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Delhi has no action plan to soften heatwave blow, yet

NEW DELHI: The mercury is set to soar this month, but the city currently has no heat action plan for minimising the impact of heatwaves that severely impact Delhiites, especially vulnerable community members.However, a Delhi government official said concerned departments have been asked to submit their plans by April 10. “A draft heat action plan has been prepared. Based on inputs received from departments, a plan will be finalised this month.” The Delhi state action plan on climate change for the current decade is also yet to be implemented. The capital was under the grip of 17 heatwaves last summer, but some locations saw more than 20 heatwave days. delhi heatwave Since the temperature is expected to rise from this month, experts emphasised that a heat action plan should be in place. Aditya Valiathan Pillai, associate fellow at Centre for Policy Research (CPR), said, “Delhi should issue a heat action plan as the city has a large heat-exposed population and dense urban environments that trap heat, particularly in unplanned neighbourhoods, every summer. This summer is predicted to be bad, and it won’t be the last.” He added, “The economic and health consequences of a heatwave that lasts a week or so with hot nights that prevent the body from recovering and a marginal increase in humidity could be devastating. Outdoor workers, including construction workers, traffic police, vendors and delivery agents, are among the vulnerable constantly exposed to heat and have the least flexibility to cope.” Pillai co-authored a CPR report, titled ‘How is India adapting to heatwaves?’ The report stated that heat action plans regularly include a heatwave warning system, including sharing alerts with vulnerable populations; means of coordination between government departments; an awareness, training and behaviour change component to reduce heat exposure; a list of short-term actions, focused on healthcare or changing work hours; and longer-term solutions, such as investing in infrastructure like cool roofs and water harvesting bodies, changes in agricultural practice or adjusting urban planning, including green corridors. Avikal Somvanshi, senior programme manager, urban lab, Centre for Science and Environment, said, “Unlike Ahmedabad and other cities, Delhi has no defined policy for dealing with heatwaves. Heatwaves have become even more problematic in cities due to urban heat islands. When the ambient temperature is 46-50 degrees Celsius, the surface temperature is about 64-65 degrees Celsius, which is highly dangerous for human health.” “When temperature crosses a certain limit, there should be a policy on providing cool and shaded spaces to workers and changing the outdoor working timings,” he added. Meanwhile, IMD plans to issue a heat-hazard analysis for the country, including Delhi, this summer. The department currently issues forecasts based on the maximum temperature and its departure from normal. The heat-hazard analysis will be calculated based on five meteorological factors -- relative humidity, minimum and maximum temperatures, wind speed and duration of heatwave spell.

कीटनाशक प्रदूषण के जोखिम की ज़द में विश्व के 64% कृषि क्षेत्र

जिन क्षेत्रों को ज़्यादा ख़तरा है, उनमें 34% क्षेत्र उच्च जैव विविधता वाले क्षेत्रों से जुड़े हुए हैं। इसके अलावा, उच्च जोखिम वाले क्षेत्रों का 19% निम्न और निम्न मध्यम आय वाले देशों में हैं। जबकि पांच प्रतिशत उन क्षेत्रों से सम्बन्धित हैं जहाँ पानी की ज़्यादा कमी है। कीटनाशक न सिर्फ़ स्वास्थ्य से जुड़ी समस्यायें पैदा करते हैं बल्कि ये पर्यावरण के लिए भी ख़तरा हैं। नेचर जियोसाइंस में प्रकाशित एक अध्ययन का मानना है कि खेतीबाड़ी में कीटनाशकों के इस्तेमाल के चलते प्रदूषण का ख़तरा बढ़ गया है। इस अध्ययन में कहा गया है कि दुनिया की तक़रीबन 64% कृषि क्षेत्र कीटनाशक प्रदूषण के चलते ख़तरे में हैं और उस भूमि का 31% क्षेत्र ज़्यादा जोखिम की ज़द में है। ऑस्ट्रेलिया के सिडनी विश्वविद्यालय के वैज्ञानिकों के एक समूह द्वारा आयोजित इस अध्ययन में 168 देशों को शामिल किया गया था। ख़ास तौर पर एशिया में इस प्रदूषण के उच्च जोखिम वाले सबसे ज़्यादा कृषि क्षेत्र है। चीन, जापान, मलेशिया, फ़िलीपींस जैसे एशियाई देश, जिनमें से कुछ देश खाद्य कटोरे माने जाते हैं और एक बड़ी आबादी का पेट भरते हैं, वे कीटनाशक प्रदूषण के उच्च जोखिम वाले देशों में शामिल हैं। द नेचर के इस अध्ययन में यह भी कहा गया है कि उच्च जोखिम वाले क्षेत्रों में 34% उच्च जैव विविधता से जुड़े हुए क्षेत्र हैं। इसके अलावा, उच्च जोखिम वाले क्षेत्रों का 19% निम्न और निम्न मध्यम आय वाले देशों में है, जबकि पांच प्रतिशत उन क्षेत्रों से सम्बन्धित हैं, जहाँ पानी की ज़्यादा कमी है। इस अध्ययन में 168 देशों को शामिल किया गया है और कीटनाशक प्रदूषण के जोखिम का सामना कर रहे देशों को चिह्नित करते हुए एक वैश्विक मानचित्र तैयार किया गया है। फ़ोटो: साभार: डाउन टू अर्थ इस अध्ययन के अग्रणी लेखक और सिडनी विश्वविद्यालय में एक रिसर्च एसोसिएट फ़ियोना तांग को उद्धृत करते हुए कहा गया है, “हमारे अध्ययन से पता चला है कि दुनिया की 64% कृषि योग्य भूमि पर कीटनाशक प्रदूषण का ख़तरा है। यह इसलिए अहम है क्योंकि इस व्यापक वैज्ञानिक अध्ययन में पाया गया है कि कीटनाशक प्रदूषण का मानव स्वास्थ्य और पर्यावरण पर प्रतिकूल प्रभाव पड़ सकता है।” कृषि क्षेत्रों में इस्तेमाल किये जाने वाले कीटनाशक सतह और भू-जल दोनों में मिल जाते हैं जिससे जल निकाय प्रदूषित हो जाते हैं। इसका लगातार होता इस्तेमाल जल निकायों से मिलने वाले पानी की उपयोगिता को कम कर देता है। इस अध्ययन में इस बात की चेतावनी दी गयी है कि कीटनाशकों के बेहद इस्तेमाल से पारिस्थितिक तंत्र असंतुलित हो सकता है और वे जल स्रोत तबाह हो सकते हैं जिन पर मनुष्यों और अन्य जानवरों का अस्तित्व निर्भर है। “स्कूल ऑफ़ सिविल इंजीनियरिंग और सिडनी इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ़ एग्रीकल्चर में एक एसोसिएट प्रोफ़ेसर और इस अध्ययन के लेखकों में से एक फेडेरिको मैगी का कहना है, “हालांकि, ओशिनिया के कृषि क्षेत्र कीटनाशक प्रदूषण के सबसे कम जोखिम वाले क्षेत्र हैं, जबकि ऑस्ट्रेलिया का मर्रे-डार्लिंग बेसिन इस लिहाज़ से एक उच्च जोखिम वाला क्षेत्र माना जाता है। दोनों क्षेत्र पानी की कमी की समस्याओं से जूझ रहे हैं और दोनों ही उच्च जैव विविधता वाले क्षेत्र हैं।” वैश्विक आबादी में वृद्धि और इसकी वजह से होने वाली वैश्विक खाद्य मांग में होने वाली बढ़ोत्तरी के चलते वैश्विक स्तर पर कीटनाशक के इस्तेमाल के बढ़ने की संभावना है। यह ग्लोबल वार्मिंग और मानव निर्मित जलवायु परिवर्तन से भी जुड़ा हुआ है। ग्लोबल वार्मिंग में हो रही बढ़ोत्तरी के साथ कीटों की संख्या में बढ़ोत्तरी होने जा रही है और इससे कृषि क्षेत्रों पर इन कीटों के हमले भी बढ़ने जा रहे हैं। कीटों के इस बढ़ते हमले से निपटने के लिए ज़्यादा से ज़्यादा कीटनाशकों के इस्तेमाल किये जाने की संभावना है। इस अध्ययन के लेखकों ने एक ज़्यादा स्थायी कृषि मॉडल को लेकर एक ऐसी वैश्विक रणनीति का आह्वान किया है, जो कि कीटनाशक के इस्तेमाल को रोक पाये और उन्होंने खाद्य अपव्यय पर लगाम लगाने की ज़रूरत पर भी ज़ोर दिया है।

