrives on the wind from the East. When we see the Great Eagles of the North, they are coming from - well, probably the North, dears.SouthThe hot south, land of summer, is a hot land of desert, Harad, Far Harad, Khand, in Arda. We are given to understand that it corresponds at least symbolically to the Sahara and Africa in our world. Not a region with a great deal of burgeoning prosperity, population, and manhood, as far as I can tell.If we regard Gondor as being in the south of Middle-earth, the traditional symbolism becomes somewhat more apt because Gondor is home to most of the descendants of the Dunedain, the most noble breed of Man and the flower of the Secondborn. However, the energy one expects of the Element of Fire is not there.For the Element of Fire, South would mean vitality, fast or immediate manifestation, and masculine energy. None of these seem to apply to Gondor in the Third Age, which appears tired and beleaguered even when nobody is attacking - a Constantinople leaning against its own walls, waiting with dread for a Saladin to appear.However, if we place Mordor in the South, then the Elemental associations suddenly fit. Maybe Fire is why Mordor is where it is, and not in the North (see below).WestBy far the most important and evocative direction in the Tolkienverse is the West. This area corresponds in Middle-earth to Western Europe, including all the parts that were most deer to Tolkien’s hart (see what I did there?) The Shire is indeed the heart of his West, but it is also home to the “Men of the West,” the Riders of Rohan and the forces of Gondor.The associations with Men, however, are dissonant considering that his writings are supposed to be setting up a springboard for the beginning of the Age of Men. Should this beginning not be associated with the East, direction of sunrise; or with the South, direction of man’s childhood?The West is, however, perfectly suited to Tolkien’s first love, his Elves. In the evening of their days, looking across a vast expanse of the Element of Water with a contemplative maturity perfectly suited to the symbolism, the Elves are true creatures of the West. Their home lies there - Valinor, the Undying Lands, seat of a twilight race in late middle age and ready for the rocking chair.NorthAs a place of cold and ice, and a place of tombs and accursed Orc fortresses, the North is well positioned in symbolic terms for old age and death. If ever the age of men came crashing down, it was when the Witch-King of Angmar and his evil forces destroyed the lost realm of Arnor.And certainly Tolkien’s North represents winter, although the idea of darkness falling across the world is more an idea suited to Mordor, and Mordor is in the South, with allies in the East.As for the Element of Earth, we have an epic fail. Earth is the nurturing and protective Element, and Tolkien’s North is about as far from those qualities as it could be.The symbolism for the North, then, is less clear. It’s almost as though the Palantir through which we are trying to gaze was lost in some frigid body of water like, oh, I don’t know, maybe the Ice Bay of Forochel.As an organising principle, the compass bearings are important to the spirituality of nearly every ancient people on Earth. As we see, there are some significant associations with these cardinal directions in the Tolkienverse, particularly from the sources that would be most important to Tolkien.Tolkien followed the compass points to the beliefs of the Northern European peoples whose legends he admired; and he surely drew inspiration from the Four Elements of the Western Europeans whose legendarium he aimed to write.“Set the compass, Stigr, we’re heading to Northumbria if the gods see fit to blow us in the right direction - bless their beards if they do and damn their eyes if they don’t!”While the correspondences are not metronomically precise, they are at least as telling as a cork with a magnetic needle pushed through it, floating in a clay vessel filled with sea water.Which, in the context of Tolkien’s source material, makes them just about perfect.

Caution:This answer is longYes because:I.PASSENGER AMENITIES AND DIGITAL INDIA INITIAVES· Indian Railways launched three social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube with the handle @railminindia. Ministry of Railways employed first of its kind, a real time 24x7 public grievance system through Twitter and provided medical, security and other emergency assistance to travelling passengers· All India Security Helpline 182 set up to report any untoward incident and seek emergency help during travel· The All India Passenger Helpline ‘138’ provided for all other query/complaints during travel· A mobile based application viz. Complaint Management System (COMS) launched· E-catering facility launched at 100 stations. 