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Is the IMO conning India?
Written By mediavigil on Monday, April 27, 2009 | 12:59 AM
Migrant workers in Gujarat's Alang beach, the graveyard of the world's used ships, have been deprived of full legal protection by any national law since 1983.
Now, a UN law is all set to further increase their burden.
Trade unions and NGOs working in the field of workers' rights, human rights, environment and health have complete lack of faith in the proposed UN treaty on ship breaking/ ship recycling through the International Maritime Organization, a UN body, because its objectives are regressive in nature.
The draft IMO convention on the safe recycling of ships is a text has been prepared at the behest of the global shipping industry in general and European ship owning countries and ship owners in particular.
It legitimises the ongoing exploitation of workers, villagers and the marine environment at the end of the life of a ship.
As long the ship breaking operations has continued on Alang's beach, there has not been and there will never be safety either for the workers or for the coastal environment.
The IMO diplomatic conference is scheduled during May 11-15, at a time when the entire Indian government machinery will remain occupied with the national parliamentary elections.
In any case, the proposed treaty is an attempt to undo the work of the global environmental movement that had attempted to legislate and regulate, through the UN's Basel Convention, the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal, which has been endorsed by the Supreme Court of India.
A powerful shipping industry -- with the help of the governments of Norway, Japan and Greece in particular -- were deeply perturbed that they might no longer be able to escape the decontamination cost and profit at will by externalising the cost of pollution.
So they insisted the Basel Convention was incompetent to manage the issue.
UN's Basel Convention and its subsequent Basel Ban Amendment were designed to arrest the migration of dead and obsolete ships laden with radioactive material, asbestos, PCBs, toxic paints, biocides, fuel residues and other hazardous substances from rich shipping companies and countries to Indian shores.
This decision clearly noted that the Basel Convention does apply to end-of-life ships and further invited the IMO to 'continue to consider the establishment in its regulations of mandatory requirements, including a reporting system for ships destined for dismantling, that ensure an equivalent level of control as established under the Basel Convention.'
The tragedy of ship breaking/ ship recycling is not primarily a maritime issue at all.
It is clearly a matter of disastrous waste management practices and the injustice of externalising the costs of the industry on the backs of the Indian environment and the health of a vulnerable migrant workforce.
In 2004, at its 7th conference, the Basel Convention parties passed decision VII/26.
Instead of letting existing international environmental laws close the current loopholes available to ship owners, the latter -- through their governments ran for the cover of their clubhouse, the IMO -- to further weaken the present international regulatory framework.
In so doing, the IMO has played into the hands of a few ship owning countries who are acting at the behest of their companies.
It has attempted to turn back the clock and discard not only the principles and obligations established in the UN's Basel Convention, but almost every long standing global principle relevant to human rights and hazardous waste management.
The fact that the IMO is following the footsteps of the WTO and its position on ship recycling proves that the institution is fundamentally flawed. It is designed to place corporate profits above the need to protect our environment, occupational health and even democracy.
Ship breaking/ recycling is industrial activity for the production of secondary steel. IMO has no competence to deal with such an industrial process; it is competent only in maritime matters.
Besides, the proposed IMO treaty does not cover government ships and small ships.
The IMO has completely ignored the Basel Parties' concern for achieving an 'equivalent level of control' to that of the Basel Convention.
The treaty fails to stop the fatally flawed technique of breaking ships through the 'beaching method.'
In this method, ships are cut open in the sea and the tidal flats of the beaches of south Asian countries. As a result, it is impossible to contain oils and toxic contaminants from entering the marine environment or bring lifting cranes along side ships to lift heavy, cut pieces.
It is also impossible rescue workers, bring emergency equipment (ambulances, fire trucks) to the workers or the ships.
As a result, the fragile intertidal coastal zone cannot be protected from the hazardous wastes on the ships.
The draft IMO Convention text -- to be adopted during May 11-15, 2009 in Hong Kong -- does not call for the removal of ship breaking/ ship recycling operations from these pristine beaches.
It promotes the ongoing pollution of the marine environment with impunity and ensures that ship owners and ship owning countries escape accountability for their contaminated ships.
The proposed UN treaty does not alter the current graveyard status of shipbreaking yards in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The IMO treaty does nothing to prevent hazardous wastes such as asbestos, PCBs, old fuels, from being exported to the poorest communities and most desperate workers in developing countries.
It ignores the polluter pays/ producer responsibility principle, environmental justice/ transfer no harm principles, waste prevention/substitution principles and the principle of environmentally sound management.
The proposed treaty promotes the externalisation of cost of the pollution that was so infamously championed by the Lawrence Summers, chief economist, World Bank so that the real costs and liabilities of ships at the end of their life get transferred to developing countries like India.
The proposed IMO treaty is just a tool to further the unfair trade practices being advocated in the WTO at the behest of European governments in particular.
The fact remains there is no unfair trade that does not fall under the ambit of WTO.
Local regulations, such as those in India which require that imported products meet local standards on such matters as recycling, toxic substances, labelling and inspection, can be easily overruled by the WTO appellate body.
This IMO treaty makes their work easier.
Consequently, this act of legislation by a UN body on a subject which is beyond its competence and jurisdiction must be rejected.
The IMO convention on safe ship breaking/ ship recycling will do nothing to alter the current state of affairs that finds just a handful of developing countries managing the hazards and risks of over 90% of the world's toxic waste.
This is indeed contrary Principle 14 of the Rio Declaration, which calls on countries not to transfer harm.
As mentioned earlier, it also violates producer responsibility principles.
Principle 16 of the Rio Declaration, which embodies the polluter pays and producer responsibility principles, demands that environmental costs not be externalised.
The costs for managing end-of-life ships properly are significant and are conveniently avoided by ship owners under the IMO Convention.
Sadly, this draft IMO convention on safe ship breaking/ ship recycling has illegitimately been fathered by and for the shipping industry to maintain business-as-usual.
In the meanwhile, if the IMO, EU and other participating countries believe in democratic processes, or would like to have at least some pretence of it, they must seek the postponement of the IMO's diplomatic conference.
In particular, this must be done if there is any regard for a historically significant democratic process underway in India.
In any case, it would be unethical for the current Indian government officials to commit anything with regard to an international treaty at this stage.
It is incumbent on the IMO party governments to take the necessary action to postpone the Hong Kong conference as a first step and to desist from writing an obituary of the Basel Convention through the existing text of the IMO treaty on ship breaking /ship recycling.
For complete text and pictures visit
http://specials.rediff.com/money/2009/apr/25slide1-is-the-imo-conning-india.htm
Now, a UN law is all set to further increase their burden.
Trade unions and NGOs working in the field of workers' rights, human rights, environment and health have complete lack of faith in the proposed UN treaty on ship breaking/ ship recycling through the International Maritime Organization, a UN body, because its objectives are regressive in nature.
The draft IMO convention on the safe recycling of ships is a text has been prepared at the behest of the global shipping industry in general and European ship owning countries and ship owners in particular.
It legitimises the ongoing exploitation of workers, villagers and the marine environment at the end of the life of a ship.
As long the ship breaking operations has continued on Alang's beach, there has not been and there will never be safety either for the workers or for the coastal environment.
The IMO diplomatic conference is scheduled during May 11-15, at a time when the entire Indian government machinery will remain occupied with the national parliamentary elections.
In any case, the proposed treaty is an attempt to undo the work of the global environmental movement that had attempted to legislate and regulate, through the UN's Basel Convention, the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal, which has been endorsed by the Supreme Court of India.
A powerful shipping industry -- with the help of the governments of Norway, Japan and Greece in particular -- were deeply perturbed that they might no longer be able to escape the decontamination cost and profit at will by externalising the cost of pollution.
So they insisted the Basel Convention was incompetent to manage the issue.
UN's Basel Convention and its subsequent Basel Ban Amendment were designed to arrest the migration of dead and obsolete ships laden with radioactive material, asbestos, PCBs, toxic paints, biocides, fuel residues and other hazardous substances from rich shipping companies and countries to Indian shores.
This decision clearly noted that the Basel Convention does apply to end-of-life ships and further invited the IMO to 'continue to consider the establishment in its regulations of mandatory requirements, including a reporting system for ships destined for dismantling, that ensure an equivalent level of control as established under the Basel Convention.'
The tragedy of ship breaking/ ship recycling is not primarily a maritime issue at all.
It is clearly a matter of disastrous waste management practices and the injustice of externalising the costs of the industry on the backs of the Indian environment and the health of a vulnerable migrant workforce.
In 2004, at its 7th conference, the Basel Convention parties passed decision VII/26.
Instead of letting existing international environmental laws close the current loopholes available to ship owners, the latter -- through their governments ran for the cover of their clubhouse, the IMO -- to further weaken the present international regulatory framework.
In so doing, the IMO has played into the hands of a few ship owning countries who are acting at the behest of their companies.
It has attempted to turn back the clock and discard not only the principles and obligations established in the UN's Basel Convention, but almost every long standing global principle relevant to human rights and hazardous waste management.
The fact that the IMO is following the footsteps of the WTO and its position on ship recycling proves that the institution is fundamentally flawed. It is designed to place corporate profits above the need to protect our environment, occupational health and even democracy.
Ship breaking/ recycling is industrial activity for the production of secondary steel. IMO has no competence to deal with such an industrial process; it is competent only in maritime matters.
Besides, the proposed IMO treaty does not cover government ships and small ships.
The IMO has completely ignored the Basel Parties' concern for achieving an 'equivalent level of control' to that of the Basel Convention.
The treaty fails to stop the fatally flawed technique of breaking ships through the 'beaching method.'
In this method, ships are cut open in the sea and the tidal flats of the beaches of south Asian countries. As a result, it is impossible to contain oils and toxic contaminants from entering the marine environment or bring lifting cranes along side ships to lift heavy, cut pieces.
It is also impossible rescue workers, bring emergency equipment (ambulances, fire trucks) to the workers or the ships.
As a result, the fragile intertidal coastal zone cannot be protected from the hazardous wastes on the ships.
The draft IMO Convention text -- to be adopted during May 11-15, 2009 in Hong Kong -- does not call for the removal of ship breaking/ ship recycling operations from these pristine beaches.
It promotes the ongoing pollution of the marine environment with impunity and ensures that ship owners and ship owning countries escape accountability for their contaminated ships.
The proposed UN treaty does not alter the current graveyard status of shipbreaking yards in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The IMO treaty does nothing to prevent hazardous wastes such as asbestos, PCBs, old fuels, from being exported to the poorest communities and most desperate workers in developing countries.
It ignores the polluter pays/ producer responsibility principle, environmental justice/ transfer no harm principles, waste prevention/substitution principles and the principle of environmentally sound management.
The proposed treaty promotes the externalisation of cost of the pollution that was so infamously championed by the Lawrence Summers, chief economist, World Bank so that the real costs and liabilities of ships at the end of their life get transferred to developing countries like India.
The proposed IMO treaty is just a tool to further the unfair trade practices being advocated in the WTO at the behest of European governments in particular.
The fact remains there is no unfair trade that does not fall under the ambit of WTO.
Local regulations, such as those in India which require that imported products meet local standards on such matters as recycling, toxic substances, labelling and inspection, can be easily overruled by the WTO appellate body.
This IMO treaty makes their work easier.
Consequently, this act of legislation by a UN body on a subject which is beyond its competence and jurisdiction must be rejected.
The IMO convention on safe ship breaking/ ship recycling will do nothing to alter the current state of affairs that finds just a handful of developing countries managing the hazards and risks of over 90% of the world's toxic waste.
This is indeed contrary Principle 14 of the Rio Declaration, which calls on countries not to transfer harm.
As mentioned earlier, it also violates producer responsibility principles.
Principle 16 of the Rio Declaration, which embodies the polluter pays and producer responsibility principles, demands that environmental costs not be externalised.
The costs for managing end-of-life ships properly are significant and are conveniently avoided by ship owners under the IMO Convention.
Sadly, this draft IMO convention on safe ship breaking/ ship recycling has illegitimately been fathered by and for the shipping industry to maintain business-as-usual.
