The first lesson is that the main source of environmental destruction in the world is the demand for natural resources generated by the consumption of the rich(whether they are rich nations or rich individuals and groups within nations)…The second is that it is the poor who are affected the most by environmental destruction.

                                                                                                                                           – (Anil Agarwal, 1986)

The climate change debate has reached a new level of North-South divide in the recently concluded Copenhagen Summit, where the poor nations asked for an increased participation in reducing emissions from richer countries. This demand is justified as the amount of resources consumed by the people in rich nations is far greater as compared to poor nations. Considering all the major international policies that the Developed World has made in the years gone by, the statement above seems, and is, true.

Some of the staggering facts with reference to the disparity of per capita resource use between rich and poor nations can be stated- just to state an example developed countries consumed 5,312,801kilo tonne of fossil fuels and developing countries consumed 3,771,037kilo tonnesof fossil fuels per capita in 2005 (ref.www.earthtrends.org). This inequality not only exists between nations but also between people of the same nation.

Robert Wade writes in the International Monetary Fund’s publication “Finance and Development” that:

            “The concentration of world income in the wealthiest quintile (fifth) of the world’s population is indeed shocking and cannot meet any plausible test of legitimacy.”

We see the personification of this statement in our country also where the handful minority of industrial, political and social elite rule and flout the laws of the land. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar said-

         “We must begin by acknowledging that there is a complete absence of two things in Indian Society. One of these is equality. On the social plane we have an India based on the principles of graded inequality, which means elevation for some and degradation for others. On the economic plane we have a society in which there are some who have immense wealth as against many who live in abject poverty.”

We believe in equity among nations. Every nation has a right to development. All people have a right to be able to utilize the bounty of resources nature has provided them with to create a better life for themselves and their children. But a few nations or people have the right to exploit resources belonging to a vast majority of people. In their greed for a luxurious lifestyle a few people around the world have used up resources and created a climate unsuitable for human survival. Climate change will affect some of the poorest countries in the world; some of them could be totally wiped off the face of the earth. The nations responsible for this calamity must pay the price of climate change and also lead a more sustainable lifestyle. Willingness to pay for their mistakes and then continuing with environmentally degrading policies and unethical economic growth is not the solution.

Economic inequality is also a factor affecting climate change. 85 % of the world’s population earns 20% of the gross world income and 15% of the world’s people make 80% of the gross world income (ref. www.worldbank.org). These handful of people are in a position to dominate world markets and world economies. Economic development always neglects environmental and social impacts of development. The poorer majority is exploited for their resources and in the process the environment is degraded.

Multi corporations like Coca- Cola has been accused of doing exactly that in a Kerala. They leave in their wake a degraded environment and an unhealthy population. Car brands sell petrol guzzling SUV’s in our prosperity hungry country. The indicators of economic growth-consumerism and credit debt in the urban areas are making themselves evident in our country as they have in developed countries. In all economies the problem lies in the fact that economic growth benefits only a certain section of society. The poor are sidelined. So is the environment. Any economy must be analysed for its cash flow and equal monetary distribution must be given to all stakeholders including the ones who are affected by the economy in terms of resource use and pollution caused by the economy. The conflict between the poor and the rich over environmental issues, especially climate change stems from the fact that the rich are unwilling to curb their green house gas emissions. Unfortunately in Copenhagen, India advocated this highhandedness of the rich nations by helping in the creation and signing the now famous Copenhagen Accord. The Accord does not give any thought to amount of emissions to be cut down by countries and literally bribes poorer countries by providing bait money for acceptance of the accord. The truth is that the world stands at crossroads today. The real and present danger is Climate Change. It is going to affect the vast majority of the human race. It is upto us to either curb this crisis through sustained world co-operation or to ignore it and face the wrath of nature.

Meenal Tatpati

(She is a student of M.Sc. Part –II of the Department of Environmental Sciences,university of Pune, and a frequent writer on environmental issues.)