Campa, Coke, Pepsi, politics—cola wars and Indian capitalism. Now Ambani to fuel new battle

This is the story of India’s cola wars. It’s always been a potent mix of politics, nationalism, predatory market practices and good old conspiracy theories. PastForward is a deep research offering from ThePrint on issues from India’s modern history that continue to guide the present and determine the future. As William Faulkner famously said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Indians are now hungrier and curiouser to know what brought us to key issues of the day. Here is the link to the previous editions of PastForward on Indian history, Green Revolution, 1962 India-China war, J&K accession, caste census and Pokhran nuclear tests. The cola wars are nasty everywhere, but in India, “it’s genuine Mario Puzo,” declared Ramesh Vangal, the man who brought back Pepsi to India, in 1992. Except this time, the war wasn’t with its biggest rival Coca-Cola. It was actually with an array of formidable homegrown soft drinks like Campa Cola, Thums Up, Double Seven, Limca — and despite active lobbying favouring Indian brands, conspiracy theories, and anxieties over health concerns, Pepsi made its mark in India. Now, the cola wars are going to get more aggressive with India’s biggest business baron Mukesh Ambani’s entry. In early March 2023, Reliance relaunched Campa Cola that it acquired late last year. After three decades of dangal between two American cola brands, India is set to see a new round of old cola wars – desi vs videshi. There was a time when American colas were looked at with suspicion. Slogans like “We want computer chips, not potato chips!” rang through Parliament. Vangal, Pepsi Food Ltd.’s managing director, said Pepsi’s first application to reenter India in 1985 was rejected in two months. George Fernandez, who famously threw Coke out of the country in 1977, issued an ultimatum to Pepsi in 1985: the same fate awaits you as Coca-Cola, he said. “I made the point that 90 per cent of India’s villages did not have safe drinking water whereas Coke had reached every village…Do we really need Coke? Do we really need Pepsi?” he remarked to the New York Times. But the fizz didn’t go flat. Pepsi entered the Indian market triumphantly, buoyed by the Punjab public sector unit Punjab Agro and guided by the central government. Then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi even created a new ministry for food processing to help it happen. Even Atal Bihar Vajpayee — who was against the nationalisation of coal, steel, foodgrains — was on board, calling for the “Indianisation” of Coke, writes Rahul Ramagundam in The Life and Times of George Fernandes. The BJP leader and former PM said he had been drinking coke for more than two decades, and his bones hadn’t weakened yet. This is the story of India’s cola wars. It’s always been a potent mix of politics, nationalism, predatory market policies and good old conspiracy theories. It started in the 1950s, and didn’t end with Pepsi and Coke re-entering the market in the 90s. The wars were fought on the battlefield of advertising, telecast on a ‘liberalised’ India’s television sets. Why this cola-very di? As with everything, the cola war story also begins in a newly independent India, waking up to endless possibilities. The government was tasked with setting up a system from scratch, and the abiding symbols that came to be associated with this project were carefully chosen. In that India, international — and especially Western — products such as Coke and Pepsi, which were seen as American symbols, were viewed with some suspicion. Indian manufacturers like Parle stepped in to solve this perception issue when they entered the market in early 1950s. However, India’s relationship with soft drinks went decades before with Roger’s laying the claim to fame for the oldest existing brand, having been established in 1837. The likes of Pallonji’s in 1865, Ardeshir’s in 1884, Duke’s in 1889 and other regional brands had already formed significant parts of pre-independence India’s nascent soft drinks landscape until the American-made Pepsi and Coca-Cola came into the picture. Coca-Cola first entered the Indian market in 1950 — two years later, to counter them, Parle introduced the popular Goldspot in 1952. In 1962, a fledgling Pepsi left the Indian market, unable to keep up with Coke and Parle. he Indian government was fiercely protective of local industries and businesses — so it wasn’t Parle that was dragged to Parliament. It was Coke in the ‘interest of India and Indians’. It’s another thing that in four decades time, the politics around Coke would lose its fizz a bit and it will be Indian icons—from Aishwarya Rai to Aamir Khan—endorsing the American food and beverage giant for people who lived on sharbat. Coca-Cola was part of a miniscule fraction of the national economy, so why such noise in the corridors of power? The Coke saga When Coca-Cola export representative Frank Harrold came to Bombay in the 1950s, he had an “overwhelming desire” to lock himself away in the Taj Mahal Hotel and “shut away all the misery” he saw in the city. He describes what he saw: “A seething, boiling mass of humanity striving to survive from one day to the next.” The next day itself — with no sense of irony — he describes the grand “perfectly gorgeous” Coca-Cola plant in the middle of five acres of grounds. At a party with Hindi film celebrities of the time, Harrold was awed by the glamour and how close the industry felt to the brand Coca-Cola, noting that actors felt “a part of the family”. Away from the glamour in five-star dining halls was the background noise — the politics of putting Indians under a frenzy of a ‘foreign drink’. From a single plant in 1958, Coca- Cola grew into a 22-bottler behemoth in 16 years. A section of Indian politicians, the Left particularly, began seeing red — apart from the bottles — everywhere. For these leaders, Coca-Cola was the ultimate symbol of Americanism — and its influential lobby in India posed a threat. On 9 February 1974, Coca-Cola threw a lunch party at Delhi’s Oberoi Intercontinental for politicians and members of the press, who were each gifted a transistor after the sumptuous meal. Its bottlers were the elite families — President VV Giri’s son-in-law ran a unit in Madurai. The CPI launched tirades against the Congress government and Swatantra Party in Parliament. West Bengal MP Jyotirmoy Basu mentioned in Parliament that he had written letters to the Union Health Minister inquiring about the phosphoric acid and caffeine content in Coke. The letter passed several hands — to no response. “I do not know if anyone in the health ministry is a friend of Coca-Cola. But I can tell you definitely that somebody is eating a pie of Coca-Cola,” said Basu in March 1974, accusing the Indira Gandhi government of suppressing a 1967 report by Hyderabad-based Nutrition Research Laboratories (now National Institute of Nutrition) that listed its side effects in children. And Basu had a smoking gun to work with. In 1968, India was facing a sugar shortage. The agriculture ministry, headed by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, gave a handsome quota to Coca-Cola even though the company argued it didn’t need any sugar for its concentrates. The government granted ad hoc licences worth Rs 16 lakh, said Basu in Parliament, adding that Coca Cola India was making a profit (after tax) of 1600 per cent, while in the US, the figure was a mere 23 per cent. The government had also amended the Food Products Order in 1968 under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act 1955 — which mandated a drink to have at least 10 per cent fruit juice — to suit Coca-Cola and cover synthetic drinks. Instead of synthetic, Coke bottles now proudly sported the FPO label. In Jamshedpur, the proprietor of a Coca-Cola plant made such a huge profit — of Rs 60,000 — that he died of a heart attack. All the argumentation, as Congress MP B.V. Naik said, made Parliament the best “advertising agency” for Coca-Cola, who must’ve been “laughing in their sleeves”. Coke’s fall from grace And then Indira Gandhi imposed two things that changed Indian industry: the Emergency, and the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. And the fear of all things foreign became deeper in the Indian psyche. The Emergency paved the way for the newly elected Morarji Desai government that seized the chance to reinstate what it meant to be “Indian”. His government was fiercely protective of Indian industries in 1977, it began to use FERA to actively limit foreign ownership in Indian subsidiaries. And then George Fernandes sent “shudders down the spine of India’s industrial establishment.” He went