food security, maternal deaths and 685 crores

This country never fails to amaze, astound and embarrass me. The limits to idiocy that India and its politicians can reach knows no bounds. I'm referring of course to Mayawati's megalomaniac display of utter crap. 685 crores, is the price tag for showing what a Dalit woman politician can achieve. Does this actually improve the lives of the dalit community? Absolutely not.

On the one hand, we have India's astounding economic growth. On the other hand, our food security falls behind Rwanda. Rwanda, for crying out loud! Something is wrong. Something is very very wrong. 685 crores could be better spent through community outreach programs, women's education, children's welfare and hoards of other schemes that would actually improve lives of countless people.

By the end of October, the world's population will have reached 7 billion. India contributes a large portion of this number. What are we doing in terms of family planning, planned pregnancy, children's welfare and child labour? There is absolutely a severe lack of grass-root development in a country where the vast majority of the population is grass-root.

India boasts the highest rates of maternal death during childbirth and pregnancy. Every seven minutes, an Indian woman dies bringing new life into this world. 78% of these cases are preventable. And what about after the children are born? Does every child get an education? Does every child get adequate nutrition? Does every child get a childhood?

One of the saddest things I saw recently was on a trip to Mumbai, not long ago. There were two girls maybe around the ages of 8 and 5. The little one was beating on a plastic drum while the bigger one was doing cartwheels in the middle of the street during a traffic-light stop, begging for money. There are scores of children like these. Looking into their eyes is painful. I do believe that a country who is unable to take care of the poorest of its poor and its natural resources has no right to boast about its economic progress.

Recently I was exchanging ideas with New Zealand's former Prime Minister, Helen Clark who is now administrator with the UNDP. It was opined that India's demographics and gargantuan rich/poor divide makes it a key battleground towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. She also said that, "private sector plays an important role in development but quality state and subnational governance is important too." The world will not and can not meet the MDGs, if India does not.

Poverty elimination is the key. Education is key. Woman's welfare is key. This is the same song that has been sung for the past so many years and yet no one has bothered to learn the true meaning of its lyrics. Instead we allow someone, to spend 685 crores on a park in a country where earning Rs. 32/- a day means you're not poor.

Go figure.

earth day message from the trenches

As you know these days I have been busy with my new venture. We finally have a website up and running and you can check this out - would love to hear your thoughts.

I have re-emerged for this blog post on Earth Day as it seemed fitting to break my silence today. The Green Den has received overwhelmingly positive responses from the CSR community and I've been totally blown away.

We are now of course actively seeking clients, networking and getting our name out there. It's been exciting so far but the real work starts now. We also have our blog up and running which you can check out here. While you're at it, you can also sign up for our bi-monthly newsletter.

Last year in my Earth Day post I said that I wanted to make an expedition to a rainforest and grow my own organic vegetables. Happy to report that I have achieved one of those goals. My organic garden with its own compost is happy and thriving. I even got a bumper crop of tomatoes a couple weeks ago. I plan on adding more vegetables over the next month. The expedition is still in the works!

What has really changed in this year? On the onset, perhaps not much. The BP disaster has left many people still reeling - a year from that and the US congress still wants to push for offshore drilling. No real progress has been made in climate talks, new laws etc. In India, the environment ministry is finally waking up to the fact that there is an environment to protect. There was also a report of increasing tiger numbers but unfortunately, there were also stories of elephants encroaching on farm lands. Or is it the other way around?

There are many environmental challenges that are still solve and still many others to even acknowledge. One of the biggest new developments in India is the acknowledgment that corruption is so wide spread. Recent scandals have rocked businesses and made investing in Indian business a high-risk venture. This scenario needs to change because without a stable economy, we cannot talk about environmental protection and social progress.

This year I have no goals, except to work really hard on GDC. I'm all geared up to change 'business as usual' because I believe the time has finally come to think about things differently.

We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them

- Albert Einstein

growth, development and garbage

Lately there have been many questions that have been bothering me. I wonder why we have to rely on someone else to come and clean up our mess after I read the story of the Garbage Girl. Don't get me wrong, it's great someone is making an effort but are we so fundamentally socially backward that we cannot even insist on basic civic sense? I wonder why we don't have in place a system of municipal waste collection that actually works - this is infrastructure at its most basic. We are the civilization that invented the zero and consequently are one of the biggest players in the IT field. We have a space program that a lot of developed nations can be proud of. We have a culture and history that is unparalleled.

But we also have so many social problems - poverty, malnourishment, the highest rates of maternal death, female infanticide, a garbage problem threatening to mask all our accomplishments. In the eyes of the world, we are still seen as a filthy country in many aspects. When are we to get rid of this image?

Behind the glitz and growth of new malls, multiplexes, supermarkets and all the trappings of the west the real India is being swallowed up in piles of garbage. All of our resources are stretched, our cities are choking with pollution, drowning in filth with not enough water or electricity for the burgeoning population. Do we not deserve more? I'm tired of trying to find a reason for the way things are - corruption, government, politics etc can only get us so far. What about individual accountability? What about you standing up to say that you don't like the way things are and doing something to change it? The father of this great nation, based our independence on the power of singular change... and things went rapidly downhill from there.

