Over a year into the pandemic, there is still a lot of confusion around Covid-19. Last week, medical professionals from the Stanford Department of Medicine organised a webinar to explain how best to care for Covid patients. This week, they’re back with another live webinar “COVID-19 Q&A for Healthcare Professionals and Families in India”.
Hear out the eight expert panelists at Stanford University address questions about COVID-19 management and vaccines for healthcare professionals and for anyone caring for COVID-19 patients at home in India. The eight doctors from all around the globe will cover the following topics during the webinar:
– Covid-19 in children
– Covid-19 in pregnant/lactating women
– Blood thinners in COVID-19
– Long term outcomes of COVID-19 including effects on heart and lung
Date: May 26th, 2021
Day: Wednesday
Time: 8:30am-9:30am (India)
Everyone is welcome to join.
‘MyGate has received special permission from Stanford Department of Medicine to circulate this message among its societies’
For two months now, MyGate has been in conversation with various national and regional healthcare partners to organise vaccination drives at all our 18,000 societies. Here’s an update on the situation:
– Supply limitations: Supply is currently limited and mostly getting consumed in hospitals and health centres;
– Improvements forthcoming: Our partners are confident that the situation will change and they should start getting adequate vaccine supply in 3 to 4 weeks;
– Establishing safety protocols: Healthcare partners are still putting in place best practices for large vaccination drives outside their centres as they will be bound by government regulations for conducting vaccinations.
Owing to the above reasons, none of the healthcare partners have been able to initiate mass vaccination drives. However, all partners are eager and hopeful to bring vaccination camps to communities at the earliest.
We continue to liaise with our partners and are keen on seeing this effort come to life at the earliest. One thing that would certainly help this effort is an estimation of demand for the vaccine from our residents.
Please take a minute to fill up the survey.
Disclaimer
– Feasibility of the camp is subject to legal permissions, availability of vaccinations and number of persons registering for proposed camp in the society
– MyGate is only a facilitator in bringing the Partners to your doorstep. MyGate does not maintain, sponsor, or recommend any third party Partner, nor does it assume any responsibility for them, their services or accessibility.
– Signing up confirms your interest in conducting a vaccination camp in your society, but is not a confirmation of the vaccination camp itself
– MyGate will only be facilitating discussions; costs of the camp are to be borne by the society/residents
– Vaccination camps will be conducted at the society premises provided society adhere to guidelines provided by the Partner to meet government regulations
– MyGate is not responsible for any dispute arising out of or in connection with the use of the services provided by the Partners
– MyGate does not make any representations or warranties with respect to efficiency or effectiveness of the vaccine administered
Managing community operations is exhausting and manual procedures add to the struggle – like keeping a tab of move-ins and move-outs and verifying if all dues are cleared. But not anymore!
To make things simple and quick for you, we have introduced a digital move-in, move-out mechanism. With this end-to-end feature for both committee members and residents, you can now get rid of on-paper formalities.
Why Mygate move-in move-out?
Mygate is the first app in the market to have launched this feature, simplifying the comprehensive and scattered process of move-in and move-out to less than a few clicks. The complete flow is designed intuitively, keeping in mind the ease-of-use and maximum convenience.
Introducing the feature to the Society Dashboard will have the following benefits:
- Real-time information on the total number of move-ins or move-outs at any given time.
- Enable effective administration and never miss to collect move-in/move-out charges.
- Single dashboard to manage all move-in, move-out requests with up-to-date database.
- A known and accepted platform to define society rules and regulations around move-in or move-out
- A smart, convenient experience for your residents so they don’t have to run around the last minute with documents for permissions.
- During MC transition, pass the resident information easily in the form of digital records.
Configure Move-in Move-out for your community
Click on ‘Configure’ on the landing page of the dashboard. Unless you configure the move-in and move-out for your community, it won’t reflect in the user application. If you need help with the configuration, please get in touch with your Mygate Representative.
Move-in Process Setup
- Enable/disable the fields on the Family page as per your society rules. Click on ‘Save & Next’ to continue.
- Add a list of documents you want the users to upload. Click on ‘Save & Next’ to continue.
- Add the society’s bank account details for the users to pay the move-in charges via the app.
- Type in the move-in rules in the comment boxes such as “Please adhere to the society clubhouse norms.”