after the two biggest symbols of American capitalism: Coca-Cola, and IBM. Citing Sanjay Gandhi who had said, “Let the public sector die a natural death,” Fernandes said: The people who held this view themselves died a natural death in so far as the public life of this country is concerned. As the Lok Sabha debated priorities, Fernandes’ myrmidons submitted a secret document to Basu that contained information on the Coca-Cola Company’s operations in India. “I have no second thoughts,” Fernandes declared on the question of Coke leaving the country. “Our policy toward multinationals is uniform. “They must abide by the law of the land if they want to be in business here.” The announcement was cheered in the Lok Sabha. Fernandes demanded Coca-Cola to divulge the formula of its concentrate — he knew that the company would prefer to fold, force bottlers to shut down, and dismiss workers. He also said that government chemists have perfected a formula similar to Coke — Double Seven — which could reabsorb the workers dismissed by them. And that’s exactly what happened in 1977. Coca-Cola was forced to leave India, and Indian companies like Parle and Pure Drinks (a government initiative from 1950) rushed to fill the gap. Double Seven was the Indian government’s peace offering to the Indian cola consumer. Manufactured by Modern Food Industries, run by the government, the soft drink was launched at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. But throwing Coca-Cola out was already “bad publicity”. It made the international community suspicious of the Janata Party: Fernandes, the industries minister, began visiting the world capitals inviting investments. Former West Bengal Governor and industrialist Viren Shah wrote to Fernandes, “As you are keen to invite foreign capital to India, it may be desirable to brief our missions, particularly in the US and Canada about the facts and policy on Coca-Cola. I understand there are two ex-Coca Cola persons in the Centre’s cabinet.” Whether the government thought people needed cola or not, India became fertile ground for cola companies: the weather, the high population, the blossoming television and film industry were all attractive draws. By the 90s, the average Indian drank three soft drinks a year — while the average American drank 385, the average Pakistan 14, and the average Bangladeshi 7. Parle and Pure Drinks were fighting it out for market share in the 1980s. And now that Coke was gone, it gave Pepsi a chance to put its foot in the door—in the second coming. out: Pepsi held a press meet and displayed a basket full of spurious products manufactured under unhygienic conditions. Their point, he said, was that of basic consumerism: if people don’t like Pepsi’s products, they won’t buy it. But at least give them the choice to consume it. They also did things like organise local events, including a huge cricket match at the Veer Bhagat Singh Stadium in Mumbai: between retired cricket players, both Indian and international. “And we demonstrated that this is the kind of stuff Pepsi can do. We set up the Pepsi Cup, and then Sachin Tendulkar later came on board too,” said Desai. “We wanted to show that Pepsi can create a market, and that it generates employment.” “Ultimately, what is lobbying compared to giant billboards and cricket matches?” he asked. The FERA, deployed liberally by Fernandes, had limited foreign equity to 40 per cent. Pepsi knew they would need allies to freely operate in India. And they turned to the state for help. Pepsi first knocked on the doors of Calcutta-based Duncan Agro Industries Corporation to seek government approval to do business in India. However, the deal fell through and the government withheld approval. Pepsi tried again, and this is where Punjab Agro, led by senior bureaucrat Gokul Pattnaik, came in. The alliance with Voltas and Punjab Agro was set up in 1988, and the tie-up massively boosted the economy and employment in Punjab, but also changed the kinds of food available to the Indian public. The deal was that along with its soft drinks, Pepsi, 7Up and Mirinda, PepsiCo should also set up food processing plants, franchise bottling operations, and snack-food factories using local ingredients. These snacks — Lays and Cheetos with Indian seasoning — then began to line grocery stores. In hindsight, tying up with a PSU turned out to be what many today call a master stroke. It blunted a lot of criticism. PepsiCo began talking to the Indian media about tomato farmers of Punjab, contract-farming and even how this could be the second phase of Green Revolution. Farmers’ organisations like Shetkari Sangathan and Bharatiya Kisan Union were in support of PepsiCo — after all, the company needed 600 tonnes of tomatoes a day to manufacture ketchup and other products. After a decade of just procuring chillies and tomatoes, PepsiCo began to procure potatoes from Punjab’s farmers too. While this unfolded, the local lobby continued to fight back against Pepsi. Pepsi adopted the tag line “Pepsi is good for India:” an all-encompassing slogan that promised “world class technology, marketing, products, and sponsorship,” according to Desai. And then the 80s ended with a stage set for Manmohan Singh’s 1991 Budget speech, which would liberalise India. In 1990, Pepsi officially entered the Indian market. But not before one last big bang. Pepsi had planned to call its flagship drink Pepsi Era. But the local lobby resisted it under a law that forbids foreign names for Indian products, and the VP Singh-led government mandated Pepsi to change its name in the summer of 1990. But the labelled bottles were ready, and so they had to be smashed and destroyed. The renaming of the drink and designing a new logo in record time was a nightmarish experience for the marketing team. But that was necessary to signal to Indian consumers that Pepsi felt Indian. The new flagship product was called Lehar Pepsi, adding the Hindi word for the wave in the logo. It cost more than $1 million at the time to manufacture new bottles with the new name. And after it hit the shelves on 23 May 1990, India was officially riding the Pepsi wave. The advertising battlefield The very first Lehar Pepsi advertisement was a significant event in the summer of 1990. The ad, which aired on Doordarshan, featured singer Remo Fernandes, actor Juhi Chawla, and the tagline “Are you ready for the magic?”. It ended with the words: “The choice of a new generation”. The “cola wars” were fought on multiple fronts, not limited to production and distribution but also in promotion and marketing, especially when Coca-Cola’s 1977 exit saw a slew of Indian firms vying for lucrative deals with the prominent ad agencies, celebrities and directors of the day. Among these were Parle, who had signed with Rekha to endorse the Gold Spot fizzy orange drink in the early 1970s and Jayant Kripalani to promote its lemon-lime soda brand Limca. Parle’s Chauhan gave Pepsi a good fight in the campaign wars – before he capitulated and sold the brands to Coca-Cola in 1993. Also featured in the 80s were Pure Drinks, who had signed up with the agency Chaitra and prolific advertising filmmaker Kailash Surendranath in the early 1980s to create an iconic Campa Cola ad that launched the career of Salman Khan in 1982, who had previously never done any modelling or acting work. Surendranath recalls the project as particularly noteworthy, due to the underwater filming that required expensive equipment to be used, with the Andamans as the shoot location, which was inspired by the 1980 Hollywood film The Blue Lagoon, starring Brooke Shields. What also stands out from the Campa ad and the aforementioned Limca and Goldspot ads, is the dominance of the English language in presentation and Western popular culture as the source of creative inspiration in this era, a far cry from the more Indianised Pepsi and Coca-Cola ads of the 1990s. The focus was on great visuals and voiceovers with proper diction, making the style of the ads quite Western, according to Surendranath. The 1980s also featured other now defunct Indian brands vying for relevance alongside Pure Drinks’ Campa and Parle’s Thums Up, with McDowell’s bringing in Thril and Sprint, apart from Double Seven. While these brands made sizeable impacts, their bids for soft drinks’ supremacy were relatively short lived with their lasting legacies steeped in nostalgia. Meanwhile, the leadup to economic liberalisation in 1991 saw the cola wars being re-ignited with American flavour due to the return of Pepsi, under the leadership of Ramesh Vangal, nearly 30 years since its initial departure from the Indian market. “In that era, media (advertising) was so simple in India that to create a roadblock, all that was