• Renewable Energy

We need to get smarter about smart metering

We need to get smarter about smart metering As of February 2023, nearly 5.5 million smart meters have been deployed in the country. India aims to install 250 million by 2026 Wednesday, 10 May 2023 It’sShaswata again for Green Margins this week. The low hum of air conditioners and the intermittent groans of backup generators are an inescapable part of India’s summer soundscape. As are month-end tears when the electricity bill comes due. But there’s a solution (for part of the problem, at least) that’s been rolling out for the past few years—smart, digital metering. Or rather, what smart metering allows you to do, which is switch over to a prepaid electricity plan. A study released a few weeks ago by Delhi-based think tank Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) shows that there are many things consumers like about it: • around half of the 2,700 users surveyed report receiving their electricity bills more regularly; • two-thirds say paying the bills is much easier; • and over a third report a drop in instances of electricity theft, improved supply to the locality, and a greater sense of control over electricity expenses. I guess watching your power balance steadily leaking away has a marked effect on consumer discipline, and smart meter users I spoke to for this edition agree that they’ve started using power more conscientiously. Smart metering is also much easier on the balance sheets of India’s struggling power distribution companies (discoms), helping them improve bill collections and stem leakages. Which explains why installing smart meters is a critical part of the Indian government’s plans to shore up the health of the power sector. The Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), launched in July 2021, is ambitious. With an outlay of Rs 3 lakh crore (US$36.5 billion) for five years, it aims to reduce discom losses by installing 250 million smart prepaid meters across India by 2026. We’re now about halfway in, though. And the pace of installation has been nowhere close to what’s needed to make the goal. Taking control Not all smart meters are prepaid. In fact, CEEW’s survey included around 1,500 postpaid smart meter users and a large majority of them—nearly three-quarters—weren’t even aware of the prepaid option. And of those who were aware, only 13% were willing to switch to it, wary as they were about running out of balance and losing their power connections. Plain old “status quoism” isn’t helping either. Prepaid or postpaid, though, all smart meters offer consumers real-time motoring of their power consumption—most of them come with an app that allows such tracking. And for those who’ve switched over to prepaid, the benefits are quite tangible. I spoke to Sayon Mondal, a prepaid, smart meter user from Hyderabad, Telangana, and he told me that it gives him a good bearing on how much he is spending on power on a real-time basis. The reason why there is more expenditure in postpaid is because people are not worried about losing electricity as the meter, and resultantly, electricity, will never run out. You’ve got to be on the ball, though, and plan properly. It’s just like recharging your phone. But if you run out of money, then the power is cut. You have to be careful about how much electricity you’re using. Still, CEEW’s survey strongly indicates that the positives outweigh such concerns. Roughly 60% of respondents reported being satisfied with their smart meters and 69% said they would endorse this new technology to their peers. Binit Das, Deputy Programme Manager for Renewable Energy at think tank Centre for Science and Environment, says smart metering “not only controls power theft and losses, but both the utilities [discoms] and consumers can monitor consumption patterns, which will further make it easier to implement the time-of-day (ToD) tariff.” By alleviating discom distress, the government actually expects smart metering to bring down the cost of power by 2%-2.5%, according to R K Singh, Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy. But that is only once installation is done. And installation is where India is dragging its feet. Need for speed CEEW conducted its study among consumers of only six states—Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh—and these six account for 80% of India’s total smart meter installed capacity. So halfway into the RDSS period, how many smart meters is that? To quote from CEEW’s report: As of February, 2023, nearly 5.5 million smart meters have been deployed in the country. Meeting the RDSS’s target would require deployment at a rapid scale—5.6 million smart prepaid meters per month. Enabling a Consumercentric Smart Metering Transition in India There are a few things holding back installation. Cost is one. Smart meters are quite expensive—industry estimates peg the cost of manufacturing and installing a smart meter to be about US$50 (∼Rs 4,100) per unit. The government, in fact, has raised this issue previously. “I urge the manufacturers to think of innovative ways to reduce the price of the meters to half without compromising on quality,” Power Secretary Alok Kumar said during a conference in November last year. This cost burden is borne by discoms for now, though state governments provide some subsidies, says Das. But eventually, this cost will be shifted onto the consumer as meter costs are included in the fixed part of the electricity bill, which will be higher for smart meter users. So why should the consumer cough up extra money just to change their meter, which has no effect whatsoever on the quality of power they’re consuming? A second factor is India’s low manufacturing capacity for smart meters. The majority are now sourced from foreign manufacturers such as Bosch, Schneider Electric SE, General Electric, and Larsen & Toubro. And a bulk of the imports come from Taiwan and China. Due to the huge demand mandate set by the government, the cost of smart meter manufacturing could have been reduced through economies of scale... But our domestic manufacturing capacity is not sufficient to meet that demand. So, we are dependent on imports from China and Taiwan, which naturally shoots up the cost. Binit Das, Deputy Programme Manager for Renewable Energy, Centre for Science and Environment Then, there are deep-rooted issues in state-level distribution networks, reflected in the skewed distribution of installations so far—of the 5.5 million smart meters installed, 97% are deployed in just 12 states and Union Territories, according to CEEW. “Some states have just proposed, some have sanctioned, others are at tendering stages, and some have placed the mandate, but the implementing vendors are delaying things because of delays from the manufacturers’ end,” says Das. [Source: CEEW] The problem here is that there is no standard procedure or guidelines at the national level for smart meter adoption. Shalu Agrawal, Senior Programme Lead, CEEW, and one of the authors of the study, says that currently, provisions governing prepaid smart meters in India are scattered across different regulatory orders and directives, which makes them inaccessible to key stakeholders, especially consumers. The central power ministry and the state electricity regulators should consider issuing smart (prepaid) meter guidelines to ensure a uniform consumer experience. Shalu Agrawal, Senior Programme Lead, CEEW All of which lead Das to believe that a more realistic goal would have been to try and hit the 250-million target by 2030. Because getting there requires some big-ticket projects in their own right—like beefing up domestic manufacturing capabilities, standardising guidelines and regulations, and helping consumers get a grip on prepaid electricity. That’s a wrap for this week. Keep writing to greenmargins@the-ken.com with your thoughts and suggestions and we’ll see you again next Wednesday morning. Take care. Regards, Shaswata Kundu Chaudhuri  

• Down To Earth

Climate Concerns: Eco-warriors are missing the forest for the tree

Urban tree lovers fail to connect the dots between the struggles in the hinterlands and the predicament of urbanisation and the consequent concretisation of the cities. Rarely does one hear the urban tree lover standing up or speaking on behalf of the fisherfolk and the farmers trying to protect their land for their livelihoods From Pune to Patna, from Mumbai to Mangalore, citizens are gathering to make their last stand, to delay the inevitable, to derail the preordained, and save that one tree or a group of trees from the axe of the city planners and their contractors building metros and monorails, high rises and highways, flyovers, and footpaths. On normal days, these same folks complain about potholed roads, traffic jams, air pollution, and population pressures in their respective cities. Nevertheless, in spite of their protests, the great ‘arboricide’ continues unabated, alongside the great urbanisation, as concrete, glass, PVC, and steel engulf the last of the green patches, the parks, the wetlands, the riverside, that small forested hill in the middle of the city, and that nearly hundred-year-old banyan tree with strands of fresh red and holy thread tied around its kumkum-and haldi-covered trunk. Mainstream media loves the urban ‘tree-hugging’ protests. They are quick to depute, even embed, an intern or two at the protest site. It is local news, with a citizen as a hero and a faceless bureaucrat as the villain, and a vulnerable tree at the centre of it all. It has sufficient drama and is usually apolitical, basically a citizen-led distraction from more pressing issues for the front page. Meanwhile, the confrontations that matter, like the ongoing protest against India’s largest oil refinery at Barsu, in the prime mango- and cashewnut- growing region of Ratnagiri, or the decades-long fishermen’s struggle against the siting of a multi-berth port in the prime fishing area of Vadhwan in Dahanu taluka, or even the stir against Mumbai’s new airport to protect prime agricultural land in Panvel, are usually buried in the back pages. Oddly enough, despite the ‘Save the Tree, Save the Climate’ slogans and posters, the urban tree lover fails to connect the dots between the struggles in the hinterlands and the predicament of urbanisation and the consequent concretisation of the cities. Rarely does one hear the urban tree lover standing up or speaking on behalf of the fisherfolk and the farmers trying to protect their land for their livelihoods. Livelihoods, once lost, will force the farmers and the fisherfolk to come to Mumbai or Pune to find shelter in the already crowded slums and migrant settlements. Already, climate refugees, ie, people forced to flee their lands as a result of climate-induced disasters like droughts, floods, heatwaves, cold waves, sea-level rise, salinisation of groundwater, crop failure, and water scarcity, are pouring into cities in large numbers, putting unprecedented pressure on urban infrastructure that was never designed for such large numbers. A report published in December 2020 by ActionAid and Climate Action Network South Asia showed that even if the global community acts on their greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation pledges and targets, India alone will see 45 million people forced to migrate from their homes by 2050 due to climate disasters — three times the current number of people on the move as a result of extreme weather events. According to the ‘State of India’s Environment 2022’ report, India is the fourth-worst-hit country in the world when it comes to climate change-induced migration, with more than three million people forced to leave their homes in 2020–2021. If the nearly-5,000 people who showed up for Chipko 2.0 to protect Vetal Tekdi in Pune, or the 10,000-plus Mumbaikars who came out on the streets to save a portion of the Aarey forest, and thousands of tree lovers in other cities, were to join hands with the struggles of the farmers, fishermen and the forest dwellers not very far from their cities, they would discover that the solution to all their urban woes and climate change is to invest in building local climate resilience and protecting rural economies. In an extensive study across 15 states, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that wherever such an investment had been made, it brought benefits to villages while stemming migration. In fact, in villages where water harvesting was organised and ecological resources were used for the benefit of locals, reverse migration had begun. The fact is that while the world’s population is doubling, the world’s urban population is tripling. Within the next few years, more than half the world’s population will be living in urban areas and that fact alone has sealed the fate of that tree, that park, that lake in your city.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Delhi government unveils new scheme for app-based premium buses

