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World needs greater diversity in its climate action champions

World needs greater diversity in its climate action champions Greta Thunberg turned 18 on Sunday, but it feels as though the world’s most influential climate change activist has been around for so long that the news is hard to process. Thunberg’s story is inspiring for so many reasons (let us not forget she has Asperger syndrome). If, by the time you become eligible to vote, you have already been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, inspired millions of people to take part in a global climate strike and crossed the Atlantic upwind in a yacht to deliver an address at the UN climate action summit, what is the plan for the rest of your life? So perhaps, if we concede that the pressures of global celebrity are also a strain on someone so young, the most positive way of framing the story of Thunberg’s meteoric rise onto the world stage, which began in August 2018, when she sat on a solo school strike outside the Swedish parliament, is to think of her support base. Thunberg is the unlikely face of the only major global movement for change in which the youth have a voice proportionate to their demographic size and stake in the outcome. A number of major studies (such as a 2019 22-country survey of 10,000 people aged 18 to 25 by Amnesty International) show that, globally, young people are far more likely to think of climate change as the greatest issue of our age and to demand immediate and radical action by governments and institutions, which is our only hope of slowing climate change to manageable levels. Further, Thunberg’s rallying call for climate strikes — a phrase that has now entered the popular consciousness — is a continuation of the long tradition of nonviolent mass civil resistance that has produced so much transformative change in the last century. Of course, one can respectfully disagree with Thunberg on some of her stances, arguing that, as a young adult raised in the developed world, she does not appreciate the complexity of the trade-offs between environmental action and economic growth. Thunberg has herself admitted that, partly because of her neurodevelopmental disorder, “I see the world in black and white, and I don’t like compromising.” Thankfully, then, the second-most prominent global personality on climate change is almost the polar opposite of Thunberg. At 94, the legendary British naturalist and television personality David Attenborough was born not just in a different century to Thunberg but, scientifically speaking, in a different age. “I arrived in this world during a period geologists call the Holocene and I will leave it — as will every one of us alive today — in the Anthropocene, the time of humans,” Attenborough wrote in his recent book “A Life on Our Planet.” He adds that this new period “could prove to be uniquely brief in geological history and one that ends in the ultimate disappearance of human civilization.” The message is a sobering one but, unlike Thunberg, the tone is not strident: It is the sound of experience rather than innocence. And, as a naturalist and wildlife expert, Attenborough comes to climate change from a different starting point. His concern for its potential effects on the human race come folded into a larger appeal for us to protect the world’s astonishing biodiversity. Why are the global faces of the movement invariably white and Western, with others consigned to the realm of the ‘local’? Chandrahas Choudhury Indeed, some critics have accused Attenborough of facing up to the realities of climate change far too late in his immensely influential television programs (he admits to only being fully convinced of the scientific reality of anthropogenic climate change in 2004). And, as someone who has flown several million miles over the last 50 years to capture the diversity of life on earth (Thunberg, in contrast, refuses to take any flights), Attenborough probably has a larger carbon footprint than anyone alive. Even so, persuasion and change come in many different packages and who can deny that the climate action movement needs a moderate, courteous, authoritative voice like Attenborough’s. He is someone who can show us what is at stake by reminding us of our place in the entire web of life, and in so doing allow us to transcend the selfish anthropocentric perspective that created the climate crisis in the first place and continues to perpetuate it. On the subject of climate action, then, one might see Thunberg and Attenborough as two different kinds of shepherd of the human flock — they even met (virtually) for a 2019 show on BBC Radio 4. But even if we accept the huge credibility and legitimacy of this odd and inspiring pair, we must still confront some other unsettling questions about the politics of climate change activism today. Why are the global faces of the movement invariably white and Western, with climate activists from India and the Middle East, Africa and South America predictably consigned to the realm of the “local?” What does it say about the world’s media, and even ourselves, that we pay a different kind of attention to Thunberg and Attenborough than we do to the longstanding climate activism and wisdom of Wangari Maathai and Sunita Narain? Do we have ears for the indigenous Brazilian climate activist Artemisa Xakriaba or the young Ugandan Vanessa Nakate (who last year found herself cropped out of a group photo of herself and four other youth climate activists, including Thunberg, by the media agency the Associated Press)? If we are to make a success of climate action in the coming decades, when the climate-aware youth of today turn into world leaders, we will have to embrace a more diverse set of voices than Attenborough and Thunberg, diverse as they themselves are.