408 railway stations designated for providing E-catering· A massive scheme for providing Water Vending Machines (WVMs) to provide RO Water at affordableprices is under implementation by Railway PSU IRCTC· Reservation quota of two lower berths per coach in Sleeper class enhanced to four lower berths per coach for Senior Citizens and Women· Tatkal reservation timings have been staggered to serve dual purpose of providing convenience to the passengers and for staggering traffic on the e-ticket portal.All agents are debarred from booking tickets during first thirty minutes of opening of booking· Automatic refund of Confirmed /RAC e-tickets on cancellation of trains similar to waitlisted e-tickets is granted without filing of TDR· Time limit for booking reserved tickets was increased to 120 days w.e.f. 01.04.2015· Destination alert and wake up alarm services launched on 139· Automatic Destination Alerts to passengers through SMS for Rajdhani and Duronto trains.· E-ticketing facility launched for disabled persons and for accredited journalist on concession pass.· Mobile charging facilities in all new general class coaches initiated.· Out of 1252 Stations identified for upgradation to Adarsh Stations’, 986 stations have so far been developed. 160 developed in last two years· Scheme namely ‘SMS Gateway’ launched enabling passengers to get SMS alerts on the status of reserved tickets· New Generation system put in place which can book 7200 online tickets instead of 2000 tickets per minute and can attend 2,00,000 enquiries instead of 50000 per minute· Rationalization of Computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS) done to enable passengers to buy tickets even after the preparation of reservation charts· Paperless unreserved ticketing including Paperless Platforms tickets through mobile phone introduced in suburban sections of Western Railway, Central Railway, South Central Railway, Southern Railway, Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway· Pilot Project of hand Held Terminals for TTEs launched· E-booking of disposable linen started on trains at New Delhi Railway Station and Nizamuddin Railway Station, Mumbai Central (BCT), Chattarpati Shivaji Terminus (CSTM), Southern Railway· E-booking of Wheel chair launched· Currency Coin cum Card operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines installed at select stations.· Initiated one of the largest free public wifi fi systems in the world. Launched at 26 stations with a plan to extend it to 100 Stations by December this year and to 400 stations by 2018.· The booking of retiring rooms at different railway stations made online making it convenient and transparent· E-Ticketing portal in Hindi launched· 60 lifts and 150 escalators provided in last 2 years at Railway stations· Model Rake (a passenger carrying train with 24 coaches) developedwith improved interiors, colour scheme, aesthetics and amenity fittings. This is running as a train between New Delhi and Varanasi.· Cancellation of confirmed, RAC and Waitlisted PRS counter tickets made easy using IRCTC website or phone No. 139.· Provision made for acceptance of international debit and credit cards for payment of E-ticket through IRCTC website· Yatri Ticket/Sewa Kendra (YTSK) Scheme launched to allow private agents to operate ticketing terminals for selling reserved as well as unreserved tickets· Indian Railways started six pilgrims’ special tourist trains. More such trains being planned in subsequent phases· Dustbins to be provided in non AC coaches also· NIFT, Delhi has been engaged for designing of bedroll etc.· A new ‘Rail Neer’ plant for package drinking water set up at Ambernath (Mumbai).· In order to increase availability of accommodation for general class passengers on long distance Mail/Express trains, GMs were delegated powers to de-reserve Sleeper Class (SL) coaches as General Coaches (GS) in identified trains & sectors· Suvidha Trains with graded pricing structure introduced with facility for booking on PRS in addition to e-tickets and facility of limited refund on cancellation of ticket· The Defense Travel System to eliminate exchange of defense warrants was rolled out on the NGeT platform. Till date about 2000 Defense units have started issuing tickets through this platform without exchange of warrants· Number of berths available for physically challenged has been increased from 2 to 4· ‘VIKALP’, Alternative Train Accommodation System (ATAS) launchedwith a view to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers and also to ensure optimal utilization of available accommodation. This facility is now available on New Delhi – Jammu, New Delhi – Lucknow, Delhi-Howrah, Delhi- Chennai, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Secunderabad Circuits,· Launched pre-cooked (ready-to-eat) meals of reputed brands on some trains.· Commencement of provision of Braille signage on 3000 coaches has been given in order to facilitate travel to visually impaired passengers.