The Delhi government will roll out premium private buses in the national capital, seats on which can be booked through mobile apps, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday, as he outlined the contours of a plan that aims to encourage vehicle owners to use public transit. Kejriwal said the state government must make the Capital’s public transport “comfortable, safe and punctual” if it wants middle-class and upper-middle class residents to minimise the use of private vehicles. “They have the money to own cars and travel in their own vehicles every day. They pay for their petrol every day. But if given the option of a bus that is comfortable, we believe they will leave their cars behind and opt for the bus,” he said during a press briefing. The bus service will be launched after all necessary approvals are in place, officials in the know of the matter said, adding there was no fixed deadline yet. Detailing the move, Kejriwal said the Delhi Motor Vehicles Licensing of Aggregator (Premium Buses) Scheme, 2023 envisions a premium intra-city bus service that will allow app-based bookings, have no standing passengers, and with fares higher than other buses, including those owned or operated by the state government’s Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). The buses will either run or CNG or be electric-powered, said Kejriwal, adding that they will be equipped with key safety features like CCTV, GPS, panic button, among others. They will also be WiFi-enabled, Kejriwal said. He pointed to the rise of the Delhi Metro over two decades ago, as a turning point for the city’s public transit service. “The biggest revolution in the transport sector in Delhi arose when the Metro started functioning two decades ago. A lot of people who belonged to the middle and upper-middle class began to leave their vehicles behind and travel by the Delhi Metro leading to a decrease in the number of vehicles on the streets,” he said. Still, despite the expansion of the Metro service, Delhi’s buses are the city’s most popular form of public transport, with around 3.5 million people using the system every day. In comparison, Delhi’s Metro average daily ridership is 4.5 million. Currently, the Capital has around 7,200 buses under DTC and the cluster scheme. The state government aims to increase the strength of the fleet to 11,000, and to ensure that 80% of all public buses in Delhi are electric by 2025. Crucially, the premium buses will not offer women free rides, said officials aware of the plan. “The fares of the premium buses will be market-driven, so there will not be any free rides for women,” said another official. The chief minister added that the scheme will be placed in the public domain for comments. “We are sending the file of the premium bus service scheme to the LG for consideration,” Kejriwal said. The CM said that the Delhi government will incorporate good suggestions into the scheme. This is not the first time that the Delhi government has proposed such a scheme. It had first approved a proposal for a premium bus service in May 2016, which was rejected by the then lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung. Between 2000 and 2012, Delhi used to have Whiteline buses that provided connectivity between fixed points in the city, as well as between Delhi and Noida. They were private buses that ran under the government mandate. They had a fixed route and were hugely popular among office commuters and those travelling between Delhi and Noida. “Whiteline buses were stage carriage buses, which means they stopped at every stop on the identified routes. Initially, there were around 700 Whiteline buses and they were better in comfort and quality than regular buses. However, later the number of buses decreased and they went off-road due to various reasons, including low profit due to low demand during non-peak hours and the introduction of the Metro,” said a Delhi transport department official. On Monday, Kejriwal flagged that vehicular traffic has increased and added that even Metros are packed to the rafters during rush hours, prompting people to use private vehicles. “The rush in the Metro increased over time, and now the people do not get a seat and often have to stand for a long time in jam-packed trains. Therefore the people have shifted back to their private cars and scooters,” Kejriwal said. Experts have also said fears of infection aboard public transport also pushed people to use, or buy, their own vehicles. To be sure, some private operators in the Capital already run inter-city buses and provide commuters with premium bus services across Delhi-NCR. These buses usually cater to office-goers and are booked through mobile applications. They charge a premium fare and operate on several routes, as compared to DTC buses which operate on eight NCR routes. Currently, Delhi has 7,379 public buses (3,319 cluster buses and 4,060 DTC buses) including 300 electric buses which ply on more than 600 bus routes. All the buses will be required to have a uniform, colour-coded logo, Kejriwal said, adding that the bus aggregator will be allowed to advertise inside the bus and collect revenue on that basis. “Moreover, the Delhi government will only allow aggregators to ply electric buses after January 1, 2024,” said an official in the know of the matter. Each aggregator needs to operate and maintain at least 50 buses within 90 days of receiving the licence. “The aggregator can decide the route on which they want to run. They only need to inform the state government about the route that they want to operate on. Obviously, they will want to operate on a route where there is more traffic, and, therefore with this service, the number of private vehicles on that route is likely to reduce,” the CM said. Under the scheme, aggregators will be allowed to chart bus routes on their own, but must provide complete information to the government. “The buses will be run by private aggregators who will have to obtain a licence from the Delhi government by paying a license fee. CNG and electric buses, which are not older than three years, only can be used in the premium bus service. The licence fee of the electric buses used in the service will be waived off,” said Kejriwal. Meanwhile, experts have commended the plan. Amit Bhatt, managing director, India of the International Council on Clean Transportation, said, “App-based buses are a new form of public transport that allow passengers to request a ride through a mobile app and be picked up from a designated location. They are more flexible and personalised than traditional fixed-route buses, as they can dynamically adjust their routes based on passenger demand. These buses offer a convenient and affordable option for people who do not have access to a private vehicle or prefer not to use it for environmental or economic reasons. App-based buses could be a game-changer for public transport, as they can potentially reduce congestion, improve efficiency, and offer quality and convenience to both captive and choice riders.” Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy) at Centre for Science and Environment, said: “We certainly need more buses with reliable and high-quality bus service to increase use of public transport. People will shift if service conditions and connectivity improve with more bus priority lanes. Reduced use of personal vehicles can help to reduce congestion and pollution.”

• Sustainable Food Systems

National Science Centre and World Animal Protection partnered to raise awareness on irresponsible use of Antibiotics in Animal Farming and Eat Better to End Superbug

National Science Centre and World Animal Protection collaborated to sensitise people on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) known as Superbug causing health concerns and how higher welfare practices can help in mitigating this issue. The awareness drive sensitised over 40000 people during this one month and culminated with a panel discussion followed by a poster making workshop in partnership with "Superheroes Against Superbugs". The panel discussion had Dr Sangeeta Sharma Prof. Dept. of Neuropsychopharmacology, Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) and Honorary President, Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD); Dr. Vijay Pal Singh, Veterinarian, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology; Dr. Rajeshwari Sinha, Program Manager, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE); Sri Ramdas Iyer, Director, National Science Centre, Delhi and Gajender K Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection, India. The discussion saw active participation from over 300 students present and asking questions on the topic and pledging to be Superheroes against Superbugs. "We need to understand our food system to understand the problem of Superbug. The intensive animal farming model is not sustainable which needs strategic interventions at all levels and welfare of animals can't be ignored for the betterment of animal, people and planet," said Gajender K Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection, India. Sharma further added that the focus of the chicken farming sector is to make maximum profit by promoting intensive animal farming practices which lead to irrational use of antibiotics to make chickens grow faster. This irresponsible use of antibiotics leads to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and other public and animal health concerns. "We need immediate attention from all stakeholders to ensure responsible use of Antibiotics and integrate Animal Welfare in Animal Farming practices." During her address, Dr. Sangeeta Sharma spoke how antibiotics are used as medical treatment without proper regard to their impact on human health. She also drew the distinction between good bacteria and bad bacteria for the students to understand better. "Discovery of antibiotics was one of the biggest achievements for mankind, however in the current medical practice there are several misuses of antibiotics. Antibiotic is being dispensed irresponsibly by practitioners and pharmacists; treatment being replaced with self-medication and unaware propagation of the use we all witnessed during pandemic, poor awareness about the harm or impact on us leading to resistance and any other issue as it kills the good bacteria as well we need in our bodies," said Dr. Sangeeta Sharma, Prof. Dept. of Neuropsychopharmacology, Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS). "Animals are part of our eco system & food cycle and should be respected. There are ways we can reduce antibiotic use on them however due to rising demand which means per day loss for the owner or the farmer, this is a concern on how antibiotic is used more as preventive means than cure. Only awareness amongst people, veterinarian, farmers and livestock owners can bring a change. It's time to call for the rational use of antibiotics which has minimal negative impact on our environment," said Dr. Vijay Pal Singh, Veterinarian, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology. "Education and awareness are our tools to empower the youth and make them responsible citizens of future. We make sure such topics that are relevant to our current times and have long lasting impact are taken up at National Science Centre, which is food for thought for our future scientists, doctors, researchers, or as an aware individual to be empowered to take informed decision which is progressive," said Sri Ramdas Iyer, Director, National Science Centre. "Not all antibiotics are bad be it in case of plants or animals. What is needed is awareness in farmers and people involved in this food chain to take well informed decisions and adapt better practices which are less harmful and have better enforcement methods to monitor," said Dr. Rajeshwari Sinha, Program Manager, Centre for Science and environment.

• Sustainable Food Systems

National Science Centre and World Animal Protection Partnered to Raise Awareness on the Irresponsible Use of Antibiotics in Animal Farming and Eat Better to End Superbug