I remember reading a chapter in biology in school entitled 'growth and development' and remember thinking that they are two entirely different things that are so easily confused. The understanding of 'growth' and 'development' is not just a study of semantics but there are entire philosophies, economic policies and government principles involved in the distinction. India is sadly an example of growth without development.

This country needs to be built from ground-up. All we are currently focusing on is embellishments whilst nations like China and even Brazil are focusing on grass-roots development. They have similar problems as us, so why aren't we at least trying?

For India to take its rightful place in the world, we must invest in infrastructure, education and focus on growing holistically, sustainably. The kind of imbalanced growth we are seeing will only lead to more social problems and eventual economic collapse. The center cannot hold. The center will not hold. I wonder how long we are going to try to drive this horse with a broken cart until the wheel gives way to complete irreparability... and then what?

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake - Rabindranath Tagore

the not so golden triangle...

I know I have been terribly neglectful of this blog lately. It's been a month since my last post, the longest gap yet! But rest assured that I have been working hard on my Justmeans blog and have been writing about a lot of things there and now write for two categories - CSR and ethical consumption.

I recently returned from the famous 'Golden Triangle' tour covering Delhi-Agra-Jaipur and it is extremely strange to be a tourist in your own country. Travelling in India is an experience beyond anything that can written about. It is uncommonly hot, difficult, tiring and everything about the place assaults you in a myriad different ways. The kind of tourist attractions it offers is on a gargantuan scale of its own and in many ways pales the rest of the world in comparison.

In the space of 5 days I saw the largest gateway in the world, the Buland Darwaza; the largest sundial in the world in Jaipur; several forts, an entire city of red stand-stone and of course the Taj Mahal. This smorgasbord of sights is difficult to top.

For me, it was also deeply disheartening in many ways. For all the beauty on offer, the monuments in India are dismally maintained. Akbar's tomb in Sikandra which was absolutely gorgeous on the outside was a sad let-down upon entry. The intricately painted walls were peeling and in need of desperate restoration.

The whole city of Jaipur was extremely forlorn in appearance and did not seem at all like a capital city of a large state. The roads were appallingly bad and the rains did not bode well with the ancient sewer systems. The Amber Fort was gorgeous in bits but many of the walls were defaced by visitors and again several areas were in need of maintenance.

I can moan on about the fact that people in India are in desperate need of civic sense which for most part is true but who is to teach this valuable lesson. Without a sense of pride for national treasures how can preservation be insisted upon? Indeed, without civic sense how can environmental consciousness even be comprehended?

We cannot boast of trying to be an emerging super power, our IT prowess, space program etc etc when our basic sense of a civilized society is misplaced. Travelling India filled me with a deep sense of pride and an equally deep sense of shame. I wonder if things are ever going to change for this country so filled with potential and yet so encumbered with blindingly obvious faults.

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

reintroducing the cheetah

I first read the proposals of the cheetah reintroduction scheme in India back in 2009. Today it is in the news that the Central Government has approved of a $65 million plan to bring the cheetah back to India.

Cheetahs became extinct in India in the 1960s as they were excessively hunted. The plan is to import the cats from Africa, Middle-East and Iran. Kuno Palpur and Nauradehi wildlife sanctuaries in MP and Shahgarh area near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan have been selected as the reintroduction site. The program will take about 3 years to complete in various phases and will have IUCN involvement along the way.

Jairam Ramesh the Indian Minister of Environment has been quoted saying that the reintroduction of the cheetah will improve the health of Indian grasslands. Grasslands are one of the most productive terrestrial ecosystems and have been severely exploited by over-grazing and agriculture. Restoring the balance of this ecosystem will mean that other species depending on the grasslands will also flourish. The endangered imperiled great Indian bustard and caracal among others will benefit from the reintroduction of an apex predator whose role is to restore balance to the ecosystem.

One of the most successful reintroduction programs to date is the Yellowstone program to bring back the wolves. It was fraught with complications and almost did not take off, the cheetah program will face similar challenges. Animals that are reintroduced suffer various degrees of stress from transportation to adaptive problems that can affect their reproductive abilities.

If this program is successful, it will be a great boost to Indian wildlife as well as tourism in these areas. The ecosystem of the grass-lands will also benefit greatly due to the introduction of an apex predator. This reintroduction program should also be done without diverting funds away from other conservation programs in the country, most importantly the tiger conservation.

This is something that has been promised by the MoEF and only time will tell if the program can be deemed a success. With only 10,000 cheetahs left in the wild world-over, increasing their range is essential to the species' survival. Cheetahs unlike other cats don't breed well in captivity and are prone to various genetic ailments and diseases due to less diversity and inter-breeding.

Introduction of the cheetah in India will see that the species thrives as a separate sub-species in the years to come. The Asiatic cheetah thrives only in Iran and it is critically endangered - this is the same species that was once abundant in India. With the reintroduction, India can boast that it is the only country in the world that hosts 6 of the 8 big cat species.

I'm skeptical and hopeful at the same time. It seems to me that Indian wildlife authorities are trying to open a new can of worms without figuring out methods to deal with existing wildlife problems. All of the big cats in India are endangered - with this kind of track record, can the cheetah hope to survive?