Environment | The curse and the promise: Sunita Narain

Environment | The curse and the promise: Sunita Narain Be it the pandemic or climate change-induced weather disasters, nature has spoken. There is no time left, we need to fix what is broken. The year 2020 was, I dare say, the most tumultuous, the most catastrophic and the most defining year of our lifetime. This crisis has no precedent—there is no rulebook that tells governments what to do, how to shut down economies and when to re-open them. The virus is a mutant, it jumped from its animal host to humans; it is pernicious because it seems to find new ways to hide itself—we can be asymptomatic and yet be a carrier of infection. We slipped into 2020 without any indication of the horrors that awaited the world. Something was happening in Wuhan in China but not many of us noted it. What was on our screens was another worrying sight—bushfires scorching vast swathes of Australia, killing people, wildlife and destroying homes. The intensity of the fires had links to climate change, as these infernos were caused by increasing levels of heat, which had dried the ground and turned it into a tinderbox. This, combined with the prolonged drought, made it an ideal ground for the blaze. But even as international attention focused on the fires, there was a much worse human tragedy playing out in our part of the world. By January, vast hordes of locusts had invaded the fields of Rajasthan and Gujarat, devouring crops and destroying farmers’ livelihoods. The sheer scale and intensity of this attack were also linked to climate change: unusual rains, cyclonic events and then extended monsoons in the deserts of the Arabian peninsula, east Africa and in western Indian states had created ideal breeding grounds for this critter that procreates exponentially. This, then, had led to this devastating locust upsurge, which is often seen to be a precursor to famine as the insects eat everything in sight. By mid-March, the Covid-19 crisis had hit home and a lockdown was ann­ounced. The first phase of India’s lockdown ended in mid-April and it seemed when it was extended till May 3 and then end of the month, that the end of the disease was within reach. But as I write this in end-December of this fateful year, we are going into the new year with hope and prayer but not much else. Then, in May, we saw a humanitarian crisis when thousands of hungry, helpless people fled their place of work—the economy had collapsed and they had run out of money—to go home to their villages. We saw how the invisible of our city, the people who provided labour, produced goods and services so crucial for our well-being, were turned to outcasts. Thrown under the bus, literally, losing their lives because they slept on railway tracks and a train ran over them, or a truck mowed them down. I write this because we must not forget, we must now allow these images to be erased from our hearts and minds. All this has happened in our world. We must not forget. On June 1, when the first unlock was announced, the rush was to open up. Rightly so, as the economy was on its knees, with the worst hit being the daily wagers who had no jobs to pay for food or anything. The government’s relief packages, however welcome, are hardly sufficient to manage the distress. But then in the past six months, as we opened up, we had to shut again and again as caseloads increased. Different cities, different state boundaries were closed for lockdown; some for weekends, some for a few days. Every festival, which should have brought cheer, led to increased caseloads. All this has been the year, and now I can safely say that fatigue has set in. We know that the virus is out there, but we now hope that in the new year, there will be the vaccine that brings us a miracle return of the old normal. But this is not the only recount of the year’s events. In May, during the lockdown, the eastern side of India was hit by a super-cyclonic storm, Amphan, which devastated lives and property. Then Nisarga hit the western side and, since then, repeatedly heavy rains because of cyclonic activity and deep depressions in the oceans have bludgeoned many parts of southern and eastern India. During the worst months of Covid-19, we had many waves of floods hit different parts of the country. That these disparate events are linked to climate change is incontrovertible. What we are seeing today is the result of increased frequency and intensity of cyclones and variable and extreme rain events. This weather disruption, which is as bad as the Covid-19 disruption, is caused by changes in temperatures on land and on the sea. This is adding to the force of destruction and the unpredictability of the event. All these weather-related events are not natural or normal anymore. What is clear is that we face a double whammy. On the one hand, we are mismanaging our land and our water resources, which is making us more prone to drought or flood and, on the other hand, climate change is exacerbating the distress. This, when we know the aftermath of these events is worse because it takes away the development dividend and the years of investment in building infrastructure to improve the lives of people. As we can see from upheavals across the world—from India to the US—it is the poor (black or brown) who have been disproportionately hit by the virus. They have suffered twice; once because they lost lives to the contagion, and again because they lost livelihoods. There is also the other reality that Covid-19 has thrown at us. The places where the disease is most likely to breed is where there are no urban services, where settlements are overcrowded, where safe water supply and sanitation is inadequate and people have no way to stay safe. This crisis has amplified the inequity and deep divisions in our world. Covid-19 is also the result of our progressively worsening dystopian relationship with nature. On the one hand, we are pushing every kind of chemical