Green tea with Gul

Actress Gul Panag will throw open the doors of her eco weekend home, one of the first two in India to await a TERI GRIHA certification, to anyone keen on building one of their own

 ACTRESS Gul Panag and pilot husband Rishi Attari have turned teachers, and they prefer tutoring by example; sometimes taking the help of 3D animation. The couple has built a weekend home in Mulshi, three and a half hours away from Mumbai. It's one of the first of two independent green homes in India to register with GRIHA, a scheme launched in collaboration with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy under New Delhi-based TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), to encourage, facilitate and evaluate the construction of ecofriendly homes across the country. 

By June, Panag plans to host guests virtually at her Green Home, through her website. "Our home will be open to anyone curious to figure how a certified green home is designed, and what makes it environmentally conscious. If the virtual 3-D tour of our nest stokes your appetite to check out the real one, drive down for a cup of tea, and I'll be happy to offer you a guided tour," says Panag. 

    Experts say it's a leg up for the green home movement that the efforts are gradually weaning away from the symbolic rain-water-harvesting-and-solar- panelinstallation design to a professionally laid out vision, capped by a system of evaluation, rating and certification. Panag's home is awaiting a rating from GRIHA. The first green home to register with GRIHA is New Delhi-based media professional Prasanto Roy's. The champa tree that stood outside his family home in CR Park had held 

    special memories; his sister was named after it. When the sprawling mansion was being torn down last year to make way for the new building, Roy's Green One project ensured that not just the beloved champa, but every tree on the premises was saved, or professionally transplanted; a key pre-requisite of the TERI GRIHA programme. 

    Another tenet is the use of material from the old construction. "Since ours was an old house, all possible material had to be re-used and documented. Every single brick has been reclaimed, sorted and stacked for re-use, and is being used for non-critical, non-load bearing construction. Same for steel bars," says Roy. Mallika Desai Thakker, the LEED-certified architect of Panag's home, says the house will be off the grid, not dependent on sarkari energy, and will generate its own power through solar panels. Double glazed windows, and an allround ventilation mechanism will eliminate the need for airconditioners. Rainwater harvesting will provide it a supply of close to 1 lakh litres of water a year. 

Some benefits of going green are reduced energy consumption, better light and indoor air quality. Roy says, "Construction costs are typically 5 to10 per cent higher than for a regular building, but in the long run it's more economical. Builders need to play up the certification of green buildings like they would Italian marble or jacuzzis." 3 SIMPLE WAYS TO GO GREEN 

    Use Autoclaved Aerated Concrete instead of bricks. Its improved thermal efficiency reduces heating and cooling load in homes. It's light, reduces cost and energy in transportation. 

    Use double wall glass in windows so as to reduce direct heat gain and glare while maximising the sunlight entering your rooms. 

    Paint your exteriors and room walls with ecofriendly non-toxic paints that don't use petrochemicals involved in the creation of traditional paints that can pollute the atmosphere through toxic fumes when discarded irresponsibly. FAST FACTS 

    A green building is environmentally responsible and resourceefficient through its lifecycle: from design, construction, operation to maintenance, renovation, and demolition. 

    You can bring in 'green elements' into any building design, but the formal term 'green building' is used typically for one that has been certified through a rating system such as LEED or GRIHA. Ratings are based on points on a 1-100 scale across major categories such as energy, water efficiency, materials. 

    US-based LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the dominant global rating system, also popular in India. TERI's GRIHA is the Indian equivalent of LEED. It uses a star rating (five stars equivalent to LEED's platinum rating). 

    Rating cost is typically 5-6 lakh, but TERI introduced the SVAGRIHA system (under GRIHA) that reduces cost to 1 lakh approx. RATING AGENCIES 

India Green Building Council offers Platinum, Gold, Silver and Certified rating. www.igbc.in GRIHA offers rating from 1 to 5, with five being the highest. www.grihaindia.org 

A 3D model of Prasanto Roy's New Delhi green home

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Ayurveda, unani under mediclaim umbrella

Till some time back, health insurance policies used to cover only allopathy treatment while ayurveda, homeopathy, naturopathy and unani treatments were left out. Despite having a comprehensive health insurance plan in place, individuals who preferred such systems had to pay out of their own pockets. 

    These policyholders can now breathe easy as some insurance firms have started including such alternative forms of treatment under their cover, especially ayurveda. "Ayurveda being the most prevalent of the alternative systems, we have designed a product to cover treatments under ayurvedic hospitalization," says S S Gopalarathnam, managing director, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance. 
    While some insurers only offer it under their group policies, others have started offering the facility to individuals. PSU insurer New India Assurance and standalone health insurance provider Star Health and Allied Insurance are some of the companies that have started covering ayurvedic treatments under individual policies. ICICI Lombard General Insurance covers it under government scheme and Future Generali Insurance offers it to corporate group insurance buyers. 
    "Our policies do not cover any other line of treatment other than allopathy. However, in group policies, if requested, we do offer tailor-made packages to corporate clients to cover ayurvedic treatment subject to certain conditions," explains Shreeraj Deshpande, head,health insurance, Future Generali. BOOSTER SHOT No standalone cover for alternative treatments 
    Some insurance firms have started including alternative forms of treatment like ayurveda under their cover. How did this need to cover alternative forms of medicine in health insurance arise? Gopalarathnam, explains, "During various focus group discussions with customers and agents, we found that for chronic ailments like spondilytis, arthritis and epilepsy, many people preferred alternate streams of treatment such as ayurveda, siddha and homeopathy etc." 
    Though the coverage has been expanded, there are curbs on the amount and situations under which it can be claimed. 
    New India Assurance's extends cover to individuals undergoing treatment with the help of Ayurvedic, homeopathic and Unani systems of medicine. "Such claims will be covered only to the extent of 25% of sum insured. Also, they need to have availed of the treatment at a government hospital to be eligible for the claim," informs Segar Sampathkumar, deputy general manager, New India Assurance. 
    Similarly, Star Health also covers non-allopathic treatment, except Naturopathy, costs under its Unique Health Insurance Policy, "up to 25% of sum assured or a maximum of Rs 25,000 per occurrence, per year." 
    Chola Individual Health line Insurance policy provides coverage for ayurveda during hospitalization, prior and post hospitalization. A policy holder can get treated in any of the government registered ayurveda hospitals across the country and claim if hospitalized for more than 24 hours. 
    Naturopathy treatments are excluded in all policies, while few cover unani and homeopathic. This is because other forms of treatments have no standard treatment protocols and highly varied costs thus making it difficult to actuarially compute the cost to be covered. Even under ayurveda, select procedures are covered to ensure people do not misuse a policy for a basic rejuvenation procedure. 
    "We do not cover the unani system of medicine. Under ayurveda, hospitalization for panchkarma (five actions) meant to purify the whole body by eliminating accumulated toxins, is covered on a case to case basis," explains Deshpande. 
    It is important to note that there is no standalone cover available for covering alternative treatments. You will have to buy a standard health insurance cover from these select insurers and others who start offering the non-allopathic coverage. 
    Before you head for alternative treatment and make a claim, see whether the treatment is listed in the insurance policy document. Insurers are particular about the specific treatments covered. "Snehan and Swedan are payable only when these procedures are done as a part of pre-panchkarma preparation. Comfort treatments involving steam bath/ sauna/oil massages are excluded," Deshpande adds. 
    Similarly Gopalarathnam says, "We have identified about 40 common ailments for which ayurvedic treatments are prevalent and widely used, which we cover for treatment across any government registered hospitals."

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