Great ideas, great minds – life enhancement
The one big change that India requires urgently and in large measure is for the population to develop a deep reverence for nature. Indian culture and our traditional beliefs have for ages ensured that nature and its bounty are treated with profound respect and value.
In fact, this traditional respect has even taken the shape of religious beliefs such as the case of sacred groves, in which trees are not allowed to be cut.
To an extent several river systems in the country, quite apart from the Ganga, are also seen as heaven's gifts that human beings are supposed to respect.
However, since we have adopted an economic system essentially borrowed from the developed countries of the West and have preoccupied ourselves with producing and consuming more and more goods and services, ancient traditions and values have been forsaken.
As a result, growth and development have progressively caused damage to the environment without questioning or evaluating the extent of this damage. A major revival of our traditional culture and traditions is, therefore, needed now.
Since we live in a world of globalisation, and our progress at every level of society is measured in terms of the output of goods and services, the very first step we need to take is to ensure that our system of income accounting fully reflects costs to the environment.
Nowhere, for instance, do we include in the cost of the rapidly growing movement of motor vehicles, the costs that are imposed in the form of air pollution and its health effects.
There are enough studies available now that give us a fairly good estimate of these costs, which should be included in the cost of usage of road space in those areas that contribute to air pollution.
Such an approach would require the building of expertise and know-how at a decentralised and local level in municipalities and other authorities that are responsible for management of our towns and cities.
Public awareness would also be essential apart from regulatory and fiscal measures, so that the public itself understands the relevance of these measures and accepts them fully. The polluter must pay as an essential principle for bridging the difference between private costs and social costs.
A nationwide drive, however, has to begin from the top. Examples of major national efforts and their success are available even in today's world, and we can learn a great deal from them while bringing about the change that is needed in this country. We have, since the time of Mahatma Gandhi, lost our ability to mount public action on a large scale.
In 1973-74, as a result of the Arab boycott, oil prices in the global market quadrupled within the course of a few days. The world experienced an almost unbearable trauma with some of the poorest countries suffering serious setbacks in their economies.
Japan decided to take a series of widespread measures by which their dependence on imported oil could be reduced substantially. As a consequence, several energy intensive industries were shrunk deliberately or shut down completely.
Those that remained were subjected to several measures which were adopted to improve the efficiency of energy use. Overall, by the early 1980s, Japan had effectively insulated itself from sudden increases in oil prices or physical disruptions in supply. This example is being mentioned only because this was a remarkable case of government and the public converting a serious problem into an opportunity.
India faces today a similar opportunity in improving the use of natural resources and particularly fossil fuels in the economy. In 1997, The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) completed a major exercise called GREEN India 2047 which analysed the country's record of managing its natural resources in the first 50 years of Independence.
The report card produced was unflattering. India had done a very poor job of using its natural resources in an efficient manner. This was not only harmful in biophysical terms, but also had serious economic costs associated with degradation and damage to the country's natural resources.
The estimate of costs from environmental pollution and depletion or degradation of key natural resources amounted to over 10 per cent of the GDP. It also established that 11 to 26 per cent of the country's agricultural output was being lost on account of soil erosion.
Other findings indicated serious problems with air pollution and pollution of all the water bodies in the country, as a result of which India's rivers are dead and cannot support any form of life. Additionally, there were serious threats of extinction for a number of species.
While the spread of deforestation had been successfully arrested, in several areas what constitutes forest cover is so degraded that the low density of trees could hardly qualify as forest land. This detailed study came up with projections up to 2047 when India would have completed 100 years as an independent nation.
On a business-as-usual basis, the projections for 2047 painted a nightmarish scenario. Since 1997 some progress has taken place, and an assessment of the current situation presents mixed results, but generally shows continuing neglect of policies and actions that would correct the long-term costs resulting from neglect of our natural resources.
Today, there is growing pressure from the international community to have India accept some restrictions on the growth of its emissions of greenhouse gases as part of the global effort to tackle climate change.
Quite rightly, India has resisted these efforts, because the principle of "common but differentiated responsibility", enshrined in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted globally in 1992 clearly requires the developed countries to take the first steps in mitigation.
Sadly, the developed world has done very little in reducing their own emissions and despite India's low per capita emissions, they continue to harp on India, adopting restrictions purely by virtue of its size. It is, therefore, logical and totally justifiable for India not to succumb to these pressures from the developed nations.
However, there are other considerations which require this country to come up with a totally different approach in development, which is distinctly different from what has been practiced in some of the most prosperous countries in the world.
Just like Japan treated the energy crises of 1973-74 and 1979-80 as an opportunity, India is in a similar position to gain competitive advantage in a world whose future rests on low carbon technologies, products and processes.
If India's policy on climate change were to bring about a rapid reduction of carbon intensity in every major activity, we would certainly become leaders in the global market and attain a high level of economic achievement.
But this would require a universal change of mindsets and the public shunning the western image of a consumptive and environmentally insensitive lifestyle.
It is in this respect that the Prime Minister's National Action Plan on Climate Change deserves serious consideration and action at all levels for operationalising the vision on which it is based. The opportunity for using solar energy on a large scale in this country is immense and unlimited.
Right from solar water heating to power generation using solar thermal technologies, India can within a period of 10 years emerge as a leader in a range of technologies and equipment to exploit the abundance of energy from the sun.
Given the rapid rate at which the industrial sector is growing, there is also a need to not only set up new capacity which is energy efficient, but also retrofit existing processes and equipment with energy efficient devices and technologies.
The Government can provide both physical incentives as well as regulatory mechanisms by which this can be achieved on a large scale. But, there would neither be support for these measures nor participation by the public unless a reorientation of attitudes can be brought about urgently to create a respect for nature and its bounty of resources. The time for such a change is right now.