needed was to take out an ad in the newspaper which said ‘The choice of a new generation, 8PM before Chitrahaar‘ and that was enough,” recalls Anuja Chauhan, who in 1993 had begun her career at J Walter Thompson (JWT), the ad agency working with Pepsi The reach of the Lehar Pepsi ad was immense but the route to get there was far from plain sailing, according to Rohit Chawla, a photographer and a veteran of the advertising industry who worked closely with PepsiCo’s then India head Ramesh Vangal in the leadup to the launch. Being an American firm entering a soon-to-be liberalised market 15 years after an American rival’s unceremonious departure, Pepsi had to walk on eggshells all the time. “Most of our efforts were basically avoiding any bad press. There was a lot of scrutiny we faced due to being an American firm, a lot of song and dance with the AGRO food industry. I remember going to Patiala and shooting films on the benefits Pepsi would bring to the food industry.” Chawla told ThePrint. As a result, the nature of “advertising”, that Pepsi commissioned JWT to produce ahead of the launch, also involved the type of corporate announcements that are now the norm in the age of CSR, says Mukul Bakshi, who was a copywriter for JWT in his early twenties at the time. Riding the “magic” wave, Pepsi had capitalised on first mover advantage in the first half of the 1990s but once the far bigger budgeted Coca Cola came into the picture and outbid Pepsi as the official sponsors for the 1996 Cricket World Cup held in the subcontinent, the company and JWT needed to rethink its strategy. The solution for Pepsi and JWT as a result was to reposition themselves both internally and externally as the underdog in India, just as it historically had been around the world, carrying through that siege mentality in every aspect of their marketing. In Bakshi’s words, the two firms together turned a negative situation into positives. After some brainstorming, this underdog’s face turned out to be “Nothing offical about it”, the ad campaign that not only poked fun at Pepsi’s failure to secure sponsorship for the World Cup but also cashed in on the firm’s pre-existing relationships with iconic cricketers of the day like Sachin Tendulkar or Mohammad Azharuddin to walk a fine line and re-create the feel of being an official tournament product within the legal confines of that era. “It was a cheeky campaign that won a lot of people over. People were very amused and charmed by the irreverence. It was considered very irreverent and everyone sympathises with the underdog. Such a public nosebleed was delivered and perhaps it stung pretty hard and earned Pepsi a lot of goodwill,” Chauhan said. And it didn’t end with the television advertising or the tagline. As Bakshi remembers, the “guerrilla marketing tactics” put in place to ensure Pepsi fights Coca-Cola within the stadium as well, not just in print or television. Bakshi’s team came up with the idea of giving spectators free flyers for sixers and fours, all emblazoned with Pepsi logos. So whenever a boundary or a six was hit, the cameras picked up a sea of Pepsi logos. Both the 1990 and 1996 Pepsi ad campaigns were broadcast in a similar anglicised Westernised mould that characterised the decade before it. But according to Rohit Chawla, it was the Coca-Cola’s Aamir Khan-starrer ad campaign that really changed the game towards more ‘desi’ content and gave Coke a “winning edge”, leading Pepsi to come out with “Yeh Dil Maange More“. The sneak attack ads continued for long in India, just like it did around the world. Coca-Cola took out newspaper ads likening a Pepsi to a Gulab Jamun, a dig at how sweet it tasted. Overall, however, Chawla considers the entirety of the cola wars at the time as an invention by both the media and ad agencies that simply attempted to “create hype around cool Western brands”. The scales tipped further in Coca-Cola’s favour on the advertising front by the mid-2000s, according to Santosh Desai, who worked very briefly at PepsiCo before spending a decade at McCann, the ad agency that worked on Coca-Cola from the late ’90s. “Coca-Cola had made a very weak entry and by the time we got the business, it was perking up but remained a distant number 2 to Pepsi both in terms of volume and brand recall,” Desai told ThePrint. Explaining the ‘Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola’ campaign that the multinational did with Amir Khan, Desai said that their “most memorable work was with Coca-Cola’s attempt to penetrate smaller towns with smaller price points. We did a campaign featuring Aamir Khan in different avatars, a cultural archetype of a small-town hero with different regional portrayals.” But the saturation had begun setting in years before that. In a twist to the tale of foreign vs homegrown cola wars, Parle had sold to Coke in 1997. And by the time Coke’s ‘Thanda’ campaign blew up, Pepsi’s ad quality and relevance had begun to go “considerably downhill”. “Pepsi became more driven centrally, a classic multi-national, from empowered to textbook with campaigns having no resonance in the country. They started following the youth rather than leading the youth,” said Santosh Desai. But very soon afterwards both Pepsi and Coca Cola lost their centrality to the marketing discourse with their work becoming increasingly “peripheral”, losing air time to newer homegrown brands, according to Desai. There were numerous factors for the decline, such as the two brands being considered synonymous with junk food, as well as natural evolution of which products are seen as engaging young people the most. “Back in the day, it was detergents, then it became colas, then TVs and phones, now it’s startups. What engages youth and what excites them starts moving. A cola isn’t that different from a cup of tea now,” Desai said. Addressing health & environmental concerns Like the pre-liberalisation era, the second edition of “cola wars” also involved Indian politics, NGOs and public discourse. It wasn’t just a simple Pepsi vs. Coke battle. In August 2003, the Sunita Narain-led Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released a report saying that Pepsi and Coca-Cola in India contained unacceptable amounts of pesticide residue, such as DDT. Even in Kerala’s Plachimada, Coca-Cola was in trouble over groundwater pollution. And so the cola wars again gained political colour. Health minister Sushma Swaraj said in Parliament that the pesticides were indeed found, but not to the levels that Narain’s report claimed. Opposition demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the issue. The soft drink giants had announced swift criticisms of the claims made by the CSE report with internal data, to which CSE had termed at the time as seeking to “convolute, confuse and take the Indian public for a ride”. Ads were often their most effective comeback against public anger. Coca-Cola had released a PSA-style ad with Aamir Khan, in which he walks viewers through the production processes and calls on them to visit Coca-Cola factories to observe these processes in person. On the other hand, Pepsi featured a Shah Rukh Khan ad that mocked the controversy by saying there is indeed something inside the soft drink — it’s great taste and that is why it’s not ‘safe’. India’s cola landscape The Pepsi campaign was revolutionary for public-private partnerships, the PR industry, and traditional business practices. And hundreds of products followed their blueprint. “There was a perception that everything from the West tasted better. A tryst with liberalisation passed through a bottle of a sugary drink with an international name…but the psyche of the country has changed,” said Chawla. “[Reliance’s relaunch of Campa Cola] is a good decision, a smart move at the right time. Indians have done well for themselves lately so indigenisation is more popular now. Reliance has deep pockets and can take on the challenge of a giant like Coca-Cola,” Chawla said, naming Paper Boat as an example of a newer successful indigenous drinks brand. “It was a baptism by fire,” said Desai. “And my goodness, it was a really fabulous experience. There was lots of fun and lots of learning, and we made so many allies for life.” He first agreed to go to battle in September 1987, when he ran into Ramesh Vangal at the Taj Palace in New Delhi. He told Vangal he was in India to launch his first professional PR consulting firm. Vangal looked at him and said, “Okay. Pepsi will be your first client.” A little over two years later, Desai and Vangal were back at the Taj Palace. They’d called for a press conference with over two hundred journalists to make one announcement: Pepsi was officially re-entering India. (Edited by Anurag Chaubey)