Move-out Process Setup
- Check if the Resident has paid the move out charges. And select the bank account to which the move-out charges have to be deposited.
- Create a move-out checklist for the users as per society rules. For example, a list of items they need to return before the move-out – parking tags, amenity ID, etc. Click on ‘Save & Next’ to continue.
- Next, type in the move-out rules in the comment boxes such as “Please adhere to the society clubhouse norms.”
Once the configuration is done, you can continue to manage the move-in, move-out requests.
Manage Move-In and Move-Out Requests
- This can be managed from a single dashboard. Check the statuses of the different flats and approve or reject the requests accordingly.
- If you decide to reject the move-in request, select the appropriate reason, and enter the comments that will help the user to modify the application and submit again.
Simplified Move-in Workflow
- Go to ‘PeopleHub’ > Select ‘Residents’ > Select ‘Move-in Move-out Requests’
- Admin needs to configure the Move-In process for their community as described above.
- Next, configure Payments. Account details in which move-in charges will be deposited can be added without the Bank Name. This is non-mandatory.
- Society Admin will be able to only add the “Move-in” Charges.
- Zero Move-in Charges – Payments module will not be displayed to the resident in Move-In application if the Move-In charges haven’t been configured or Move-In charges are Zero.
Simplified Move-Out Workflow
- Admin needs to configure the move-out process for their community as mentioned above.
- Move-out Request – Only the Move-out charges are required to be paid by the resident while submitting the Move-out application. Other charges like maintenance, dues, and security deposit will not be included in the Move-Out application. Other charges will have to be settled offline or through the Payments module in societies where accounting is live.
- Zero Move-Out Charges – Payments module will not be displayed to the resident in the Move-Out application if the Move-In charges haven’t been configured or Move-In charges are Zero.
Move-Out Requests that are deleted by the residents will be available on the Dashboard as ‘Cancelled‘ requests.
Guard App Move-in Gatepass
Once you accept the move-in or move-out request, a 6-digit gatepass is generated for the user that must be shown at the gate when the vehicle carrying the user’s household items enters and exits.
As the guard enters this 6-digit code in the guard app, it reflects the move-in or move-out request. Guard then creates the entry for the vehicle driver and allows the vehicle in. The same code is used when the vehicle exits the community.
Connect with your Mygate Representative to enable this feature in your society.
Community composting is a largely unexploited solution that is gradually getting its fair share of attention in India’s sustainability and waste management landscape. The power to harness the potential of waste lies with housing societies and gated communities today who can reap the benefits of large-scale composting, produce rich organic fertiliser, create organic community gardens, or even generate revenue from the sale of good quality compost.
What is community composting?
Composting is a natural method of waste disposal used to turn biodegradable or wet waste into organic fertilizer. When different waste generators such as small and large households within one or several societies compost organic waste jointly at a specific site (ideally within the society premises, but sometimes in a nearby shared space) it is called community composting. The compost is used as fertilizer for growing fruits/vegetables/herbs and gardening within the society premises as well as individual homes. It can also be sold through municipal buy-back programmes or farmer-connects. Community composting requires large-scale infrastructure that allows large volumes of waste to be managed as close to the source as possible and thus diverted away from landfills.
Benefits of community composting
- Increased environmental awareness among communities
- Less waste dumped in landfills and fewer garbage trucks in rotation
- Improved soil, air and water quality due to reduced use of chemical fertilizer
- Community empowerment through self-reliance
- Green and natural neighbourhoods
- Financial benefits through sale of compost
- Better utilization of resources to reduce society’s expenses
- Creation of organic kitchen gardens
- Better health and well being of people who consume this produce
- Increased biodiversity
Types of composting
- Aerobic composting is when the decomposition process occurs in the presence of oxygen-rich conditions. This type of composting is the most common in housing societies.
- Anaerobic composting is when the decomposition occurs in the absence of oxygen. This generally suits individual homes, but not large-scale operations. It works well only with kitchen waste but not huge quantities of garden rejects. It’s not as easily scalable as aerobic composting is.
- Vermicomposting is when worms (usually red wigglers and white worms) break down the waste to turn it into nutrient-rich compost.
Choosing the right composting model
There are several different composting methods available to housing societies although in-vessel composting (or vendor-based composting solutions) is preferred by most housing societies.