In the meanwhile, if the IMO, EU and other participating countries believe in democratic processes, or would like to have at least some pretence of it, they must seek the postponement of the IMO's diplomatic conference.
In particular, this must be done if there is any regard for a historically significant democratic process underway in India.
In any case, it would be unethical for the current Indian government officials to commit anything with regard to an international treaty at this stage.
It is incumbent on the IMO party governments to take the necessary action to postpone the Hong Kong conference as a first step and to desist from writing an obituary of the Basel Convention through the existing text of the IMO treaty on ship breaking /ship recycling.
For complete text and pictures visit
http://specials.rediff.com/money/2009/apr/25slide1-is-the-imo-conning-india.htm
How about car free cities instead of nano?
Written By mediavigil on Friday, April 24, 2009 | 4:19 AM
Indians are being compelled to simply ape Western countries and transport policy planners are behaving like insane. More than one billion people are being tempted by the advetising and cinema world to adopt Western patterns of car use.
Most likley carfree cities would become the norm by the end of the 21st Century, due to energy constraints. As a nation we should begin now to prepare for the change, which is an opportunity to build urban environments superior to any ever known.
Across the globe there is a movement emerging that seeks car free cities. Between public transport and nano, no sane person would say the latter is good. Is nano for over a billion people good or a public transport system for everybody?.
Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress chief said she would never use Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car, as it is made with the 'blood of people'. You can ridicule her body language (because she does not use British accent like P Chidambaram) but she has a point at least in this regard.
Ineed the industrialized nations made a terrible mistake when they turned to the car as an instrument of improved urban mobility. Advocates of car free cities say, the car brought with it major unanticipated consequences for urban life and has become a serious cause of environmental, social, and aesthetic problems in cities.
Cars kiills street life, damages the social fabric of communities, isolates people, fosters suburban sprawl, endangers other street users, blots the city's beauty, disturbs people with its noise, causes air pollution, slaughters thousands every year, exacerbates global warming, wastes energy and natural resources and impoverishes nations. The challenge is to remove cars from cities while at the same time improving mobility and reducing its total costs.
The solution lies in opting for a better alternative. What would happen if we designed a city to work without any cars? Would anyone want to live in such a city? Does it make social, economic, and esthetic sense? Is it possible to be free of the automobile while keeping the rapid and convenient mobility it once offered?
Can carfree cities be built? Venice, the largest existing example, is loved by almost everyone and is an oasis of peace despite being one of the densest urban areas on earth. We can also convert existing cities to the carfree model over a period of decades, say advocates of car free cities. It makes eminent sense but are transport policy planners listening or they held hostage by the car manufacturers.
Most likley carfree cities would become the norm by the end of the 21st Century, due to energy constraints. As a nation we should begin now to prepare for the change, which is an opportunity to build urban environments superior to any ever known.
Across the globe there is a movement emerging that seeks car free cities. Between public transport and nano, no sane person would say the latter is good. Is nano for over a billion people good or a public transport system for everybody?.
Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress chief said she would never use Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car, as it is made with the 'blood of people'. You can ridicule her body language (because she does not use British accent like P Chidambaram) but she has a point at least in this regard.
Ineed the industrialized nations made a terrible mistake when they turned to the car as an instrument of improved urban mobility. Advocates of car free cities say, the car brought with it major unanticipated consequences for urban life and has become a serious cause of environmental, social, and aesthetic problems in cities.
Cars kiills street life, damages the social fabric of communities, isolates people, fosters suburban sprawl, endangers other street users, blots the city's beauty, disturbs people with its noise, causes air pollution, slaughters thousands every year, exacerbates global warming, wastes energy and natural resources and impoverishes nations. The challenge is to remove cars from cities while at the same time improving mobility and reducing its total costs.
The solution lies in opting for a better alternative. What would happen if we designed a city to work without any cars? Would anyone want to live in such a city? Does it make social, economic, and esthetic sense? Is it possible to be free of the automobile while keeping the rapid and convenient mobility it once offered?
Can carfree cities be built? Venice, the largest existing example, is loved by almost everyone and is an oasis of peace despite being one of the densest urban areas on earth. We can also convert existing cities to the carfree model over a period of decades, say advocates of car free cities. It makes eminent sense but are transport policy planners listening or they held hostage by the car manufacturers.
Political stability as real engine of economic growth
Apropos ("CORPORATE ENTRY INTO VILLAGES: All eyes on rural silver", Deccan Herald), in the backdrop of the parliamentary elction underway, one can safely say that political stability is the real engine of economic growth especially keeping in mind the unfolding adverse effects of financial crisis and rising food prices.
But likes of P Chidambaram wish to "make financial services the next growth engine for India", newspapers like Business Standard argue for converting "cities into engines of growth", some corporate CEOs announce retail as the key economic engine of growth, some say manufacturing, some others say housing and now we hear villages as engines of growth even as the promise of "electrification of the remaining 125,000 villages and 2 crore 30 akh households by 2009" is yet to be fulfilled.
It must be remembered that "Transnational corporations (TNCs) as engines of growth" have been the main tenet of every theory of international business since the early 1950s although in India it revealed itself in mid 1980s. The World Investment Report 1992 argued for TNCs as engines of economic growth. It noted that dramatic policy changes in countries like India opened their economies to greater contributions by transnational corporations. The corporations had entered and shaped the policies and laws that could govern them long back, their entry into the villages and agricultural lands is their next logical step.
It is no more surprsing that the plight of rural poor and urban poor is dismmised as collateral damage for economic growth saying, "Where the commercial venture or enterprise would bring in results which are far more useful for the people, difficulty of a small number of people has to be bypassed. The comparative hardships have to be balanced and the convenience and benefit to a larger section of the people has to get primacy over comparatively lesser hardship. " There is almost a political consensus that it is the most desirable mode of development and economic growth. And now news or views on exploitation by all and sundry in the poorest states like Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar is recieved with frozen passivity. What and who can hammer or melt such passivity?
But likes of P Chidambaram wish to "make financial services the next growth engine for India", newspapers like Business Standard argue for converting "cities into engines of growth", some corporate CEOs announce retail as the key economic engine of growth, some say manufacturing, some others say housing and now we hear villages as engines of growth even as the promise of "electrification of the remaining 125,000 villages and 2 crore 30 akh households by 2009" is yet to be fulfilled.
It must be remembered that "Transnational corporations (TNCs) as engines of growth" have been the main tenet of every theory of international business since the early 1950s although in India it revealed itself in mid 1980s. The World Investment Report 1992 argued for TNCs as engines of economic growth. It noted that dramatic policy changes in countries like India opened their economies to greater contributions by transnational corporations. The corporations had entered and shaped the policies and laws that could govern them long back, their entry into the villages and agricultural lands is their next logical step.
It is no more surprsing that the plight of rural poor and urban poor is dismmised as collateral damage for economic growth saying, "Where the commercial venture or enterprise would bring in results which are far more useful for the people, difficulty of a small number of people has to be bypassed. The comparative hardships have to be balanced and the convenience and benefit to a larger section of the people has to get primacy over comparatively lesser hardship. " There is almost a political consensus that it is the most desirable mode of development and economic growth. And now news or views on exploitation by all and sundry in the poorest states like Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar is recieved with frozen passivity. What and who can hammer or melt such passivity?
Another toxic ship in Indian waters
Written By mediavigil on Thursday, April 23, 2009 | 11:48 PM
MV Regal Empress (ex TSS Olympia) was transferred from Freeport in the Bahamas to Port of Spain in Trinidad. She departed from Freeport on 30 March, 2009 for Alang. She contains a great deal of toxic waste as is usually the case with ships built in 1960s.
She remained in Freeport until around the 6th April, 2009 she then proceeded from there recently towards Alang, Bhavnagar, Gujarat sailing via South Africa to avoid the pirate waters off East Africa. This 186.5 m long ship weighing 22,640 Gross Registered Tons was built as the TSS Olympia in Glasgow, Scotland in 1953. She was the first and only ship ever to be built for the Greek Line.
No one knows the amount of hazardous materials that is onboard this Glasgow built ship. On March 17, 2009, she moved out of Fort Lauderdale and was bound for Freeport in the Bahamas. It has reportedly been sold to an Indian ship breaker. It was berthed at Ft Lauderdale on March 11, 2009. Till then the ship owner company had not announced what they intended t o do with the ship.
Regal Empress (ex TSS Olympia) was designed to operate regular transatlantic voyages, between Piraeus and New York, but also became a seasonal cruise ship as of 1961. Shet was built to accommodate at total of 1,356 passengers. The reason she was built as a predominantly Tourist class ship was in response of a demand for cheaper travel during the post-war years. The registered owners of the Olympia were the Transatlantic Shipping Corporation.
In 1968, Olympia was re-registered at Andros, under the Greek Flag but by 1970, she proved to be unprofitable. In 1974 it was decided to cease operations and Olympia was laid up at Piraeus, where she remained for the next seven years.
Later Olympia was sold to Sally Shipping GmbH, Bad Schwartau, Germany in 1981, but she remained laid up in Piraeus for another year, but under a German flag. She came to Hamburg in March 1983 after its renovation; it was renamed- Caribe I.
She departed Hamburg in June, 1983 to the Caribbean and commenced cruising under the management of Commodore Cruise Line Pty Ltd. In 1985 the owners name changed to Olympia Caribbean Shipping Co, Inc, Panama.
In 1993, Caribe was sold to the Regal Cruise Line, who renamed her Regal Empress. Regal Empress was auctioned off in mid 2004, and was sold to Imperial Majesty Cruises (IMC). In 2009 it came to light that she will be retired around March/April 2009 and will be sold for scrap.
(Photographs Courtesy: www.ssmaritime.com)
She remained in Freeport until around the 6th April, 2009 she then proceeded from there recently towards Alang, Bhavnagar, Gujarat sailing via South Africa to avoid the pirate waters off East Africa. This 186.5 m long ship weighing 22,640 Gross Registered Tons was built as the TSS Olympia in Glasgow, Scotland in 1953. She was the first and only ship ever to be built for the Greek Line.
No one knows the amount of hazardous materials that is onboard this Glasgow built ship. On March 17, 2009, she moved out of Fort Lauderdale and was bound for Freeport in the Bahamas. It has reportedly been sold to an Indian ship breaker. It was berthed at Ft Lauderdale on March 11, 2009. Till then the ship owner company had not announced what they intended t o do with the ship.
Regal Empress (ex TSS Olympia) was designed to operate regular transatlantic voyages, between Piraeus and New York, but also became a seasonal cruise ship as of 1961. Shet was built to accommodate at total of 1,356 passengers. The reason she was built as a predominantly Tourist class ship was in response of a demand for cheaper travel during the post-war years. The registered owners of the Olympia were the Transatlantic Shipping Corporation.
In 1968, Olympia was re-registered at Andros, under the Greek Flag but by 1970, she proved to be unprofitable. In 1974 it was decided to cease operations and Olympia was laid up at Piraeus, where she remained for the next seven years.
Later Olympia was sold to Sally Shipping GmbH, Bad Schwartau, Germany in 1981, but she remained laid up in Piraeus for another year, but under a German flag. She came to Hamburg in March 1983 after its renovation; it was renamed- Caribe I.
She departed Hamburg in June, 1983 to the Caribbean and commenced cruising under the management of Commodore Cruise Line Pty Ltd. In 1985 the owners name changed to Olympia Caribbean Shipping Co, Inc, Panama.
In 1993, Caribe was sold to the Regal Cruise Line, who renamed her Regal Empress. Regal Empress was auctioned off in mid 2004, and was sold to Imperial Majesty Cruises (IMC). In 2009 it came to light that she will be retired around March/April 2009 and will be sold for scrap.