Getting out of fossils

Unless finances are proportionate to the need, the transition to clean energy is a tough proposition, especially in countries where energy affordability is critical Why differentiate between coal and natural gas when both are fossil fuels? I had asked this in my last column because it is a question of climate justice and, most importantly, the feasibility of moving at speed and scale to reduce fossil-fuel emissions responsible for heating up the planet. The fact is, roughly 70 per cent of the world’s population have not contributed to the stock of emissions in the atmosphere but are today highly dependent on coal for energy. Richer countries have made the transition from coal to natural gas, which is somewhat cleaner — it emits roughly half the carbon dioxide emitted by coal, in addition to methane. But given their enormous appetite for energy, these countries’ past and current emissions are high — totally disproportionate to their share of the global carbon budget. Now, the burden of transition to clean energy has been shifted to countries that are least responsible for the stock of emissions and least capable of making the switch. This is not only unjust but also unrealistic. It makes the fight against climate change even more intractable and difficult. of the clean energy transition; instead of being the stick on coal, it must become the carrot for the new infrastructure to be clean and climate-smart. This means focusing on making the cost of finances to the emerging world, which is two-six times higher than that of the developed OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, much lower and more accessible. Second, the global energy transition pathway has to be for all fossil fuels — coal and natural gas. This would not only show that richer countries have exhausted their quota for using natural gas, but also make gas available at affordable costs to emerging countries that face the twin problems of local and global emissions. Let’s be clear, the science of climate change is also the politics of inclusion and responsibility. This is where we must get it right.

Burning bright alright, but will we let the tigers live?

From 40,000 Royal Bengal tigers at the start of 19th century to a mere 1,800 in the ’70s. Reason enough for panic buttons to be hit. Worldwide concern too reached a flashpoint. In 1969, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) general assembly in Delhi heard the assessment by IFS officer KS Sankhala, and called for a moratorium on tiger killings and protection for the species. Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressed full support to save tigers from extinction and India banned tiger hunting for five years. But the international community was not convinced. WWF planned a massive fund raising campaign. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and others put in a word, and Gandhi set up a task force chaired by Karan Singh, a well-known conservationist and MP. Its report on September 7, 1972, was the blueprint for India’s tiger conservation programme — Project Tiger. Gandhi formally launching it on April 1, 1973, from the Jim Corbett National Park. First conceived for only six years — April 1973 to March 1979 — its objective was to ensure the maintenance of a viable population of tigers in India and to preserve, for all times, such areas as part of our national heritage for the benefit, and education of future generations. The Rs 4-crore Project Tiger, including Rs 22 lakh in foreign exchange, started with nine viable tiger reserves representing different ecosystems where the tiger could be protected in perpetuity. These were Manas (Assam),Palamau (Jharkhand), Simlipal (Odisha), Corbett (Uttarakhand), Ranthambore (Rajasthan) Kanha (MP), Melghat (Maharashtra), Bandipur (Karnataka) and Sundarbans (West Bengal), in an area of 9,115 sqkm. This has grown to 53 tiger reserves today and covers an area of over 75,000 sqkm, equivalent to the area of Assam, harbouring a population of 2,967 tigers as per the AITE-2018, spread over 18 tiger-range states. Over the 50 years, the funding has improved to nearly Rs 500 crore today. The turning point in India’s tiger conservation programme came in the 1990s when problems erupted and were managed, but not really solved. This was also a period, like the early 1970s, when international NGOs were pushing policy in the country. download A critical review of Project Tiger, carried out in 1993 by the MoEF, acknowledged the problems. “All in all, Project Tiger faces a new set of problems. It saved the tiger from extinction in the nick of time, but over 20 years it is clear that expanding human population, a new way of life based on alien models, and the resultant effect on natural resources have created fresh problems for the tiger. Militancy and poaching only add fuel to the fire. This is a serious and critical moment in the history of tiger conservation.” In 1994, a parliamentary committee on science, technology, environment, and forests recommended making the programme more meaningful and result oriented. The committee felt this was necessary as the tiger population had registered a decline, poaching assumed menacing proportions and tiger habitats seemed to have shrunk in area. So came another high-powered committee in 1996 headed by JJ Dutta, ex-PCCF of MP. The panel recommended looking beyond identifying corridors. In November 1998, the government and conservationists celebrated the 25th anniversary of Project Tiger, claiming tiger numbers had stabilised and all was well. The celebrations were short-lived as poachers and tiger body parts traders led by Sansarchand wiped out the entire tiger population of the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. By 2004, with no tigers left there, Project Tiger was forced to set up a five-member tiger task force (TTF) on April 19, 2005, under Sunita Narain, director, Centre for Science and Environment. This led to formation of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in 2006 with scientific management and evaluation of tiger reserves. In 2006, the tiger population was estimated at 1,411, much lower than the earlier estimates. This brought about major changes in tiger conservation policy, legislation, and management. Since then the NTCA conducts a national assessment of the ‘status of tigers, co-predators, prey and habitat’ every four years. The stress was now on village relocation from core/critical habitats, and enhanced protection by Special Tiger Protection Force. “Soon, tiger population estimates went up to 1,706 in 2010,” said NTCA officials. “The project is a comment on a long neglect of our environment as well as our new-found, but most welcome concern for saving one of nature’s most magnificent endowments for posterity. But the tiger cannot be preserved in isolation, it is at the apex of a large and complex biotope. Its habitat by human intrusion, commercial forestry, and cattle grazing must first be made inviolate. Forestry practices designed to squeeze the last rupee out of a jungle must be radically reoriented at least within national parks and sanctuaries and predominantly in the tiger reserves. The narrow outlook of the accountant must give way to a wider vision of the recreational, educational and ecological value of totally undisturbed areas of wilderness Indira Gandhi’s message on Project Tiger’s launch on April 1, 1973 The 2014 and 2018 tiger assessments were the most accurate, covering 3,81,400 sqkm of forested habitats. NTCA officials believe this is the world’s largest effort invested in any wildlife survey to date. “A total of 2,461 individual tigers were photo-captured. The overall tiger population in India was estimated at 2,967,” they said. Though Project Tiger’s (now NTCA) model has evolved, tiger conservation has lacked broad-based political support. Experts hope for the better in the next 50 years.