A housing society’s decision to opt for the right composting model is driven by the following factors:
1. Quantity of wet waste
According to the numbers, at least 60-65% of waste generated in India is biodegradable wet waste. In cities like Mumbai, 73% of daily waste is compostable wet waste. Extrapolation allows one to conclude that at least half of the waste produced by a household would be wet waste. A housing society of 200 households could produce between 150 to 200 kgs of waste in a day.
Monisha Narke, Stanford graduate and sustainability expert, says, “Meals are cooked at home almost daily, twice or thrice a day, so we end up generating biodegradable waste. As per our waste audits, on an average a family of 4 members generates upto 1kg kitchen waste, 60-70% of which is biodegradable waste, 20-30% is dry waste and 10% is non recyclable trash. If managed well, we can easily divert 90% of our waste into recycling.”
According to the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, in-situ composting is mandatory for societies that generate more than 100kgs of waste per day, including residential societies/apartments with more than 100 units, and gated communities with an area greater than 5,000 square metres.
2. Budget
Based on the number of units needed for the entire society, the total investment can be divided among the individual houses. For instance, if a society of 100 households decides to install an aerobic digester worth Rs. 1 lakh with a capacity of 80kg per day, they’d have to invest Rs. 1000 each (and pay Rs. 100 as monthly operational cost).
To figure out which composting models are appropriate for your society, you can use SwachaGraha’s user guide which lists a good number of products and providers. Another resource to refer to is MOHUA’S Advisory on On-Site and Decentralized Composting of Municipal Organic Waste. It is a ready reckoner for housing societies and lists a range of products to compare price/dimensions/processing time and vendor details. The following classification has been made as per the size of the societies and the technology for composting.
Before investing in a model, keep a few things in mind:
- Read user reviews and feedback online. Visit other sites to evaluate different models and their performance
- Ensure that the vendor is legitimate and empanelled
- Be aware of monthly operational costs
- Shortlist at least 5-6 models and compare the price per unit, waste handling capacity, infrastructure requirement, and maintenance needs
Besides the basic installation, most vendors can train your housekeeping staff, maids and security guards to handle, run and operate composting devices. They provide user manuals which include step-by-step instructions on the entire process, including the carbon-nitrogen ratio (brown and green materials) and the compost turning requirements. Large housing societies with ample budget or time/labour constraints even opt for contracting agreements along with the composting system so that hired professionals can take care of the entire society’s composting setup.
3. Space availability and location of the composting setup
A society needs to designate space based on the number of units and other factors such as aeration and protection from rodents and rain. According to Savita Hiremath, Bangalore-based journalist and composting expert who runs the blog Endlessly Green, housing societies in Bangalore have established successful composting techniques in common areas, terraces and even basements. She adds that though there may be certain challenges initially, residents quickly learn and adapt with enough practice.
Savita advises communities to do their due diligence by visiting the vendor site to check all components involved in an enclosed composting option. “The success of your compost lies in getting the recipe right. If societies have any doubts about the quality of their compost, they should get the compost tested in a lab to ensure it meets the standards.”
Regarding housing societies wanting to opt for composting systems other than in-vessel style, Savita, who is also a member of the Solid Waste Management Round Table says, “It’s not that housing societies cannot opt for vermicomposting, but it’s more prevalent in individual households and not everyone may be comfortable handling worms. Pit composting on a large scale is also possible, provided there’s enough space and housing societies are willing to take up a labour-intensive project. Besides, community composting is largely driven by volunteerism. Those who initiate the project are enthusiastic and proactive, while others may not be as motivated. But for societies that are willing to take action, there are plenty of resources online, a plethora of composting products and social media communities for assistance.”
Monisha, who is the Founder & CEO of RUR Greenlife, makers of RGGC bio-composters for small and large-scale composting, offers some words of caution, “Traditional methods like pit composting and vermicomposting have been extremely successful in composting vegetable peels and garden waste, however they pose challenges when we add citrus peels or cooked food. The high calorific value of cooked food releases heat which is not favourable to worms, while the cooked food in compost pits may invite rodents and pests that can lead to secondary problems.”
Why should housing societies avoid instant composters?