National Science Centre and World Animal Protection collaborated to sensitise people on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) known as Superbug causing health concerns and how higher welfare practices can help in mitigating this issue. The awareness drive sensitised over 40000 people during this one month and culminated with a panel discussion followed by a poster making workshop in partnership with “Superheroes Against Superbugs”. The panel discussion had Dr. Sangeeta Sharma Prof. Dept. of Neuropsychopharmacology, Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) and Honorary President, Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD); Dr. Vijay Pal Singh, Veterinarian, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology; Dr. Rajeshwari Sinha, Program Manager, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE); Sri Ramdas Iyer, Director, National Science Centre, Delhi and Gajender K Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection, India. The discussion saw active participation from over 300 students present and asking questions on the topic and pledging to be Superheroes against Superbugs. “We need to understand our food system to understand the problem of Superbug. The intensive animal farming model is not sustainable which needs strategic interventions at all levels and welfare of animals can’t be ignored for the betterment of animal, people and planet,” said Gajender K Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection, India. Mr Sharma further added that the focus of the chicken farming sector is to make maximum profit by promoting intensive animal farming practices which lead to irrational use of antibiotics to make chickens grow faster. This irresponsible use of antibiotics leads to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and other public and animal health concerns. “We need immediate attention from all stakeholders to ensure responsible use of Antibiotics and integrate Animal Welfare in Animal Farming practices.” Panelists – Gajender K Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection, Delhi; Sri Ramdas Iyer, Director, National Science Centre, Delhi; Dr. Sangeeta Sharma Prof. Dept. of Neuropsychopharmacology, Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS); Dr. Vijay Pal Singh, Veterinarian, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology; Dr. Rajeshwari Sinha, Program Manager, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) During her address, Dr. Sangeeta Sharma spoke how antibiotics are used as medical treatment without proper regard to their impact on human health. She also drew the distinction between good bacteria and bad bacteria for the students to understand better. “Discovery of antibiotics was one of the biggest achievements for mankind, however in the current medical practice there are several misuses of antibiotics. Antibiotic is being dispensed irresponsibly by practitioners and pharmacists; treatment being replaced with self-medication and unaware propagation of the use we all witnessed during pandemic, poor awareness about the harm or impact on us leading to resistance and any other issue as it kills the good bacteria as well we need in our bodies,” said Dr. Sangeeta Sharma, Prof. Dept. of Neuropsychopharmacology, Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences (IHBAS). “Animals are part of our eco system & food cycle and should be respected. There are ways we can reduce antibiotic use on them however due to rising demand which means per day loss for the owner or the farmer, this is a concern on how antibiotic is used more as preventive means than cure. Only awareness amongst people, veterinarian, farmers and livestock owners can bring a change. It’s time to call for the rational use of antibiotics which has minimal negative impact on our environment,” said Dr. Vijay Pal Singh, Veterinarian, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology. “Education and awareness are our tools to empower the youth and make them responsible citizens of future. We make sure such topics that are relevant to our current times and have long lasting impact are taken up at National Science Centre, which is food for thought for our future scientists, doctors, researchers, or as an aware individual to be empowered to take informed decision which is progressive,” said Sri Ramdas Iyer, Director, National Science Centre. “Not all antibiotics are bad be it in case of plants or animals. What is needed is awareness in farmers and people involved in this food chain to take well informed decisions and adapt better practices which are less harmful and have better enforcement methods to monitor,” said Dr. Rajeshwari Sinha, Program Manager, Centre for Science and environment.

• Director General Office

Turn around India’s water story

India has some 2.4 million waterbodies, finds the country’s first census of all structures that hold rainwater and recharge groundwater. The census, conducted by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (water resources), has geo-tagged each waterbody — photographs and latitude and longitude of each pond, tank, check dam or reservoir has been collated. The survey finds that 83 per cent of the waterbodies are being used for fisheries, irrigation, groundwater recharge and drinking water. It also reports that contrary to the commonly held perception, only 1.6 per cent of the enumerated waterbodies are encroached upon. There is no data about the state of the catchment area of the waterbodies, which would have helped determine how much of the groundwater is being recharged. But the fact is, this census is critical in these times of climate risk. We know that rain will be more variable than ever before — our true finance minister, the Indian monsoon, is now more extreme and this means intense rainfall over fewer rainy days. So, we must hold every drop of water when it falls and where it falls. This is why this census must now be rigorously used to augment waterbodies; to rejuvenate the existing structures so that they can do more to hold the rain and to recharge the water for the longer drought season. Each year, without fail we get caught in a vicious cycle of crippling and backbreaking drought and then devastating floods. But the fact is, this cycle is the new “normal” and it will have devastating impacts on river hydrology. Mitigating floods and droughts have only one answer — obsessive attention to building millions and millions of connected and living water structures that will capture rain, be a sponge for flood and storehouse for drought. Our water future depends on our water wisdom. This we need to learn from the fascinating case of ancient Roma (Rome) and Edo (the city out of which grew Tokyo). Romans used to build huge aqueducts that ran for tens of kilometres to bring water to their settlements. These aqueducts even today are the most omnipresent symbols of that society’s water management. Many experts have praised the Romans for the meticulousness with which they planned their water supply. But these aqueducts represent not the intelligence but the utter environmental mismanagement of the great Romans. Rome was built on the river Tiber. The city did not need any aqueduct. But as the waste of Rome was discharged directly into the Tiber, the river was polluted and water had to be brought from long distances. Water outlets were few as a result and the elite appropriated these using a system of slaves. On the contrary, traditional Japanese never discharged their waste into the rivers. Instead they composted the waste and used it in the fields. Using the rivers, Edo had numerous water outlets and much more egalitarian water supply. The good news is that water literacy has grown. Over the past decades the country has learnt critical lessons on water management and has evolved a new paradigm. Till the late 1980s, water management was largely confined to the issue of irrigation projects — building of dams and canals to store and supply water over long distances. But then came the big droughts of the late 1980s. It became clear that planning for water augmentation only through large projects was not enough. This was also when the Centre for Science and Environment published its report, Dying Wisdom, which documented traditional technologies for rainwater harvesting in ecological diverse regions of India. The slogan was rain is decentralised, so is the demand for water. So, catch rain when and where it falls. Today, there are a number of programmes designed to build and to rejuvenate waterbodies — the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has invested in millions of waterbodies and now the government has announced Mission Amrit Sarovar under which 75 waterbodies in each district will be developed and rejuvenated as part of India’s 75 years of Independence. In spite of this interest in decentralised water management, it is clear that we are not doing enough to secure our future. The problem lies in the fact that our land and water bureaucracies are fractured — some agency owns the pond, another the drain and yet another the catchment. Water security requires this to change. Giving the local community much greater control over the water structures — deepening democracy and devolution of powers — is then the answer to water management. In all this, we must minimise our use of water — become more efficient with every drop. This requires us to do everything from investing in water-efficient irrigation and household appliances to changing diets, so that the crops we eat are water-prudent. This is the opportunity — this decade we can put all we have learnt into practice and turn around the water story of India. It is possible. We just have to make it our single-biggest obsession. Water, remember, is about livelihood. It is about food and nutrition. It is about our future. (Writer is Director General of CSE and editor of Down To Earth, an environmentalist who pushes for changes in policies, practices and mindsets; Courtesy: www.downtoearth.org.in)

• Water Programme

भारत की जल कहानी के चारों ओर मुड़ें

भारत में लगभग 2.4 मिलियन जल निकाय हैं, जो वर्षा जल को धारण करने और भूजल को रिचार्ज करने वाली सभी संरचनाओं की देश की पहली जनगणना है। केंद्रीय जल शक्ति मंत्रालय (जल संसाधन) द्वारा आयोजित जनगणना में प्रत्येक जल निकाय को जियो-टैग किया गया है - प्रत्येक तालाब, टैंक, चेक डैम या जलाशय की तस्वीरें और अक्षांश और देशांतर को एकत्रित किया गया है। सर्वेक्षण में पाया गया है कि 83 प्रतिशत जल निकायों का उपयोग मत्स्य पालन, सिंचाई, भूजल पुनर्भरण और पीने के पानी के लिए किया जा रहा है। यह भी रिपोर्ट करता है कि आम धारणा के विपरीत, केवल 1.6 प्रतिशत प्रगणित जलाशयों पर अतिक्रमण किया गया है। जल निकायों के जलग्रहण क्षेत्र की स्थिति के बारे में कोई डेटा नहीं है, जिससे यह निर्धारित करने में मदद मिलती कि भूजल का कितना हिस्सा रिचार्ज किया जा रहा है। लेकिन तथ्य यह है कि जलवायु जोखिम के इस समय में यह जनगणना महत्वपूर्ण है। हम जानते हैं कि बारिश पहले से कहीं अधिक परिवर्तनशील होगी - हमारे सच्चे वित्त मंत्री, भारतीय मानसून, अब अधिक चरम पर हैं और इसका मतलब है कम बारिश वाले दिनों में तीव्र वर्षा। इसलिए, हमें पानी की हर बूंद को गिरने पर और जहां गिरना चाहिए, उसे पकड़ना चाहिए। यही कारण है कि इस जनगणना को अब सख्ती से जलाशयों को बढ़ाने के लिए इस्तेमाल किया जाना चाहिए; मौजूदा संरचनाओं का कायाकल्प करने के लिए ताकि वे बारिश को रोकने और सूखे के लंबे मौसम के लिए पानी को रिचार्ज करने के लिए और अधिक कर सकें। प्रत्येक वर्ष, निश्चित रूप से हम पंगु बना देने वाले और कमर तोड़ने वाले सूखे और फिर विनाशकारी बाढ़ के दुष्चक्र में फंस जाते हैं। लेकिन तथ्य यह है कि यह चक्र नया "सामान्य" है और इसका नदी जल विज्ञान पर विनाशकारी प्रभाव पड़ेगा। बाढ़ और सूखे को कम करने का एक ही जवाब है - लाखों-करोड़ों जुड़े हुए और जीवित जल संरचनाओं के निर्माण पर जुनूनी ध्यान जो बारिश को रोकेंगे, बाढ़ के लिए स्पंज और सूखे के लिए भंडारगृह बनेंगे। हमारा जल भविष्य हमारे जल ज्ञान पर निर्भर करता है। यह हमें प्राचीन रोमा (रोम) और एडो (जिस शहर से टोक्यो विकसित हुआ) के आकर्षक मामले से सीखने की जरूरत है। रोम के लोग अपनी बस्तियों में पानी लाने के लिए दसियों किलोमीटर तक चलने वाले विशाल एक्वाडक्ट्स का निर्माण करते थे। ये एक्वाडक्ट आज भी उस समाज के जल प्रबंधन के सबसे सर्वव्यापी प्रतीक हैं। कई विशेषज्ञों ने रोमनों की उस सावधानी के लिए प्रशंसा की है जिसके साथ उन्होंने अपनी जल आपूर्ति की योजना बनाई थी। लेकिन ये एक्वाडक्ट्स बुद्धिमत्ता का नहीं बल्कि महान रोमनों के पर्यावरण कुप्रबंधन का प्रतिनिधित्व करते हैं। रोम का निर्माण तिबर नदी पर हुआ था। शहर को किसी एक्वाडक्ट की जरूरत नहीं थी। लेकिन चूंकि रोम के कचरे को सीधे तिबर में छोड़ दिया गया था, इसलिए नदी प्रदूषित हो गई थी और पानी को लंबी दूरी से लाना पड़ा था। परिणामस्वरूप पानी के आउटलेट कम थे और अभिजात वर्ग ने दासों की एक प्रणाली का उपयोग करके इन्हें विनियोजित किया। इसके विपरीत, पारंपरिक जापानी कभी भी अपने कचरे को नदियों में नहीं बहाते थे। इसके बजाय वे कचरे को खाद बनाकर खेतों में इस्तेमाल करते हैं। नदियों का उपयोग करते हुए, ईदो में पानी के कई आउटलेट और बहुत अधिक समतावादी जल आपूर्ति थी। अच्छी खबर यह है कि जल साक्षरता बढ़ी है। पिछले दशकों में देश ने जल प्रबंधन पर महत्वपूर्ण सबक सीखे हैं और एक नया प्रतिमान विकसित किया है। 1980 के दशक के अंत तक, जल प्रबंधन काफी हद तक सिंचाई परियोजनाओं के मुद्दे तक ही सीमित था - बांधों और नहरों के निर्माण और लंबी दूरी तक पानी की आपूर्ति करने के लिए। लेकिन फिर 1980 के दशक के अंत में बड़ा सूखा आया। यह स्पष्ट हो गया कि केवल बड़ी परियोजनाओं के माध्यम से जल संवर्धन की योजना बनाना पर्याप्त नहीं था। यह तब भी था जब सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट ने अपनी रिपोर्ट डाइंग विजडम प्रकाशित की, जिसमें भारत के पारिस्थितिक विविध क्षेत्रों में वर्षा जल संचयन के लिए पारंपरिक तकनीकों का दस्तावेजीकरण किया गया था। नारा था बारिश विकेंद्रीकृत है, इसलिए पानी की मांग है। तो, बारिश कब और कहाँ गिरती है, इसे पकड़ें। आज, जल निकायों के निर्माण और पुनर्जीवन के लिए कई कार्यक्रम तैयार किए गए हैं - महात्मा गांधी राष्ट्रीय ग्रामीण रोजगार गारंटी योजना ने लाखों जल निकायों में निवेश किया है और अब सरकार ने मिशन अमृत सरोवर की घोषणा की है जिसके तहत प्रत्येक जिले में 75 जल निकायों का विकास किया जाएगा और भारत की स्वतंत्रता के 75 वर्षों के हिस्से के रूप में कायाकल्प। विकेंद्रीकृत जल प्रबंधन में इस रुचि के बावजूद, यह स्पष्ट है कि हम अपने भविष्य को सुरक्षित करने के लिए पर्याप्त प्रयास नहीं कर रहे हैं। समस्या इस तथ्य में निहित है कि हमारी भूमि और जल नौकरशाही खंडित है - किसी एजेंसी के पास तालाब है, किसी के पास नाली है और किसी के पास जलग्रहण क्षेत्र है। जल सुरक्षा को इसे बदलने की आवश्यकता है। स्थानीय समुदाय को जल संरचनाओं पर अधिक नियंत्रण देना - लोकतंत्र को गहरा करना और शक्तियों का विचलन - जल प्रबंधन का जवाब है। इस सब में, हमें पानी का उपयोग कम से कम करना चाहिए - हर बूंद के साथ अधिक कुशल बनना चाहिए। इसके लिए हमें जल-कुशल सिंचाई और घरेलू उपकरणों में निवेश से लेकर चाय तक सब कुछ करने की आवश्यकता है