Photo: Painting of Akbar hunting wiht locally trapped Asiatic Cheetahs c. 1602. He was said to have had 1000 cheetahs assisting in his royal hunts.

wake up and smell the contamination

The risk of GM contamination with non-GM and organic crops has long been one of the standing contraindications of the technology. Involving H&M again, there has been an expose that the Swedish clothing chain's organic cotton clothing is in fact contaminated with GM. This not only is a reflection of H&M but also of the Indian organic cotton industry.

30% if the tested samples contain contaminated GM and the cotton has been traced back to India which supplied half the global supply of organic cotton. This means that roughly 107,000 tons of fiber could have been contaminated. Sanjay Dave, the head of the Indian agricultural authority, Apeda, said that fraud was occurring on a “gigantic scale,” and fines were issued to third-party certification agencies such as EcoCert andControl Union as recently as April 2009.

Organic Exchange states that while GM contamination in organic cotton is growing in India--where it is estimated that up to 70% of conventional cotton is produced using GM seed--this is also true for all other regions that grow both organic and GM cotton. Contamination can occur at the farm where GM and organic crops are grown too close together and cross pollination takes place. The resulting seed on the fringes of the organic cotton crop may then contain the Bt gene. Opportunities also exist for accidental contamination to occur as the majority of organic cotton is processed in the same machinery as conventional/GM cotton.

The original expose in the Financial Times, German edition also mentions C&A and Tchibo. Wal-Mart is currently the biggest buyer of organic cotton and should their produce be tested as well? How does this effect the Indian cotton industry?

Cotton accounts for upto 38% of the country's export and the area under cultivation in India is the highest in the world (8.9 million ha). This accounts to 25% of the world area and employ seven million people for their living. This also accounts to huge portions of revenue which will be affected if our certifying bodies are not rigorous enough. Firmer rules need to be in place and enforced along the organic cotton production chain, including third party certification. Clothing retailers as well will keep the industry in check with more involvement in the supply chain and this will work as an additional measure of quality control.

The dangers of Bt cotton are well documented and this is the first major scandal of contamination that could have severe consequences to the cotton industry. When is the Indian government going to wake up and stop pushing for more GM?

road rage on NH47

National Highway 47 is a a busy highway connecting Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It connects most of the important southern cities like Salem, Erode, Coimbatore, Palakkad, Thrissue, Kochi, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. It is officially listed as running over 650 km (390 miles) from Salem to Kanyakumari. Out of this a 16km bit, Avinashi Road is in Coimbatore and serves not only as a connecting National Highway but also a main arterial road within the city. It is also fraught with mis-management and poor planning.

In 2006 plans to make it a 6-lane highway was approved and construction started. This resulted in all the trees lining either side of the road being cut off, increasing city temperatures up to 2 degrees. The construction itself has taken a lot of time with severe interruption to traffic flow and general annoyance to commuters. It has only just been opened out to a six-lane highway and it is a right joke. The examples of Indian governance makes for stellar stand-up comedy material and this rankles me.

The lanes have been segregated according to vehicle type as opposed to speed; so although you have to switch lanes to make turns, technically you cannot. This confusion means that already lane-senseless drivers are even more perplexed adding to the incessant honking and general mayhem before you even cross a signal and shift a gear. Indian people make for rather inconsiderate drivers - I'm not sure if this is because we do not care for rules or if we have the 'I don't care, I own the road' attitude. Everything we do in terms of driving screams a certain kind of 'educated-idiot' syndrome - this includes cutting people off, mad honking, this insane rush to get a few paces ahead, talking to people in the middle of the road in a parked vehicle (!) no parking-sense and general road-rage. Of course all of us give in to some variation of this behaviour from time to time, which basically means as a mass we have no road-manners. Poor infrastructure often adds to road -rage especially during rainy seasons and peak hours.

Why am I venting about driving on an environmental blog you might ask? Driving is something that everybody does at some point and it relies on infrastructure in place and it also relies on sense and sensibilities of people using that infrastructure. Road-sense is a bottom-up approach to law enforcement and it should be ensured with stricter licensing controls in the first place. When it comes to infrastructure: most roads in India are badly maintained, inadequate and support more traffic than they were originally planned for, there is virtually no town planning, environmental impact assessment and no fore-thought when it comes to expansion efforts.

Every time a structure is built, resources are used, it makes more sense to overestimate the amount of traffic than underestimate when anything like a bridge, a highway or road is constructed. There are numerous examples even in the big cities where its capacity is reached within a day of it opening - this is simply due to poor planning. This structure will be reconstructed, expanded, renovated five years later when it is already groaning under the weight of wheels it cannot support when the planning should have happened ten years earlier.

Secondly, the best fuel consumption occurs when vehicles gently accelerate and stop only minimally where it is essential i.e., at traffic signals. Bumper to bumper traffic does little to conserve fuel especially when we all wait in line with our air-conditioning switched on and mindlessly 'horning' at the fellow in front of us.

Third, construction of city infrastructure is a huge environmental disturbance which we have to off-set adequately which does not happen in India. Trees that are cut down are not replanted, local ecosystems which are destroyed are not restored and all this further adds to increase in pollution within city limits.

The question I cannot answer is why? Why is our infrastructure appallingly abysmal? Even countries in worse-off economic situations like Thailand have better roads in place. China's cities are growing in leaps and bounds in terms of infrastructure. Whereas we take pride in the maxim "learn to drive in India and you can drive anywhere in the world" - which is not true because most other countries have something called 'road-sense'. We all blame the government, but really we do not have a sense of entitlement to demand the best from our leaders which is precisely why they get away without accountability.