The main reasons of pollution, in and around Punjab can be sited as follows,which need immediate attention by the concerned authorities-

• During widening of NH-1 (National Highway) trees have been chopped from New Delhi to Amritsar covering road distance of about 300 miles, and as being noticed, no alternate plantation has been done. This has caused the shelters of the innumerable birds being destroyed, along with the destruction of habitat of various types and innumerable number of insects have been  destroyed, although not taking into view the loss of oxygen, nutrition and other benefits.
• Pollution Certificates for vehicles are issued without emission check, and from my personal experience, the pollution certificates have been issued in many cases without the test. The diesel rickshaws, which are thousands in number, are not genuinely registered with District Transport Authority, and don’t even hold proper Pollution Certificates.
• It may surprise you that, rice is being grown in sandy areas,(Although rice requires excessive standing water, which is successful in clayey soil) but still sandy soil in many areas of Punjab submersible pumps are used that drain excessive underground water, hence lowering the ground water levels. These days due to inadequate water supply, submersible pumps are being installed for domestic use all over India.
• After harvesting wheat and rice, its residue in the farms are burnt, by spreading diesel or kerosene oil, which  not only causes excessive carbon emissions from acres of land but also badly effects agricultural land.
• Absence of required equipments to avoid emissions in small business industries is a common scenario in this part of Punjab.
• Paper waste is also found in large quantity with other waste in these areas. Still at many places registration of vehicles, driving license, bus & railway tickets aren’t completely computerized, which shows lack or apathy towards the paperless office techniques. People have to fill paper forms, hence wasting great amount of paper. Another example seen in Universities or offices, that if any urgent notice was to be put on college notice boards from Director office, the hard-copy is sent to all departments, then its photocopy is kept in department records and the original is then displayed on notice boards. My opinion is that, the same notice should made to appear directly via LCD screens, without big hierarchy, which may save a large amount of paper as well as money of these universities and departments. .
• Garbage is spread around many places in cities and no recycling bins are available, as has been made compulsory by  The municipal waste management and handling rules, applicable to the city municipal corporations. Due to which people throw the same around residential localities and canals.
• If we say about the vehicular pollution, the solution i.e. the electric bikes and cars are expensive and are available, with much accessibility as the conventional petrol vehicles. And about cycling, metropolitan cities like Ludhiana, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta do not have proper cycling tracks and if they do have, are spread in only few patches, which are not well connected, due to which cycling is now only poor man’s drive. The  carbon emissions, dust, due to this pollution is too much around and  people get clad with dust and smoke, even within a journey.
• Hardware recycling facility is not a common practice in India. As per my knowledge only Nokia, HP, Dell recycle their own products  and other such facility are provided in only few places in India like Bangalore, which is on commercial basis only.
• The biggest hindrance is that, people are least bothered for environmental depictions. Petitions are only filed, even though rule/act is made but not followed by people or implemented properly by authorities. Population is so much that it has become difficult to control the uneducated. There are many people who don’t have unique identity (alike social security number in US) on whom case may be filed.
  paper.
• Funerals of dead bodies are done using burning wood. Many cremation grounds are situated nearby schools or residential areas in cities.
• Industries have been established in the cities within municipal limits, making local residential area nothing less then hell.
• Hospital waste management can also be found like syringes around hospitals also, that may also cause diseases including HIV-AIDS, which are mostly used by drug taking people.
• Without prescription supply of pesticides and insecticides are provided to farmers, making vegetables and fruits unhygienic, which ultimately is decreasing the soil fertility, nutritional value of agricultural products and the run-off to water bodies increases the eutrophication.
• Forest area lands in Himachal Pradesh (north India) have been destroyed, hotel industry is booming. Although it attracts tourism, but forest land is becoming extinct, for example places like Shivalik Hills, Kalka, Kasuali, Shimla, Manali.
• No waterless urinals and toilets are available at public places. Taps and flushes may be found leaking and overflowing water tanks.
• Electricity power cuts are common in India, as a result of which diesel generator sets are commonly used in India, causing noise, air pollution simultaneously. Government has already banned them, but still they are in use, although no alternative power cuts solutions are available for commercial places where they are use and thus people keep on violating the rules.