· Provision of foldable ladder in First AC coaches launched· Provision of Bio degradable garbage bags to passengers started on pilot basis· Escorting ladies special trains and ladies compartment by security squad· Security helpline 182 activated and real time complaint resolution through Twitter employed with a high priority to women security issues· Fitment of CCTV surveillance cameras for women security in trains initiated with first such fitment undertaken in Amritsar-New Delhi-Shan-e Punjab Express· Development of security App over some of the Zonal Railways· Middle bay reserved for women· Pilot Project of Sale of Unreserved Tickets through Hand Held Terminals initiated at Hazrat Nizammudin Railway Station of Northern Railway.II. INFRASTRUCTURECREATION AND SUPPORT TO MAKE IN INDIA INITIATIVE· Indian Railways has taken a giant leap forward in ‘Make in India’ drive by signing Agreement for setting up of Diesel Locomotive Factory (DLF) at Marhowra, Saran district, Bihar for procurement and maintenance of mainline most modern high power Diesel Electric Locomotives with M/s GE Diesel Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. A separate agreement signed with M/S ALSTOM for setting up of electric locomotive factory at Madhepura, Bihar for procurement and maintenance of most modern high power electric locomotives, both major PPP and FDI tenders of Indian Railways. This would be one of the highest FDI’s in India amounting to order book of almost Rs 40,000 Crore.· The Ministry has initiated process for procuring high speed train sets which will improve average speed of passenger carrying trains thereby reducing journey time.· MoU between India and Japan signed for Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project using Shinkansen Technology covering a total of 508 kms. A new entity named National High Speed Ra Extension of newly introduced cancellation facility for PRS· il Corporation Limited has been set up in February, 2016 to implement the project· Further high speed studies are being conducted by Ministry of Railways on Diamond Quadrilateral High Speed Rail network. Feasibility studies of Delhi- Mumbai, Mumbai- Chennai and Delhi- Kolkata are underway. The feasibility studies of Delhi-Nagpur and Mumbai –Nagpur corridors are being taken up through G2G cooperation with Chinese and Spanish governments respectively· Ministry of Railways launched Gatimaan Express, country’s first semi high speed train with a maximum speed of 160 kmph between Delhi and Agra heralding a new era of high speed rail travel in India· Redevelopment of 400 Stations to be developed on e-bidding on as is where is basis; 10 stations handed over to IRSDC· Indian Railways commissioned 2828 Km of Broad Gauge lines, highest ever in 2015-16 against an average of 1528 Km from 2009-14.· IR commissioned two mega bridges over river Ganga at Patna and Munger.With these, the Railway networks of North and South Bihar have been integrated.· The executions of the biggest infrastructural projects in the country, Eastern and Western DFCs have been fast-tracked. Revised cost estimates have been approved by the Cabinet and funding has been tied up. Rs.25,320 Cr worth of contracts have been awarded in the last two years, which is more than double of the total contracts of Rs.12,240 Cr awarded since commencement. The first ever section on DFC of 56 km between Durgawati-Sasaram has been commissioned. The project is progressing well for commissioning in phases by 2019· Rail Wheel Plant, Bela commissioned and regular production started· Diesel loco factory at Varanasi is being expanded· DEMU factory at Haldia was commissioned and Mid-life Rehabilitation Workshop for coaches at Jhansi completed.· One of the most challenging railway projects, conversion of 1500 V DC to 25000 V AC traction system has been successfully completed over the entire Mumbai division of Central Railway.· During 2014-16, 3105 route kilometres have been electrified, which is an average of 1552.5 RKM/ annum as against 1236 RKM/annum during previous five years.· Construction of Electric Lolo Assembly & Ancillary Unit of CLW at Dankuni in West Bengal completed· Modern LHB Coach manufacturing facility commissioned at ICF Chennai.· The Chhapra factory has started regular production of cast wheels for rolling stock. The installed capacity of the plant is 1Lac wheels per annum.· Foundation stone laid for setting up Traction Alternator Factory at Vidisha to manufacture 100 traction alternators per annum of high horse power diesel locomotives which are currently being imported· Significant boost in elimination of unmanned level crossing which has resulted in safe operations. In 2015-16, a total of 1253 unmanned level crossings were eliminated and 1024 Road over/ Road under bridges were constructed. This marks an improvement of 35% against the average number from 2009-2014III.REFORMS· A Memorandum of Understanding with LIC of India for obtaining funds to the tune of Rs.1.5 lakh Cr signed.· MOF approved issue of tax free bonds by IRFC amounting to Rs.6,000 Cr· Discussions initiated with World Bank for setting up a Railway Infrastructure Development Fund of around USD 30 Bn· Powers delegated and decentralized for improving efficiency and transparency. Measures for E-tendering, E-auctioning, E-ticketing, E-Governance, E-Freight Demand, E-Catering, E-Wheel Chair, E-Concierge etc. takenfor efficiency and transparency· Ministry of Railways (MoR) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for formation of Joint Venture Companies with six State Governments viz. Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. JVs would undertake project development works for an identified basket of projects, which will inter-alia include surveys, preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) and getting requisite approvals, processing for sanctioning of identified projects and monitoring· Ministry of Railways conducted world’s largest online exam for recruitment for almost 90 lakh aspirants. With a view to increase transparency, a new system of handing over the Question Booklets to the candidates has been introduced.A pilot project of uploading of Answer Keys and Cut-off marks has also been initiated.· Deloitte, a consulting firm has been engaged for studying the manpower rationalization of the Group A services. Report submitted and is under examination· Four Centres of Railways Research set up in premier educational institutions· Development of an online system initiated for grievance redressal of both serving as well as retired railwaymen· Railways signed MoU to set up its own Railway Design Centre in collaboration with National Institute of Design (NID)· The process for putting in place a regulator “Rail Development Authority” has been initiated. A concept note was uploaded to receive feedback from all stakeholders. Process for drafting of a bill/executive order underway.· 100 % FDI allowed in identified areas of railway sector and sectoral guidelines on FDI formulated· Ministry of Railways implemented 100% E-procurement solution for all kinds of contracts – goods, works and services. It isIndia’s largest e-procurement system· A web-enabled IT-Application “Project Monitoring and Information System (PMIS)” launched which will be implemented in Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramullah Rail Link (USBRL) project, followed by other mega and complex projects of Indian Railways. This will increase transparency in project monitoring· “Technology Mission on Indian Railways (TMIR)” for Development/Research/Innovations in Railway Technologies in association with Department of Science & Technology, MoHRD and representatives of Industry has been set up· Creation of Mobility Directorate in Railway Board’s Office· Creation of Non-Fare Revenue Directorate in Railway Board’s Office· Release of Handout on ‘Railway initiatives for Ease of Doing Business’ and Nomination of ‘Key Customer Managers’IV. GREEN INITIATIVES· Commissioned 26 MW wind mill power plant at Jaisalmer· 10MW Solar Plants installed in two years. Massive solarisation (1000 MW Solar Power Plants) planned in next Five years with an eye on making Railways, the largest solar power producer in the country· Railways provided27,000 bio-toilets in trains in the last two years.A target of 30000 bio-toilets setfor the next financial year· First ‘Green’ DEMU train introduced on Northern Railway to run between Rewari-Rohtak section· A hybrid toilet system, combining best features of a vacuum toilet system and indigenous bio-toilet system has been installed for trial in a First Class air conditioned coach of Dibrugarh Rajdhani which is running wellsince September 2015. The system does not require any waste handling facilities for evacuation and processing of waste. This system uses significantly less quantity of water is used for flushing· A new separate Environment Management Directorate formed to address all environment related issues in a focused and integrated manner· M/s. RITES has been engaged for setting up of two pilot plants at NDLS and JP for disposal for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in an environment friendly manner including conversion of Waste to Energy (bio-methanation)· A major push was given to get additional sanction of more than 30 Water Recycling Plants during 2015-16. As against this, less than 30 WRPs have been functioning all these years· Setting up of Automatic Coach Washing Plants in major coach maintenance depots· After field trails, IR has now developed the environmental friendly composite sleepers made up of recycled plastic waste, which will be used over all girder bridges in future for improved maintainability and facilitating higher speeds and higher axle loads.· Indian Railways has started a massive exercise of planting trees alongside Railway Track with the signing agreement with Haryana & Punjab Government in the first phase.V.CLEANLINESS· Indian Railways joined the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan in a big way. It formulated an integrated policy on cleanliness· 27 Charitable Institutions/Social Organizations invited to take part in ‘Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ through Shramdaan campaign· Criterion for qualification of OBHS trains revised to include all importantmail &express trains. 7 more Clean Train Stations added and 240 new trains added on OBHS in last two years· “Clean My Coach” Servicelaunched for any cleaning requirement in the coach. A passenger can send an SMS on a mobile number 58888 or book through app and his request is attended to· 16 more mechanised laundries set up in the last two years. Now around 45 percent linen is cleanedthrough mechanised laundries· Intensive mechanised cleaning of coaching in coaching depots through professional agencies – 132 Coaching Depots in different Railways already have the system· Cleaning of 50 major stations has been outsourced to professional agencies· Cleanliness audit through 3rd party started for Railway stations institutionalised. Ranking of stations based on cleanliness would be generated periodicallyVI. CONNECTIVITY IN NORTH EAST AND J&K· Indian Railways completed Udhampur-Katra Broad gauge line in the State of Jammu and Kashmir bringing Katra on Broad Gauge Railway map· Lumding-Silchar Broad gauge section inaugurated giving seamless BG connectivity to Barak Valley of Assam· Meghalaya came on the rail map with the flagging off the first ever train from Guwahati to Medipathar in Meghalaya· The Prime Minister laid the foundation for a new line to take rail connectivity to Mizoram’s capital Aizwal· The Tripura’s Capital Agartala came on the broad gauge rail map· Meter gauge will be fully eliminated in North-East in near future· IR commissioned 545 KM of Broad Gauge lines in North East in 2015-16 in comparison to 110 KM per year from 2009-2014VII.PPP IN RAIL LINE PROJECTS· In 2015-16, Indian Railways generated an investment of Rs.15,000Cr through PPP. This is the highest achieved till now.· Partnership with State Governments, Industry is being encouraged to undertake coal and mining connectivity projects.· To encourage port connectivity projects, thrust has been given to implementation of projects under the participative model policy of 2012. Rail connectivity to Tuna Port at a cost of 142 Cr has been implemented in 2015. Also approvals under Joint Venture model have been granted to build rail connectivity to the ports of Jaigarh (Rs 771 Cr.), Rewas (Rs.349 Cr), and Dighi (Rs.724 Cr.)· Ministry of Railways for the first time has decided to launch three annuity projects Badrak- Nargundi 3rd line (900Cr.), Nagpur – Wardha 3rd line 550Cr. and Kazipet- Vijayawada 3rd line 1566 Cr in the current calendar year.VIII. FREIGHT· Massive rationalization of freight policies initiated· Merry-Go-Round system introduced to capture short lead traffic near steel plants and thermal power house· Post congestion charges withdrawn which will help in increasing traffic from the Ports to hinterland· Two-Point/Multi Point/Mini Rake facility extended to maximize traffic.· Roll on – Roll off scheme launched on Digha Rail Bridge over River Ganges near Patna. Under this scheme loaded trucks would be moved on the flat wagons to avoid congested roads across Ganges· Busy season charge withdrawn.· Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme for traffic loaded in Traditional Empty Flow Direction introduced· Computerized system to register demands for wagons introduced. Electronic forwarding note and Electronic Railway Receipts introduced to enhance efficiency and transparency in freight operations· Liberalised Wagon Investment Scheme, Wagon Leasing Scheme, Special Freight Train Operator Scheme, Private Freight Terminals, Automobile Freight Train Operator Scheme, accelerated to improve freight· Auto hub at Walajabad in Chennai Division developed for automobiles moment· Flagging off of Roll-On-Roll-Off(Ro-Ro) train Ex.-Bihta to Turki in Bihar.IX. SAFETY IN RAIL OPERATIONS· Working towards ‘Zero Accident’ Mission.· TPWS is a safety Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system conforming to European Train Control System (ETCS) Level-1. TPWS trials at 160 Kmph were successfully conducted.· 282 Level Crossing Gates have been interlocked with Signals to enhance safety.· A cost effective indigenous safety system – Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) is being developed indigenously by RDSO and the trails are on.· Pilot Project initiated for Improving Safety at Unmanned Level Crossing which include automatic warning to road users through flasher light and Sensing of Obstruction on level crossing and visual warning to train driversX. MISCELLANEOUS· In the last two years, 14 MoUs/MoCs/other agreements for cooperation in rail sector have signed with Railways/Governments of Czech Republic, China, South Korea, Canada, Kazakhstan, Slovak Republic, UK, Japan, Germany, France, Russia & Sweden.· Under Skill India Initiative, 53 locations across the country have been identified by setting up training centres· Indian Railways made successful arrangements to transport drinking water to drought-affected areas of Latur district in Maharashtra· Indian Railways lent helping hand during the Nepal earthquake tragedy by providing ‘Rail Neer’ bottles and by transporting Nepal evacuees· Railways also helped during the J&K floods· Railways were in the forefront in extending help to the Indian nationals returning from Yemen· Indian Railway weightlifters (5 Women & 1 Men) represented India in the Commonwealth Youth; Junior & Senior Weightlifting Championship held at Pune from 11th to 15th November, 201. All Railway players won medals in this Championship· Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed Ministry of Railways and PEC University of Technology for setting up of ‘Kalpana Chawla Chair’ on Geospatial Technology for Indian Railways at PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh.These are only 2 years achievementsNow compare with other ministerHope it helps