(Photographs Courtesy: www.ssmaritime.com)
Pollution Threats from Delhi's thermal power plants
Written By mediavigil on Monday, April 20, 2009 | 3:46 AM
Threats to environmental health from the thermal power plants emerge from 10-13% of air pollution that is contributed by them. The main pollutants are stack emissions; fly ash generations and fugitive emission in coal handling. All three thermal power plants of Delhi need better use of their emission control devices and the fly ash that they generate. Delhi is the fourth most polluted city in the world in terms of Suspended Particulate Matter, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy metals like Mercury is released by power plants into the air and settles into water, where microorganisms convert it into methylmercury, a toxin that accumulates in fish, shellfish, and animals that eat fish. Human exposure to methylmercury usually occurs when people eat these foods, but the health effects of mercury exposure depend upon the route, amount, and duration of exposure, as well as the person's age and health. Greater emissions from power plants and other industries in the past century have increased the amount of environmental mercury; because mercury does not break down easily into less harmful substances, it remains hazardous indefinitely.
Power generation is one important source of pollutants such as mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and fine particulate matter that can affect the respiratory, cardiovascular, and central nervous systems and cause pregnancy complications. Air pollutants are often invisible and travel almost undetected.
Unmindful of the health hazards, the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India is promoting the use of flyash material in various construction applications through its Fly ash Mission.
A paper titled "Environmental impact of coal utilisation in thermal power plant" notes that "Radon is a colourless, odourless but noble gas, which is radioactive and ubiquitously present. It poses grave health hazards not only to uranium miners but also people living in normal houses and buildings and at work place like coal mines, cement industry, thermal power plants etc. Coal, a naturally occurring fossil fuel is burnt in conventional power plants to met out about 72% of the electricity needs in our country. It was lesser known hitherto until recently that the fly ash which is a by product of burnt coal is a potential radioactive air pollutant and it modifies radiation exposure. The increased interest in measuring radon concentration in the environment of thermal power plants is due to its health hazards and environmental pollution caused due to the burning of coal in thermal power plants. The radon levels were measured by using Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors, LR-115 type-II, exposed for 100 days at various locations in the thermal power plant. The radon levels measured at some locations were moderately high and thus not very safe from health point of view." The paper was published in Journal of Punjab Academy of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology.
It would have citizens believe that the erstwhile waste of the power plants has become a manna for the building industry struggling to seek environment friendly, high quality and affordable alternatives. The use of fly ash bock technology has shown a way to reduce the consumption of energy and the use of scarce agricultural soil required for the production of traditional fired bricks and at the same time provides a solution to the environmental hazard of dumping ash as has been the practice of most power plants in India.
Three of these coal-based plants, which have a total generation capacity of 1,085 MW alone, make up for more than 10 per cent of the total pollutants.
It is an acknowledged fact by now that the Indraprastha plant, the Badarpur thermal power station and the Raj Ghat power station are not at all environment-friendly.
Even the Central Electricity Authority has advised the Delhi Government to hasten the process of closing down the Indraprastha plant.
Indraprastha plant uses 800 gm of coal to produce one unit of electricity whereas Dadri, another thermal plant, uses 625 gm of coal for the same purpose.
The heat rate -- a measurement of a power plant’s thermal efficiency -- of the Indraprastha plant is greater than Dadri and Badarpur.
“The Dadri and Badarpur plants are far more efficient than the Indraprastha plant. They consume less coal, generate more power and release far lesser quantities of carbon dioxide,” say sources.
The Delhi Government says that it cannot shut down the Indraprastha plant till the gas-based plant in Bawana starts functioning has failed to pacify the CEA.
Meanwhile although legislations refer to need to "conserve top soil and prevent the dumping and disposal of fly ash discharged from coal or lignite based thermal power plants on land" but it allows manufacture of bricks utilizing fly ash within a specified radius of fifty kilometers from coal or lignite based thermal power plants.
Coal-burning power plants in the United States account for about 40% of domestic mercury emissions. According to the EPA, about 50 tons of mercury are emitted annually by burning coal to produce electric power. The EPA estimates that approximately one-quarter of this amount, or 12.5 tons of mercury, accumulates within the contiguous 48 states, while the rest is dispersed beyond our borders. Likewise, it's thought that more than half of the mercury deposited in the United States originates from abroad. Another important domestic source of mercury released into the air is the burning of hazardous wastes.
Coal-fired power plants emit more than 100 times more sulfur dioxide and three and a half times more nitrogen oxides than natural gas–fired plants per megawatt hour of electricity generated. In addition to air emissions, coal-fired plants produce more than 115 million tons per year of “coal combustion wastes” such as fly ash that contain metal oxides and alkalis, which typically are buried in landfills. While not federally regulated as hazardous waste, they have raised concerns about their effect on groundwater quality.
The Indian legislations refer to Delhi High Court's order dated 25th August, 1999 in CWP No. 2145/99 Centre for Public Interest Litigation, Delhi v/s Union of India wherein it directed that the Central Government to publish the final notification in respect of fly ash on or before 26th October, 1999.
In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1), read with clause (v) of sub-section (2) of section 3 and section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986); and in pursuance of the orders of the Hon’ble High Court, Delhi stated above, the Central Government hereby issues the following directions which shall come into force on the publication of this notification, namely; -
Use of fly ash, bottom ash or pond ash in the manufacture of bricks and other construction Activities. –
No person shall within a radius of fifty kilometers from coal or lignite based thermal power plants, manufacture clay bricks or tiles or blocks for use in construction activities without mixing at least 25 per cent of ash (fly ash, bottom ash or pond ash) with soil on weight-to-weight basis.
The authority for ensuring the use of specified quantity of ash as per para (1) above shall be the concerned Regional Officer of the State Pollution Control Board or the Pollution Control Committee as the case may be. In case of non-compliance, the said authority, in addition to cancellation of consent order issued to establish the brick kiln, shall move the district administration for cancellation of mining lease. The cancellation of mining lease shall be decided after due hearing. To enable the said authority to verify the actual use of ash, the thermal power plant shall maintain month-wise records of ash made available to each brick kiln.
In case of non-availability of ash from thermal power plant in sufficient quantities as certified by the said power plant, the stipulation under para (1) shall be suitably modified (waived/relaxed) by the concerned State/Union Territory Government.
Each coal or lignite based thermal power plant shall constitute a dispute settlement committee which shall include the General Manager of the thermal power plant and a representative of All India Brick and Tile Manufacture’s Federation (AIBTMF). Such a committee shall ensure unhindered loading and transport of ash without any undue loss of time. Any unresolved dispute shall be dealt with by a State/Union Territory level committee to be set up by State/Union Territory level committee to be set up by State/Union Territory Government comprising Member Secretary of the State Pollution Control Board/Pollution Control Committee, representatives of Ministry of Power in the State/Union Territory Government and a representative of AIBTMF.
2. Utilization of ash by Thermal Power Plant. –
All coal or lignite based thermal power plants shall utilize the ash generated in the power plants as follows:-
Every coal or lignite based thermal power plant shall make available ash, for at least ten years from the date of publication of this notification, without any payment or any other consideration, for the purpose of manufacturing ash-based products such as cement, concrete blocks, bricks, panels or any other material or for construction of roads, embankments, dams, dykes or for any other construction activity.
Every coal or lignite based thermal power plant commissioned subject to environmental clearance conditions stipulating the submission of an action a period of nine years from the publication of this notification, phase out the dumping and disposal of fly ash on land in accordance with the plan. Such an action plan shall provide for thirty per cent of the fly ash utilization, within three years from the publication of this notification with further increase in utilization by at least ten per cent points every year progressively for the next six years to enable utilization of the entire fly ash generated in the power plant at least by the end of ninth year. Progress in this regard shall be reviewed after five years.
Every coal or lignite based thermal power plant not covered by para (2) above shall, within a period of fifteen years from the date of publication of this notification, phase out the utilization of fly ash in accordance with an action plan to be drawn up by the power plants. Such action plan shall provide for twenty per cent of fly ash utilization within three years from the date of publication of this notification, with further increase in utilization every year progressively for the next twelve years to enable utilization of the entire fly ash generated in the power plant.
All action plans prepared by coal or lignite based thermal power plants in accordance with sub-para (2) and (3) of para 2 of this notification, shall be submitted to the Central Pollution, shall be submitted to the Central Pollution Control Board, concerned State Pollution Control Board/Committee and concerned regional office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests within a period of six months from the date of publication of this notification.
The Central and State Government Agencies, the State Electricity Boards, the National Thermal Power Corporation and the management of the thermal power plants shall facilitate in making available land available land, electricity and water for manufacturing activities and provide access to the ash lifting area for promoting and setting up of ash-based production units in the proximity of the area where ash is generated by the power plant.
Annual implementation report providing information about the compliance of provisions in this notification shall be submitted by the 30th day of April every year to the Central Pollution Control Board, concerned State Pollution Control Board/Committee and the concerned Regional Office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests by the coal or lignite based thermal power plants.
3. Specification for use of ash-based products. -
Manufacture of ash-based products such as cement, concrete blocks. Bricks, panels or any other material or the use of ash in construction activity such as in road laying, embankments or use as landfill to reclaim low lying areas including back filling in abandoned mines or pitheads or for any other use shall be carried out in accordance with specifications and guidelines laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards, Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, Central Road Research Institute, Roorkee, Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi, Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council, New Delhi, Central Public Works Department, State Public Works Departments and other Central and State Government agencies.
The Central Public Works Department, Public Works Departments in the State/Union Territory Governments, Development Authorities, Housing Boards, National Highway Authority of India and other construction agencies including those in the private sector shall also prescribe the use of ash and ash-based products in their respective schedules of specifications and construction applications, including appropriate standards and codes of practice, within a period of four months from the publication of this notification.
All local authorities shall specify in their respective building by-laws and regulations the use of ash and ash-based products and construction techniques in building materials, roads, embankments or for any other use within a period of four months from the date of publication of this notification.
Heavy metals like Mercury is released by power plants into the air and settles into water, where microorganisms convert it into methylmercury, a toxin that accumulates in fish, shellfish, and animals that eat fish. Human exposure to methylmercury usually occurs when people eat these foods, but the health effects of mercury exposure depend upon the route, amount, and duration of exposure, as well as the person's age and health. Greater emissions from power plants and other industries in the past century have increased the amount of environmental mercury; because mercury does not break down easily into less harmful substances, it remains hazardous indefinitely.
Power generation is one important source of pollutants such as mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and fine particulate matter that can affect the respiratory, cardiovascular, and central nervous systems and cause pregnancy complications. Air pollutants are often invisible and travel almost undetected.
Unmindful of the health hazards, the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India is promoting the use of flyash material in various construction applications through its Fly ash Mission.
A paper titled "Environmental impact of coal utilisation in thermal power plant" notes that "Radon is a colourless, odourless but noble gas, which is radioactive and ubiquitously present. It poses grave health hazards not only to uranium miners but also people living in normal houses and buildings and at work place like coal mines, cement industry, thermal power plants etc. Coal, a naturally occurring fossil fuel is burnt in conventional power plants to met out about 72% of the electricity needs in our country. It was lesser known hitherto until recently that the fly ash which is a by product of burnt coal is a potential radioactive air pollutant and it modifies radiation exposure. The increased interest in measuring radon concentration in the environment of thermal power plants is due to its health hazards and environmental pollution caused due to the burning of coal in thermal power plants. The radon levels were measured by using Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors, LR-115 type-II, exposed for 100 days at various locations in the thermal power plant. The radon levels measured at some locations were moderately high and thus not very safe from health point of view." The paper was published in Journal of Punjab Academy of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology.
It would have citizens believe that the erstwhile waste of the power plants has become a manna for the building industry struggling to seek environment friendly, high quality and affordable alternatives. The use of fly ash bock technology has shown a way to reduce the consumption of energy and the use of scarce agricultural soil required for the production of traditional fired bricks and at the same time provides a solution to the environmental hazard of dumping ash as has been the practice of most power plants in India.
Three of these coal-based plants, which have a total generation capacity of 1,085 MW alone, make up for more than 10 per cent of the total pollutants.
It is an acknowledged fact by now that the Indraprastha plant, the Badarpur thermal power station and the Raj Ghat power station are not at all environment-friendly.
Even the Central Electricity Authority has advised the Delhi Government to hasten the process of closing down the Indraprastha plant.