Avoid pollution, be the solution…
Burn fat, not fuel….

-Sukla Sen

The Run Up

The draft Bill which had been approved by the Union Cabinet on November 20 2009¹ was eventually listed for tabling in the Lok Sabha on March 15 2010², the penultimate day of the first half of the Budget Session of the Parliament, after a lapse of almost 4 months.

In fact, the Bill was in the offing for quite some time by then, since the successful clinching of the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, on October 10 2008³.

The Deal has, it may be pertinent to recall, opened up for India the doors to the global nuclear market, thereby making the tag ‘Indo-US’ somewhat of a misnomer in so far as the tag conveys the impression of strict bilaterality⁴. The market had remained out of bounds since the first (“peaceful”) nuclear explosion carried out by India way back on May 18 1974 with the plutonium obtained from the spent fuel rods of the nuclear reactor CIRUS supplied by Canada⁵ to mentor India onto the path of developing capabilities to generate nuclear power (only) for “peaceful” purposes. The nuclear explosion, despite the disingenuous tag, “peaceful”, was looked upon by the rest of the world as a clear breach of faith, if not worse. The reactions were strong and almost instantaneous. India was, as a consequence, practically shooed out of the global nuclear market. With passage of time the barriers went further up and up. And, more so, after the second round of five blasts, on May 11 and 13 1998, declaring itself openly as a nuclear weapon power and attracting strong condemnations from the rest of the world⁶. Things became even tougher.

But if the US had earlier taken the lead to impose sanctions in response to Indian blasts, under George Bush, it took a unilateral initiative to radically reverse the situation in 2005. The contours of that move were duly captured in a joint statement issued on July 18 by George Bush and Manmohan Singh from Washington DC. After traversing a long and tortuous path marked by cajolements, mainly by India, and muscle flexing by the US, the international community was sort of coerced into accepting India back as a legitimate partner in (civilian) nuclear trade. The 45-member Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) on September 6 2008 at the end of two rounds of stormy sessions granted a unique waiver to India, completely disregarding Pakistan’s shrill cry for a similar, and even-handed, treatment. The grand reward for the grossly aberrant India stood out in sharp contrast also with the harsh treatment being meted out to Iran, a signatory to the NPT, on the ground of its presumed intention to develop nuclear weapons under the guise of working towards nuclear power despite repeated denials and access granted to IAEA inspections of its facilities⁷.

This Bill is generally being looked upon as a continuum of that process, allegedly, in order to ensure a “level playing field” for the American enterprises – to let them have a significant share of the cake⁸, the Indian nuclear market – a part payback for the American generosity bestowed upon India, for its very own reasons though. The move had, however, been first conceived by the then NDA government way back in 1999⁹.

When the US Secretary Of State, Hillary Clinton, visited India in July 2009¹⁰, there were talks of the Bill getting passed by the Indian Parliament. But nothing of that sort happened. Again in late November 2009, when Singh was to meet Obama in Washington DC¹¹, there was talk of getting the Bill enacted. Even then, it did not happen. The Union Cabinet had dutifully approved the Bill just on the eve of the visit though. With Manmohan Singh to visit the US to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, called by President Barack Obama, slated to be held on April 12-131¹², the government was again trying to push it through. Never mind the considerable cooling off of Indo-US relations in the meanwhile as compared to the George Bush days¹³.

It is of course quite another matter altogether that the Bill could not eventually be tabled on account of the shift in relationship of forces within the Parliament caused by the introduction, and its passage in the Upper House, of the much lauded and controversial Women’s reservation Bill¹⁴. And now, given the realignment of forces, whatever be the intentions of the government, no easy or early passage is on the cards. But that does in no way mitigate the salience of the Bill and its serious implications. In any case, Barack Obama is scheduled to visit India later this year¹⁵. So the pressure will persist.