There are multiple instances where builders have installed 24-hour composters as well as societies that have fallen prey to automatic waste composters claiming to produce compost instantly. “These machines produce toxic smoke and burnt carbon which is detrimental to soil and plant health, while increasing the power bill to Rs 25,000 or Rs 30,000 per month. Societies should not blindly accept what a builder or a vendor offers. They must ensure that the model they choose allows for natural composting,” Savita says.
Monisha adds that concepts like 24-hour composting and 14-day composting are myths. “Composting is a natural process that requires 90 days to stabilise fully. Within 45-60 days, under right conditions it starts to smell earthy and is ready to be applied to the soil. The best method is to let nature do its job,” she advises.
How to use your society’s compost?
- Leachate/compost tea can be diluted (20 parts water-1 part leachate) and used as a spray for gardening
- Use the final compost for your own society, then distribute the leftovers to others
- Compost can be distributed among all residents to encourage them to take up balcony gardening
- Leftover compost can be sold to nearby bulk buyers or local farmers through a local network
The future of community composting
There is still lack of awareness among communities who either don’t know about the benefits of composting or are not interested in it.
Monisha cites 3 reasons why composting isn’t popular everywhere.
- Easy availability of avenues to throw the waste away and ‘not in my backyard’ mentality
- Myths that composting is dirty and smelly
- Lack of strict implementation of policies
But she is of the strong opinion that with increasing consciousness among people towards climate change and sustainability, the future looks promising. “India being a tropical country, the temperatures and other climatic conditions favour the natural composting process. As a futuristic approach, one must think decentralised composting at individual homes and in communities so that the waste is not traveling to another location to be composted or dumped irrationally. Through decentralised composting, one can mitigate massive CO2 emissions.”
Amarpreet Singh, Head of Business Strategy and Sales at Daily Dump, a design-led composting solutions company that makes Aaga composters, observes, “Seven years ago, nearly everyone who started composting in their communities was doing it for environmental reasons and to reduce their contribution to the waste problem. Over the years we have seen that due to fresh policies and stringent measures, communities have started composting as a way of adhering to the regulations as well. For a few months composting of wet waste took a back seat and the decisions to start composting were delayed. But there are encouraging signs of people coming back to thinking about wet waste management. Also because of working from home, there has been a rise in the number of individuals and communities wanting to garden and grow food in their premises.”
Savita advises communities to do their due diligence by visiting the vendor site to check all components involved in an enclosed composting option. “The success of your compost lies in getting the recipe right. If the societies have any doubts about the quality of their compost, they should get the compost tested in a lab to ensure it meets the standards.”
Community composting success stories
Several housing societies in Bangalore and Mumbai have produced amazing success stories of composting done right. For instance, a housing society in Mumbai has turned 4 tonnes of trash into 400 kgs of compost and 16 big societies in Mumbai who do on-site composting are donating compost to farmers. One society in Mumbai has been selling compost fertilizer to farmhouse owners at Rs 10-15/kg.
Housing societies in Bangalore are at the forefront of the composting movement, creating vegetable gardens with the compost they produce. Some produce up to 70kg of compost a day. Through a campaign called SwachaGraha Compost Connect, a brainchild of Solid Waste Management Round Table, the excess compost is taken from bulk generators to farmlands. The campaign has so far sold 60 tonnes of compost in about 40 truckloads. The idea was to encourage more farmers to turn organic and at the same time make it easy for societies to deal with their excess compost. The initiative addresses the issue of soil health on a macro level by taking the 3 Ms to degraded soil: Moisture, organic Matter and Microbes.
There is no dearth of techniques for societies willing to take up community composting. Although community composting takes research, participation and perseverance, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Society admins can now add, delete, assign new roles as per their convenience and what suits the functioning of their society using the Society Dashboard. Admins can also modify these roles and give permissions to the roles created at any time. MyGate provides admins 10 default roles and an option to create 5 more roles on the dashboard.
Follow these steps to create a new role…
1. Login to the MyGate dashboard (dashboard.mygate.com) using your admin credentials
2. Click on “People Hub”
3. Select “Admin User list”
4. Select “Manage Roles”
5. Add Custom Role with or without existing roles as a template
6. Select permissions based on the action the Role needs to take. Each permission can be assigned in 2 modes, ‘Read’ and ‘Full Access’ mode.