Indraprastha plant uses 800 gm of coal to produce one unit of electricity whereas Dadri, another thermal plant, uses 625 gm of coal for the same purpose.
The heat rate -- a measurement of a power plant’s thermal efficiency -- of the Indraprastha plant is greater than Dadri and Badarpur.
“The Dadri and Badarpur plants are far more efficient than the Indraprastha plant. They consume less coal, generate more power and release far lesser quantities of carbon dioxide,” say sources.
The Delhi Government says that it cannot shut down the Indraprastha plant till the gas-based plant in Bawana starts functioning has failed to pacify the CEA.
Meanwhile although legislations refer to need to "conserve top soil and prevent the dumping and disposal of fly ash discharged from coal or lignite based thermal power plants on land" but it allows manufacture of bricks utilizing fly ash within a specified radius of fifty kilometers from coal or lignite based thermal power plants.
Coal-burning power plants in the United States account for about 40% of domestic mercury emissions. According to the EPA, about 50 tons of mercury are emitted annually by burning coal to produce electric power. The EPA estimates that approximately one-quarter of this amount, or 12.5 tons of mercury, accumulates within the contiguous 48 states, while the rest is dispersed beyond our borders. Likewise, it's thought that more than half of the mercury deposited in the United States originates from abroad. Another important domestic source of mercury released into the air is the burning of hazardous wastes.
Coal-fired power plants emit more than 100 times more sulfur dioxide and three and a half times more nitrogen oxides than natural gas–fired plants per megawatt hour of electricity generated. In addition to air emissions, coal-fired plants produce more than 115 million tons per year of “coal combustion wastes” such as fly ash that contain metal oxides and alkalis, which typically are buried in landfills. While not federally regulated as hazardous waste, they have raised concerns about their effect on groundwater quality.
The Indian legislations refer to Delhi High Court's order dated 25th August, 1999 in CWP No. 2145/99 Centre for Public Interest Litigation, Delhi v/s Union of India wherein it directed that the Central Government to publish the final notification in respect of fly ash on or before 26th October, 1999.
In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1), read with clause (v) of sub-section (2) of section 3 and section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986); and in pursuance of the orders of the Hon’ble High Court, Delhi stated above, the Central Government hereby issues the following directions which shall come into force on the publication of this notification, namely; -
Use of fly ash, bottom ash or pond ash in the manufacture of bricks and other construction Activities. –
No person shall within a radius of fifty kilometers from coal or lignite based thermal power plants, manufacture clay bricks or tiles or blocks for use in construction activities without mixing at least 25 per cent of ash (fly ash, bottom ash or pond ash) with soil on weight-to-weight basis.
The authority for ensuring the use of specified quantity of ash as per para (1) above shall be the concerned Regional Officer of the State Pollution Control Board or the Pollution Control Committee as the case may be. In case of non-compliance, the said authority, in addition to cancellation of consent order issued to establish the brick kiln, shall move the district administration for cancellation of mining lease. The cancellation of mining lease shall be decided after due hearing. To enable the said authority to verify the actual use of ash, the thermal power plant shall maintain month-wise records of ash made available to each brick kiln.
In case of non-availability of ash from thermal power plant in sufficient quantities as certified by the said power plant, the stipulation under para (1) shall be suitably modified (waived/relaxed) by the concerned State/Union Territory Government.
Each coal or lignite based thermal power plant shall constitute a dispute settlement committee which shall include the General Manager of the thermal power plant and a representative of All India Brick and Tile Manufacture’s Federation (AIBTMF). Such a committee shall ensure unhindered loading and transport of ash without any undue loss of time. Any unresolved dispute shall be dealt with by a State/Union Territory level committee to be set up by State/Union Territory level committee to be set up by State/Union Territory Government comprising Member Secretary of the State Pollution Control Board/Pollution Control Committee, representatives of Ministry of Power in the State/Union Territory Government and a representative of AIBTMF.
2. Utilization of ash by Thermal Power Plant. –
All coal or lignite based thermal power plants shall utilize the ash generated in the power plants as follows:-
Every coal or lignite based thermal power plant shall make available ash, for at least ten years from the date of publication of this notification, without any payment or any other consideration, for the purpose of manufacturing ash-based products such as cement, concrete blocks, bricks, panels or any other material or for construction of roads, embankments, dams, dykes or for any other construction activity.
Every coal or lignite based thermal power plant commissioned subject to environmental clearance conditions stipulating the submission of an action a period of nine years from the publication of this notification, phase out the dumping and disposal of fly ash on land in accordance with the plan. Such an action plan shall provide for thirty per cent of the fly ash utilization, within three years from the publication of this notification with further increase in utilization by at least ten per cent points every year progressively for the next six years to enable utilization of the entire fly ash generated in the power plant at least by the end of ninth year. Progress in this regard shall be reviewed after five years.
Every coal or lignite based thermal power plant not covered by para (2) above shall, within a period of fifteen years from the date of publication of this notification, phase out the utilization of fly ash in accordance with an action plan to be drawn up by the power plants. Such action plan shall provide for twenty per cent of fly ash utilization within three years from the date of publication of this notification, with further increase in utilization every year progressively for the next twelve years to enable utilization of the entire fly ash generated in the power plant.
All action plans prepared by coal or lignite based thermal power plants in accordance with sub-para (2) and (3) of para 2 of this notification, shall be submitted to the Central Pollution, shall be submitted to the Central Pollution Control Board, concerned State Pollution Control Board/Committee and concerned regional office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests within a period of six months from the date of publication of this notification.
The Central and State Government Agencies, the State Electricity Boards, the National Thermal Power Corporation and the management of the thermal power plants shall facilitate in making available land available land, electricity and water for manufacturing activities and provide access to the ash lifting area for promoting and setting up of ash-based production units in the proximity of the area where ash is generated by the power plant.
Annual implementation report providing information about the compliance of provisions in this notification shall be submitted by the 30th day of April every year to the Central Pollution Control Board, concerned State Pollution Control Board/Committee and the concerned Regional Office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests by the coal or lignite based thermal power plants.
3. Specification for use of ash-based products. -
Manufacture of ash-based products such as cement, concrete blocks. Bricks, panels or any other material or the use of ash in construction activity such as in road laying, embankments or use as landfill to reclaim low lying areas including back filling in abandoned mines or pitheads or for any other use shall be carried out in accordance with specifications and guidelines laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards, Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, Central Road Research Institute, Roorkee, Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi, Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council, New Delhi, Central Public Works Department, State Public Works Departments and other Central and State Government agencies.
The Central Public Works Department, Public Works Departments in the State/Union Territory Governments, Development Authorities, Housing Boards, National Highway Authority of India and other construction agencies including those in the private sector shall also prescribe the use of ash and ash-based products in their respective schedules of specifications and construction applications, including appropriate standards and codes of practice, within a period of four months from the publication of this notification.
All local authorities shall specify in their respective building by-laws and regulations the use of ash and ash-based products and construction techniques in building materials, roads, embankments or for any other use within a period of four months from the date of publication of this notification.
INDIA IGNORES DEMOCRATIC ROAD TO COPENHAGEN
Written By mediavigil on Sunday, April 19, 2009 | 4:54 AM
There cannot be and there should not be any dispute about the validity of “principle of historical responsibility” stated by Shyam Saran, Special Envoy of the Prime Minister to media during UNFCCC Climate Change Talks in Bonn on April 7, 2009 in the ongoing multilateral negotiating process leading up to the 15th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen during 7-18 December, 2009.
But the facts stated in the election manifesto of Indian National Congress released by Sonia Gandhi on March 24, 2009 are disputable. The manifesto notes, “The Congress-led UPA government has already unveiled a National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC). It is an acknowledgment of our responsibility to take credible actions within the overall framework of meeting the development aspirations of our people for higher economic growth and a higher standard of living. This action plan will be implemented in letter and spirit.” Evidently, the letter and the spirit of the NAPCC are caught in a time warp.
A document titled “THE ROAD TO COPENHAGEN: India’s Position on Climate Change Issues” published by Public Diplomacy Division, Union Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India dated February 27, 2009 with a foreword by Shyam Saran states, “subjecting national aspirational efforts to an international compliance regime may result in lower ambitions” and “inability to reach a certain target for renewable energy use under a national plan, would have very different consequences than a similar legal obligation under an international agreement. The two cannot be equated.”
Clearly, the National Action Plan for Climate Change that the Prime Minister unveiled on June 30, 2008 with its eight missions including National Water Mission that finds mention even in the Congress Party’s manifesto is just a statement of voluntary action, intent and aspiration. It is not mandatory for any agency be it governmental or corporate to act according to the action plan and thus it does not constitute what the manifesto promised as “credible actions” within any framework.
It is a well-known fact that even the reports brought out by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is more of a politically acceptable scientific survey rather than a purely scientific study. The latter would have called for more radical measures with regard to steps required to stop ongoing dangerous interference with the atmosphere due to current model of industrialization and urbanization that is highly inconsistent with thousands of years of human wisdom. In such a scenario, when a consensual scientific document based on broader political unanimity calls for reversal in business as usual practices it would have seemed natural for countries like India to act not because of some international requirement but because it is in one’s own supreme national interest. It is inconsequential for citizens whether some international humanitarian law is being followed in letter or not, what is of consequence is whether or not its governmental actions factor in the spirit behind a law that will have ramifications not only for the present generation but also for the future generations. The response of Government of India neither follows the former nor the latter even when Chapter 10 (page no. 493), Working Group II Report "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability", IPCC Fourth Assessment Report states, “Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate. Its total area will likely shrink from the present 500,000 to 100,000 km2 by the year 2035 (WWF, 2005). The receding and thinning of Himalayan glaciers can be attributed primarily to the global warming due to increase in anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases. The relatively high population density near these glaciers and consequent deforestation and land-use changes have also adversely affected these glaciers. The 30.2 km long Gangotri glacier has been receding alarmingly in recent years. Between 1842 and 1935, the glacier was receding at an average of 7.3 m every year; the average rate of recession between 1985 and 2001 is about 23 m per year (Hasnain, 2002). The current trends of glacial melts suggest that the Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra and other rivers that criss-cross the northern Indian plain could likely become seasonal rivers in the near future as a consequence of climate change and could likely affect the economies in the region. Some other glaciers in Asia – such as glaciers shorter than 4 km length in the Tibetan Plateau – are projected to disappear and the glaciated areas located in the headwaters of the Changjiang River will likely decrease in area by more than 60% (Shen et al., 2002).”
Despite this Government of India in its wisdom feels that the fate of “About 15,000 Himalayan glaciers which supports perennial rivers such as the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra”, which remains “the lifeline of millions of people in South Asian countries (Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh)” merits only non-serious, unaccountable, irresponsible and even nationally legally non-enforceable responses to combat an ecological crisis that is bound to turn into a humanitarian crisis. In its frozen passivity and insensitivity, it is promoting only insincere paper work although Ganga basin alone is home to 500 million people and they are already facing great distress due to multiple ecological problems emerging from blind industrialization and urbanization.
Nothing mentioned in documents being manufactured by the government shows that their current action factors in how climate change creates a compelling logic for conservation measures and policy reversals. It appears to the Government of India that the entire wisdom of the citizens rests with organisations like The Energy Resources Institute. Even key ministries like Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj not consulted at any stage but like Panchayats even their ministry is dismissed indeed reflecting “a major lacuna” in what the Panchayati Raj Ministry wanted to do “to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change on local communities”. It surprising that pre-occupied with their elitist concerns they even failed to demonstrate that Union Water Resources Ministry as a nodal Ministry is incapable of undertaking any environment friendly measures because it is beyond its mandate in the same way as they were not successful in ensuring that the Union Ministry of Science and Technology did not get away by saying “it would be difficult to involve panchayats or local communities” at this stage.
It is noteworthy that even the National River Conservation Directorate and the recent Ganga River Basin Authority is under the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests. Continuing its unhealthy legacy of bulldozing rivers, flood plains, forests, biodiversity, natural drainage etc, it is not inconsistent that even ministries such as Union Ministry of Panchayats have not been deemed relevant for engagement, let alone citizens.