The Bill

Since the Bill was approved by the Union Cabinet on November 20 2009, at least three significant changes have been made. One, the name has been changed from ‘The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2009’ to ‘The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010’¹⁶. Two, in clause 6. (2), the quantum of “liability of an operator for each nuclear incident” has been revised upwards from “rupees three hundred crores” to “rupees five hundred crores”. Three, a new “Chapter”, ‘Offences and Penalties’ with 4 clauses, has been added. Also, the Chapter IV, ‘Claims and Awards’, has been somewhat restructured and expanded.

The Bill, in the present form, is contained in 28 (26 + ii) pages. It has 7 Chapters constituted of 49 clauses and also ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ with ‘Notes on clauses’ following plus two memoranda. Continue reading »

Indian Premier League, a phenomenon which has caught the attention of one and all has tied up with UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) with an idea to make the games green. This as the wesbite claims they are doing by calculating their carbon footprints (amount of carbon emissions happening because of the games), by making team captains take a pledge to reduce their team’s environmental impact, by asking players, sponsors and partners to be more mindful of their footprints and by creating awareness amongst the general public through ” Tip of the day” which the commentator announces just before the toss for every match.

Let us look at the above initiatives and some other aspects of games to understand if IPL is really going green.

I have been following the tip of the day since a few matches and this is what some of the tips are like:

1. Save electricity by switching off electrical appliances
2. Save water by closing your taps
3. Reduce, reuse and recycle

Now, even if we have someone who is totally against the idea of working for environment and we ask him/her to tell us three ways to protect the environment, he/she with a very high degree of probability might give out the above three points . If we ask students in school about three ways to save environment, they might as well tell us the above mentioned ways. The point is that these tips are so basic and regular that they neither enhance the knowledge of the spectators nor add any value to them. If at all IPL had to include the section of “Tip of the day”, they could have been more specific in guiding people on how they can adopt green lifestyle habits and make a contribution to the environment.

Similarly loose is the initiative of asking captains, players and sponsors to take a pledge to reduce their carbon emissions. A pledge turning into an action is a very rare possibility. Rather it would have been better to provide green options to our players and make them choose the same. This is so because in a number of cases it has been observed that people want to contribute to environment but they don’t know how. This is a similar situtation as well, wherein players might be willing to help the environment but if we will not provide them options or solutions to choose from, they will be unable to do so on their own.

The initiative to calculate the carbon footprints is certainly a step in the right direction. But I do hope that this is just not another exercise to showcase to the world that IPL is going green when the reality may be far from it. If we look at the existing scenario there are a number of situations/actions which might be resulting in excessive carbon emissions. Some of the actions are mentioned hereunder:

1. Travelling of players across cities though air planes
2. Travelling of players from their hotels to the stadium and back
3. Travelling of spectators from their homes/offices to the stadium and back
4. Loud music being played in the stadium
5. Firecracker show at the end of every match (sometimes even in between)
6. Unhealthy food being provided at the venues in the form of burgers, patties, cold drinks, alcohol etc
7. Waste leftover by spectators and players after the match
8. After match parties which extend to early hours of the next morning
9. Players residing in 5 start hotels

Now, I am not someone who is against the games neither am I saying that above activities should not happen. I am thoroughly enjoying watching all the matches and also fully supporting Delhi Darevevills (who unlike last time are not doing so well in this edition). All that I am trying to say that if we take a close look especially with the intention of making the games green, some of these activities could be totally avoided (like the firecracker show), some could be toned down (like the number of times the loud music is played can be reduced, post match parties can end a little early) and in some cases people can be provided several green options to choose from. Some of the green options can be:

1. Using electric vehicles to move the players from hotels to stadiums and back
2. Improve public transport facility and stop parking of private vehicles near the stadium. This can be achieved asking the local goverment for support and also hiring a few buses to enable people to travel together
3. Provide healthy/organic food inside the stadiums
4. Set up a proper mechanism of waste collection and recycling post the match
5. Ask the 5 star hotels to comply to some basic environment standards so that minimum usage and wastage of energy happens (Players staying in 5 start hotels is infact resulting in highest carbon emissions)

Because environment has become such a hot topic of discussion these days, it is being used by individuals and corporates to project a certain image of themselves which is inclined towards a critical social cause. IPL seems like no exception as is clear from the above analysis.