and toxin into our food. This is making food a source of disease, not just nutrition. Antibiotics are being shoved into animals and even crops—not for disease control but to make them grow more, put on weight so that business profits. As a result, resistance to drugs needed for human survival is on the rise. Simultaneously, we are growing our food in ways that favour disease growth—industrial farms, which are vertically integrated, are fast becoming the source of contagion. This breaking of the boundaries between animal and human habitats will lead to more such outbreaks. And this, in a world that is even more interconnected and globalised, will make the infection wildly contagious. This year also serves a stark reminder—we are seeing what we are, the years of lost time when we could have invested in public health and building a more equitable society where the poor are not doubly hit. It is the same with climate change and every other issue that stares us down today. Too much time has been wasted in denial of the problem, in not getting our act together or acting at the speed and scale that is needed. We do not have the luxury of time anymore. My generation has squandered the privilege away. Now what we should really be thinking about is the collective vulnerability of our world. The most macho leaders, the most high-tech scientific establishments and most mighty economic prowess have all met their match in this lowly virus. It should make us humble and think about what we need to do differently. But this is, I suspect, where we will err. The most critical issue of our globalised world is our response to Covid-19 and what this means for the next planetary emergency—climate change. We knew we should have acted together and we did not. China did not share information quickly enough, the virus moved out of the country and spread infection; the World Health Organization (WHO) did not act swiftly enough, or maybe its voice was not respected enough to be heeded. The UN Security Council did not meet for weeks and, when it did, it just whimpered and died. It’s not just about China and the WHO—each country has shown in this crisis that it is for itself in this dog-eat-dog world. It has reached depths where countries pirated the others’ protective equipment, hoarded masks and gowns that were needed for healthcare workers, competed for medical supplies and sparred about who would first make the vaccine. Today, when the vaccine is on the horizon, the issue is not how the world will work together to ensure that everyone has access. No, it is again about how countries will hoard and protect their people, forgetting that unless the world is protected from the virus, this pandemic will not go away. It is frightening to think of this when we know that the coronavirus pandemic is an outcome of an interdependent globalised world. It is also clear that we are only as strong as our strongest link. We will not win this unless we win it together. Similarly, climate change needs global leadership: if one country continues to emit, then all the actions of the rest could be negated. But if we want everyone to act, then we must build a cooperative agreement, one in which the last person, the last country has its right to development. But what is also clear is that in this year, we have seen disorder and disruption at a scale that we never imagined. So, now we need the same scale to fix what is broken in our relationship with Nature. The future, like never before, is in our hands. Nature has spoken. Now we should speak gently back to her. 2021: What must change This, then, is the agenda for the year ahead. There are signs of change—small, but significant—that we must build on in the year to come. First, there is the change of leadership in the US. The exit of Donald Trump and the entry of Joe Biden-Kamala Harris means that climate change is back on the global agenda. Biden-Harris have said that the US will rejoin the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 under which all countries have agreed to undertake emission reductions. This is big, but not big enough. It is important to keep in mind that the US remains addicted to cheap energy—now shale gas, instead of coal—and that it will not even meet the insignificant target under the Paris Agreement. But still, the US will no longer be an outlier, it will be back on the high table to discuss climate change action in 2021. This is crucial as we are running out of time. Second is the agenda for blue skies and clear lungs. In 2020, one ironic benefit of the lockdown was the improvement in air quality in our cities; it was almost as if nature was reclaiming her space. But it is also a fact that this improvement came at huge economic cost and is not sustainable. Therefore, going forward we need to ensure that we can do everything—from energy to mobility transformation—to keep the benefits of clean air, even as we move the economy forward. Third, and most critical, is the question of work and production. The workers who fled the city told us that it was inhospitable, that their living and working conditions were appalling. This is the core of the global economic problem, as ‘production’ has moved to where the cost of labour and environment can be discounted. But this pandemic year tells us that the future must be different, and even if this increases the cost of production and decreases consumption, it must be the way going forward. This is also where the real opportunity lies—investment in rural economies to build resilience and livelihoods. In this age of climate change risk, this is where the real action must be. Finally, there is the question of interdependence. This pandemic year has shown us how the virus has exacerbated the inequities in our world. But it also teaches us that the future must be different. Very different. This, then, is the curse of 2020, and the promise of 2021. Sunita Narain is director-general, Centre for Science and Environment