India’s rank slips further on Sustainable Development Goal target

The CSE annual report shows India slipping down the global ranking in meeting Sustainable Development Goals. India has been slipping in the global rank in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the past five years, with the country dropping another place since 2021, according to a report published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The wide-ranging goals are interlinked, connecting environmental, socio-economic development, while focusing on sustainability. The goals include zero poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being among others. What is the CSE report? The report, entitled ‘State of India’s Environment 2023’, looks at 17 goals adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015 that act as “shared a blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.” Also Read | India likely to miss deadline for 50% of SDG indicators: Lancet study Published annually, the report examines several metrics such as the state of development, effects of climate change, health, decarbonisation, agriculture, biodiversity, and the energy sector. The current issue has flagged the gradual decline in the performance of the country and certain states in meeting the targets set by the SDGs. Where is India standing on its SDGs? India’s rank worldwide has slipped nine places from 116 to 121 since 2017. It now ranks behind most of its neighbours: Bhutan (70), Sri Lanka (76), Nepal (98), and Bangladesh (104). Pakistan is the only other country in the subcontinent that has ranked behind India, at 125. The rollback has been attributed to declining performance on 11 goals, such as zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and well-being (SDG 3), gender equality (SDG 5) and sustainable communities (SDG 11), the report said. There has also been stagnation in goals pertaining to life below water (SDG 14), life on land (SDG 15), peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16). Goals on responsible consumption and production (SDG 12) and climate action (SDG 13) are on track, it added. How are the states faring? Individual states in India have also performed below average. States that usually fare well in these indices have also slipped in their performance. Kerala, which ranked first, has fallen behind on four goals; Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, which share the second rank, have slipped on four and six goals respectively. Meanwhile, the performance of most states has declined on goals regarding life on land and decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, and good-quality education. Life on land has seen the most decline. ALSO READ ‘Nearly every indicator of the U.N. sustainable development goals is off track’: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s report What are the other findings? The report also highlighted two main trends in 2022-2023: a turn back to fossil fuels and reversing the gains made towards transitioning to clean energy due to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and the impact of climate change with extreme weather events worldwide. Some of the other findings include: At least 2,900 lives have been lost due to extreme weather events that happened between January and October, 2022. Environmental crimes have been on the rise–courts need to hear 245 cases daily to clear the backlog. Air pollution has caused a loss of four years and 11 months in the duration of life with people in rural India losing more years than those who live in cities. Rural India needs 35% more community health centres. India generates 150,000 tonne of municipal waste every day. More than half of it is dumped in landfills. At least 30,000 waterbodies have been encroached on in India. Is there a silver lining? “There is news to cheer. The environment is now mainstream – we are all outraged at how pollution is affecting our health or climate change is devastating our future. But the bad news is that we are not acting at the scale of the devastation that we see around us. We need to take more deliberate steps to reverse the damage,” said Sunita Narain, director general of CSE, in a release during the launch of the annual report. Apart from the grimmer findings, the report also highlights progress in some sectors, including policy changes in waste management sector and recycling. “In industry, we have now identified pathways to decarbonise industrial sectors that are usually difficult to decarbonise. In agriculture, strong evidence is emerging of the efficacy of traditional and regenerative farming methods. On the issue of forests and biodiversity, losses of forests are a dark truth, but at the same time more and more communities are demanding rights over forests – what is more, these rights are being granted,” Ms Narain added.

Outdoor purifiers to help assess Delhi’s pollution load

The three locations have been chosen to monitor different public settings, which include a high footfall commercial spot, an industrial location and one with heavy traffic movement Outdoor air purifiers will soon be installed in Chandni Chowk, Wazirpur and Anand Vihar to assess their impact on ambient air quality, which will be monitored through low-cost sensors, officials said. This will be carried out as a pilot project by IIT-Delhi in collaboration with the central government’s DRIIV (Delhi Research Implementation and Innovation). The three locations have been chosen to monitor different public settings, which include a high footfall commercial spot, an industrial location and one with heavy traffic movement . “We will look to deploy different types of outdoor air quality solutions to see the kind of impact they can have when it comes to reducing localised pollution. We are in talks with the local bodies for final permissions, following which these outdoor air purifiers will be deployed in 7-10 days,” said Amrita Dawn, head, tech liaison, DRIIV. The project has received the approval of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC). Two private companies have been roped in to create and deploy sensors on the ground for data collection, officials said. For each air purifying device installed, a sensor to monitor readings in the area will also be installed, with the pilot to be used to assess the reduction in localized PM 2.5 and PM 10. While outdoor air purifiers created by a private company will be installed at Wazirpur and Chandni Chowk, an ionisation-based purifying system created by a second private company will be deployed at a congested traffic intersection in Anand Vihar. “These will not be large structures like anti-smog towers, but smaller air purifying systems that can be installed on the ground without causing any disruption to the movement of pedestrians. Chandni Chowk will give us an estimate of a busy marketplace, Wazirpur will cover industrial pollutants and Anand Vihar has heavy traffic owing to it being an ISBT and railway station,” Dawn added. Five filters will be installed at Wazirpur, one at Anand Vihar, while the number of filters at Chandni Chowk will be assessed following PWD permission, she said. “Since PWD maintains the Chandni Chowk stretch where this is being installed, we have sought the final permission from them. Our sensors will give data on the actual reduction in pollution, which will allow more markets to be covered with similar technology if this is proven successful.” she added. PWD did not comment on HT’s queries on the installation. The technological deployment is part of the project SAMEER (Solutions for Air-pollution Mitigation through Engagement, Engineering and Research), which was launched by DRIIV and IIT Delhi in October, 2022. DRIIV is an initiative of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. This is not the first time that outdoor air purifiers have been installed in the Capital. In 2018, devices called WAYU (Wind Augmentation and Purification Units) were installed at busy traffic intersections in order to assess efficacy in reducing roadside pollution. The Delhi government and the Central Government have also installed two 20-metre-high anti-smog towers in Connaught Place and Anand Vihar respectively. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says the use of technology, particularly low-cost sensors, has enormous potential if it is utilised correct. “These sensors can generate data while creating a very dense network of monitoring. We are still awaiting the guidelines to standardize data generation for low-cost sensors, but they can still be used for local monitoring and allow policy making.” she said. Sunil Dahiya, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said while numerous air-purifying technologies existed, there have been no global studies to show they are able to impact the ambient air quality to a suitable enough level. “The project is beneficial if these technologies are deployed indoors, for instance inside classrooms or hospitals. Indoor air pollution is an area where there is a large scope for improvement. When we talk of outdoor pollution, even these giant anti-smog towers have proven to be ineffective, based on government findings.” he said.

वाहनों की स्क्रैप पालिसी से कम होगा प्रदूषण

उत्तर प्रदेश में केंद्र सरकार की व्हीकल स्क्रैप पालिसी को पूरी तरह से लागू करने की तैयारी चल रही है। इसे देखते हुए उत्तर प्रदेश की सड़कों पर दौड़ने वाले 15 वर्ष से अधिक पुराने वाहनों को कबाड़ घोषित किया जाएगा। एक अप्रैल 2023 से 15 वर्ष से अधिक पुराने वाहनों को कबाड़ में भेजे जाने की तैयारी है। लिहाजा केंद्र सरकार के सड़क परिवहन मंत्रालय ने ड्राफ्ट नोटिफिकेशन जारी किया है। नया नियम निगमों और परिवहन विभाग की बस एवं अन्य गाड़ियों के लिए भी अनिवार्य होगा। सड़क परिवहन मंत्रालय की मंशा के अनुरूप उत्तर प्रदेश सरकार 15 वर्ष से ऊपर के निजी वाहनों के साथ-साथ विभागों में लगे पुराने वाहनों को भी स्क्रैप में बदलने के लिए प्रोत्साहित कर रही है। सरकार ने यह निर्णय निरंतर बढ़ते प्रदूषण को कम करने के लिए लिया है। पर्यावरणीय प्रदूषण को देखते हुए वित्त मंत्री ने आम बजट 2021-22 में पुराने वाहनों को सड़कों से हटाने के लिए ‘स्क्रैप पालिसी’ की घोषणा की थी। ध्यातव्य है कि देश में एक करोड़ से अधिक वाहन ऐसे हैं जो आम वाहनों की तुलना में 10 से 12 गुणा अधिक प्रदूषण फैलाते हैं। स्क्रैप पालिसी से गाड़ियों की वजह से होने वाले प्रदूषण में 25 से 30 प्रतिशत की कमी होगी। सड़क परिवहन और राजमार्ग मंत्रालय का कहना है कि स्क्रैप पालिसी से पर्यावरण को अधिक नुकसान पहुंचाने वाले वाहनों की संख्या में कमी आएगी। अनुमान है कि वाणिज्यिक वाहन, जो कुल वाहन बेड़े का लगभग पांच प्रतिशत हैं, प्रदूषण में लगभग 65-70 प्रतिशत तक का योगदान देते हैं। वर्ष 2000 से पहले निर्मित वाहन कुल बेड़े का एक प्रतिशत हैं, लेकिन कुल वाहनों के प्रदूषण में इनका योगदान लगभग 15 प्रतिशत है। इनकी तुलना यदि आधुनिक वाहनों से करें तो पुराने वाहन 10 से 15 गुना अधिक प्रदूषण उत्सर्जित करते हैं। सार्वजनिक परिवहन को प्रोत्साहन: उल्लेखनीय है कि ‘स्क्रैप पालिसी’ के पीछे सरकार की मंशा निजी वाहनों की बढ़ती संख्या को कम करना और सार्वजनिक परिवहन के अधिक से अधिक उपयोग पर बल देना है। आज स्थिति यह है कि देश में बड़ी संख्या उन लोगों की है जो अपने निजी वाहनों से चलना पसंद करती है। ऐसे लोग ट्रेन या बसों में यात्रा करने से परहेज करते हैं। कुल यात्रियों की तुलना में सार्वजनिक परिवहन के माध्यम से यात्रा करने वालों की संख्या निरंतर कम होती जा रही है। एक रिपोर्ट के अनुसार वर्ष 1994 में जहां भारत के सभी बड़े शहरों में 60 से 80 प्रतिशत नागरिक सार्वजनिक परिवहन का उपयोग करते थे, वहीं यह संख्या 2019-20 में घटकर 25-35 प्रतिशत पर पहुंच गई थी। वर्तमान में यह संख्या और कम हुई होगी, क्योंकि कोरोना महामारी के बाद अधिकांश सक्षम लोगों ने निजी वाहन खरीदने को प्राथमिकता दी है। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरमेंट (सीएसई) की एक हालिया रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, 10 किलोमीटर की यात्रा बस से करने में औसतन एक व्यक्ति द्वारा 0.01 ग्राम पर्टिकुलेंट मैटर (पीएम) उत्सर्जित होता है। जबकि उतनी ही दूरी यदि कार से तय की जाए तो उससे 0.08 ग्राम यानी आठ गुना और दोपहिया वाहन से 0.1 ग्राम यानी दस गुना अधिक पर्टिकुलेंट मैटर उत्सर्जित होता है। डीजल चलित ऑटो रिक्शा भी अत्यधिक प्रदूषण (.46 ग्राम पीएम प्रति 10 किमी) फैलाते हैं। रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, एक साल में चंडीगढ़ में एक वाहन द्वारा औसतन 26.46 ग्राम पीएम और 250 ग्राम कार्बन डाइआक्साइड उत्सर्जित किया जाता है, जबकि दिल्ली में यह औसत 9.91 और 120 ग्राम है। चंडीगढ़ में निजी वाहनों के अधिक और सार्वजनिक परिवहन (बस, लोकल ट्रेन) आदि के कम प्रयोग के कारण ऐसा हो रहा है। चूंकि आज अधिकांश लोग निजी वाहन से यात्रा को प्राथमिकता दे रहे हैं, लिहाजा वाहनों की संख्या निरंतर बढ़ रही है। सार्वजनिक वाहन की समुचित व्यवस्था: निजी वाहनों के बढ़ने का सबसे बड़ा कारण सार्वजनिक परिवहन व्यवस्था का ढांचा लुंज-पुंज होने से जुड़ा है। सार्वजनिक परिवहन के नाम पर केवल बसें ही हैं और वह भी अपर्याप्त हैं। बसों के लिए कई बार लंबा इंतजार करना पड़ता है। दिल्ली-एनसीआर में वाहनों की संख्या एक करोड़ से अधिक हो चुकी है। प्रदूषण के बढ़ने के बड़े कारणों में यह शामिल है। नेशनल ग्रीन ट्रिब्यूनल (एनजीटी) अदालत में दिल्ली पाल्यूशन कंट्रोल कमेटी (डीपीसीसी) के अधिकारियों ने बताया था कि दो-पहिया और डीजल गाड़ियां पेट्रोल की गाड़ियों से कहीं अधिक प्रदूषण फैलाती हैं। वायु प्रदूषण में दो-पहिया वाहनों का कुल 30 प्रतिशत तक का योगदान रहता है, जो सबसे ज्यादा हानिकारक गैस फैलाते हैं। इसके लिए केंद्र और राज्य सरकारें स्वयं जिम्मेदार नजर आती हैं। इसलिए जब तक सभी राज्य सरकारें शहरों के लिए समन्वित सार्वजनिक परिवहन प्रणाली को विकसित करने के लिए समुचित योजना तैयार नहीं करेंगी, तब तक शहरों की परिवहन व्यवस्था में सुधार नहीं लाया जा सकता है। केंद्र सरकार ने वर्ष 2021-22 के बजट में जोर देते हुए कहा था कि स्क्रैप पालिसी से प्रदूषण में भारी कमी आएगी। परंतु ऐसा तब होगा जब अधिक से अधिक लोग सार्वजनिक परिवहन का उपयोग करेंगे, लेकिन चिंता की बात यह है कि उसकी व्यवस्था देश में अभी भी अपर्याप्त है। सरकार ‘स्क्रैप पालिसी’ से प्रदूषण की समस्या को कम करना तो चाहती है, परंतु सार्वजनिक परिवहन व्यवस्था को चुस्त-दुरुस्त किए बिना ऐसा होना संभव नहीं है। देश का मध्यम वर्ग अधिकतर सार्वजनिक परिवहन व्यवस्था पर निर्भर रहता है, ऐसे में सरकार को चाहिए कि वह इसका सुचारु रूप से प्रबंधन करे। यहां पर ध्यान देने वाली बात यह भी है कि वर्ष 2014 से 2017 के बीच दो-पहिया वाहनों और कार से चलने वाले यात्रियों की संख्या में हर साल आठ से 10 प्रतिशत की वृद्धि हुई है। वहीं सरकारी बसों की संख्या निरंतर घटती जा रही है। वहीं दूसरी ओर निजी बस मालियों या कंपनियों द्वारा संचालित बसों में अपेक्षाकृत अधिक किराया होने और सुविधाएं कम होने के कारण भी कई लोगों का सार्वजनिक परिवहन सेवाओं से मोहभंग हो रहा है। यदि केंद्र और राज्य सरकारें वास्तव में निजी वाहनों के प्रति लोगों को हतोत्साहित कर सार्वजनिक परिवहन का उपयोग बढ़ाना चाहती हैं तो उसे कई देशों से सीख लेकर अपने यहां सार्वजनिक परिवहन व्यवस्था में सुधार लाना होगा। उल्लेखनीय है कि लग्जमबर्ग विश्व का पहला ऐसा देश है जहां सार्वजनिक परिवहन में यात्रा करना पूरी तरह से नि:शुल्क है। ट्रैफिक जाम कम करने के उद्देश्य से सरकार ने यह निर्णय लिया है। इससे वहां बड़ी संख्या में लोगों को आर्थिक रूप से भी लाभ होगा। भारत भी इस ओर अपने सामर्थ्य के अनुसार कदम बढ़ा सकता है। वैसे भारत की जनसंख्या सभी यूरोपीय देशों से कई गुना अधिक है। इस लिहाज से यहां पर सार्वजनिक परिवहन को सुचारू बनाने के लिए वाहनों का बेड़ा भी बड़ा चाहिए होगा, जिसका भार सरकार पर पड़ेगा। लोक-निजी सहभागिता से सरकार पर पड़ने वाले भार को कम किया जा सकता है। वाणिज्यिक वाहनों को फ्रेट कॉरिडोर की ओर शिफ्ट किया जाना चाहिए। ई-वाहन या बैटरी चालित वाहनों को बढ़ावा देना होगा। इसके लिए निजी निवेश को आकर्षित करने पर भी काम होना चाहिए। इन सभी उपायों से सार्वजनिक परिवहन में सुधार तो होगा ही साथ में जनता का रुझान निजी वाहनों से हट कर सार्वजनिक वाहन की ओर बढ़ेगा। यह सभी उपाय प्रदूषण को कम करने में महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभा सकते हैं।