Making a difference to the environment is all about making the right choices. And if you would make the right choices, the results would show automatically and you wouldn’t have to indulge in showoff.

When you become a part of the media, there are two things that will happen to you:

1. You literally work like a donkey, and get very few breaks.

2. While hunting for news, you notice those little things which you had overlooked before.

And I am no exception.

So when I got a precious break for the Republic Day, I rushed to the best year-round resort giving the best customized services- my home in Durgapur.

On the 26th, I woke up early, and decided to take a drive around the city, and rediscover my hometown. Despite being the industrial centre of West Bengal, Durgapur was largely a green place, with acres of deciduous trees covering huge areas of the several townships, the posh residential localities and the emerging educational hubs. But now, the greens are fast giving way to concrete giants, and a string of small-to-medium industrial units are making headway along the National Highway. In the morning, the GT road was an impressive sight, with a stretch of eucalyptus and acacias and vegetable fields on its right contrasting sharply against the unpopulated fields on the left, with the factories seen at a distance across.

I looked at another sponge iron factory under construction, and thanked my stars for living in the still green residential area. In front of my home, lay two playing grounds, beyond it lay the National Geological Survey, followed by the area under afforestation. But after that, cheap housing colonies for the poor and a Software firm has come up, taking the place of the tall saal trees.

The sense of loss was everywhere. If I could take a view from one of the many malls that continue to mushroom in City Centre and look at the skyline in the evening, it would be a beautiful and terrifying sight. The industiral units on the side of the highway would sparkle with their lights, and their chimneys would look being connected by a cloud of grey smoke. None of these units have chimneys which reach the prescribed height, and near them, you can inhale the thick smell of untreated waste.

The process had start long back. We scarecely took notice, until the black dust from the sponge iron plants started to drift inside our rooms and darken our floor tiles, and eat at our ankles. Many of my neighbours, who are still unaccustomed to waring clogs at home, have long black cracks on their soles. And inevtibaly, the maids demanded more money for scrubbing the floors and cleaning the grills.

There was good side though. We started to buy more paint, as the older houses needed new coats, and the hardware store owners came to love the people.

Now Durgapur has started to show up its “industrial” nature with its black skies and black floors, and receding treeline. What do we do? With the state capital saturated and decaying, this is the emerging commercial, educational and industrial centre attracting the neo-rich and a host of short-sighted investors who zero on fast profits.

Thus I sat behind the steering wheel of my car, and contemplated about where I stood with my guilt for riding this machine in front of the growing poor-housing cooperative.Then, I thought how much I have contributed to the pollution that morning as numerous other cars zoomed past on the road far away. I also tried to think about the unfairness of trees being killed for the sake of human settlements, but my logic seemed unconvincing in my own head. How do you decide your priorities when you have millions of unfed and homeless people to take care of?

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Following lead from my close friend I thought of writing my views on introduction of Bt Brinjal in India. I presented an intervention to Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Forest and Environment, during public consultation held in Kolkata on 13^th January 2010. This piece is my effort to pin down a few concerns hovering around Bt Brinjal, which I feel must be, highlighted to general public.

It is believed that Brinjal originated in India and today there are about 2500 varieties grown all over India. It is quite a common vegetable, cooked in nearly all sections of society, in short, “”it’s a common man’s food”. The prefix ‘Bt’ comes into play when gene ‘cry1Ac’ from the soil bacterium ‘Bacillus Thuringiensis’ is inserted into Brinjal crop to make is “pest-resistant”. It feels good to listen the statement but at the same time the results and research do not tell the same story.