From the Editor-in-Chief

From the Editor-in-Chief After the world witnessed a disastrous 2020 plagued by Covid-19, India Today Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie talks about his hopes for 2021. What are the contours of this new world and, more importantly, what does 2021 have in store for us? We asked 10 experts to do some crystal-gazing. If 2020 was the year that changed everything, 2021 begins with many questions about what lies ahead. We are trapped between a pandemic that is still raging in many parts of the world and the promise of a post-pandemic world with the launch of several Covid-19 vaccines. This is a hopeful beginning for the new year, especially with two vaccines cleared for use in India. As we know, the vaccine is not a cure for Covid-19, only a means to slow the spread of the virus. It will be at least two years before a large percentage of the global population is vaccinated. We are, therefore, now in a twilight zone with the pandemic. What are the contours of this new world and, more importantly, what does 2021 have in store for us? We asked 10 experts to do some crystal-gazing. Our special issue, ‘The Rebirth’, curated by Managing Editor Kai Friese, carries their forecasts on the big trends in health, economy, environment, entertainment, politics and national security. Among our biggest learnings from the pandemic have been those in healthcare. Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist at the World Health Organization, argues that India needs to hike its investment in health from 1.5 per cent of the GDP to at least 2.5 per cent. It needs to strengthen the system of primary healthcare centres, use digital tools and technologies to deliver quality healthcare services and raise a separate public health cadre. She also says top-down orders work only for a while and, citing the example of Dharavi, says communities need to be part of the solution. The government’s biggest priority this year will be to revive India’s economy, the worst-hit among the world’s big economies. Barring agriculture, the four vital engines of the economy—domestic consumption, government expenditure, private investment and exports—are sputtering. The government will need to step up its efforts to nurse the economy back to health in the face of a global economic slump. Neelkanth Mishra, co-head, APAC Strategy, Credit Suisse, feels that despite strong policy measures, the global economy, barring China, is not expected to return to pre-Covid levels until 2022. Professor Arvind Panagriya of Columbia University recommends the setting up of a disinvestment ministry for aggressive privatisation of PSUs to shore up the government finances and give cash transfers to the rural and urban poor to the tune of 1-2 per cent of the GDP. Kishore Mahbubani, distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute, believes that the ‘great game’ in the 21st century is an economic rather than military contest and makes a case for India to enter and participate in global groupings like the RCEP rather than waiting on the sidelines. Competition, he argues, leads to short-term creative destruction but long-term economic strength. If you want diplomatic clout in the world, you need to build your economic muscle. One of the more welcome changes in the year gone by was the clean air we all breathed when our cities were locked down. It was a warning: we neglect the environment only at our own peril. Could climate change be the next wake-up call? The exit of Donald Trump and President Joe Biden’s entry means the US will now rejoin the 2015 Paris Agreement to undertake emission reductions. Environmentalist Sunita Narain urges nations to ensure clean air benefits in areas ranging from energy to mobility transformation. Group Editorial Director (Publishing) Raj Chengappa surveys India’s political landscape and argues that 2021 would see a move towards a centre-right ideological position in which national identity, pride and security dominate, combined with the unique blend of welfarism and capitalism, rather than regional and caste forces. This would be especially so if the BJP wins the upcoming West Bengal assembly poll. On the other hand, if Mamata Banerjee is re-elected chief minister, she will be in line to head an Opposition coalition to take on the BJP in 2024. January 13, 2020 cover Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde takes a critical look at the state of our Republic. Silence in Parliament, he says, seems to have shifted public discourse to the streets. The government and its critics need to stop shouting at each other and make fresh beginnings. Rulers and citizens need to go back to talking to each other rather than at each other. We need to be a less angry nation, and 2021, he hopes, will be the year for resets and dialogue. With the pandemic, an enforced revolution took place in the media and entertainment space. Uday Shankar, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), writes that ‘media morphed from being a creative-only enterprise to a tech-driven creative enterprise’. He says this sector’s future will be scripted by a new generation of entrepreneurs who invest in both content and technology. Author and journalist Fareed Zakaria distils his bestselling book Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World to give us five broad learnings for 2021: the public need to be cushioned against shocks like the pandemic; inequality will worsen; Covid-19 will accelerate the digital revolution; globalisation will not die, just pause and it can perhaps lead to decoupling from excessive dependence on China; and the post-American world won’t be one dominated by China but a multilateral world. However, China presents strategic challenges, and no one knows this better than India, which is dealing with a belligerent Beijing on its borders. Executive Editor Sandeep Unnithan explains how despite a budgetary squeeze, the Indian military needs to reform and modernise its war machine to deter China and its ally Pakistan. As the saying goes, the future is not an upgrade of the present but an invitation. Let’s accept that invitation and, with the dynamism, energy and innovation that nations across the globe have shown in this crisis, make the world a better place.