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Minus recycling, waste woes can't be tackled, say experts

The current rules prohibit certain low-grade plastic and allow bags of over 120-micron thickness and wrapping sheets of more than 50 microns. However, experts believe that until backed by a strong recycling mechanism, just increasing thickness is not going to solve the environmental problem of waste associated with it. In July 2022, the central government banned 19 single-use plastic (SUP) items like straw, cutlery, plastic knifes, earbuds etc along with less-than-75-micron polybags under Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016. In December, the permissible thickness for bags was increased to 120 micron, which is also proving to be ineffective in the absence of a recycling mechanism, said experts. "Thickness was increased under the presumption that bags will be picked up and recycled. But we need a strong collection mechanism, otherwise plastic still ends up at landfills regardless of its quality," said Priti Mahesh, chief programme coordinator, Toxic Links. She pointed out that one of the presumptions behind the move was to increase its cost. "It was to be a deterrent; but plastic being a cheap material, it has hardly been a deterrent," said Mahesh. According to Atin Biswas, programme director for solid waste management at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the impact is still unclear and involvement of the unorganised sector makes it unreliable. "If plastic is flexible and it is thin, its recycling potential is very less. We see wrapers, milk packets etc that are not picked up by the informal sector because of low value. So regardless of the change in the thickness, it will not reduce plastic pollution," said Biswas. He pointed out that both polybags and the banned SUPs are unbranded and manufactured by the informal and unorganised sector, barring some like earbuds. "Which brand manufactures polybags or plastic cutlery? It's all manufactured by the informal sector, which are not registered," he pointed out. "When we say plastic recycling, it comes with the assumption that it will be collected and recycled. About 70% of the total plastic is collected and channelised by the informal sector. Even if we have increased the thickness, will they pick and recycle it?" Biswas asked. The extended producers' responsibility policy, notified last year, works on the principle of "polluters pay", he added. "Will the recycling industry under EPR collect the low-value plastic bags? About 65% of the plastic waste in India is the contribution of 25-30 popular brands, which use plastic as packaging material, and they are all single-use plastic. Why are only 19 items, majority of which are not branded, banned?" Biswas asked. Surveys done by CSE also show that banned items are still available and the number of awareness campaigns have come down.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Meet champions of net zero life

AHMEDABAD: Pause for a moment and listen to the sounds around: your car slowly moving into the driveway, the peaceful hum of the air conditioner, the gentle buzz of your light bulb, and the sound of your washing machine running. These everyday sounds might seem unimportant, but they have a huge impact on our environment.Families in Gujarat are setting an example by being mindful about their daily habits and resolving to stop wrecking the environment. Their challenges included cutting back on driving their vehicles, learning how to make their homes as energy efficient as possible — becoming more carbon negative or carbon neutral. The biggest difficulty was changing those everyday habits that rely on convenience. “Climate change is a complex science. But one must start at home. It’s been proven that small, sustained lifestyle changes made by a large enough group of people can make a big difference,” believes urban ecologist Lokendra Balasaria. His Tree Walks movement in Ahmedabad has got more people on board with efforts to curb their energy use and produce less waste. A recent study by Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) states that Ahmedabad has an over dependence on vehicles to travel even short distances, thus injecting 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide daily — or 1 ton every minute! Nearly 65% of Amdavadis depend on private vehicles for their daily commute — which is the third highest among metro cities. DR Umesh vaghela, Mayani Chowk, Rajkot Strategy: Commuting on a cycle Dr Vaghela commutes every day to his hospital and nearby areas on a cycle. An MD in internal medicine, he has been cycling regularly for the past two-and-a-half years and covers 10-12km every day, on average. He says, “Cycling helps save fuel and reduce pollution, besides keeping you fit. I can afford a car, but that will mean consuming fuel that could be used by four people. So, it’s better that I save it. ” According to Vaghela, on heavily trafficked roads, cycling is the best medium of commuting. However, cyclists always complain that they do not get space on the city roads. The lanes dedicated for cycling on the 150ft Ring Road in Rajkot are encroached by street vendors. The cyclists want an open dedicated lane for them. Bhavna Shah, Thaltej, Ahmedabad Strategy: Harvesting rainwater, waste recycling Since 2011, Bhavna Shah has been harvesting rainwater and using it for drinking and cooking purposes without relying on municipal or borewater. “I have a filter candle that helps clean my rainwater. The 10,000-litre storage tank below is tightly shut with a clean lime lining all along its walls which acts as a disinfectant. Exposing the stored water to sunlight spoils it,” says Bhavna. Her 2,000 sq ft garden grows seasonal vegetables without using pesticides — bottle gourd, ridge gourd, bitter gourd, cabbage, brinjal, all leafy vegetables and herbs like mint and hibiscus to medicinal plants like Malabar nut and hogweed. Bhavna has another feat to her credit — not a single gram of waste goes to the Pirana dump yard. “The waste goes to a recycler, while our kitchen waste turns into compost,” she says. The family has 3. 2KW solar panels to power their appliances; they use a solar cooker for most of the cooking, rely extensively on carpooling and live a minimalist life. “I own just a few pairs of clothes since I detest wasting huge amounts of water to wash them. It seems a bit extreme to my children, but I love this planet,” she says. Karmavir Bhatt, New City Light, Surat Strategy: Riding a bicycle, using repurposed furniture Bhatt’s family is doing its bit to protect the environment by adopting eco-friendly practices in their daily life. They include using bicycles for commuting, harvesting rainwater to recharge their borewell and using the same water for bathing and washing etc. The family now relies on solar power to ensure ‘zero’ electricity bill. They also avoid using germicides and opt for water as a chemical-free alternative to clean the floor. In their 2,700 sq ft home, they use old wood and repurposed furniture for decor and construction to minimize waste. “Even our door frames are from old homes. We have used very little plywood and additional wood,” he added. Bhatt’s home design encourages optimum natural light and air circulation to reduce electricity usage. Sandhya Chandna, Thaltej, Ahmedabad Strategy: Chemical-free bio enzyme cleaners, optimal use of skylight Sandhya Chandna swears by her “factory” of bio enzymes at her bungalow. “All it takes to make the magic liquid is a few yeast granules and soap nuts sprinkled in a mix of water, fruit peels and jaggery in a 10: 3: 1 ratio. One needs to store it in an airtight container for three months and it is ready for use,” says Chandna, a retired officer from the ONGC. She uses the liquid to wash clothes and dishes and to unclog her kitchen drain. “It’s been several years now since I operated the washing machine. All my clothes are hand washed. The bio enzyme-refuse from the wash goes into watering my garden,” she says. A large leaf composter stands in her kitchen garden. “Our society’s leaf mold stock comes here, and I use it to enrich the soil,” she says. She adds that a kg of compost saves 3. 8kg of greenhouse gases from escaping into our atmosphere. Chandna got her bungalow designed by an architect friend from Cept University who specializes in optimal use of skylight. “For most part of the day, my family does not switch on the lights,” she says. She also uses a range of solar gadgets. Last year, she earned Rs 7,000 after feeding solar electricity into the grid. Somya Akshat,Gotri, Vadodara Strategy: Using cloth bags, organic compost and bio enzymes It was during a naturopathy course, a decade ago, that Somya Akshat became aware of the amount of plastic and chemical products she was using every day. In response, she slowly began to remove unnecessary plastic items from her home and replace them with environmental-friendly alternatives. She has replaced plastic boxes, bottles, spoons, and toys with their glass or metal counterparts. She told TOI, “It was difficult, but I am glad I could minimize plastic use. Today, I use glass bottles to store water. Even our tiffin boxes have no plastic. ” Additionally, she and her husband always carry a cloth bag while shopping to avoid using plastic bags. Akshat has taken many steps towards a zero-waste living by converting the kitchen waste into organic compost and producing bio enzymes for cleaning purposes. She sends plastic wrappers, glass waste, and other relevant packaging materials to various vendors to be recycled. Akshat has been educating her children about the advantages of using eco-friendly items, and aims to minimise pollution and land damage caused by non-biodegradable waste. Aalap Parikh, Paldi, Ahmedabad Strategy: Solar panels, rainwater recharge well, reducing use of car From owning four cars earlier, the Parikh family has gone to owning just one fuel-efficient car. “We can keep earning and mounting our wants and conveniences, but we now realize how efficiently we can manage our lives without cars,” says Aalap Parikh. He grows garden vegetables in his sprawling compound in Paldi and takes pride in his large ‘Khambati’ rainwater recharge well. During the monsoon, it takes in 8 lakh litres of stormwater not only from his bungalow but the entire society into the ground. “I have installed solar panels and I receive a credit of Rs 2,000 from the electricity company,” says Parikh, who distributes 1,000 saplings each year to families. He emphasizes a collaborative effort to eliminate the use of all forms of pesticides and rejuvenate the soil and the soil microbiome. “Living a low carbon life is less stressful and one feels more content, if only one makes that mindset shift,” says Parikh. Shama Nagri, Gulbai Tekra, Ahmedabad Strategy: Pesticide-free gardening, eliminating plastic use On the terrace of Shama Nagri’s bungalow in Gulbai Tekra, you will find three inches of mulch — compost of dried leaves — spread across. It brings down the room temperatures during scorching summer. “This simple garden technique to protect the soil from excess heat and weed infestation has also reduced my AC bills,” says Nagri, who has a solar power system at home and now clocks a credit of Rs 400 in each billing cycle. She has also replaced grass with gravel in the garden. “Grass consumes a lot of water and requires a lot of maintenance. For gardening, I use neem oil instead of pesticides. I have six composting bins for my kitchen and garden waste. ” The family dug a large Khambati kuan (rainwater recharge well) a few years ago. “It took me two years to convince my husband for the project. Today, this well sends almost 4 lakh litres of rainwater into the ground every year,” says Nagri. Her family has eliminated the use of plastic disposables. With inputs from Tushar Tere, Nimesh Khakhariya & Yagnesh Mehta