Observations from the Comprehensive Mission Document
The following observations from the documents of the National Water Mission illustrate the bureaucratic quality and intent revealed by the reports of hundreds of Commissions, Missions, Task Forces and Committees and their fate. Second volume of the National Water Mission document notes that Climate change in IPCC usage refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity. This usage differs from that of UNFCCC, which defines climate change as, “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”. This Report is formed for the Sub-committee on Policy and Institutional Framework as established by the High Level Steering Committee of the National Water Mission headed by Secretary (Water Resources). The Report does not take any position about the causes and certainty of the climate change. However, the possible range of effects on Water Sector is culled out from other expert opinions. On this basis, the possible mitigative measures and the new strategies required for such mitigative measures are outlined and the programmes.
The High Level Steering Committee of the National Water Mission has set-up six Sub-Committees as follows:
• Policy and Institutional Framework
• Surface Water Management
• Ground Water Management
• Domestic and Industrial Water Management
• Efficient Use of Water for various Purposes
• Basin Level Planning and Management
The Policy and Institutional Framework Sub-Committee has to deal with the issues brought out by the other five Sub-Committees and then discuss the policy related issues. This would also include institutional and legal issues, regulatory structures, entailment and pricing, etc. The Surface Water Management Sub-Committee also deals with a large number of issues with considerable overlaps with the coverage of the other four Sub-Committees. The Sub-Committees on Ground Water Management, Domestic and Industrial Water Management, Efficient use of Water for various purposes and Basin level management, deal with more pinpointed issues.
First volume of the National Water Mission document identifies the strategies and methodologies in respect of (a) Assessment of Impact of Climate Change; (b) Changes in Policy, Practices and Institutional Framework; (c) Measures for Mitigation; as well as (d) Measures for Adaptations. Appropriate monitoring and evaluation mechanism have also been proposed.
Outlining the objectives of Water Mission in the National Action Plan for Climate Change, it says, “A National Water Mission will be mounted to ensure integrated water resource management helping to conserve water, minimize wastage and ensure more equitable distribution both across and within states. The Mission will take into account the provisions of the National Water Policy and develop a framework to optimize water use by increasing water use efficiency by 20% through regulatory mechanisms with differential entitlements and pricing. It will seek to ensure that a considerable share of the water needs of urban areas are met through recycling of waste water, and ensuring that the water requirements of coastal cities with inadequate alternative sources of water are met through adoption of new and appropriate technologies such as low temperature desalination technologies that allow for the use of ocean water. The National Water Policy would be revisited in consultation with States to ensure basin level management strategies to deal with variability in rainfall and river flows due to climate change. This will include enhanced storage both above and below ground, rainwater harvesting, coupled with equitable and efficient management structures. The Mission will seek to develop new regulatory structures, combined with appropriate entitlements and pricing. It will seek to optimize the efficiency of existing irrigation systems, including rehabilitation of systems that have been run down and also expand irrigation, where feasible, with a special effort to increase storage capacity. Incentive structures will be designed to promote water neutral of water positive technologies, recharging of underground water sources and adoption of large scale irrigation programmes which rely on sprinklers, drip irrigation and ridge and furrow irrigation.”
It also describes the procedure for implementation of the Mission saying: “These National Missions will be institutionalized by respective ministries and will be organized through inter-sectoral groups which include in addition to related Ministries, Ministry of Finance and the Planning Commission, experts from industry, academia and civil society. The institutional structure would vary depending on the task to be addressed by the Mission and will include providing the opportunity to compete on the best management model.
Each Mission will be tasked to evolve specific objectives spanning the remaining years of the 11th Plan and the 12th Plan period 2012-2013 to 2016- 2017. Where the resource requirements of the Mission call for an enhancement of the allocation in the 11th Plan, this will be suitable considered, keeping in mind the overall resources position and the scope for re-prioritization.
Comprehensive Mission documents detailing objectives, strategies, plan of action, timelines and monitoring and evaluation criteria would be developed and submitted to the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate change by December 2008. The council will also periodically review the progress of these Missions.
State Governments would be requested to set up Monitoring Committee under the Chairmanship of the Principal Secretary / Secretary in charge of Water Resources. The State Government would also be requested to create Climate Change Cell at appropriate level. In case of States with considerable potential for water resources development, the cell should be headed by an officer in the grade of Chief Engineer whereas in smaller States, it would be headed by a Superintending Engineer.
Two volumes of the Draft Comprehensive Mission Documents for National Water Mission under National Action Plan on Climate Change are available on the website of Union Ministry Water Resources.
Conclusion
As of date there is ‘no clear indication about the emission reduction targets” which is binding for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This amounts to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012. Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC briefed the media on the final day of the Bonn Talks that incorporated the 5th session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 5) and the 7th session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP 7) on April 8, 2009 with regard to emission targets for industrialized countries saying, "numbers discussed so far fell well short of the range recommended by the IPCC." The Bonn Talks were the first in a series of meetings scheduled for this year in the run-up to Copenhagen. The next round of negotiations will be held from 1-12 June 2009 in Bonn, when the first drafts of negotiating texts will be ready.
Taking note of the current state of negotiations and the fate of potential victims of adverse climate change, a civil society meeting on the draft comprehensive mission document of National Water Mission (NWM) of India's National Action Plan on Climate Change in the conference room of Church of North India, New Delhi, it emerged that the NWM document has been prepared in an undemocratic, unethical and immoral manner.
The meeting which was organized by the Indian Network on Ethics in Climate Change (INECC) on April 18, 2009 to comprehend the reasons for the autocratic and non-transparent drafting of the document without any democratic engagement with the citizen groups concluded that a historic opportunity for policy reversal through a participatory process for a people friendly and environment friendly development path has been missed in the draft document dated December 2008. Given the fact that the document is still at a draft stage, it would be sane to make a fresh start instead of doing merely a paper work that is apparently required as per Bali Action Plan for nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMA) and other measures.
It is clear from the perusal of the above documents, it “lacks proper perspective, urgency and sincerity” because only lip-service has been paid to conservation of wetlands, ground water recharge, irrigation efficiency along with big dams, interlinking of rivers. Efforts are underway to seek its complete rewriting because its approach is fundamentally flawed. Overall, it ends promoting business as usual.
But the facts stated in the election manifesto of Indian National Congress released by Sonia Gandhi on March 24, 2009 are disputable. The manifesto notes, “The Congress-led UPA government has already unveiled a National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC). It is an acknowledgment of our responsibility to take credible actions within the overall framework of meeting the development aspirations of our people for higher economic growth and a higher standard of living. This action plan will be implemented in letter and spirit.” Evidently, the letter and the spirit of the NAPCC are caught in a time warp.
A document titled “THE ROAD TO COPENHAGEN: India’s Position on Climate Change Issues” published by Public Diplomacy Division, Union Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India dated February 27, 2009 with a foreword by Shyam Saran states, “subjecting national aspirational efforts to an international compliance regime may result in lower ambitions” and “inability to reach a certain target for renewable energy use under a national plan, would have very different consequences than a similar legal obligation under an international agreement. The two cannot be equated.”
Clearly, the National Action Plan for Climate Change that the Prime Minister unveiled on June 30, 2008 with its eight missions including National Water Mission that finds mention even in the Congress Party’s manifesto is just a statement of voluntary action, intent and aspiration. It is not mandatory for any agency be it governmental or corporate to act according to the action plan and thus it does not constitute what the manifesto promised as “credible actions” within any framework.
It is a well-known fact that even the reports brought out by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is more of a politically acceptable scientific survey rather than a purely scientific study. The latter would have called for more radical measures with regard to steps required to stop ongoing dangerous interference with the atmosphere due to current model of industrialization and urbanization that is highly inconsistent with thousands of years of human wisdom. In such a scenario, when a consensual scientific document based on broader political unanimity calls for reversal in business as usual practices it would have seemed natural for countries like India to act not because of some international requirement but because it is in one’s own supreme national interest. It is inconsequential for citizens whether some international humanitarian law is being followed in letter or not, what is of consequence is whether or not its governmental actions factor in the spirit behind a law that will have ramifications not only for the present generation but also for the future generations. The response of Government of India neither follows the former nor the latter even when Chapter 10 (page no. 493), Working Group II Report "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability", IPCC Fourth Assessment Report states, “Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate. Its total area will likely shrink from the present 500,000 to 100,000 km2 by the year 2035 (WWF, 2005). The receding and thinning of Himalayan glaciers can be attributed primarily to the global warming due to increase in anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases. The relatively high population density near these glaciers and consequent deforestation and land-use changes have also adversely affected these glaciers. The 30.2 km long Gangotri glacier has been receding alarmingly in recent years. Between 1842 and 1935, the glacier was receding at an average of 7.3 m every year; the average rate of recession between 1985 and 2001 is about 23 m per year (Hasnain, 2002). The current trends of glacial melts suggest that the Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra and other rivers that criss-cross the northern Indian plain could likely become seasonal rivers in the near future as a consequence of climate change and could likely affect the economies in the region. Some other glaciers in Asia – such as glaciers shorter than 4 km length in the Tibetan Plateau – are projected to disappear and the glaciated areas located in the headwaters of the Changjiang River will likely decrease in area by more than 60% (Shen et al., 2002).”
Despite this Government of India in its wisdom feels that the fate of “About 15,000 Himalayan glaciers which supports perennial rivers such as the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra”, which remains “the lifeline of millions of people in South Asian countries (Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh)” merits only non-serious, unaccountable, irresponsible and even nationally legally non-enforceable responses to combat an ecological crisis that is bound to turn into a humanitarian crisis. In its frozen passivity and insensitivity, it is promoting only insincere paper work although Ganga basin alone is home to 500 million people and they are already facing great distress due to multiple ecological problems emerging from blind industrialization and urbanization.
Nothing mentioned in documents being manufactured by the government shows that their current action factors in how climate change creates a compelling logic for conservation measures and policy reversals. It appears to the Government of India that the entire wisdom of the citizens rests with organisations like The Energy Resources Institute. Even key ministries like Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj not consulted at any stage but like Panchayats even their ministry is dismissed indeed reflecting “a major lacuna” in what the Panchayati Raj Ministry wanted to do “to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change on local communities”. It surprising that pre-occupied with their elitist concerns they even failed to demonstrate that Union Water Resources Ministry as a nodal Ministry is incapable of undertaking any environment friendly measures because it is beyond its mandate in the same way as they were not successful in ensuring that the Union Ministry of Science and Technology did not get away by saying “it would be difficult to involve panchayats or local communities” at this stage.
It is noteworthy that even the National River Conservation Directorate and the recent Ganga River Basin Authority is under the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests. Continuing its unhealthy legacy of bulldozing rivers, flood plains, forests, biodiversity, natural drainage etc, it is not inconsistent that even ministries such as Union Ministry of Panchayats have not been deemed relevant for engagement, let alone citizens.
Observations from the Comprehensive Mission Document
The following observations from the documents of the National Water Mission illustrate the bureaucratic quality and intent revealed by the reports of hundreds of Commissions, Missions, Task Forces and Committees and their fate. Second volume of the National Water Mission document notes that Climate change in IPCC usage refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity. This usage differs from that of UNFCCC, which defines climate change as, “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”. This Report is formed for the Sub-committee on Policy and Institutional Framework as established by the High Level Steering Committee of the National Water Mission headed by Secretary (Water Resources). The Report does not take any position about the causes and certainty of the climate change. However, the possible range of effects on Water Sector is culled out from other expert opinions. On this basis, the possible mitigative measures and the new strategies required for such mitigative measures are outlined and the programmes.