New sugar mills to come up in Gurdaspur, Batala

Chandigarh: The Punjab cooperation minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said on Thursday that two new sugar mills would soon be set up at Batala and Gurdaspur and the detailed project reports for these projects have been prepared. The minister also made it clear that the state cooperative sugar mills would soon clear the outstanding dues of cane growers, amounting to nearly Rs 150 crore. He said the state government was expecting the release of Rs 60.31 crore pertaining to the cooperative sugar mills of Punjab by the central government and the payment of cane growers will be released by January 13. He also said the state government was also focusing on increasing the area under sugarcane production. He added that the department would soon be providing complex fertilizer to farmers through Markfed and its tender has already been floated. The cabinet minister also shared that consequent to the Markfed manufactured Sohna brand honey clearing all quality parameters of the Centre of Science and Environment (CSE), its demand has witnessed 10-fold increase. Randhawa said the process pertaining to the merger of the District Central Coopertaive Banks (DCCBs) with the Punjab State Cooperative Banks (PSCBs) was in the final stages and this initiative would result in the strengthening of the cooperative sector banks. The minister said another flagship project of Milkfed in the form of Verka mega dairy at Bassi Pathana having two lakh litres per day capacity was expected to be completed by June 30. He also added that due to the high standard being followed while manufacturing the products, the Milkfed sales have been up by 32%. Randhawa also shared that a demand survey was underway for floating a housing scheme for providing flats in Mohali to the employees of cooperative departments and institutions besides journalists in the state through Housefed. Recounting various achievements of his department in the past one year, Randhawa said the capacity of Bhogpur cooperative sugar mills witnessed expansion from 1,000 TCD to 3,000 TCD with 15 MW co-generation plant by shifting of plant and machinery of closed sugar mill at Faridkot and addition of new boiler, power turbine and other equipments having latest technology at an estimated project cost of Rs 109.07 crore. The project work was completed in November 2020.

Pocket-pinch worry as diesel hits new high

Pocket-pinch worry as diesel hits new high Kolkata: The diesel price in Kolkata on Thursday breached records to touch Rs 77.96 per litre. Since diesel runs transport vehicles like buses and goods vehicles and even goods trains, there is a possibility of imminent rise in prices of commodities across categories. This is the second such record spike of diesel price after 2018. On October 16, 2018, the diesel price rose to Rs 77.59 per litre. Thereafter, it kept plunging steadily because of successive dips in international crude oil price. International oil prices have bounced back with heightened human activities in the post-lockdown period. The crude was trading at $50.96 per barrel on Wednesday, compared to $19.9 a barrel in April when several nations went into lockdown to curb the pandemic, said a senior IOC officer. The fossil fuel price varies from state to state. Central and state taxes and dealers’ commissions are added to the refinery gate price to arrive at the retail price, explained a oil marketing company (OMC) official. This spike is going to hit the goods and passenger transportation in the city hard. Already both state transport undertaking (STU) and private bus operators have scaled down their operations due to non-viability. “Unless the fare is immediately revised, the entire bus transit system will go moribund. After a point, it will be next to impossible to revive the system,” said Tapan Bandyopadhyay, secretary, joint council of bus syndicates. “Kolkata has a robust bus transit system. This was the reason why the share of private vehicles is low in the city. But the absence of buses underlines a great danger. It will force passengers to lean towards private vehicles, which will mean more traffic snarls, more choking of road intersections and more pollution,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment, and a transportation expert. The impact of the fuel price hike on the goods transportation sector is higher. “A spike in diesel price will increase the transportation cost of every commodity — from vegetables to electronic spare parts. The entire country’s transport system runs on diesel. If the government keeps withdrawing subsidy on diesel, the crucial balance will be lost,” said Subhas Chandra Bose, president, West Bengal Federation of Truck Operators’ Associations. Internationally, diesel is priced slightly higher than petrol because of its higher cost of production. In India, diesel remained subsidized for a long time. Now, diesel attracts lower tax than petrol and the former’s price has been lower for several years.