• Director General Office

पर्यावरण : चेरापुंजीई

Content are write protected, so please see the link https://pudhari.news/features/bahar/535012/water-scarcity-in-cherrapunji/ar रईकय मजत सक ससऊस पड. य वरपत सक ऊस पड, अन हच रआआउर असच रत अ. वकट ग. त क वरर हवआ. त ऑबरपत 8 मपत ऊस सळ. 1861 , जत वभत सगत ण22987 .. ऊस पडन द . प2011 न क ससघसन 13000 ..आआ. तआकजत सवर आ. अअसजसक पग न ओळखत अकडत क गईमकगत आ. गएक रण णहन बदतर आच; पण सकड त ऊस पनवन अडवएक रण आआ. ज गर ड पक आ. रण पत जतढउपअस. ढकत जत रआअडकतन गस असमठरत आ. पवणवण भटगत आ. आ. जठअट. पतच आटसआवळ. तजन . न वपयन च आ. त पटक त. पण समबत त. सळर ऊस असपटन वळत नसपटत आ. एणच ईपटन उग आधजबर फटबसआ. टर र यड एयट (एमई) आत ‘ड स रम’मय हरप ह , आपकजअकट ण नन ठवक त नसन ण आत. एवच तर हन बदकत भर पडआ. टर र यड एयटयण आपअत बत जत सजगढअसटआ. बचनकष आयवकरत आ. पसरतवरयठरत नसन . आआगक कजरआणत गरज आ. गक वर वन त असच वत बत 2030 पत त एण 17 उ6 उआआ.

• Director General Office

‘Today’s climate crisis is rooted in British imperial rule — this impacted India’s nature’

Mahesh Rangarajan is professor of history and environmental studies at Ashoka University. Speaking to Srijana Mitra Das at Times Evoke, he discusses how imperial Britain shaped the world’s environment: Colonialism in India was mostly defined by the crown — how did this encounter with royalty change our view of nature? There were two major points of departure. First, from about 1760 to 1940, India became part of a transcontinental political formation, initially with the East India Company, then with the crown. India played a critical role in the protection of British power worldwide — the forces recruited from here came from the agrarian hinterland. By 1800, there were around 2,00,000 such troops. By WWII, there were two million. Creating this military manpower impacted India’s culture, society — and agro-economy. Consider a linked strategic intervention with large ecological consequences — this was the making of the Canal Colonies in Punjab. In the late 19th century, the Raj began the largest irrigation project in the world, with Punjab being watered via the Indus River. This replaced the existing agro-pastoral landscape, dry-land agriculture and animal raising with sedentary farming. This is the terrain from where the crown could draw its peasant soldier. Neeladri Bhattacharya has written of the great agrarian conquest — this was a fundamental ecological remaking of Punjab. There were other huge schisms — in the late 19th century, the reservations of the forests, after the 1878 Act particularly, meant a takeover of almost 6,00,000 square kilometres of land. By the early 20th century, the world’s largest forest enterprise was in British India, creating the base for supplying railway timber. It meant an intense extraction of resources and the exclusion of local communities. There was also a marked change in agroecology, with animals like wolves and tigers eliminated on a much wider scale, many species also killed as bounty. As society changed from having many nomadic communities with flocks — Banjaras with bullocks, Gaddis with sheep, Raikas with camels, etc. — to a sedentary state, the continuum of Indian ecological life was broken. But this was not done along a very sharp line. Much of the bounty killing of lions, tigers, leopards and wolves, for instance, was done by Indians themselves. As they changed our ecological landscape, the British brought many Indians on board as subsidiaries in this system — the landed gentry were directly linked to them but there were others too. The strategy of non-cooperation aimed to break this chain, by disobeying, for instance, the forest laws. This was extremely important in British India which didn’t use a white settler model displacing the local population, as in South Africa or Australia. Are there echoes of this imperial approach to nature in postcolonial nations? Around WWII, the idea that development meant the conquest of nature took a concrete shape. The two great powers emerging after the War, the US and USSR, had similar visions of progress, based on steel, atomic energy, large dams and fertiliser factories. Newly independent nations seeking economic autonomy also adopted these artefacts. India was among these but it didn’t undergo what occurred in China under Mao — we retained attempts to balance our use of resources. The Gandhian ethos about nature and the reconciliation of all life explains the enduring diversity of forms of production and ways of relating to land, water, air, flora and fauna continuing in India. In contrast, China’s vision of nature was of breaking and completely remaking it. Do the origins of the current climate crisis lie within such imperialism? From 1780 to 1850, Britain emerged as the supreme world power. Importantly, this was also the period of coal and steam power and the Industrial Revolution. The transformation of production in Britain was matched by the capture of a very important piece of land in India in 1765 — Bengal. The British draw vast land revenues from here and broke up textiles and local enterprises to develop their own industries. The sharp divide between what is now called the ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ world lies in the long colonial period, from the late 18th to the mid-20th century. About 15% of the population in this industrialised world — comprising Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and later Japan — accounts historically for the bulk of fossil fuel emissions, starting around the 1800s. Therefore, climate justice today must deal with the legacy of that imperial past. The notion of global warming impacting a deeply unequal world was articulated 30 years ago by Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain. It remains valid and there must be redressal for developing countries. Is there a special significance in King Charles III being an environmental votary and biodiversity protector? Well, for many years, he apparently went fox hunting himself. This practice was described by the writer Oscar Wilde as ‘the unspeakable in search of the inedible’. The history of Britain’s landed aristocracy included the domination of large parts of the countryside for elite purposes. Balmoral Castle in Scotland is located amidst a backdrop of uprooting crofting communities, grabbing commons and dispossessing very poor people to create deer hunting grounds. Alongside contemporary global environmental facts, Britain’s King Charles could also consider this past.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Representatives from 19 countries visiting Pune to study PMC’s solid waste management system

PUNE: As the solid waste management of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is counted among the more efficient utilities in the country, 38 representatives from 19 countries are visiting the corporation to study its solid waste management system. Pune guardian minister Chandrakant Patil and municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar welcomed the representatives. Patil said, “Prime minister Narendra Modi started the Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan in the year 2014. This mission became a mass movement. The PMC also participated in it, and Pune city’s Swachch model was appreciated.” Kumar said, “It is a proud moment for the PMC that not only at the national but also at the international level, Pune’s model is being appreciated. This will encourage the employees to keep the city cleaner.” Additional municipal commissioner Kunal Khemnar said, “As Pune’s solid waste management is among the better systems in the country, various international representatives are visiting the PMC to study it. The representatives are mainly from African and Asian countries.” The representatives will be in the city for five days as part of the visit organised by the Centre for Science and Environment. They will be briefed by representatives of the Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan as well as representatives of different Panchayat committees.