The High Level Steering Committee of the National Water Mission has set-up six Sub-Committees as follows:
• Policy and Institutional Framework
• Surface Water Management
• Ground Water Management
• Domestic and Industrial Water Management
• Efficient Use of Water for various Purposes
• Basin Level Planning and Management
The Policy and Institutional Framework Sub-Committee has to deal with the issues brought out by the other five Sub-Committees and then discuss the policy related issues. This would also include institutional and legal issues, regulatory structures, entailment and pricing, etc. The Surface Water Management Sub-Committee also deals with a large number of issues with considerable overlaps with the coverage of the other four Sub-Committees. The Sub-Committees on Ground Water Management, Domestic and Industrial Water Management, Efficient use of Water for various purposes and Basin level management, deal with more pinpointed issues.
First volume of the National Water Mission document identifies the strategies and methodologies in respect of (a) Assessment of Impact of Climate Change; (b) Changes in Policy, Practices and Institutional Framework; (c) Measures for Mitigation; as well as (d) Measures for Adaptations. Appropriate monitoring and evaluation mechanism have also been proposed.
Outlining the objectives of Water Mission in the National Action Plan for Climate Change, it says, “A National Water Mission will be mounted to ensure integrated water resource management helping to conserve water, minimize wastage and ensure more equitable distribution both across and within states. The Mission will take into account the provisions of the National Water Policy and develop a framework to optimize water use by increasing water use efficiency by 20% through regulatory mechanisms with differential entitlements and pricing. It will seek to ensure that a considerable share of the water needs of urban areas are met through recycling of waste water, and ensuring that the water requirements of coastal cities with inadequate alternative sources of water are met through adoption of new and appropriate technologies such as low temperature desalination technologies that allow for the use of ocean water. The National Water Policy would be revisited in consultation with States to ensure basin level management strategies to deal with variability in rainfall and river flows due to climate change. This will include enhanced storage both above and below ground, rainwater harvesting, coupled with equitable and efficient management structures. The Mission will seek to develop new regulatory structures, combined with appropriate entitlements and pricing. It will seek to optimize the efficiency of existing irrigation systems, including rehabilitation of systems that have been run down and also expand irrigation, where feasible, with a special effort to increase storage capacity. Incentive structures will be designed to promote water neutral of water positive technologies, recharging of underground water sources and adoption of large scale irrigation programmes which rely on sprinklers, drip irrigation and ridge and furrow irrigation.”
It also describes the procedure for implementation of the Mission saying: “These National Missions will be institutionalized by respective ministries and will be organized through inter-sectoral groups which include in addition to related Ministries, Ministry of Finance and the Planning Commission, experts from industry, academia and civil society. The institutional structure would vary depending on the task to be addressed by the Mission and will include providing the opportunity to compete on the best management model.
Each Mission will be tasked to evolve specific objectives spanning the remaining years of the 11th Plan and the 12th Plan period 2012-2013 to 2016- 2017. Where the resource requirements of the Mission call for an enhancement of the allocation in the 11th Plan, this will be suitable considered, keeping in mind the overall resources position and the scope for re-prioritization.
Comprehensive Mission documents detailing objectives, strategies, plan of action, timelines and monitoring and evaluation criteria would be developed and submitted to the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate change by December 2008. The council will also periodically review the progress of these Missions.
State Governments would be requested to set up Monitoring Committee under the Chairmanship of the Principal Secretary / Secretary in charge of Water Resources. The State Government would also be requested to create Climate Change Cell at appropriate level. In case of States with considerable potential for water resources development, the cell should be headed by an officer in the grade of Chief Engineer whereas in smaller States, it would be headed by a Superintending Engineer.
Two volumes of the Draft Comprehensive Mission Documents for National Water Mission under National Action Plan on Climate Change are available on the website of Union Ministry Water Resources.
Conclusion
As of date there is ‘no clear indication about the emission reduction targets” which is binding for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This amounts to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012. Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC briefed the media on the final day of the Bonn Talks that incorporated the 5th session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 5) and the 7th session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP 7) on April 8, 2009 with regard to emission targets for industrialized countries saying, "numbers discussed so far fell well short of the range recommended by the IPCC." The Bonn Talks were the first in a series of meetings scheduled for this year in the run-up to Copenhagen. The next round of negotiations will be held from 1-12 June 2009 in Bonn, when the first drafts of negotiating texts will be ready.
Taking note of the current state of negotiations and the fate of potential victims of adverse climate change, a civil society meeting on the draft comprehensive mission document of National Water Mission (NWM) of India's National Action Plan on Climate Change in the conference room of Church of North India, New Delhi, it emerged that the NWM document has been prepared in an undemocratic, unethical and immoral manner.
The meeting which was organized by the Indian Network on Ethics in Climate Change (INECC) on April 18, 2009 to comprehend the reasons for the autocratic and non-transparent drafting of the document without any democratic engagement with the citizen groups concluded that a historic opportunity for policy reversal through a participatory process for a people friendly and environment friendly development path has been missed in the draft document dated December 2008. Given the fact that the document is still at a draft stage, it would be sane to make a fresh start instead of doing merely a paper work that is apparently required as per Bali Action Plan for nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMA) and other measures.
It is clear from the perusal of the above documents, it “lacks proper perspective, urgency and sincerity” because only lip-service has been paid to conservation of wetlands, ground water recharge, irrigation efficiency along with big dams, interlinking of rivers. Efforts are underway to seek its complete rewriting because its approach is fundamentally flawed. Overall, it ends promoting business as usual.
Toxicology of climate change
Written By mediavigil on Saturday, April 18, 2009 | 8:13 AM
Climate change induced by anthropogenic warming of the earth's atmosphere is a daunting problem. This review examines one of the consequences of climate change that has only recently attracted attention: namely, the effects of climate change on the environmental distribution and toxicity of chemical pollutants.
A review was undertaken of the scientific literature (original research articles, reviews, government and intergovernmental reports) focusing on the interactions of toxicants with the environmental parameters, temperature, precipitation, and salinity, as altered by climate change. Three broad classes of chemical toxicants of global significance were the focus: air pollutants, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including some organochlorine pesticides, and other classes of pesticides. Generally, increases in temperature will enhance the toxicity of contaminants and increase concentrations of tropospheric ozone regionally, but will also likely increase rates of chemical degradation.
While further research is needed, climate change coupled with air pollutant exposures may have potentially serious adverse consequences for human health in urban and polluted regions. Climate change producing alterations in: food webs, lipid dynamics, ice and snow melt, and organic carbon cycling could result in increased POP levels in water, soil, and biota. There is also compelling evidence that increasing temperatures could be deleterious to pollutant- exposed wildlife. For example, elevated water temperatures may alter the biotransformation of contaminants to more bioactive metabolites and impair homeostasis.
The complex interactions between climate change and pollutants may be particularly problematic for species living at the edge of their physiological tolerance range where acclimation capacity may be limited. In addition to temperature increases, regional precipitation patterns are projected to be altered with climate change. Regions subject to decreases in precipitation may experience enhanced volatilization of POPs and pesticides to the atmosphere. Reduced precipitation will also increase air pollution in urbanized regions resulting in negative health effects, which may be exacerbated by temperature increases.
Regions subject to increased precipitation will have lower levels of air pollution, but will likely experience enhanced surface deposition of airborne POPs and increased run-off of pesticides. Moreover, increases in the intensity and frequency of storm events linked to climate change could lead to more severe episodes of chemical contamination of water bodies and surrounding watersheds. Changes in salinity may affect aquatic organisms as an independent stressor as well as by altering the bioavailability and in some instances increasing the toxicity of chemicals.
A paramount issue will be to identify species and populations especially vulnerable to climate-pollutant interactions, in the context of the many other physical, chemical, and biological stressors that will be altered with climate change. Moreover, it will be important to predict tipping points that might trigger or accelerate synergistic interactions between climate change and contaminant exposures.
Source: "The toxicology of climate change: Environmental contaminants in a warming world." Environment International, Noyes, P. D., M. K. McElwee, et al. (2009).
A review was undertaken of the scientific literature (original research articles, reviews, government and intergovernmental reports) focusing on the interactions of toxicants with the environmental parameters, temperature, precipitation, and salinity, as altered by climate change. Three broad classes of chemical toxicants of global significance were the focus: air pollutants, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including some organochlorine pesticides, and other classes of pesticides. Generally, increases in temperature will enhance the toxicity of contaminants and increase concentrations of tropospheric ozone regionally, but will also likely increase rates of chemical degradation.
While further research is needed, climate change coupled with air pollutant exposures may have potentially serious adverse consequences for human health in urban and polluted regions. Climate change producing alterations in: food webs, lipid dynamics, ice and snow melt, and organic carbon cycling could result in increased POP levels in water, soil, and biota. There is also compelling evidence that increasing temperatures could be deleterious to pollutant- exposed wildlife. For example, elevated water temperatures may alter the biotransformation of contaminants to more bioactive metabolites and impair homeostasis.
The complex interactions between climate change and pollutants may be particularly problematic for species living at the edge of their physiological tolerance range where acclimation capacity may be limited. In addition to temperature increases, regional precipitation patterns are projected to be altered with climate change. Regions subject to decreases in precipitation may experience enhanced volatilization of POPs and pesticides to the atmosphere. Reduced precipitation will also increase air pollution in urbanized regions resulting in negative health effects, which may be exacerbated by temperature increases.
Regions subject to increased precipitation will have lower levels of air pollution, but will likely experience enhanced surface deposition of airborne POPs and increased run-off of pesticides. Moreover, increases in the intensity and frequency of storm events linked to climate change could lead to more severe episodes of chemical contamination of water bodies and surrounding watersheds. Changes in salinity may affect aquatic organisms as an independent stressor as well as by altering the bioavailability and in some instances increasing the toxicity of chemicals.
A paramount issue will be to identify species and populations especially vulnerable to climate-pollutant interactions, in the context of the many other physical, chemical, and biological stressors that will be altered with climate change. Moreover, it will be important to predict tipping points that might trigger or accelerate synergistic interactions between climate change and contaminant exposures.
Source: "The toxicology of climate change: Environmental contaminants in a warming world." Environment International, Noyes, P. D., M. K. McElwee, et al. (2009).
Car Inequity in India
Written By mediavigil on Thursday, April 09, 2009 | 1:02 AM
Car industry has become the first big dinosaur of the 21st century. Every country today is working to bail out its automobile industry. The big four companies are still on the brink of closure.
The tax on cars is lower than what buses pay in our socialist country.Incentives rolled out to Nano by Gujarat government amount to as much as Rs 50,000-60,000 per Rs 1 lakh car.
Statistics reveal that in US there are some 800 vehicles for 1,000 people (old and young) where as in India it is 7 per 1,000 people (urban and rural).
As the Nano rolls out, think of how we subsidize the car and tax the bus. Public buses pay taxes as commercial passenger vehicles, each year and based on the number they carry. In many states, they pay over 12 times more tax than cars.
Think of the public transport bus service in your city and ask how much of its revenues go in taxes: half, in most cases.
Think also that the same Tata company, that has managed to roll out the car of our dreams in record time, does not possess the capacity to build the buses cities need.
Half of rich Delhi takes a bus, and another one-third walk or cycle because it is too poor to even take the bus.
Can the government write off the costs - Nano style - so that all can buy the car? Can the government pay for our parking, our roads and our fuel, so that all can drive the car? If not, then is this the right right at all?
The issue, then, is not the right to own a Nano. The issue is the right to a slice of the public subsidy so that everybody has the right to mobility. There is no other right.
Based on excerpts from Down to Earth Editorial
The tax on cars is lower than what buses pay in our socialist country.Incentives rolled out to Nano by Gujarat government amount to as much as Rs 50,000-60,000 per Rs 1 lakh car.
Statistics reveal that in US there are some 800 vehicles for 1,000 people (old and young) where as in India it is 7 per 1,000 people (urban and rural).
As the Nano rolls out, think of how we subsidize the car and tax the bus. Public buses pay taxes as commercial passenger vehicles, each year and based on the number they carry. In many states, they pay over 12 times more tax than cars.
Think of the public transport bus service in your city and ask how much of its revenues go in taxes: half, in most cases.
Think also that the same Tata company, that has managed to roll out the car of our dreams in record time, does not possess the capacity to build the buses cities need.
Half of rich Delhi takes a bus, and another one-third walk or cycle because it is too poor to even take the bus.