Be honey wise, not sugar foolish. If you've turned to the natural sweetener to boost your immunity in the pandemic, we've got a list for you

Be honey wise, not sugar foolish. If you've turned to the natural sweetener to boost your immunity in the pandemic, we've got a list for you The lockdown seemed all about fads, but if there is one trend that households throughout the world picked up during the pandemic, it was that of cooking, eating, and drinking healthy. 'Building immunity' became a nationwide obsession, as we all reached for our grandmothers’ recipes and elders’ age-old advice on reverting to organic food. Processed sugar has been a perennial villain for the lifestyle-disease-stricken humanity, so no wonder honey, the natural sweetener, too, made a sweet return. Recommended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, honey-and-pepper is considered an effective home remedy for the virus season. The consumption of honey not only grew in India, but stoked interest among South Korean, Japanese and Australian buyers. However, it wasn’t too late before the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) reported that major Indian brands selling honey were using Chinese sugar. Upon using the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, several Indian honey brands detected high levels of modified sugar syrups, which were going unidentified in the tests conducted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The honey-and-pepper we were consuming was more of sugar and spice. It has become essential for one and all to recognise the true potentials of raw honey and make an effort to switch to healthier variants of it. Raw honey collected from beehives is produced naturally by worker bees using nectar they collect from flowers in the region. This process distinguishes honey from one region to another; thereby guaranteeing a unique taste, scent, and color to its honey consumers. Unlike the commercial honey stocked in our supermarkets and grocery stores, unfiltered honey is high on antioxidants, enzymes, and minerals. Often heated and pasteurized on various levels, commercial honey, on the other hand, loses all its essential components and gets sold only for its glucose, fructose, and added preservatives. To ensure that your next bottle or jar of honey is naturally produced and harvested, you might want to consider switching to local businesses that promote traditional beekeeping methods and work towards providing a healthy and medicinal variant of it. Some of the local honey types that you can find around India are: Eucalyptus Honey Originated from the flowers of eucalyptus trees, the honey has a strong aftertaste of menthol. It is made without using preservatives and artificial colours and has a shelf life of 540 days. Usually recognised for its products in Australia, Under The Mango Tree along with other Indian companies, source this honey from beekeepers from plantations in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and their neighbouring areas. Eucalyptus is also recommended during a cold or a headache for its medicinal qualities.

India-China Hydropower Battle: Who Will Win?