(A) Read: Only view access will be provided to the role of the selected feature
(B) Full Access: The selected role can perform all the actions of a society admin
These permissions can be modified in the future. Save the Role.
The created custom roles are assigned to the users via “Manage Society Admins”. Assign the Role to the user by entering the email ID, Name, and Phone Number.
For more information, get in touch with your MyGate Representative.
What’s new on MyGate
As more than half of the world is adapting to and even promoting remote working environments, housing societies shouldn’t allow themselves to conduct day-to-day operations poorly due to social distancing protocols. Adopting technology to run your society efficiently is an optimum solution for the foreseeable future.
Conducting group video meetings isn’t as tricky as you’d imagine, once you’ve gotten over the fear of the first dreaded rigamarole of getting everything organized among various committee members so that they can familiarise themselves with a new medium of communication. Digital natives may even have trouble with their checklists as the process involves group participation of diverse people.
Our guide will make it easier for Management Committees to hold society meetings online.
Whether it is the Annual General Body Meeting, Special General Meetings or Managing Committee meetings, they can all be conducted through video conferencing by following a few ground rules and preparing in advance.
Steps to follow before the meeting:
- Prepare the agenda for the meet
- Prioritise important topics for discussion
- Assign a time duration for each discussion so that every item gets enough time to be analysed and weighed according to urgency and importance
- Select the right medium to hold the meeting
- Send meeting invites to all participants
How to choose the right video conferencing app for General Body meeting during the pandemic
There are loads of free online meeting apps in the market, the most popular are Zoom, Skype and Google Hangouts.
However, the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a warning regarding Zoom, stating that the app has major weaknesses that may make it vulnerable to data theft and hacking of calls midway. Several countries have banned Zoom, including US, Australia and Germany.
The MHA has also issued guidelines to use Zoom safely which you can read here.
Not all participants attending the meeting may be habituated to using video conferencing apps. Ensure you email a quick tutorial to assist participants in navigating/using the app so that they can join the group call and operate the app during the meeting.
Common group call etiquette for society meetings during the pandemic
- Send a meeting reminder on the day of the group call via email, WhatsApp or any other communication app.
- Appoint a moderator (Secretary/Chairman) to conduct the session.
- Make sure that the video/audio are on for each participant. Place the camera correctly, not too high or too low.
- Record the meeting for making the minutes later. All society meetings are required to have official Minutes of Meeting.
- Instruct the participants to have the meeting agenda in front of them (digital version/printout).
- Dressing appropriately for the meeting is a must. The physical settings of the room should be such that there’s enough light but no noise and other disturbances.
- Keep the app on mute when you’re not speaking so that there’s no distractions for other speakers.
- Do not speak out of turn or interrupt others when they’re speaking.
- Make sure each participant engages in the meeting and gets enough time and consideration while putting forth their views and suggestions.
- Keep body movements to the minimum and maintain eye contact.
- Do not carry on small talk and avoid discussing topics that are not in the agenda (unless something is pertinent to the topic).
- Chairman/Secretary should use the screen sharing options while discussing important financial reports, bills, legal documents, etc., to give the participants a visual walkthrough of the topic and inspire trust.
- Keep it short. While video conferencing is only a tool for replacing physical meetings, participants tend to get antsy and distracted when the meetings go over 30 minutes.
Things to remember
If you’re holding a special general body meeting, the pre-notification timelines will still apply, i.e. (5 day’s notice, minimum required quorum, and other proceedings), except everything will have to be done via email and no physical circulars should be handed to maintain social distancing protocols.
Know more about special general meeting guidelines.
Similarly, the notice period for organizing Committee Meetings also applies, which according to the bye-laws, are, “3 clear day’s notice of meetings of the Committee to all the Members of the Committee which shall state the date, time and place of the meeting and the business to be transacted there at, in consultation with the Chairman of the Society.”
The time to hold Annual General Body Meetings is usually August-September. Co-ops had been granted permission by the Maharashtra government amidst the pandemic to conduct their AGM as well as other day to day activities via digital platforms and further stated that decisions taken during such digital meetings will be considered valid.
Even if the threat of the virus subsides, virtual meetings may become the norm among housing societies as they provide all the conveniences of a physical meeting with the added perk of saving time.