Can the government write off the costs - Nano style - so that all can buy the car? Can the government pay for our parking, our roads and our fuel, so that all can drive the car? If not, then is this the right right at all?
The issue, then, is not the right to own a Nano. The issue is the right to a slice of the public subsidy so that everybody has the right to mobility. There is no other right.
Based on excerpts from Down to Earth Editorial
Car Inequity in India Car industry has become the first big dinosaur of the 21st century. Every country today is working to bail out its automobi
Light pollution is a broad term that refers to multiple problems, all of which are caused by inefficient, unappealing, or unnecessary use of artificial light. Specific categories of light pollution include light trespass, over-illumination, glare, light clutter, and sky glow. A single offending light source often falls into more than one of these categories.
Light pollution can be divided into two main types:
1) annoying light that intrudes on an otherwise natural or low-light setting and
2) excessive light (generally indoors) that leads to discomfort and adverse health effects.
Light pollution is a side effect of industrial civilization. Its sources include building exterior and interior lighting, advertising, commercial properties, offices, factories, streetlights, and illuminated sporting venues. It is most severe in highly industrialized, densely populated areas of North America, Europe, and Japan and in major cities in the Middle East and North Africa like Cairo, but even relatively small amounts of light can be noticed and create problems. Like other forms of pollution (such as air, water, and noise pollution) light pollution causes damage to the environment.
A more recent discussion (2009), written by Professor Steven Lockley, Harvard Medical School, can be found in the CfDS handbook "Blinded by the Light?". Chapter 4, "Human health implications of light pollution" states that "... light intrusion, even if dim, is likely to have measurable effects on sleep disruption and melatonin suppression. Even if these effects are relatively small from night to night, continuous chronic circadian, sleep and hormonal disruption may have longer-term health risks".
The New York Academy of Sciences is hosting a 1 day meeting, 19 June, 2009 titled Circadian Disruption and Cancer. Moreover remember that 40 Danish women shift workers have this year(2009) been awarded compensation for breast cancer "caused" by shift work made possible by light at night - the commonest cause of light pollution.
Energy conservation advocates contend that light pollution must be addressed by changing the habits of society, so that lighting is used more efficiently, with less waste and less creation of unwanted or unneeded illumination. The case against light pollution is strengthened by a range of studies on health effects, suggesting that excess light may induce loss in visual acuity, hypertension, headaches and increased incidence of carcinoma.
Lighting is responsible for one-fourth of all energy consumption worldwide and case studies have shown that several forms of over-illumination constitute energy wastage, including non-beneficial upward direction of night-time lighting. In 2007, Terna, the company responsible for managing electricity flow in Italy, reported a saving of 645.2 million kWh in electricity consumption during the daylight saving period from April to October. It attributes this saving to the delayed need for artificial lighting during the evenings.
In Australia, public lighting is the single largest source of local government's greenhouse gas emissions, typically accounting for 30 to 50% of their emissions. There are 1.94 million public lights—one for every 10 Australians—that annually cost A$210 million, use 1,035 GWh of electricity and are responsible for 1.15 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. Current public lighting in Australia, particularly for minor roads and streets, uses large amounts of energy and financial resources, while often failing to provide high quality lighting. There are many ways to improve lighting quality while reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions as well as lowering costs.
Medical research on the effects of excessive light on the human body suggests that a variety of adverse health effects may be caused by light pollution or excessive light exposure, and some lighting design textbooks] use human health as an explicit criterion for proper interior lighting. Health effects of over-illumination or improper spectral composition of light may include: increased headache incidence, worker fatigue, medically defined stress, decrease in sexual function and increase in anxiety.
Common levels of fluorescent lighting in offices are sufficient to elevate blood pressure by about eight points. There is some evidence that lengthy daily exposure to moderately high lighting leads to diminished sexual performance.[citation needed] Specifically within the USA, there is evidence that levels of light in most office environments lead to increased stress as well as increased worker errors.
Several published studies also suggest a link between exposure to light at night and risk of breast cancer, due to suppression of the normal nocturnal production of melatonin.
As early as in 1978 Cohen et al. proposed that reduced production of the hormone melatonin might increase the risk of breast cancer and citing "environmental lighting" as a possible causal factor.
Since the early 1980s, a global dark-sky movement has emerged, with concerned people campaigning to reduce the amount of light pollution.
Evaluation of existing plans has determined that more efficient lighting plans are possible. Light pollution can be reduced by turning off unneeded outdoor lights, and only lighting stadiums when there are people inside. Timers are especially valuable for this purpose.
One example of a lighting plan assessment can be seen in a report originally commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the United Kingdom, and now available through the Department for Communities and Local Government. The report details a plan to be implemented throughout the UK, for designing lighting schemes in the countryside, with a particular focus on preserving the environment.
India does not have a good report card so far as light pollution is concerned. Besides posing a health hazard and being harmful to nocturnal life forms, light pollution also deprives urban dwellers of a chance to view the night sky lit up by stars.
Air and water pollution have a more immediate impact on human health. However, by paying attention to light pollution we would also be addressing the possibility of a more efficient use of energy for outdoor lighting that in turn will address the issue of diminishing energy resources, says N. Rathnasree, Director, Nehru Planetarium. She is studying levels of light pollution in India.
She says, “Some of the damage can be reversed with timely action. Knowing the pollution level quantitatively might also help us fight it better. The extent of light pollution can be studied through satellite imagery. However, translating from there to the question of actual sky brightness as seen from the ground involves a lot of estimation of unknown factors like aerosol content over different regions.”
Light pollution can be divided into two main types:
1) annoying light that intrudes on an otherwise natural or low-light setting and
2) excessive light (generally indoors) that leads to discomfort and adverse health effects.
Light pollution is a side effect of industrial civilization. Its sources include building exterior and interior lighting, advertising, commercial properties, offices, factories, streetlights, and illuminated sporting venues. It is most severe in highly industrialized, densely populated areas of North America, Europe, and Japan and in major cities in the Middle East and North Africa like Cairo, but even relatively small amounts of light can be noticed and create problems. Like other forms of pollution (such as air, water, and noise pollution) light pollution causes damage to the environment.
A more recent discussion (2009), written by Professor Steven Lockley, Harvard Medical School, can be found in the CfDS handbook "Blinded by the Light?". Chapter 4, "Human health implications of light pollution" states that "... light intrusion, even if dim, is likely to have measurable effects on sleep disruption and melatonin suppression. Even if these effects are relatively small from night to night, continuous chronic circadian, sleep and hormonal disruption may have longer-term health risks".
The New York Academy of Sciences is hosting a 1 day meeting, 19 June, 2009 titled Circadian Disruption and Cancer. Moreover remember that 40 Danish women shift workers have this year(2009) been awarded compensation for breast cancer "caused" by shift work made possible by light at night - the commonest cause of light pollution.
Energy conservation advocates contend that light pollution must be addressed by changing the habits of society, so that lighting is used more efficiently, with less waste and less creation of unwanted or unneeded illumination. The case against light pollution is strengthened by a range of studies on health effects, suggesting that excess light may induce loss in visual acuity, hypertension, headaches and increased incidence of carcinoma.
Lighting is responsible for one-fourth of all energy consumption worldwide and case studies have shown that several forms of over-illumination constitute energy wastage, including non-beneficial upward direction of night-time lighting. In 2007, Terna, the company responsible for managing electricity flow in Italy, reported a saving of 645.2 million kWh in electricity consumption during the daylight saving period from April to October. It attributes this saving to the delayed need for artificial lighting during the evenings.
In Australia, public lighting is the single largest source of local government's greenhouse gas emissions, typically accounting for 30 to 50% of their emissions. There are 1.94 million public lights—one for every 10 Australians—that annually cost A$210 million, use 1,035 GWh of electricity and are responsible for 1.15 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. Current public lighting in Australia, particularly for minor roads and streets, uses large amounts of energy and financial resources, while often failing to provide high quality lighting. There are many ways to improve lighting quality while reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions as well as lowering costs.
Medical research on the effects of excessive light on the human body suggests that a variety of adverse health effects may be caused by light pollution or excessive light exposure, and some lighting design textbooks] use human health as an explicit criterion for proper interior lighting. Health effects of over-illumination or improper spectral composition of light may include: increased headache incidence, worker fatigue, medically defined stress, decrease in sexual function and increase in anxiety.
Common levels of fluorescent lighting in offices are sufficient to elevate blood pressure by about eight points. There is some evidence that lengthy daily exposure to moderately high lighting leads to diminished sexual performance.[citation needed] Specifically within the USA, there is evidence that levels of light in most office environments lead to increased stress as well as increased worker errors.
Several published studies also suggest a link between exposure to light at night and risk of breast cancer, due to suppression of the normal nocturnal production of melatonin.
As early as in 1978 Cohen et al. proposed that reduced production of the hormone melatonin might increase the risk of breast cancer and citing "environmental lighting" as a possible causal factor.
Since the early 1980s, a global dark-sky movement has emerged, with concerned people campaigning to reduce the amount of light pollution.
Evaluation of existing plans has determined that more efficient lighting plans are possible. Light pollution can be reduced by turning off unneeded outdoor lights, and only lighting stadiums when there are people inside. Timers are especially valuable for this purpose.
One example of a lighting plan assessment can be seen in a report originally commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the United Kingdom, and now available through the Department for Communities and Local Government. The report details a plan to be implemented throughout the UK, for designing lighting schemes in the countryside, with a particular focus on preserving the environment.
India does not have a good report card so far as light pollution is concerned. Besides posing a health hazard and being harmful to nocturnal life forms, light pollution also deprives urban dwellers of a chance to view the night sky lit up by stars.
Air and water pollution have a more immediate impact on human health. However, by paying attention to light pollution we would also be addressing the possibility of a more efficient use of energy for outdoor lighting that in turn will address the issue of diminishing energy resources, says N. Rathnasree, Director, Nehru Planetarium. She is studying levels of light pollution in India.
She says, “Some of the damage can be reversed with timely action. Knowing the pollution level quantitatively might also help us fight it better. The extent of light pollution can be studied through satellite imagery. However, translating from there to the question of actual sky brightness as seen from the ground involves a lot of estimation of unknown factors like aerosol content over different regions.”
India’s per capita energy consumption, lowest in the world
Written By mediavigil on Tuesday, April 07, 2009 | 9:00 AM
Government of India had set the target to covering 78.09 million rural households or approximately 390-400 million Indians that do not have access to electricity as 78,000 MW capacity addition has been planned in the five years upto 2012.
As per the 2001 census 84.7 million households had no access to electricity. About 78 million of these were in rural areas, while 6.7 million were in cities. As per a 2006 paper "ENERGY MARKETS AND TECHNOLOGIES IN INDIA" authored by R.V. Shahi, Secretary, Union Ministry of Power too, 56% of rural households (about 78 million) do not have access to electricity. Shahi was the longest serving Power Secretary in Indian history from April 2002- January 2007. (It has been reported that Planning Commission vice-chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia objected his being given extension owing to his allegiance to business houses and has been charged giving undue favours to some private power majors.)
As per Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007-12 document, India currently ranks as the world’s seventh largest energy producer, accounting for about 2.49% of the world’s total annual energy production. It is also the world’s fifth largest energy consumer, accounting for about 3.45% of the world’s total annual energy consumption in 2004.
Although renewables are likely to account for only around 5%–6% of the primary commercial energy-mix by 2032. The role of new and renewable energy assumes added significance, irrespective of whether it replaces coal or oil. Given the growing concerns for climate change and energy security, it is imperative that this energy in the longer term will substantially increase its share in the fuel-mix.
India’s per capita energy consumption is one of the lowest in the world. India consumed 455 kilogram of oil equivalent (kgoe) per person of primary energy in 2004, which is around 26% of world average of 1750 kgoe in that year. As compared to this, per capita energy consumption in China and Brazil was 1147 kgoe and 1232 kgoe, respectively.