• Sustainable Food Systems

Sustainability transition for Indian agriculture

Abstract Farming in India faces a sustainability challenge due to its overreliance on chemical inputs. For every US$ 1,000 investment in sustainable farming, a US$ 100,000 subsidy is allocated for chemical fertilizers. Indian farming system is far off the optimal nitrogen efficiency, calling for substantial reforms in policy towards the transition to sustainable inputs. We examine the propensity of Indian farmers to adopt biofertilizers and other sustainable inputs. While small farmers are inclined towards chemical inputs, sustainable inputs are costly. Here we show that less than 5 per cent of the farming population contributes to the 95 per cent usage of the bio-fertilizer in India. However, small and marginal farmers contribute substantially to food security. Shifting from chemical to sustainable inputs calls for autonomous investment by the state to augment the capacity and improve affordability. We illustrate the transition to sustainability through a framework that includes scale, affordability, and sustainable inputs. Introduction India’s progress in crossing the threshold towards a sustainable linkage between farming and food security is slow. It failed to move from the Sustainable Nitrogen Management Index (SNMI) precarious zone to a safer zone1,2. Although the share of agriculture in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been declining over the decades, it still generates close to two-fifth of employment while its share in the national income is nearly one-fifth3,4. Most Indian farms (85%) are marginal and small, relying on the monsoon5. Fertilizer is a crucial input in farming6. Broadly, fertilizers are of two types: chemical and bio. However, the relationship between fertilizer and soil health is not unidirectional but non-linear7,8,9. Although the scientific literature posits improvements in yield due to chemical fertilizers, there is no dearth of inferences pointing to emerging disadvantages7,10,11. The question of optimal fertilizer use is rather difficult for an individual farmer to answer unless they have access to knowledge inputs12,13,14. Although the advocacy for the chemical regime emerges from an angle of food security, it is now increasingly regarded as a threat to sustainability. Sustainability in agriculture refers to increasing yield per unit without negatively affecting soil and water, and non-agricultural sectors15. Society encounters two types of challenges: (1) adopting sustainable agricultural practices to feed people now and in the foreseeable future and (2) doubling food production to meet the required demand across the world by 205016. A pertinent question is the pace of transition. The path is not linear. Instead, it requires resources and public goods. A discrete transition from chemical to bio inputs may debilitate the region’s ability to coordinate the public distribution system. Hence, the challenge is to have a balanced transition which is inclusive. Therefore, in this paper, we examine the propensity of Indian farmers to adopt bio-fertilizers and other sustainable inputs. Although bio inputs are associated with efficiency and return, there are capacity constraints in production, distribution, storage and quality17,18. Fundamentally, the problem involves two dimensions: capacity and usage. In India, capacity is yet to come up for a balanced transition that absorbs marginal to medium land holdings17,19,20,21. Compared to the large subsidy for chemical inputs, the public investment in bio inputs is much lower than the threshold. The chemical fertilizer subsidy in India is worth Rs. 1,400 billion (US$ 18 billion), whereas the total allocation for organic inputs is only Rs. 13.2 billion (US$ 0.17 billion)3,22. In other words, for every US$ 1,000 investment in sustainable farming, a US$ 100,000 subsidy is allocated for chemical fertilizers. However, recent policy initiatives like the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) aim to promote farming units to use bio inputs and provide financial support and provisioning of inputs. Such policy interventions may be helpful in terms of cost reduction, even though they may induce a slight revenue decline. Studies have shown that compared to conventional techniques, farms which adopt organic inputs yield better efficiency23,24. However, significant challenges emanate from inordinate delays in provisioning financial resources, inadequate training, and lack of scientific facilities25. Although the capacity side generated considerable scholarly interest, studies on the usage of bio inputs in India's context are nascent25,26. Therefore, exploring the relationship between scale heterogeneity and the propensity to use bio inputs is crucial. For this purpose, we structure farming units into bins, bagging small, medium and large units in distinctive groups, to gauge the variation in chemical inputs and the adoption of bio inputs using nationally representative farmer-level microdata27. Our empirical analysis examines four farming systems focusing on sustainability and scale. Further, we discuss the transition in input usage across the systems. An example is transitioning from low-scale and low-sustainable input to low-scale and high-sustainable input usage. Results The burden of inputs on farming households The performance of the farms in the Indian agriculture sector is sensitive to the scale of value and quality of inputs and gross value of outputs (GVO). GVO is a measure of sales or revenue from products and by-products. To examine GVO across production classes, we split the farming households into four quartiles based on GVO per unit of land cultivated. Box-whisker plots in Fig. 1 visualize each quartile for input and GVO. Figure 1 figure 1 Box and whiskers plot for input and output value (defined in terms of Gross Value Outputs-GVO) values for per unit land cultivated across 58,035 farming households in NSS 77th round survey. The vertical axis in panels (a), (b), (c), and (d) are values (in INR) of input and GVO per unit hectare of land. The quartiles in panels (a), (b), (c) ,and (d) are based on GVO per unit land. Full size image Figure 1 shows the input and output distribution per land across four quartiles of farming households based on GVO per ha of land. For the first quartile (Fig. 1a), the distribution of unit input is free of outliers, although the upper bound is high. Most of the area in the box is above the median, implying a marked variability within it. However, the unit output distribution is compact. The median value of GVO is substantially lower than that of the unit input, which implies that the visible variation in the input box coexists with a fixed lower output margin. It is typical of Indian agriculture, which describes the precarious incomes of small farm households in India28. The second quartile is not discernibly different from the previous one (Fig. 1b), but the median values of both inputs and output are higher than the first quartile (Fig. 1a). The third quartile turns out to be a changed scenario (Fig. 1c). It features a positive margin between unit output and input per unit of land. While some data points in the input box are outliers, most of the box is above the median. There are no outliers for the unit output, and the above-median area is higher than the lower part. The fourth quartile is entirely different from the rest. The GVO is visibly higher than the input, suggesting positive returns for larger farmers (Fig. 1d). It also confirms the extent of the agrarian crisis in India, as widely acknowledged by various studies29. Therefore, in order to overcome the agrarian crisis, the key is lower input costs, sustainable farming methods, and livelihood security for farmers. Further, we observe a similar trend for inputs and GVO in absolute terms across farming classes (Fig. S1). A comparative analysis of farm sustainability across household classes An important dimension is the composition of inputs (both in quality and quantity) used in agriculture. The expenditure on agricultural inputs in India consists of improved seeds, fertilizers, crop protection (chemical and biological), machinery, irrigation, land rent, payments for extension, crop insurance premiums, and other miscellaneous expenditures. We reinvestigate the input cost in terms of chemical fertilizer, pesticide, biofertilizer, manure, biopesticide, labour, irrigation and crop insurance by inscribing it in the deciles of the GVO (Fig. 2a). Interestingly, we observe a divergence between chemical inputs and green inputs. In the case of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, we observe a consistent decline in their share as the decile increases. However, the pattern reverses for green components that consist of biofertilizer, manure and biopesticide. It implies that large farmers are more inclined towards green inputs than smaller ones. An intuitive explanation is that large farmers have more proximity to knowledge channels like formal and informal extension services30. The labour share is increasing from the lowest to the highest decile. However, irrigation shows a reverse pattern. It indicates that the large farming units engage in intensive farming. A similar pattern prevails for all inputs for the unit value (output per land) across deciles (Fig. S2). Figure 2 figure 2 Sustainability component for the input used in Indian farming. The sustainability component is defined as the cost of the ratio of the organic form of input (bio-fertilizer, bio-pesticide, and manure) to the total organic and chemical inputs (fertilizer and pesticides). Panel (a) shows the relative cost of different components of input costs per unit area. Note that the cost in panel (a) shows only the cost of inputs, labour, crop insurance, and irrigation. The Figure does not consider other inputs such as seeds, machines, land rent, and miscellaneous costs. The value indicates the median values of the farming households in the NSS 77th round. Panels (b) and (c) shows the sustainability component arranged in deciles of households according to the GVO (panel b) and GVO per unit of land (panel c). The bar in panels (b) and (c) shows the average values, and the error bar in the panels shows the minimum and maximum range of values. Full size image Among the inputs, the cost of fertilizer and labour are the principal ones, varying across deciles. The area of the decile depicts the share of fertilizer to the total value of inputs. We divide each decile in Fig. (S3) by the first decile. The ratio for fertilizer cost tends to decline over the first to tenth decile range. It implies that marginal farmers rely more on chemical fertilizer in production, which is the reverse for large farmers. A plausible explanation is that the knowledge of soil health through channels like formal and informal extension may not reach marginal farmers30. The Government of India's recently launched soil health card scheme aimed to cover all sections of the farming category. While the awareness for the scheme is high, indicating the benefits for high fertilizer-consuming crops such as paddy or cotton, careful planning is needed to obtain widespread benefits to agriculture and the environment in the country31. These include specially designed pilot projects, use of technology, reduction in the subsidy of nitrogenous fertilizers, doorstep delivery of micro-nutrients, and prioritized funding for the development of supply chain infrastructure31. Regarding labour expenditure, deciles show a consistent increase except for a slight dip in the last decile (Fig. 2a). Higher deciles are likely to provide more scope for scaling up the operations that require more labour. On the other hand, for the lower deciles, hired labour perhaps is unaffordable. Hence, they resort to their own account work (self-labour) for farming32,33. It is crucial to assess the outcomes if we divide these inputs by land (Fig. 2c). For these indices, however, the pattern remains the same (Fig. 2b, c). It means more land productivity and lesser use of chemical fertilizers, while the amount of labour tends to increase. Further, we define the aggregate usage of green inputs (biofertilizers, manure and biopesticides) to the total value of inputs as the sustainability component (SC). We compute the deciles of either the value of the output or its unit value (Fig. 2b, c). Across deciles, the confidence interval (at 95 per cent) of the mean is of homogeneous width, and its statistically significant, explaining a consistent and systematic variation across deciles. The ratio consistently rises for the first set of deciles, and the same behaviour is also valid for the second set. It is an important pattern that unravels the link between affordability and sustainability. A relevant issue is why the green ratio is lowest for the lower strata, even after standardizing it for the land size (Fig. 2c). Plausibly, switching over to green inputs relies on affordability and awareness. Therefore, a natural question is whether the agricultural extension service caters to marginal farmers. Further, a significant policy issue is how to provide green inputs to the lower strata at affordable prices. Affordability of inputs across farming households Regarding affordability, it is crucial to know if the SC varies across the economic strata, measured by the deciles of per capita monthly consumption expenditure (MPCE). For every decile, we compute the average of SC at a 95% confidence interval (Fig. 3a). There is a direct relationship between the economic strata of the farming unit and the SC adopted for farming, despite small dips at the third and ninth decile. The SC for the eighth decile is twice the first. It implies that adopting sustainability in farming is sensitive to the affordability of the farmers. Small and marginal farmers may find switching to green inputs difficult unless it is appropriately priced and supplemented by knowledge inputs. Considering that small and marginal farmers, in aggregate, substantially contribute to food production, the adoption of SC by them requires a comprehensive policy framework that considers affordability. On the other hand, an umbrella policy for SC that does not explicitly account for affordability may impact food security in the long run. Figure 3 figure 3 Distribution of sustainability component and measures of expenditure inequality on chemical and bio-inputs. Panel (a) shows the sustainability component arranged in deciles based on the MPCE (Monthly Per Capita Expenditure) values. The bar in panel (a) shows the average value, and the error bar shows the 95% confidence interval. Panel (b) shows the Lorenz curve for the expenditure on chemical fertilizer for the households with the bottom ten percentile (green dashed line), all households (solid blue line), and top 10 percentile (red dashed line) according to MPCE values. The legends in panel (c) and (d) are the same as in panel (b), except it shows the households’ expenditure on bio-fertilizers. Panel (d) is the zoomed portion of the panel (c) for better visualization of the legends. In panels (b), (c), and (d), the solid black straight line shows the one-to-one relationship of the cumulative rank and the cumulative values, which indicates the line of equality as per the description of the Lorenz curve. The Gini values in panels (b), (c), and (d) indicate the measure of inequality. The higher is Gini, the higher the inequality of distribution of a variable. Full size image Further, to understand the distribution of expenditure on chemical and biological fertilizers in Indian farms, we used the Gini inequality index and the Lorenz curve34. Gini and Lorenz get widely adopted in literature to examine the income and wealth distribution in society. The Gini index takes values between 0 and 1. The closer the index is to 0, the more equal the distribution is and vice-versa34. The Lorenz curve shows the graphical distribution of income by the proportion of the society. We use Gini and Lorenz curve for the distribution of expenditure used on fertilizer (Fig. 3b) and io-fertilizer (Fig. 3c, d) per unit of land. Interestingly, the expenditure distribution on chemical and bio-fertilizer is significantly differ (Figs. 3b–d). The results indicate that all MPCE-class farmers in India use chemical fertilizers. Although the inequality in expenditure in chemical fertilizer is high, the distribution of expense in chemical fertilizer is more homogenous among the lower MPCE class (poorest class of the farmers) compared to the wealthiest class of the farmers (Fig. 3b). These results confirm the findings of the village-level surveys, which indicate that the application of chemical fertilizer among poor farmers is quite prominent35. Field studies indicate that small farmers use high doses of fertilizer for cultivation, which often generates negligible returns subjected to climatic and market conditions36. Our results point out that a reduction in government subsidy on chemical fertilizer may have a detrimental economic impact on small farmers since their share in the use of chemical fertilizer is substantial and more homogenously distributed across households (Fig. 3b). The distribution of biofertilizer looks sensitive to the tail of the distribution (Fig. 3c, d). The distribution is markedly skewed. It indicates that only the extremely rich farmers can afford and apply biofertilizers. Figure 3 (panels c and d) indicates that less than 5% of the farming population contributes to the 95% usage of bio-fertilizer in India. To ensure the long-term sustainability of Indian agriculture, bio-fertilizer distribution (Fig. 3c,d) needs to attain more equality across all sections of the farming population. Discussion It is crucial to evaluate the Indian farming system from two dimensions: scale and sustainable inputs (Fig. 4). The system consists of units that vary in the scale of operations. It ranges from highly marginal land holding to larger ones37,38. And the scale also corresponds to the order of the economic strata. The second dimension is the usage of sustainable inputs39. It also varies from low to high intensity. Juxtaposing these two generates ideas about the linkage between farming performance and the use of sustainable inputs. We slice the space into four quadrants called systems. The system I is a situation of medium to large-scale farming units and medium to high usage of sustainable inputs. What characterizes system II are small to medium-scale of farming and medium to high intensity of sustainable inputs. We get system III by combining small to medium scale and low to medium sustainable input usage. Finally, system IV consists of medium to large-scale operations and low to medium-intensity of sustainable inputs. Figure 4 figure 4 Systems of interaction between sustainable inputs in agriculture and scale of farming. The system refers to the way of organizing sustainable inputs given the scale of the land. System III is the baseline which characterizes the prevalent scenario, i.e., low use of sustainable inputs and fragmented lands, while the system I is the desired state depicting the upgrading. While system II is a more realistic outcome for countries like India owing to institutional constraints, system IV represents large-scale farming with low SC. Arrows represent the transition from one system to another. The shaded boxes depict the state of agriculture in each system, while the plain boxes convey the prerequisites for transformation. Full size image Each system has its specific features. System I is numerically small in Indian farm sector. What is highly probable in the current scenario is the positive link between scale and sustainable input usage. Induced investment and knowledge capital contribute to this40. Investment in technology is likely to generate better returns, considering the historically lower capital formation in Indian agriculture41,42. And large farming units may resort to it, contributing to efficiency gains43. It is crucial that knowledge capital, especially extension services, may go along with the propensity to adopt sustainable practices30. A major variant of this behaviour is the adoption of bio inputs over chemical inputs44. System II is less likely to exist and is futuristic. System III is the more common and numerically most significant category in India45,46. This system consists of the sub-optimal performance of production units47. Although a micro-unit in the system is of lower economic significance, the system as an aggregate is too crucial for the supply chain of food grain and food security. Moreover, it is the principal source of employment in the country. System IV is a less likely scenario. There are three transition scenarios. First is the change from system III to II. Alternately, the second trajectory is from system III to I. The third transition is from IV to I. Although the second transition looks like a logical option, institutional constraints impede the journey, particularly in India48. Landholdings in India is not just a property right in the market49,50, it is also embedded with diverse social contexts such as joint family. Any initiative to unitize the land and consolidate is likely to meet with resistance from social forces and formal and informal institutions51,52. Therefore, the first trajectory is the feasible one. It implies that the transition involves the same scale of farming with more sustainable inputs, like prioritising organic inputs in rainfed and hilly regions that tend to use fewer chemical inputs. Given that most farming units are marginal, they will require more capacity for investing in the transition to sustainable inputs. It calls for investments autonomous of returns by agencies like the state. A blanket policy on adopting sustainable inputs that is neutral on the scale may not work for the transition53,54,55. It is crucial to note that the above-discussed dynamics is a scenario of upgrading but not upscaling. However, the transition from system III to I, is a case of upscaling through institutional arrangements like a contract or corporate farming. Its political economy is a contentious issue in contemporary India56. An interesting scenario is a transition from IV to I. It involves motivating medium to large units to use sustainable inputs, primarily through induced investment, with a clear expectation of future return. More succinctly, these transition paths depict heterogeneous contexts that call for appropriate policies to promote the use of sustainable inputs in farming. The transition to sustainability is sensitive to the social structure of knowledge creation and diffusion in farming systems. In India, the formal channel of knowledge consisting of government agencies and universities is less efficacious in impacting the decision to reduce chemical fertilizer. On the other hand, the private channel, including progressive farmers, commercial agents, and non-governmental organizations, are impactful in decisions to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer30. Without understanding the heterogeneity of transition, a policy favouring wide adoption as a standard template may trigger undesirable outcomes, especially food security55. If the policy confides in induced investment by the units and the scaling up as a route to promote sustainable input use, it is unlikely to motivate the marginal units. From a micro perspective, it is merely a decision problem by the producer. However, its macro dimension is rather complex since the aggregate of these units translates to significant stakes in the public distribution system and livelihoods. Data and methods Data We use the microdata from the National Sample Survey 77th round (NSS 77th round) survey on the theme of “land and livestock holding of households and situation assessment of agricultural households”. National Statistical Office conducts the survey, Government of India. The data was collected during 2018–2019, which captured the information for two cropping seasons. There were separate visits for both seasons. While the first round captured the data for July to December 2018 (monsoon season), the second round was from January to June 2019 (post-monsoon season). Since Indian agriculture is predominantly rainfed, we examine only the data from the monsoon season. The farming household is the unit of analysis. Either the head of the household or a key informant (a representative of the household familiar with farming details) is the respondent. Samples were drawn from 5940 first-stage units (hamlet groups). Our sample comprises 58,035 households across India (except for the union territory Andaman and Nicobar Islands). Variables Fundamentally the analysis examines the monetary value of output and input used in agriculture. Further, these measures are also divided by the area of land operated for farming (in ha). The value of output refers to the monetary value of the output produced. The value of the input is the sum of the monetary value of diverse components. These components include chemical fertilizers, manure, biofertilizers, chemical pesticides, biopesticides, labour, irrigation, crop insurance, and other inputs. Chemical fertilizers are either inorganic materials or synthetic ones. It supplies nutrients to the growth of plants. For example, ammonium sulphate, nitrate, phosphate, and urea are chemical fertilizers. Biofertilizers have living microorganisms that contribute to the growth of the crop, for example, Rhizobium, Bacillus sp., and Mycorrhiza. Manure is a natural substance that emerges from the waste of plants and animals, for example, cow dung. Pesticide refers to chemical plant protection material like Copper Sulphate or Lime-Sulphur. Biopesticides are non-chemical plant protection materials like Azadirachta indica (Neem oil), Brassica napus (Rapeseed oil) and Mentha piperita (Mint oil). Labour costs are the value of payments to the hired labour irrespective of the nature of the contract (be it regular or casual employment). Irrigation, crop insurance, and other inputs are valued per actual expenses incurred. Apart from the value of inputs and output, we analyse the monthly consumption expenditure of the household. It is divided by the size of the households to arrive at monthly per-capita consumption expenditure. This variable captures regular spending on durables and non-durables incurred by the household. And it is a proxy for the economic well-being of the household. Methods We deploy a descriptive approach to dissect the variables of interest. It includes the comparison across quartiles and deciles. In quartiles, three values split the sorted data into four parts, each with an equal number of observations. The lowest quartile is the bottommost strata (lowest 25% of the data), while the highest quartile is the topmost strata (highest 25%). To visualize the quartile, the box plot is used. If an observation lies outside the box, it is called an outlier, situating in either extreme. Within the box, the median is the crucial indicator of central tendency used for comparison across quartiles. It is crucial to analyze the deciles for incisive data slicing. Decile implies that data is split into ten equal-sized bins with nine cut points. Its utility lies in a more microscopic assessment of tails. We compute the median for every decile and divide ith decile Di(x¯¯¯) by the first decile D1(x¯¯¯) , called the multiplier (Mi ). Equations (1)–(3) describe computing. Di=i×(n+1)10 (1) Di(x¯¯¯)=MedianforDi (2) Mi=Di(x¯¯¯)D1(x¯¯¯) (3) where i is the order of the decile (1 to 10); n is the number of sorted and ungrouped observations, and D is a particular decile. D (x¯¯¯ ) is the average of the decile. The purpose of the multiplier is to convey the volume of growth or contraction in the average across the distribution, taking the first decile as the reference point. For example, suppose it is a case of growth; the multiplier informs about the particular decile at which the first decile doubles, trebles, or quadruples. It is valid for contraction as well. We also compute a sustainability component (SC) indicator. SC is the expenditure on biofertilizer, manure and biopesticide as a proportion of the total input expenditure. The higher the decile average value {Di(x¯¯¯)} of SC, the greater the orientation towards environmental sustainability and vice versa. Here, we use the average instead of the median because the mode is closer to zero. Another crucial reason for using the average is to examine if the variation is consistent across deciles. It can be gauged by computing the confidence interval at a suitable level. Data availability The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Khurana, A. & Kumar, V. State of biofertilizers and organic fertilizers in India (New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment, 2022), Available from: https://www.cseindia.org/state-of-biofertilizers-and-organic-fertilizers-in-india-11235