India-China Hydropower Battle: Who Will Win? Despite these concerns, India has a lot of potential when it comes to renewables, especially hydropower. As per the Centre for Science and Environment, the North East has the potential to switch to 100% renewable. The year 2020 saw multiple instances of standoff between China and India, primarily in the Leh-Laddakh region. The two countries have had a stream of differences on border issues, including the North East, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh. There is speculation that the fight now has gone beyond the actual battlefield to energy infrastructure and water supply, with hydropower at the forefront. Recently, China announced it is working on a massive hydropower project as a part of its 14th Five Year Plan (2021-25) in Medog county of Tibet. In the last week of November 2020, the president of Power Construction Corporation of China, which is a Chinese government-owned company, announced plans to develop a hydroelectric project of mammoth proportions of up to 60 Gigawatts (GW). This project will be executed on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river, commonly known as the Brahmaputra river in India. China says the project will help the country realize its goal of reaching a carbon emission peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. They claim this project is three times bigger than the existing three gorges dam project. The Chinese government says this will push their energy economy towards renewables, helping make it a green energy nation. Despite China's claims, some experts are of the view that this is hydropower and water supply warfare, while some others say the timing of this project amidst standoff period is a mere coincidence. Whatever may be the agenda, this project challenges the water security of India, given that India lies downstream of the Bhramaputra river, where this project will be executed. It will also have a profound impact on the Himalayan ecosystem. Presently, there is a competition for the development of hydropower sector in the Himalayas between the two countries. China already has numerous power plants in operation, namely, Yamdrok Hydropower Station, Pangduo Hydropower Station, Zhikong Hydropower station, etc. All these projects were executed at the upstream or middle stream of Bhramaputra river. The latest dam to be executed at Medong is the first downstream river project by China. The Five-Year Plan of China speaks about the "Great Bend" in Bhramaputra river at Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, where the river falls spectacularly by 2,000 metres and turns sharply into Arunachal Pradesh. Given the proximity to Indian border, it is required Indian border forces stay vigil. In response to Chinese aggression, India has constructed its own set of hydro power projects. Many hydropower plants already in operation along the Bhramaputra, like Subansiri Lower Dam, Ranganadi Dam, Rangit Dam, Diband Dam, etc. Over the last 20 years, both China and India have worked significantly to build hydropower projects, potentially resulting in 21st-century hydro-energy warfare. Why are the two countries resorting to alternative avenues of competition, over and above the existing standoff at the border areas? In political science, we have a term called "political dilemma", that is, there is distrust between countries due to lack of transparency. This happens when the two countries are uncertain about the weapon generating potential of the other, and reporting of ammunition deployment in vulnerable areas. Such a situation results in a mutual lack of faith and scepticism. As a result, both countries try to increase their power through other domains. The case of India-China standoff is materializing across domains, one of which is hydro-electricity, which the countries have clubbed with national security. For instance, it is speculated that China has already completed 11 out of 55 projects that are planned in the Tibetan region. India too is taking the initiative to catch up with China's numbers. In addition to the energy-centric geopolitical tensions, these projects also have a cascading impact on the environment. The Brahmaputra river flows through rugged Himalayan topography, which is ecologically vulnerable and seismically active. The last major earthquake in that region was not long ago in 2015 Nepal, causing 9000 deaths and massive infrastructure damage. The region is thus highly vulnerable to earthquakes, with the next major one potentially taking place anytime. Also, a large number of Hydropower plants are based on the run of the river system, that is, the flowing river system is used to generate electricity. Interrupting the natural flow of water to generate energy can have a devastating impact, which then serves as a major contributing factor to earthquakes and landslides. Dams constructed in the region can cause landslides/ glacial slides, as well as dam-induced earthquakes, which is, incidentally one of the leading causes of man-made earthquakes. The deforestation to create dams also acts as a contributing factor.

Gasping for Air

Gasping for Air India lost 1.4 per cent of its GDP due to premature deaths and morbidity linked to pollution. The Lancet had collaborated with the Indian Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation while crafting this report. Covid- 19, air pollution, power plants, public health, It would be less than appropriate to engage in a discourse on which of the two is more lethal. Yet figures for 2019, published recently in the reputed journal of science, The Lancet, are direly unnerving. It must be more than a little shocking to learn that air pollution resulted in 11 times the number of deaths around the world that year than the Covid- 19 pandemic in 2020. An enormous responsibility thus devolves on the pollution control authorities not merely to tackle the burning of stubble, as in north India, the bursting of crackers in Kolkata and other parts of the country during Diwali or for that matter the presence of noxious coal-fired power plants. Two years ago, the deaths on account of pollution had outnumbered the country’s Covid casualties this year by a substantial margin. The report states that 16.7 lakh people died due to pollution in 2019, much more than the 1.5 lakh claimed by Covid in 2020. In addition, India lost 1.4 per cent of its GDP due to premature deaths and morbidity linked to pollution. The Lancet had collaborated with the Indian Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation while crafting this report. The report makes it clear that while public health authorities must combat the virus, they need to do more, much more, to tackle pollution which can only be addressed by the vaccine of development. This must be an unnerving thought on the first anniversary, so to speak, of Covid-19. As the world debates the efficacy of the corona vaccine, there is no such medical antidote against pollution. According to the medical fraternity, “air pollution has clearly emerged as one of the biggest killers in India. There is a long-drawn collective battle against it. A couple of doses of vaccine cannot prevent it. Covid-19 has occupied the lion’s share of our mindspace.” In the reckoning of the Centre for Science and Environment, pollution is particularly acute across the Indo-Gangetic plain. And then the stern caveat seemingly riveted to West Bengal ~ “Bengal being at the tail-end of the plain needs proactive steps to speed up action on transport, clean fuels in industry, clean power plants, waste management and biomass burning across the state.” Sad to reflect that West Bengal has failed on every parameter. Not wholly unrelated is what health authorities call an “alarming rise in non-smoking patients” basically because of indoor and outdoor pollution. “This is a bigger epidemic but currently going unnoticed because of our current obsession with Covid-19.” Such obsessions may seem to be a very humane response. While indoor pollution caused 64 per cent fewer deaths over the past two decades, outdoor pollution more than made up. Overall, the very real threat of air pollution needs to be addressed urgently.

