Key challenges for new govt
The Congress-led UPA government has come back, to its own surprise, with stronger numbers and a less unwieldy coalition than in its earlier term. Clearly its focus - real and apparent - on the poor and their development challenges has yielded rich dividends to the party. However, and in all honesty, the new UPA government must face up to the delays and shortcomings in delivering on some of their most touted development programmes. Some such programmes that must get priority attention are those that have the most obvious linkages across the living environment of the poor and their health. Nearly 24% of the health impacts in India are caused due to pitiable living conditions and the vulnerability of the poor and women and children to environmental stresses must be recognized and addressed.
One of the key vulnerability drivers that needs to be addressed urgently is access to clean drinking water. Nearly 700,000 children below five years die annually from diarrhoea arising from poor water quality. Recognising the linkage between quality of water and its quantity, and the fact that the groundwater table is rapidly depleting in several parts of the country, the government must, early in its term, commit to protect the long-term interests of our people by initiating investments that would double the water storage capacity in the country in the next five years. An examples of the seriousness with which water shortages and quality issues are being addressed can be found in the city of Barcelona in Spain. While Spain as a whole experienced a 40% reduction in rainfall in 2007, the city, with water shortages building up over the years, witnessed water reservoir levels fall to 20% of their capacity. Therefore, in May 2008, they resorted to shipping drinking water from other cities to stave off the crisis that would have been imminent in December if rains had failed them again. While the immediate crisis has passed, the Barcelona municipality is securing its water future through a range of options, including the recycling of waste water, enhancing underground reservoirs of water, diverting water through pipelines from other surface water sources as well as setting up desalination facilities! India may not be able to explore all such choices for its water-starved areas (Ujjain, Hyderabad, Gurgaon etc), but the need for careful advanced planning and preparation is glaring, undeniable and immediate.
Several studies and reports have highlighted the challenge of pollution of water bodies due to the discharge of effluents by industry. The consequence of such callousness is again borne by the rural poor who have a limited ability to cope with it. Devising stringent legislation to deter such action while empowering local communities to take action against defaulters, with adequate safeguards, offers a relatively easy solution to this problem. Heavy penal clauses on non-compliance would provide resources to local governments to invest in environmental protection measures. The need of the hour is greater transparency and accountability.
On a related subject, only 70% of the people in urban areas have access to basic sanitation services, whereas the situation in rural areas is even worse. The government must set an ambitious target of making 100% running water sanitation systems available to everyone in urban areas, with the poorest being assured sanitation facilities within 50 metres by 2012. Recognising the security concerns of women and children who need to access remote sanitation facilities, all such sanitation facilities should be illuminated by solar lighting systems for maximum safety. This would also be a good statement for renewable energy deployment! In a similar fashion, the Nirmal Gram yojana must be implemented expeditiously.
Good quality, reliable energy supply is essential for providing our poor with livelihood opportunities. Today, for example, about 30% of the fruits and vegetables grown in India (40 million tonnes amounting to Rs 65,000 crores) get wasted annually due to insufficient cold chains and nearly 400 million rural poor do not have access to electricity services. An innovative programme of 100% rural electrification based on solar, biomass and dried distiller grains (DDG) energy sources is called for, if necessary by modifying the RGGVY programme. Renewable energy sources could also be used to establish cold chains across rural India.
Many issues identified above have already received some attention from the government in its previous incarnation. Using this transition period as a pause, the government must set up an empowered sustainable development review committee comprising experts, academicians and civil society to quickly evaluate the progress made under the above, and other similar, programmes and suggest any mid-course corrections. This committee should be given a broad mandate and the flexibility to suggest fresh infusion of funds, greater delegation of powers to local entities, alternative delivery mechanisms or even an integration of efforts across sector-based programmes, if required.