Recycling has gone up in last 5 years, but 67% of e-waste remains unprocessed

Unrecycled e-waste poses a risk to health and the environment; India's e-waste crisis lies in its informal sector. India recycled only 32.9 per cent of the e-waste generated in 2021-2022, data from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change shows. While the figure has gone up from previous years, it indicates that a staggering 10,74,024 tonnes (67%) of e-waste remained unprocessed. Unprocessed e-waste poses a risk to health and the environment as it contains several toxic substances such as lead, cadmium, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), etched chemicals, arsenic and asbestos, which can be hazardous if not disposed of in a scientific manner. If not segregated from other solid waste that finds itself at landfills, these toxic chemicals may leach into the soil and hence pose an environmental risk. Several agencies, including the United Nations, have said that untreated e-waste also ends up in informal industries where children are employed to dismantle electronics. Exposure to chemicals such as lead and mercury can adversely affect children’s growth and development. According to the data provided by the ministry, in 2021-22, of the 16,01,155 tonnes of e-waste generated, 5,27,131 tonnes (32.9 per cent) were recycled. In 2020-21, 26.33 per cent of e-waste was processed, while in 2019-20, the figure stood at 22.07 per cent. It was 21.35 per cent in 2018-19 and 9.79 per cent in 2017-18. The data also shows that in 2021-22, Haryana collected and processed the largest amount of e-waste at 2,45,015.82 tonnes. It is pertinent to note, however, that the data provided by the ministry in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha on December 15, 2022, did not include data from all the states and Union Territories. A 2020 report by the Global E-Waste Monitor notes that India has the highest e-waste generation in South Asia. It is also the only country in the region to have laws on the collection and disposal of e-waste. The report states, “Legislation in India has been a driver for the setting up of formal recycling facilities… However, formal recycling capacity remains underutilised, as the large majority of the waste is still handled by the informal sector.” The Centre for Science and Environment has called the informal sector “the backbone of e-waste recycling in India”, as it reportedly handles 90 per cent of the country’s e-waste. A 2020 report by Greene, an initiative by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, acknowledges that the “most formidable” challenge to e-waste management is in the informal sector. In its vision for 2030, the report suggests regulating the informal sector through legislation, robust data collection and an online portal for transparency. The government’s new rules in e-waste management will take effect on April 1. These rules restrict the manufacturing of electronic components that contain hazardous substances such as lead and mercury beyond the maximum prescribed concentration. They also provide for the “recognition and registration, skill development, monitoring and ensuring safety and health, of workers involved in dismantling and recycling of e-waste”, the ministry has said. The E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022, which are set to replace the 2016 rules, make it mandatory for every manufacturer, producer, refurbisher and recycler to register on an online portal developed by the Central Pollution Control Board. They also increase from 21 to 106 the number of pieces of electrical and electronic equipment that come under the rule’s ambit.

State of India’s Environment report 2023

The report covers an extensive gamut of subject assessments, ranging from climate change, agriculture and industry to water, plastics, forests and biodiversity. The report presents some dark facts. Over 30,000 waterbodies have been encroached on in the country and India is generating 150,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste every day more than half of which is either dumped in landfills or remains unattended. The report has found that four years and 11 months is the average duration of life lost to air pollution in India. Rural India is losing more years due to air pollution-related health issues than the urban belt. In fact, rural India needs 35 per cent more community health centres. In rural areas, people’s lives are on average cut short by five years and two months, which is nine months more than the average lifespan lost by urban Indians. Air pollution, in fact, has shortened the lifespan of 43.4 per cent of India’s population by five years. Eight states and UTs saw the average lifespan shortened by five years or more while nine states saw the average lifespan shortened by three to five years, according to the report. Among the states, Delhi saw the maximum plunge 10 years in lifespan in the country. The lowest life span fall, however, was recorded in Ladakh, where the life span was shortened by four months. In Haryana, the average life span reduction was seven years and five months. In Punjab, it was five years and 11 months. The edition also reports that environmental crimes continue unabated, courts need to decide on 245 cases every day to clear the backlog. Between January and October 2022 (304 days), India witnessed extreme weather events on 271 days. These extreme weather events claimed over 2,900 lives. India’s overall global rank in meeting the United Nations-mandated sustainable development goals (SDGs) has also slipped by nine places. In 2022, it stood at the 121st position, behind Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh; Pakistan was lagging close behind at 125. Center for Science and Environment- It is a public interest research and advocacy organization based in New Delhi. CSE researches into, lobbies for and communicates the urgency of development that is both sustainable and equitable. Its aim is to raise these concerns, participate in seeking answers and – more importantly – in pushing for answers and transforming these into policy and so, practice. CSE’s efforts are specifically designed to create awareness about problems and propose sustainable solutions. Research at CSE often consists of in-depth learning about an environmental problem and then finding answers in accordance with CSE’s core values. CSE’s tools for awareness raising are periodicals, publications, films/short spots, briefing papers, exhibitions, posters and other products.

Challenging to quantify India’s adaptation finance needs: Govt

India’s adaptation finance needs across economic sectors are substantially challenging to quantify, the government has told the Lok Sabha. Responding to a question by Telugu Desam Party’s MP Galla Jayadev, Union Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey said India’s climate actions have so far largely been financed from domestic sources, including government budgetary support as well as a mix of market mechanisms and fiscal instruments and policy interventions. “However, providing new and additional financial resources as well as the transfer of technology to developing countries to address the global climate change challenge are among the commitments and responsibilities of the developed countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement,” he said. “India’s adaptation finance needs across economic sectors are substantially challenging to quantify,” Choubey replied to Jayadev who had asked whether it is true that it would require almost USD 85 trillion by 2030 to adapt to the requirements of climate change. At COP26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanded USD 1 trillion from developed countries to adapt to, and mitigate the challenges arising from global warming. India has kept this as a condition for delivering on its climate commitments. Rich countries have repeatedly failed to mobilise USD 100 billion every year, a promise they made in 2009, to help developing countries cope with climate change. According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental body consisting of wealthy nations, developed countries mobilised USD 52.5 billion in 2013. After dropping to USD 44.6 billion in 2015, the finance flow has steadily increased. In 2020, the developed countries raised USD 83.3 billion, a jump from USD 80.4 billion in 2019, according to a fact sheet published by the Centre for Science and Environment. The Standing Committee on Finance, UNFCCC, has estimated that resources in the range of USD 6 trillion to USD 11 trillion are required till 2030 to meet the targets set by developing countries in their NDCs and other communications, including the Needs Determination Reports. India will require USD 900 billion over the next 30 years to move away from coal mines and thermal plants without jeopardising the livelihoods of millions who still are employed there, according to a report released by The International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology last week. Adaptation is a significant component spelt out in India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) — national plans to limit global temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) provides an overarching policy framework for climate actions in the country and outlines a number of steps towards the achievement of India’s climate change-related objectives including adaptation. Under the NAPCC, eight missions focus on adaptation in sectors like agriculture, water, the Himalayan ecosystem, sustainable habitat, human health, and forestry. The implementation of these missions is being anchored by nodal ministries concerned through annual budgetary allocations to these programmes and schemes.