Democracy is a two way street.

india - stats

India is rapidly climbing the ladder as a country in severe eco-crisis. We may boast all we want about per capita carbon emissions being among the lowest in the world, but the national aggregate is among the top. This is another reason why population must be controlled within the country. Rapid urbanization and the growth of mega-cities is putting enormous pressure on natural resources. With 33% of the population of India living in cities, India's Urban National Policy is jarringly inadequate. 45% of the land is degraded and ground-water supplies are diminishing rapidly. Particulate air pollution is on the rise on cities hitting 110 million people causing public health damage costs in 2004 of about $3 billion.

India has overtaken Japan as the world's fourth-largest emitter of carbon with emissions one-quarter those of US and China. More than 60% of that comes from the energy sector. Forests soak up 11% of emissions and it has been indicated that the government is taking efforts to increase forest cover to combat climate change. This is also to ensure the protection of biodiversity however, 10% of plants and animals on the subcontinent are threatened with extinction. This includes species like the black-faced langur found in Nilgiris, Nilgiri Tahr and the lion-tailed macaque which are endemic to India.

India's carbon emissions are about 1.6 billion tons per year (2005) and are set to rise to 6.5 billion tons by 2030. This figure can be cut by 2.8 billion tons with improvements to infrastructure, agriculture and investment in renewable energy. In the lead up to the Copenhagen Conference in December, India has announced that it plans to tackle climate change with renewal energy and other cleantech advances but will not commit to binding emissions reductions. A recent report however, calculates that the cost of roughly halving carbon emissions growth by 2030 is $1.1 trillion which translates to about 2.3% of GDP which will be spent mostly on alternate energy.

The rich vs. poor is still the primary issue even to the lead up to COP15 with India and China arguing against emission cuts and Russia stating that will agree to emission targets only if the US does. This will be followed up on another post... so watch this space.

down came the engine...

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

This is an animal that has no natural enemies. This is an animal which was the mount of ancient Indian Kings, famed for its memory and strength, it came to symbolize the God of Warriors. This is an animal that is the mascot of the world's largest railway network. This is an animal, in a twist of irony is also being killed by the very same rail network.

Since 1987, around 129 Asian elephants have been killed on railway tracks across the country. Their biggest deathtrap is a 35-km stretch (between Palakkad, Kerala and Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu) across the Western Ghats forests through which 40 trains pass during the day and another 30 during the night. In the past year alone, eight elephants were killed and this has brought about violent protests by wildlife officials against any further expansions of railway tracks through the elephant corridor.

India is home to 60% of the Asian elephant population making their survival in the country critical to their survival as a species. Factors such as throwing waste food on the tracks, lack of awareness among drivers and not adhering to speed limits apart from steep embankments are causes for elephant deaths on the tracks. The Government is erecting electric fencing to keep the elephants from straying but alarm systems based on sensor or radar technology need to be put in place. Southern Railways have also brought down their speed limit in the elephant corridor in order to help drivers better with visibility.

In the face of loss of habitat and incidents of continued poaching, avoidable death of elephants and indeed any animal, must cease. The latest estimate according to Project Elephant is that the country has 27,694 wild elephants in the 2008-2009 period. Most wildlife experts refuse to believe this claim as they say that the numbers are for protected areas only.

In a number of areas the government has set up corridors for the elephants to travel from one area to another. Unfortunately people regularly encroach into these corridors taking matters into their own hands, killing elephants when they rampage through a settlement. As populations steadily rise, so too will conflicts. In India alone, elephant-human conflict results in about 300 human and 200 elephant deaths each year due to poaching, crop protection and any number of other accidents, including vehicle-elephant collisions.

About 20% of the worlds population lives in or near current existing habitat of the Asian elephant and the human population of these areas is growing at a rate of 3% per year. The Asian elephant is considered a keystone biological species. Because the habitat that they occupy are considered some of the richest biodiversity regions in Asia like the Western Ghats, its conservation and survival will automatically promote the survival of a variety of other flora and fauna. The elephant in its own right is a symbol of India - help protect it by affliating yourself to WWF or similar organizations.

Adapted from: "The Giant Killer" by M.G. Radhakrishnan and Abhijit Dasgupta, India Today, August 17, 2009.

environmentalism in india

One of the casualties of climate change is the Indian monsoon. I have blogged about it before and currently Greenpeace in India is running a Rainspotting project in order to study change in monsoons to feed into the larger climate story. Coming in from London to report is Grace Boyle - she is interning with Greenpeace for the course of the summer and has been blogging about her experiences with her own blog that she writes for the Independent. Grace's accounts are often stark and unflinchingly realistic.

Recently she asked me to write a small piece on environmentalism in India and to read it on her blog, look here. Or just read on...

Environmentalism is kind of dead in India. This is my belief; mostly environmentalism in its most basic, intrinsic form is connected to the respect for the commons. Anytime someone teaches you not to litter, that someone is teaching you to respect the commons and by proxy igniting an environmental spark. In the absence of this education, both respect for the commons and environmentalism is a lost concept in India.

Environmentalism in India takes on many different forms however – with most of the urban population, it is something that is hyped and something that is ‘someone’ else’s problem. But they do not know who that someone else is and they refuse the responsibility of that someone else being them. Why should they? – with their fat paychecks, fancy cars and flash clothes?

Rural India – the ‘real’ India in so many ways, the India that is connected to the mysteries of this vast land and intrinsically connected to the many colours of her soil. They know. They notice; the changes, the peril that lies beneath those changes, the heart-break that goes with change that is unwanted. To them this change is almost perverse, like a clarion call before death finally comes.

There are some that embrace change and some that fight against it. On the side that fights, there are several organizations working in India to raise the profile of the issue. Public perception of this is varied from apathy to mild interest to outright support. The last category forms the smallest percentage – the apathy is most worrying. Consequences of global warming – the biggest battle that humankind faces barely brings a reaction to many people in India – surprisingly even the so-called informed young crowd.

So far this ‘green’ movement has been just that – a movement, something that can fade away, something that is ‘cool’ for now – like a fashion statement. The gravity behind it is lost somehow because the messengers are trivializing the issue, dumbing it down to reach across to the masses. My argument: concepts of environmentalism have enough there for it to cross over intellectual barriers – this dialing down is detrimental because it aims for a mass rather than a critical mass to hasten the tipping point.

Part of the reason for the inaction and apathy is that India has never been a revolutionary culture – it has been a culture that quietly hums along, taking everything that has been thrown in its way – accepting rather than rebelling. This has been ingrained in its peoples’ psyche so deeply that it will take much much more than threats of climate change to spur this mighty elephant into action.

monsoons, climate change and GDP

Monsoons are a phenomenon associated primarily with the Indian sub-continent. It is not just an actual wind pattern but an evoker of emotion in the Indian people. One of the things that brings together all of India is this amazing natural blessing that happens like clockwork year after year. It nourishes crops and dissipates some of the scorching summer heat. Inspite of the havoc it causes with transport systems, drainage and floods, the collective memories are that of rushing out to greet the first coming of rain and breathing in the intoxicating scent of damp earth.

The South-West monsoon and the retreating North-East monsoon form a weather pattern unique to India. The Indian monsoon is another one among many other casualties due to climate change. Effect of climate change on monsoons not only implies change in weather patterns but also a significant impact on agricultural output. Being a predominantly agricultural country, monsoons are essential for a good crop each other. This year, it is especially needed to navigate out of the recession. In the previous years, as the shares of agriculture in GDP shrank, so did the direct impact of monsoons on the economy. However, this year, with large sectors in severe economical downturn, this monsoons plays a crucial role in agricultural production and rural income and demand.

In order to achieve RBI's GDP growth estimates of 6% in 2009-10, it is imperative for agriculture to grow atleast 3% this year which is why a good monsoon is crucial. Monsoons are especially important for kharif crops - sugarcane, rice, corn, soybean and cotton that are sown in June-September. A good monsoon also increases soil moisture for rabi crops sown in winter like wheat. Monsoon-dependant crops account for nearly half of India's agricultural production and the income of about two-thirds of the country's population that lives on agriculture, directly or indirectly.

In the current economic scenario, a bad monsoon can substantially alter fortunes. This can affect sentiment in equity markets, particularly in companies that sell products in rural areas, including consumer goods, automobiles and farm inputs. All industries are currently banking on the rural farm sector at the moment to give the over-all economy a boost. Governments as well are looking for a good monsoon as a poor monsoon will push up the food subsidy bill. This soared from 19,000 crore earlier to 50,000 crore last year.

So much is dependant on the Rain Gods this year so the forecast by the Indian Meteorological Department of 96% rainfall spreads cheer. A forecast alone does not predict a good crop as it does not give any information about speed, timing, amount - often crucial when predicting floods.

The monsoon like many other global weather patterns depend on several factors. Human activities are disrupting the balance on which such weather systems depend on. The price of failure of such systems not only affect economy but also change an essential component of a country's spirit.

election manifestos 2009

The elections have brought out manifestos containing green-agendas of various parties. Governments around the world are anxious to know India's position on a global climate treaty that is supposed to be finalised by December 2009. The Congress, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have unveiled their manifestos released for the April-May Lok Sabha elections.

"Climate change has now emerged as a serious challenge for the world community. India too has begun to feel its impact in different ways," says the manifesto of the Congress, which leads the United Progressive Alliance government.

It says that the National Action Plan for Climate Change, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh unveiled last year, "is an acknowledgment of our responsibility to take credible actions within the overall framework of meeting the development aspirations of our people. This action plan will be implemented in letter and spirit".

The BJP manifesto says it will "pursue national growth objectives through an ecologically sustainable pathway that leads to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.

"We recognise that containing global warming is essential to protecting life and security of people and environment. Mitigating the threat by building a low carbon economy is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century."

Echoing the position taken by the Indian government for a climate treaty, the BJP says it endorses the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities' as enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

"We look at Climate Change in the context of the promises made by the international community for technology transfer and additional financing since Rio which have remained unfulfilled. The BJP will actively pursue the transfer of critical technologies that can have a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions."

The manifesto says the BJP will "lay importance on energy security and sustainable energy pathways by setting clear targets for energy efficiency and renewable energy".

It promises to "provide incentives to encourage institutions and individuals to switch over to energy-saving devices and eco-friendly designs for housing and workplace. Full support will be given for developing low-energy, low-cost technology by both public and private sectors".

The party promises "to invest heavily in developing non-fossil fuel-based clean energy sources, especially for electricity production".

The CPI-M says in its manifesto that it would take "steps to control emission of greenhouse gases through energy efficient technologies and effective regulation" and by promoting solar and other non-conventional energy sources.

Manifesto of BJP includes:
The BJP will pursue national growth objectives through an ecologically sustainable pathway that leads to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. We recognise that containing global warming is essential to protecting life and security of people and environment. Mitigating the threat by building a low carbon economy is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century.

The BJP endorses the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”, as enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. We look at ‘Climate Change’ in the context of the promises made by the international community for technology transfer and additional financing since Rio, which have remained unfulfilled.

The BJP will actively pursue the transfer of critical technologies that can have a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions. Bearing in mind concerns on environment and related climate change issues, the BJP will:

1. Give appropriate importance to containing climate change.
2. Lay importance on energy security and sustainable energy pathways by setting clear targets for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
3. Bring about a complete shift in subsidy from chemical fertilisers to rewarding farmers for pursuing conservation and enhancement of local crop varieties, thereby enhancing the conservation of local agro-biodiversity.
4. Offer attractive support prices and incentives for traditional rain-fed crops and promote markets for them. This will be coupled with a decentralised Public Distribution System that will mop up excess production of local food and distribute it among those households that are food deficit locally. A decentralised PDS will be more climate smart since it will eliminate excessive costs of transportation and storage.
5. Revisit laws for protecting forests and reserve parks to make them more effective in preventing encroachment and man-animal conflict. All resources will be provided for protecting forestland and animal reserves; wilful destruction of forests and killing of wildlife for profit or pleasure will fetch stringent punishment.
6. A permanent Task Force will be set up for the protection and preservation of tigers, lions and other wild cats. A separate Task Force will look after the protection and preservation of elephants. A third Task Force will look after bird sanctuaries. They will be duly empowered to take whatever steps are necessary to achieve their goals.
7. Provide incentives to encourage institutions and individuals to switch over to energy-saving devices and eco-friendly designs for housing and workplace. Full support will be given for developing low-energy, low-cost technology by both public and private sectors. A Group of Experts will be set up to formulate target driven objectives towards this end.

8. Encourage citizens’ participation in protecting the environment and curbing pollution. Schools will be involved in promoting environment and ecology related issues among children.
9. Adopt a mission-mode approach to clean all rivers.
10. Launch a national programme for citizens’ participation in reforestation, agroforestry and social forestry by planting a billion trees every year.
11. Importance given to programmes to arrest the melting of Himalayan glaciers from which most major rivers in North India originate.

Excerpts political party manifestos with regard to environment and climate change these are the original excerpts from party manifestos, just an effort to bring to focus the stand of various political parties on this issue.

Manifesto of The CONGRESS PARTY includes:
We will protect India’s natural environment and take steps to rejuvenate it. The Indian National Congress has declared the sacred Ganga as a “national river”. The Ganga River Basin Authority has been established with the Prime Minister at its head for ensuring that development needs are met in an ecologically sustainable manner. This Authority will be accorded the highest priority. Water security is of paramount concern to the Indian National Congress and steps will be taken to enhance it measurably for local communities.

India has an enormously rich biodiversity that is under threat on account of various reasons. The Indian National Congress commits itself to strengthening people’s movements whose objective will be to protect and preserve our bio-resources and ensure their sustainable use.

Climate change has now emerged as a serious challenge for the world community. India too has begun to feel its impact in different ways. The Congress-led UPA government has already unveiled a National Action Plan for Climate Change. It is an acknowledgment of our responsibility to take credible actions within the overall framework of meeting the development aspirations of our people for higher economic growth and a higher standard of living. This action plan will be implemented in letter and spirit.


Manifesto of THE CPI(M) includes:
• Making the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) process transparent, accountable and independent of vested interests; Reviewing the EIA Notification, 2009
• Undertaking steps to control emission of greenhouse gases through energy efficient technologies and effective regulation; Promoting solar and other non-conventional energy sources
• Increasing central allocations for Natural Calamity Relief Fund; States to have more powers in tackling natural calamities and disasters
• Checking pollution of rivers and other water bodies through effective regulation
• Implementing the Coastal Zone Regulation Act and the Wetlands
Regulatory Authority in ways as to promote long-term interests of the people and of the environment Water Resources
• A National Water Policy to be formulated to enhance water
availability for domestic use, irrigation and industry; provision of potable drinking water to all habitations to be accorded priority
• Curbing privatization and commercialization of water resources; tackling depletion of ground water through greater regulation

elections, environment and corporate democracy

I'm going to start off this post by saying that I'm not politically minded nor am I well-aware about current political scenario. So this is an attempt at a stab in the dark at what I perceive and what role the current elections could play. Bear with me.

The 15th Lok Sabha elections are round the corner. All the parties contesting the elections have already come out with their respective election manifestos. The manifestos give public a sneak-peek at the agendas of each party.

In a recent poll campaign, about 10,000 college students across the country, some of them are first-time voters had signed on letters to the leaders asking them whether their parties have taken any policy regarding environment and climate change. The letter stated that environment must be a major issue in the manifestoes of the political parties. It is not only issues like climate change and renewable energy resources that require immediate attention but also issues like pollution, waste management, forests, wildlife issues and various inter-linked social problems that are vital for consideration.

It is very clear that solutions to environmental issues can not be achieved only through awareness. They have to be backed by political will. Hence, the new government must make it very clear that it is prepared to address these issues by introducing positive initiatives. But prior to that, the national parties must come up with a clear vision on the above issues through their election manifesto. After all, ‘would be’ leaders should know the importance of understanding, vision and commitment for the issues of livelihood and ecological sustainability. Hence it is very important to make environment concerns a voter's agenda.

However the current political scenario is one of utter disillusionment. People have no faith in their leaders and the leaders only want quick-fix solutions to a variety of problems which they try to achieve by giving away free food and other 'goodies'. Obviously this only aims at exploitation of the poor. Instead if funds could be diverted towards the education of this sector, there is no bounds to where we can go as a country.

But the question of whether corporate democracy or apathy is holding the country back is out there for debate. Democracy is a noble concept but as a form of government, rarely works much like many other political platforms. But it is the best we have for now and the way we work around its limitations is the key to a viable future. It is now supremely obvious that economic growth and ecology are intricately linked. But until people at the grass-roots are educated, this concept will be lost to them.

Even if parties do put in eco-friendly aims into their manifestos, how many actually get done? it is very easy to promise something in the run of running for office but most of the promises are forgotten even before the chosen person has taken the oath of office. Disillutionment is easy. So is apathy. And in order to hold these parties to their promises, the only viable thing that works is public pressure. Even the most powerful political party cannot stand in the face of disapproval of a billion people. Ultimately its not choosing someone who can best deal with these challenges. It is spreading awareness so that public pressure demands the best solutions from whomever is elected.

India is still a young country. It is a country than can learn from its own past mistakes and the mistakes of other countries. It is a country with people intrinsically wanting a better life and needing a little help in finding the path... maybe to greatness. It is a country of hope, of fatalistic attitudes. It is a country whose people have immense courage and heart-breaking humanity even in the face of soul-crushing poverty. We can have the whole future because we have such an unbelievably rich past. But like all best made plans, there are obstacles. It is in the hands of the people to move away from the cheapening of democracy and choose the form of democracy that is full of the ideals it promises.

Into this heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

- Rabindranath Tagore

sinking against rising tides

Global warming has brought about yet another social problem - climate change refugees. To some people the reality of living with the impacts of climate change has never been so stark. As predicted, the effects of global warming are most severe on those who did the least to contribute to it and can least afford measures to adapt or save themselves. The disappearance of Lohachara beneath the waters of the Bay of Bengal created the world’s first environmental refugees. There are similar islands facing the same fate amid the vastness of the low-lying Sundarbans, the largest mangrove wilderness on the planet.

A third of the Sundarbans lies in India and two-thirds in Bangladesh. It is here that the waters of two of Asia’s biggest rivers, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, form the world’s largest delta. Across the India portion of the delta, homes have been swept away, fields and fruit trees ravaged by worsening monsoon rains, livelihoods sunk beneath the waves.

Lohachara Island was the world’s first populated island to be lost to climate change and its disappearance left more than 7,000 people homeless. Neighbouring Ghorama has lost a third of its land mass in the last five years. To the north, Sagar, the largest of India’s Sundarbans islands, already houses 20,000 refugees from the tides. The influx of displaced people is swamping the original inhabitants of Sagar, putting pressure on the island’s already fragile resources. Scientists believe the Ghorama islanders’ fate is being sealed 2,000km away, at the source of the Ganges, where the Himalayan glaciers are melting faster than ever before and the islands are bearing the brunt. Can you even imagine the feeling of literally watching your land sink beneath your feet?

Environmental refugees are the worst kind of refugees because they can never return. Their land is lost forever and they have no place to go. Governments have no plan for these stricken people whose only fault was to live where they have been living for centuries.

e-waste in india

Computers sure are handy when they are working but once they've chewed their last byte, things can get a little messy. Toxic chemicals, carcinogens and heavy metals are all part of what makes their clocks tick and improper disposal can bring them all a little too close for human comfort.

Computer recycling is nothing new, but getting your old electronics to the great motherboard in the sky can be tricky to do responsibly. For years, developed countries have been exporting tons of electronic waste for inexpensive, labor-intensive recycling and disposal. Though the Indian Supreme Court banned the import of hazardous waste in 1997, e-waste still enters the country under the guise of charitable or re-usable materials, all duty-free.

It is estimated that the US alone exports 80% of its e-waste to China, India and Pakistan. Funnily enough, India’s regulatory body, the Central Pollution Control Board, continues to deny that e-waste is coming into India. But regardless, it is certain that legal loopholes are being exploited by importers, traders and recyclers alike to take advantage of a profitable business with a high human and environmental impact. Large e-waste centres exist in Delhi, Meerut, Ferozabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, with 25,000 recyclers working in Delhi alone.