• Down To Earth

Opinion | In Search of Home: Unfolding Reality of Climate Change Displacement in India

Climate change has been increasingly recognised as a significant driver of forced migration, as it, directly and indirectly, affects the habitability of certain areas, making them uninhabitable or unsustainable for human populations. Millions of individuals, communities and societies, over the last decade, have been compelled to leave their homes in search of food, life security and alternative livelihoods. To India, the story is no different. The frequency and severity of extreme weather events in India became a topic of concern with the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) reporting that India experienced almost one extreme weather event per day. The Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) reports that approximately 45 million people in India alone, shall be compelled to migrate by 2050 due to climate disasters, with a threefold increase in current figures. NOT MY PROBLEM WON’T WORK Climate change displacement is not an individual problem but a multifaceted issue that affects communities, regions and countries. It strains social and political systems, exacerbating existing inequalities and creating new challenges for governance and public services. The cross-cutting issue often leads to consequences in the long term which are usually ignored. Often people and authorities do not take it seriously because it doesn’t impact them directly. But the long-term consequences are usually overlooked. These include population health of communities/regions, rapid urbanisation associated slum growth, and stalled development. Furthermore, displaced people frequently require access to essential resources and services like food, water, housing, healthcare, and education. This increased demand may tax local and national resources and result in higher service costs, putting additional strain on already stressed finances. he overall economic impacts of climate change displacement can be significant as disruptions in agriculture, fishing and tourism can result in reduced economic growth, increased poverty, and inequality. When families relocate, they lose contact with the land. As a result, the interdependence, efficiency, and economics of associated livelihood activities such as animal husbandry, poultry, dairy, and so on suffer. Disruption of agricultural activity can also result in higher food costs and decreased availability of specific crops, which can have repercussions on a country’s broader economy, including implications on food security, employment, and commerce. According to data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), 3,856,000 individuals were displaced by environmental catastrophes in India in 2020, 989 times more than the 3,900 people who were affected by conflicts. Women, without a doubt, are often disproportionately affected by climate change-induced displacement in India and other parts of the world. A report by Climate Action Network shows that women perform additional 12–14 hours of work as a result of climate displacement and migration. When men migrate or leave vulnerable areas due to climate-related events, women are often left behind to take care of both the household and the land. In addition, when women are displaced, it often disrupts social networks and support systems that women rely on for their health, well-being and even financial management.

• Industrial Pollution

Funds remain underutilised by regulators in one of the most polluted regions of India

A recent report says ten state pollution control boards in the polluted Indo-Gangetic plain have a financial surplus every year because of low spending. The surplus funds are invested in fixed deposits instead of strengthening the workforce and infrastructure. With government grants negligible, the boards rely heavily on consent fees charged from the industrial units and interest earned on FDs, which has hampered their ability to regulate effectively. Experts call for overall restructuring in the working of pollution regulators in India to improve their administrative, financial, and technical capacity. Ten state pollution control boards across the Indo-Gangetic Plain, which faces severe air pollution, have a surplus of funds each year, finds a recent report by the Centre for Policy Research (CPR). This is contrary to some past reports and a widespread perception that state pollution control boards have challenges related to finances and their management, which leads to ineffective delivery of services. The Delhi-based think tank, CPR, studied the financial health of state pollution boards using information collected under the Right to Information Act and interviews of regulatory staff of different states. The ten pollution control boards it reviewed were from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. According to the CPR report, a majority of the pollution control boards had surplus funds over the three financial years (from 2018 to 2021) that the report focussed on. It found that many of the boards did not spend the entire amount they collected and the surplus was invested in bank fixed deposits. The research team estimated the amount of money invested by each board by using the data on interest income accrued by each board in each year, which they received through their RTI responses. A standard interest rate for each financial year was used, based on which the approximate principal amount invested was calculated. The estimated investments, the study found, amounted to Rs. 29 billion, during the 2020-21 fiscal year. West Bengal topped the list with deposits of Rs. 7.7 billion, while Jharkhand had the lowest amount of investment at Rs. 235 million, as per the indicative estimates. Other states’ pollution control boards also invested surplus funds in bank fixed deposits during the 2020-21 fiscal year. Haryana invested an estimated Rs. 6.08 billion, Rajasthan invested Rs. 5.74 billion, Delhi invested Rs. 3.75 billion, Punjab invested Rs. 2.15 billion, Uttarakhand invested Rs. 1.73 billion, Chhattisgarh invested Rs. 1 billion, Bihar invested Rs. 630 million, and Uttar Pradesh invested Rs. 540 million, according to the study’s estimates. There have previously been reports that have suggested that lack of financial resources and inefficient financial management are among the major reasons of state pollution control boards being ineffective in improving air quality as well as failing on their other responsibilities of water and waste management. For instance, a 2020 study by the Centre for Chronic Disease Control cited financial constraints as one of the barriers to achieving the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The study notes that “inadequate funding is a major reason behind the insufficient staff and consequently the infrequent inspections and focus on matters of air pollution control“. The interviewees for the report also cited the lack of funding as a challenge to carry out their daily responsibilities and hire trained staff. Another report, from 2009, by the Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based think tank, recommended an increase and improvement in the financial resources of these boards. It noted that in some cases, financial constraints and budgetary restrictions were stated, by the interviewees, as a reason for staff shortages. “A multi-faceted approach is required to increase and improve the human and financial resources of the boards,” the report recommended. Low fund utilisation While interest from the bank fixed deposit investments helped the pollution regulatory boards maintain positive balance sheets, which means more assets that liabilities and hence a better value, there was low expenditure of the funds by the boards, shows the CPR report. The average fund utilisation rate across the ten boards was 48% during the three fiscal years from 2018-19 to 2020-21. The average fund utilisation rate was the highest in Punjab at 71%, while it is the lowest in Uttarakhand at 25% across the three study years. The report mentioned that fund utilisation in the national capital, which often experiences bad air pollution days, was at most 35%. The report points out that the low utilisation indicates a lack of financial expertise within these institutions to predict annual income and expenditure accurately and to create spending plans accordingly. While there is inefficient management of funds on one hand, on the other, the boards face staff shortages and inadequate infrastructure for pollution monitoring and lab testing. The report states that despite low spending, staff salaries and allowances comprised over half of the expenditure during these three fiscal years. The share of spending on new infrastructure, including lab testing facilities, was as low as 11% during these years despite the inadequate state of infrastructure in many states. The report then added that the spending on research, development, and studies, which otherwise help regulators to make positive interventions, comprised just 2% of their overall expenditure. Industry-dependent revenue model For pollution boards in the region, consent fees charged from industrial units along with interest earned on surplus fund investments, are the primary revenue sources, the CPR report mentioned. Earlier, pollution control boards had diverse revenue sources, such as water cess, but this revenue source was stopped after the launch of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime. Government grants to the boards are also negligible. According to the report, on average, 53% of the total income of the ten boards, during the three fiscal years studied, came from the consent fees charged to industries that were given permission to establish and operate their units in the state. Another 23% of their income during these years came from interest they earned from their investments of surplus funds in fixed deposits, savings accounts and advances. As per the report, these two components – consent fees and interest income – contributed significantly to the overall revenue of the boards, but have reduced their ability to regulate effectively. Explaining this further, Bhargav Krishna, the report’s co-author and CPR senior fellow, told Mongabay India that since the investment of surplus funds helps the boards earn almost one-fourth of their revenue each year, the boards do not want to forgo it by increasing the expenditure on workforce hiring and other required infrastructure like technical labs, etc., even though there is an urgent requirement. This, in turn, impacts regulations. Since the boards do not have sufficient technical ground staff, they have outsourced regulatory functions, such as mandatory periodical inspections of industrial plants and factories, to third-party auditors. But the boards have no internal mechanism to cross-check if these audits are accurate, reflect ground realities and whether or not industrial units are complying with the environmental standards, said Bhargav. He quoted a study done in Gujarat in 2013, which provided evidence that the functioning of third-party auditors, otherwise hired by factory owners, is a clear case of conflict of interest. Their reports are not always accurate and there is very little oversight of their work. According to him, the solution is simple: the government must give dedicated funds to regulators so that they do not remain dependent on their limited source of earnings. The funds should be sufficient for them to maintain their proper administrative and technical staff and regulatory infrastructure. “Our reports reveal that the grant in aid by state governments of these ten respective boards was a mere 4% during the three fiscal years we studied. Since it has limited income sources, it has become a tendency for regulatory bodies not to spend much on filling up vacant posts and improving their technical expertise,” he added. The CPR report also mentioned that according to respondents the team interviewed, the NGT’s order in 2019, allowing boards to impose environmental compensation, provided a much-needed replacement for revenue lost when the GST regime subsumed the water cess. But the proposed amendments to the Air Act and the Environment Protection Act in the Jan Vishwas Bill, currently pending before Indian Parliament, propose significant changes to the regulatory regime, with adjudicatory powers to be placed in the hands of a Central Government-appointed committee including the power to impose environmental compensation. It is unclear at this stage what this means for the current regulatory regime and the role of state pollution control boards, the report added.

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