India 'cares little' about UN chief's call: Ending fossil fuel use only way to save planet

By Shankar Sharma*
A few of the recent new items should indicate to us the seriously troubling days ahead of us in view of the irrational/ irresponsible stand taken by our government, which likes to call itself a global leader, in various COP meets such as in COP28.
Most deplorable aspect of such a stand is that there has been no explanation/ public consultation/ substantiation on the policies/ action plans to address the catastrophic consequences of climate change.
These people claiming to represent a country as a responsible member of the UN seems to have no care about the UN chief's call (as well as call by other global agencies such as UNEP, WHO, IPCC etc.) at COP28: "Ending fossil fuel use only way to save planet".
The much touted slogan: "sub ke saath, sub ka vikaas, sub ka vishwaas, sub ka prayas" appears like just a rhetoric.
Taking pride in claiming to be the fifth largest economy, and hoping to be the third largest soon, it seems to have no responsibility/ accountability attached to such claims in honestly minimising the associated ecological destruction.
India's lofty claims on being global leader in climate action, through statements such as "India reduced emission intensity by 33%, reached target early" can be seen as totally ineffective to reduce the climate change related threats, when we also get to read reports to say that "India’s emissions up 4.6% in 2016-19, new climate plans show".
It should not be difficult for anyone to realise that even if statement such as "The country aims to reduce GDP emission intensity by 45 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels" become true, the net effect on GHG emissions by 2030 can be that India's total GHG emissions can go up by a considerable margin since it's GDP also would have doubled or trebled by that time.
Even if it is the case that our leaders do not care for much of the global pressure to reduce its overall carbon foot print, it must not ignore the associated consequences on the true welfare of all sections of its people, which also includes the flora, fauna and the general environment on a sustainable basis.
So, the country needs to urgently undertake a rational set of actions, not only to effectively reduce its total GHG emissions by 2030 and beyond, but also to adequately protect its critical natural resources, as might be indicated by the acceptable pollution/ contamination levels of its air, water and soil, and by ensuring forest & tree cover of its land to an extent of at least 33%.
When we objectively consider the various associated policies and ad-hoc statements of the govt., it is impossible to project the feasibility of such a happy scenario even by 2050. Even if our elite public / higher educational/ research institutions ignore to focus on such critical and strategic issues, the role of civil society groups become vastly more important to pursue our govt. to act rationally, as called by more than 1,000 climate scientists.
---
*Power & Climate Policy Analyst

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit.

Gujarat Bitcoin scam worth Rs 5,000 crore "linked" with BJP leaders: Need for Supreme Court monitored probe

By Shaktisinh Gohil* BJP hit a jackpot in the form of demonetisation, which it used as an alibi to convert black money into white in Gujarat. Even as party scrambles for answers of how the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), whose director is BJP president Amit Shah, received old currency worth Rs 745.58 crore in just five days, and how Rs 3118.51 crore was deposited in 11 district cooperative banks linked with Gujarat BJP leaders, a new mega Bitcoin scam, worth more than Rs 5,000 crore has been unraveled.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

From Gujarat to Gaza: Tracing India’s growing complicity in Israel’s war economy

By Rajiv Shah I have been forwarded a report titled “Profit and Genocide: Indian Investments in Israel”. It has been prepared by the advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) and authored by Hajira Puthige. The report was released following the Government of India’s signing of a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with Israel.

Counterview

Search This Blog