Telangana among top three states producing unclean coal-based power: Study

Telangana among top three states producing unclean coal-based power: Study HYDERABAD: Telangana is among the top three states in the country producing and procuring unclean coal-based power that is severely affecting the environment, analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Delhi, has found. The CSE's new state-wise assessment found West Bengal at the top in buying the 'dirtiest' coal power in the country followed by Telangana and Gujarat. In West Bengal, 84 per cent of power stations supplying power to the state are unclean. The percentage stands at 74 per cent in Telangana and 71 per cent in Gujarat. Most stations supplying electricity, especially state-run ones, have not taken adequate measures to comply with the sulphur-dioxide (SO2) emission norms notified by the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change issued in December 2015. These norms had to be complied with in 2017. "In Telangana, among the ones not complying with the norms are mostly state-run power plants by Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited. This includes the Kothagudem thermal power station and Singareni thermal power plant. Apart from this, unclean power is also sourced from power stations that are based outside Telangana," said Soundaram Ramanathan, deputy programme manager, industrial pollution unit, CSE. CSE divided power stations on the basis of compliance with SO2 norms. The ones awarded tenders for procuring environment-protective equipment are labelled 'yellow', those in the process of tendering or conducting a feasibility study have been labelled 'orange' and those with no plans have been labelled 'red'. Of all power stations, 74 per cent are orange and 26 per cent yellow in Telangana.

Karnataka: 3 units of Bellary Thermal Power Station ‘unclean’, finds study

Karnataka: 3 units of Bellary Thermal Power Station ‘unclean’, finds study HUBBALLI: Although it has been more than five years since the Union ministry of environment and forests and climate change issued a fresh set of guidelines for controlling the emission of polluting gases at power stations, many such units in Karnataka continue to violate these norms. A study conducted by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has classified three units of the Bellary Thermal Power Station (BTPS) as ‘unclean’. According to the colour code used by the researchers for the study, those units classified under ‘yellow’ are considered cleaner, while those marked ‘orange’ or ‘red’ are considered unclean and hence, dangerous. Units one, two and three at the BTPS have been grouped under the ‘orange’ class. Among the findings in the study submitted by the researchers is that BTPS has failed to check emissions of sulphur-di-oxide (SO2). The Union ministry’s norms show that unchecked SO2 emission is the indication of a very poorly maintained power station. The ministry’s norms also stipulate the upper limit for particulate matter in the air at the plant. Although BTPS has fared poorly in the assessment conducted by CSE, the eight units at the Raichur Thermal Power Station, UNITS OF YERAMARUS TPS, KUDGI STPS were classed by the researchers under the ‘yellow’ group. Since coal is a highly-polluting fuel, power stations, even those that do not fall within the administrative purview of non-attainment or polluted cities – the requirement is that, if these power stations are within a 300-km radius of such urban centres – they are required to ensure their operations are conducted in adherence to the norms. Highlighting the risk of failure to meet the norms, the study pointed out that it exposed a significant section of the populace in the vicinity of the stations to health hazards. Deputy programme manager of CSE Soundaram Ramanathan said that the data supplied by the Central Electricity Authority of the Union power ministry served as the basis for their study. “Environmental norms need to be followed everywhere, more so in a place such as Ballari, which is fairly POPULATED. With a modernised plant with a 700MW-capacity, BTPS must comply to the Union environment ministry’s norms at least by 2022,” Ramanthan told TOI. Roshna K, a senior research engineer for Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, Bengaluru, said, “We were assured by the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd that the process had already been initiated to ensure adherence to these rules. We are told that plant is planning to install it and the tendering process is initiated to control SO2 emissions. We hope that the operations at these stations are in compliance with all the rules by December 2022.” However, BTPS executive director Narendra Kumar said that he was unaware of such a study having been conducted. “We were not approached by anyone seeking details on the action we have taken to comply with environmental norms,” Kumar told TOI. ‘Ensure compliance to norms on priority’ Coal is a polluting fuel, and power plants must meet the rules laid down by the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change on priority. The authorities concerned must work towards this, and region-specific plans need to be chalked out. This is a healthcare emergency. -Anumita Roychowdhury | Executive Director, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi