Climate issue on poll agenda

The manifestoes of both major parties in the country have devoted some space to green issues — possibly so explicitly for the first time in India’s election history — and this should be viewed as an extremely positive development. Having said that, these statements would probably remain mere platitudes given the language in which they are couched. When US President Barack Obama made a similar commitment during his election campaign, he committed a significant amount ($150 billion) of resources to the development of green jobs based on alternative energy forms. “We’ll invest $15 billion a year over the next decade in renewable energy, creating five million new green jobs that pay well, can’t be outsourced and help end our dependence on foreign oil.” A clear and contestable statement of intent. By saying so, Obama made himself accountable to the American public and to the world at large. India’s political parties must be willing to stand up and make themselves accountable on such issues as well. The Congress manifesto recognises the importance of water security and biodiversity as also the fact that climate change considerations will have a significant role to play in the future. Since the national action plan on climate change (NAPCC) was drafted under the Congress government, it was simpler for them to peg their climate-friendliness on NAPCC. However, their commitment on water security and on preserving India’s bio-resources is vague and could be interpreted in many different ways. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other side, has been a little more articulate in expressing its commitment to the environment. It has listed several points in its manifesto that cover a range of climate change, energy security and environmental issues. The bottom line, however, still remains, by and large, the same — the manifesto is weak on environmental and resource issues, but does commit to 20 per cent of the power generation capacity in the next five years (of 1,20,000 mw) coming from renewable energy. The mechanisms for achieving this target are unclear and past records of performance uninspiring. However, it is a quantified target. It is also essential that issues of energy and environment are not seen in isolation from the larger issues that the government is dealing with. The BJP manifesto, for example, emphasises the fact that it is guided by three goals — good governance, development and security. Good governance in the context of energy security would call for the creation of an energy pricing system that is transparent and reflects the opportunity cost of energy supply. Subsidies would need to be delivered in a targeted and effective manner. This is a politically sensitive issue, which all governments have shied away from. At the same time, the manifesto talks about providing food security in the form of a certain quantum of rice or wheat (35 kg) to BPL (below poverty line) families at a highly subsidised price as well as waiving agricultural loans. These sops are similar to what the Congress has also put forward for its electorate. However, both parties must recognise, as they probably do, the fact that subsidies of this nature lead to huge financial leakages in the system along with a significantly lower-than-desired impact on the poor. India needs to completely transform its system of sops and subsidies into an aggregate income subsidy delivered directly to the beneficiary population in a graduated manner. In the last election, the issues of “bijli, sadak and paani” resounded among the electorate and one would have assumed that the government in power would have addressed these issues seriously. In reality, we have again met less than 50 per cent of our power generating capacity addition targets in this time period as a result of which energy shortages have increased dramatically and, on the water front, the state of Madhya Pradesh has gone dry! If we look back at performance during the rule of other governments as well, the story would not be very different. In sum, the value of the sustainability commitments in the election manifestos put forward by various parties is very low. The energy and environmental challenges facing the country are so critical that merely playing around with words is unlikely to win elections – the Indian electorate is smart. A radically different non-partisan commitment to these issues is required and irrespective of the government in power – either nationally or in a state – the political parties should stand by their promises.