Technologically speaking, GEAC (Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) has approved Bt Brinjal for commercial use after seven years of research, but what we know today is the results after first mutation and any gene transformation in subsequent mutations cannot be predicted with current data in hand. And hence, more time and research is required for reaching final decision. Another problem is to protect original (natural) Brinjal genes. It’s a dead end, once Bt Brinjal is cultivated on farmland as these altered genes enter the local gene pool. An example is cultivation of GM Canola (Genetically Modified) in Canada, that has resulted in no non-GM Canola in Canada today. I don’t want the same national seed stock contamination happening in my country.

Practically speaking, there is no way to distinguish between a ‘Bt’ and ‘non-Bt’ Brinjal, just by looking at them both look the same. If I don’t want to eat genetically modified vegetable, how do I differentiate between them? Another thing, even if I buy Bt Brinjal, the genetic modifications are not destroyed by cooking and the same modifications are passed to the humans. I am sure no one in our country wants to land in a hospital with a bleeding liver, as it has happened with rats during clinical trials.

Marketwise speaking, introduction of Bt Brinjal will lead to monopoly of one company producing them and as unlike natural seeds Bt seeds cannot be sown not to mention the specific pesticides to be used, will make our farmers far more dependent on these one or two companies.

We are a country with long experiences with farming practices and its time we promote natural ways and means of crop production. Enough destruction has already been done to mother earth and taking a path where no one is sure of results will only lead to a disaster.

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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC) is the international treaty among different countries of the world to cooperate for stabilizing the green house gas emission levels. COP 15 (Conference of Parties) held in Copenhagen in December’ 09 was the first COP I had ever attended, since I came to know about international climate change negotiations. At the time of leaving India the only thing I had in mind was “I will witness history in making”. Although, the outcome was not as expected but still some progress was made towards the ultimate goal of saving earth. Even before COP started, I participated in Conference of Youth (COY), the assembly of 400 youths spread across the globe committed to bring a change. The discussions and sessions at COY were very rewarding, as they brought me to the same page as that of UNFCCC.

A typical day at COP started at 6AM in the morning, getting ready for the long day ahead, which would end by 1AM next morning. I used to reach Bella Center by 8AM to attend the spokes council meetings, the decision making body of international youth. Listening and hearing to the international youth delegates passionate about saving earth was once in a lifetime experience for me. Working on proposals for relevant DA’s (Direct Actions), policy messaging and youth demands was day to working of spokes council of which I was a part.

Next, on the list was BINGO (Business & Industry NGOs) meeting at 9AM, with well-dressed co-participants of business community. Since, the business community was one of the most connect and highly places inside Bella Center, no wonder I got recent updates and insights of international negotiations and their implications. Immediately after YOUNGO communications working group meeting that generally from 10:00AM – 11:00AM, followed the work developing specific messaging, writing press releases, talking to media and organizing press conferences started that would continue the whole day.

International negotiations (open to civil society), generally used to start in the afternoon if all countries are fine with the progress and no one has walked out of negotiations. And hence nothing was according to the schedule as far as negotiations are concerned. ‘Fossil of the Day’ award given to the country trying to block the negotiations the most, at 6PM was one of the most awaited daily events on my schedule, I even performed on stage on the day when ‘Fossil of the Year’, Colossal Fossil award was handed over to Canada.

Due to my personal interest in CCS and clean technologies, attending relevant side events was imperative; on an average I attended three or more side events per day, spread across the day. Side events are generally conducted by organization specializing in one area and are more concentrated on one area of research. Reading the negotiating text and preparing myself for the next day followed by an IYD (Indian Youth Delegation) debrief at 10/11PM were some last things for the day at COP.

The International Youth Climate Movement is now recognized as an official constituency “YOUNGO” within UNFCCC. YOUNGO is a platform for international youth to pitch their voices directly to the chair of plenaries and sessions of the negotiation process. I truly believe the Copenhagen Climate Summit was about our generation. The choices our leaders make over the next few days will impact us for the rest of our lives. It’s so important that we are included in the negotiation process. No decisions about us should be made without us.

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