Skip to main content

If coal is here to stay, so are credible threats of 'calamitous changes' to our life-style

By Shankar Sharma* 
"Coal is here to stay despite India's ambitious renewable energy goals", says a PTI report. But the same report has failed to acknowledge the fact that credible threats of calamitous changes to our life-style, and the growing threats to early extinction of mankind are also here to stay, and that the same can escalate with the passage of each year with such a common but unfortunate frame of mind in our authorities.
One can only wonder whether there is no one in our governance structure who can think beyond today and beyond the business as usual (BAU) scenario of high GDP growth rate, and foresee the near future for our children and grandchildren on the basis of a plethora of global scientific reports, which have elaborately highlighted the perils of continuing with the BAU scenario.
What is worrying is the grand silence or indifference of most sections of our intellectuals, media and law makers on such credible threats. It will be highly unfortunate if we, as a welfare oriented society, ignore our own associated responsibilities to our own families, children and grandchildren. 
 It is also sad that few media houses, which are seen as carrying some articles on the topic, are seen as failing in undertaking due diligence in such reporting, and in asking relevant questions of critical importance to our people.
But why is it so hard for our bureaucrats and political leaders to learn from the associated developments and alternatives from around the world?
---
*Power & Climate Policy Analyst, Karnataka

Comments

Post a Comment

NOTE: Hateful, abusive comments won't be published. -- Editor

TRENDING

The “Dr” debate masks a larger crisis in allied-health education

By Dr P K Gupta*  India’s allied-health professions have long operated in a fragmented landscape of universities, hospitals, State authorities and private institutions, each with its own nomenclature, curriculum and standards. The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 was meant to correct this by creating a unified national framework for education, professional regulation and institutional recognition. Few dispute the need for such oversight. The real question is whether standardisation is quietly becoming synonymous with longer courses, additional internships and new professional titles—changes that risk masking deeper gaps in clinical training, institutional capacity and affordability.
Post a Comment
»

Tibetan activist’s self-immolation sparks fresh concerns over cultural rights

By Kumar Krishnan*  The question of Tibet has once again entered international discourse, raising difficult questions about human rights, religious freedom, cultural identity, language, and the relationship between political power and the rights of indigenous communities. On 20 August 2026, the Kashag and the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile jointly organised a solidarity prayer service and peace march to mark the 49th day since the death of Lobga Rangzen, a Tibetan activist who died after self-immolating on 2 July in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Post a Comment
»

IMF's policies 'stabilise' external creditors' balance sheets, 'generate' crisis in Africa

By Grieve Chelwa, Vijay Prashad   Across Africa, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) presents itself as the custodian of macroeconomic stability. Its latest Article IV staff reports on Ethiopia . Malawi , Nigeria , South Africa , and Zambia are written for economies with very different histories and institutions. Yet they converge on a familiar prescription: fiscal consolidation, tighter monetary policy, market-determined exchange rates, subsidy reform, deregulation and ‘private-sector-led growth’. No serious economist can dismiss macroeconomic stability.
Post a Comment
»