A report by India's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research shows that e-waste heading into India is increasing by 10% a year, with nearly all of it heading into urban slums for disassembly - which means a huge amount of toxins hitting a huge number of people. The total amount of India's e-waste imports is projected to reach 434,000 metric tons this year, and about 25,000 people in the country's slums will make up the bulk of the recycling industry there. The report notes that there is almost no oversight or regulation for dismantling used electronics there, which contain toxic substances like lead, mercury and cadmium, and are often disassembled in environmentally and toxic ways.

e-Waste is no small issue. Because it provides a form of income for those people working as dismantlers, their health is risked for survival - not a recipe for thriving. As stated above, the report estimates that 25,000 people in India's slums are working in this 'recycling' industry, where 95% of the e-waste imported will be dismantled. But that's just the people working in a way that can be reported - that's not all the people living in the area, breathing the air, drinking the water, walking past workshops. There is no really strong, wide-spread system for responsibly recycling e-waste.

Workers are poorly-protected in an environment where e-waste from PC monitors, PCBs, CDs, motherboards, cables, toner cartridges, light bulbs and tube-lights are burned in the open, releasing lead, mercury toxins into the air. Metals and non-degradable materials such as gold and platinum, aluminium, cadmium, mercury, lead and brominated flame-retardants are retrieved. “It is a means of livelihood for unorganized recyclers. Due to lack of awareness, they are risking their health and the environment as well. They use strong acids to retrieve precious metals such as gold. Working in poorly-ventilated enclosed areas without masks and technical expertise results in exposure to dangerous and slow-poisoning chemicals,” says Wilma Rodrigues of Bangalore-based NGO Saahas, adding that there are no clear guidelines for the unorganized sector to handle e-waste.

“Trade in e-waste, like that in other scrap, is dominated by the ‘informal’ sector. Although the waste trade sector in India is known as part of the ‘informal’ sector, it has a system that is highly organized with extensive co-ordination in an established network,” says K K Shajahan, principal consultant for Bangalore’s Indian Institute of Material Management. Though there have been efforts to organize and manage e-waste recycling from state to state – the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, for example, has set down guidelines and authorized two companies to oversee corporate e-waste recycling as per their guidelines – nevertheless, some corporations, rather than to deal with the paperwork involved with the recycling procedures, will bypass them by passing e-waste off as “donations” to the unorganized sector.

According to Toxics Link, a Delhi-based NGO, India annually generates $1.5 billion worth of e-waste domestically, with the booming IT sector being the largest contributor, as 30% of its machines reach obsolescence annually. Bangalore alone generates 8,000 tons a year. A report put out by International Resource Group (IRG) estimates that by 2012, India’s domestic waste alone will amount to 1,600,000 tons.

Although the largely informal e-waste disposal industry and corresponding environmental threat is nothing new in India, it may now be changing as one of India’s largest metropolises is now boasting its very own professional e-waste pick-up service. Based in Mumbai, the privately owned and operated Eco Reco is the first of its kind in the state of Maharashtra and fourth in the country. Firms such as Eco Reco are taking advantage of a booming but hazardous industry, where e-waste is usually dismantled by workers with little protection in recycling plants that have even fewer safety and environmental contamination guidelines.

(Sourced from: www.treehugger.com)

lions of india

Not many people know that there are lions in India. I get laughed at for even suggesting something as 'ridiculous' as that. Lions are normally associated with the African Savannah but like the two kinds of elephants, there are two kinds of lions. The sub-species can only be found in a single location in the wild - the Gir forest in Gujarat, India. Although genetically distinct from the sub-Saharan African lion, the difference is not large. Now that we've established that the do exist - what are they differences? Asiatic lions are smaller, with shaggier coats and shorter manes making the ears visible among other minor physical differences. However, their social behaviour remains much the same.

Currently due to their small population size and similarity in gene pool they are threatened by habitat loss and disease. After India gained independence in 1947, the Gir forest was declared a natural park and sanctuary. The most important threat to the lions is the increasing hostility towards them by the resident human population - no surprises there! Lions are poisoned for attacking livestock. Farmers on the periphery of the Gir forest frequently use crude and illegal electrical fences by powering them with high voltage overhead power lines. These are usually intended to protect their crops but lions and other wildlife are also killed. The Government is coming up with schemes to alleviate the situation and educate the people about conservation.

Considering that the entire population of lions live in one area, they are extremely vulnerable to disease, climatic, man-made and natural disasters. The Gir forest currently has around 350 lions and shifting some of the population to different parts of India will ensure their survival better. The Central government is already pressing hard for shifting the lions from Gir to Kuno-Palpur sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. This is being applauded by conservationists as a forward thinking and encouraging step in the right direction.

According to Pradeep Khanna in an article in Times of India, additional principal chief conservator of forest, creating gene pools were part of the longterm effort to save the Asiatic lion. "There are two ways of conservation - one, within the environment and second, bringing the animal out of the environment and conserving the genetic diversity. The gene pool will have 10 to 20 animals per pool," said Khanna.

The IUCN lists this sub-species as critically endangered. They are additionally vulnerable because all 350 lions are inbred from 13 pairs which makes the immune system of these animals highly compromised. Asiatic lions were once found all over Southwest Asia and Europe. Aristotle and Herodotus wrote that they were found in the Balkans. The last one died out in Turkey in the 19th century. If current conservation efforts are supported, the Asiatic lion will be here to stay. If not, like the ancient lions of Greece... they will become a myth.