Peak demand estimation by the end of XI Plan (2007) was 157 GW and by the end of XII Plan (2012) is 213 GW. It has been argued that for next 30 years, capacity will need to be doubled every 10 years. India has taken a position that all hydro is renewable irrespective of size and it is claimed that even World Energy Congress has taken note of it.
The Expert Committee (EC) on Integrated Energy Policy, Planning Commission has projected primary energy demand for 2031–32 for India. Its report submitted in 2006 deals with various sources and forms of energy (electricity, coal, oil, gas, nuclear, hydel energy, renewables including wind energy, solar energy, biofuels, wood plantations), the country’s projected requirement and availability of resources, energy security, energy efficiency as well as R&D priorities.
The primary commercial energy resources in the country such as coal is abundant and is mostly concentrated in the eastern region, which accounts for nearly 70% of the total coal reserves, the western region has over 70% of the hydrocarbons reserves in the country. Similarly, more than 70% of the total hydro potential in the country is located in the northern and the north eastern regions. The southern region, which has only 6% of the coal reserves and 10% of the total hydro potential, has most of the lignite deposits occurring in the country.
Coal continues to be the major energy resource of the country. As on January 2007, the coal reserves were 253.3 billion tonnes (bt), out of which 97.92 bt are in the ‘proved’ category.
The lignite reserves as on April 2006 were estimated at 38.27 bt, out of which 4.5 bt is in the proved category. If all the inferred reserves materialize, these reserves can sustain current level of production for 140 years.
The balance of recoverable oil reserves as on 1 April 2006 is around 1653 mt (Directorate General of Hydrocarbon, DGH 2005–06 report), which can sustain the current level of production for the next 35 years. The current level of production barely caters to 26% of the petroleum products demand and the balance oil requirements are met by importing the crude. The situation was expected to improve once the production started from Krishna–Godavari (K–G) basin reserves.
At present, nuclear energy installed capacity is 3900 MWe which is 3.1% of total installed power generation capacity and the Plant Load Factor (PLF) of Nuclear Power stations is 57%. India’s long-term nuclear power programme is based on utilizing the vast indigenous resources of thorium for electricity generation. The three-stage nuclear power development programme in India is aimed at converting thorium to fissile material. India is poorly endowed with uranium and available uranium resources can support 10000 MWe electricity generation programme based on pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) using natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as moderator and coolant.
The energy potential of natural uranium can be increased to about 300000 MWe in the second stage through fast breeder reactors (FBRs) which utilize plutonium obtained from the recycled spent fuel of the first stage along with thorium as blanket to produce U233. With the deployment of thorium in the third stage using U233 as fuel, the energy potential.
Note: As per convention, final energy consumption is generally expressed as weights of fuels burnt, or from kWh consumed if it is electricity.
Each fuel, while burning, produces certain amount of energy in the form of heat that can be measured in standard units such as kilocalories or Joules.
Fuels are compared using their calorie content with that of oil in tonnes or million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe). One tonne of oil is worth 42 billion Joules or 10 billion calories whereas one million tonne of Indian coal has 4.1 billion calories. Thus 1 mt of coal is 4.1/10 mtoe or 0.41 mtoe.
Electrical energy measured in kWh is also converted into the thermal energy kcal or kJ using the definition and finally
expressed as mtoe (1 billion kWh = 0.86 billion calorie).
Taking the thermal efficiency of the power plant and other losses in the system, the equivalence between electricity and fossil fuels would be 1billion kWh = 0.28 mtoe (in case of coal-fired boilers) and 0.261 mtoe (in case of nuclear electricity). 1 billion kWh generated from hydroelectricity or wind power, however, are considered as equivalent to 0.086 mtoe since there is no intermediate stage of heat production while using these primary energies.
It is possible to argue that the efficiency of thermal power plant should be used to convert hydroelectricity and wind power also.
In this case, 1 billion kWh of hydroelectricity would be equivalent to 0.28 mtoe. This has an important bearing when one considers how much renewable energy is renewable. Thus in 2006–07 renewable energy was 2.8% or 8.3% of India’s total primary commercial energy depending on the conversion factor used.
P.S.: As many as 14 States have restructured or corporatized their power sector and unbundled their boards into separate entities for transmission, distribution, and generation. Distribution has been privatized in Orissa and Delhi.
Setting up of State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) has become mandatory.
A total of 25 States have either constituted or notified the constitution of SERC and 21 SERCs have issued tariff orders.
A total of 26 States have notified rural areas under Section 14 of the Act, permits have been taken of composite schemes of generation and distribution without any license. In compliance with Section 3 of the Electricity Act 2003, the Central Government notified the National Electricity Policy in 2005. National Electricity Policy (2005) aims at total village electrification by 2010. And by year 2012 per capita availability to be 1000 units, installed capacity over 200,000 MW and energy efficiency/conservation savings about 15%.
Similarly, National Tariff Policy was also notified in 2006. Further, in compliance with Sections 4 and 5 of the Electricity Act 2003, the Central Government notified the Rural Electrification Policy on 28 August 2006. The Central Government constituted the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity and the same became operational in July 2005. The Tribunal has started hearing appeals against orders of the Regulatory Commissions/Adjudicating Officers.
As per the 2001 census 84.7 million households had no access to electricity. About 78 million of these were in rural areas, while 6.7 million were in cities. As per a 2006 paper "ENERGY MARKETS AND TECHNOLOGIES IN INDIA" authored by R.V. Shahi, Secretary, Union Ministry of Power too, 56% of rural households (about 78 million) do not have access to electricity. Shahi was the longest serving Power Secretary in Indian history from April 2002- January 2007. (It has been reported that Planning Commission vice-chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia objected his being given extension owing to his allegiance to business houses and has been charged giving undue favours to some private power majors.)
As per Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007-12 document, India currently ranks as the world’s seventh largest energy producer, accounting for about 2.49% of the world’s total annual energy production. It is also the world’s fifth largest energy consumer, accounting for about 3.45% of the world’s total annual energy consumption in 2004.
Although renewables are likely to account for only around 5%–6% of the primary commercial energy-mix by 2032. The role of new and renewable energy assumes added significance, irrespective of whether it replaces coal or oil. Given the growing concerns for climate change and energy security, it is imperative that this energy in the longer term will substantially increase its share in the fuel-mix.
India’s per capita energy consumption is one of the lowest in the world. India consumed 455 kilogram of oil equivalent (kgoe) per person of primary energy in 2004, which is around 26% of world average of 1750 kgoe in that year. As compared to this, per capita energy consumption in China and Brazil was 1147 kgoe and 1232 kgoe, respectively.
Peak demand estimation by the end of XI Plan (2007) was 157 GW and by the end of XII Plan (2012) is 213 GW. It has been argued that for next 30 years, capacity will need to be doubled every 10 years. India has taken a position that all hydro is renewable irrespective of size and it is claimed that even World Energy Congress has taken note of it.
The Expert Committee (EC) on Integrated Energy Policy, Planning Commission has projected primary energy demand for 2031–32 for India. Its report submitted in 2006 deals with various sources and forms of energy (electricity, coal, oil, gas, nuclear, hydel energy, renewables including wind energy, solar energy, biofuels, wood plantations), the country’s projected requirement and availability of resources, energy security, energy efficiency as well as R&D priorities.
The primary commercial energy resources in the country such as coal is abundant and is mostly concentrated in the eastern region, which accounts for nearly 70% of the total coal reserves, the western region has over 70% of the hydrocarbons reserves in the country. Similarly, more than 70% of the total hydro potential in the country is located in the northern and the north eastern regions. The southern region, which has only 6% of the coal reserves and 10% of the total hydro potential, has most of the lignite deposits occurring in the country.
Coal continues to be the major energy resource of the country. As on January 2007, the coal reserves were 253.3 billion tonnes (bt), out of which 97.92 bt are in the ‘proved’ category.
The lignite reserves as on April 2006 were estimated at 38.27 bt, out of which 4.5 bt is in the proved category. If all the inferred reserves materialize, these reserves can sustain current level of production for 140 years.
The balance of recoverable oil reserves as on 1 April 2006 is around 1653 mt (Directorate General of Hydrocarbon, DGH 2005–06 report), which can sustain the current level of production for the next 35 years. The current level of production barely caters to 26% of the petroleum products demand and the balance oil requirements are met by importing the crude. The situation was expected to improve once the production started from Krishna–Godavari (K–G) basin reserves.
At present, nuclear energy installed capacity is 3900 MWe which is 3.1% of total installed power generation capacity and the Plant Load Factor (PLF) of Nuclear Power stations is 57%. India’s long-term nuclear power programme is based on utilizing the vast indigenous resources of thorium for electricity generation. The three-stage nuclear power development programme in India is aimed at converting thorium to fissile material. India is poorly endowed with uranium and available uranium resources can support 10000 MWe electricity generation programme based on pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) using natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as moderator and coolant.
The energy potential of natural uranium can be increased to about 300000 MWe in the second stage through fast breeder reactors (FBRs) which utilize plutonium obtained from the recycled spent fuel of the first stage along with thorium as blanket to produce U233. With the deployment of thorium in the third stage using U233 as fuel, the energy potential.
Note: As per convention, final energy consumption is generally expressed as weights of fuels burnt, or from kWh consumed if it is electricity.
Each fuel, while burning, produces certain amount of energy in the form of heat that can be measured in standard units such as kilocalories or Joules.
Fuels are compared using their calorie content with that of oil in tonnes or million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe). One tonne of oil is worth 42 billion Joules or 10 billion calories whereas one million tonne of Indian coal has 4.1 billion calories. Thus 1 mt of coal is 4.1/10 mtoe or 0.41 mtoe.
Electrical energy measured in kWh is also converted into the thermal energy kcal or kJ using the definition and finally
expressed as mtoe (1 billion kWh = 0.86 billion calorie).
Taking the thermal efficiency of the power plant and other losses in the system, the equivalence between electricity and fossil fuels would be 1billion kWh = 0.28 mtoe (in case of coal-fired boilers) and 0.261 mtoe (in case of nuclear electricity). 1 billion kWh generated from hydroelectricity or wind power, however, are considered as equivalent to 0.086 mtoe since there is no intermediate stage of heat production while using these primary energies.
It is possible to argue that the efficiency of thermal power plant should be used to convert hydroelectricity and wind power also.
In this case, 1 billion kWh of hydroelectricity would be equivalent to 0.28 mtoe. This has an important bearing when one considers how much renewable energy is renewable. Thus in 2006–07 renewable energy was 2.8% or 8.3% of India’s total primary commercial energy depending on the conversion factor used.
P.S.: As many as 14 States have restructured or corporatized their power sector and unbundled their boards into separate entities for transmission, distribution, and generation. Distribution has been privatized in Orissa and Delhi.
Setting up of State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) has become mandatory.
A total of 25 States have either constituted or notified the constitution of SERC and 21 SERCs have issued tariff orders.
A total of 26 States have notified rural areas under Section 14 of the Act, permits have been taken of composite schemes of generation and distribution without any license. In compliance with Section 3 of the Electricity Act 2003, the Central Government notified the National Electricity Policy in 2005. National Electricity Policy (2005) aims at total village electrification by 2010. And by year 2012 per capita availability to be 1000 units, installed capacity over 200,000 MW and energy efficiency/conservation savings about 15%.
Similarly, National Tariff Policy was also notified in 2006. Further, in compliance with Sections 4 and 5 of the Electricity Act 2003, the Central Government notified the Rural Electrification Policy on 28 August 2006. The Central Government constituted the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity and the same became operational in July 2005. The Tribunal has started hearing appeals against orders of the Regulatory Commissions/Adjudicating Officers.
Enviro-occupational health crisis in shipbreaking & asbestos industry
A Round Table on occupational and environmental health in the shipbreaking and asbestos industry in the emerging national and international scenario at Indian Social Institute, New Delhi on 25 March, 2009 began with the screening of a famous documentary "IRONEATERS".
In the first half the Round Table it took stock of the occupational and environmental health aspects in the proposed UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) international treaty on ship breaking, Indian Comprehensive Code on Shipbreaking and the recent order of the Bangladesh High Court and their implications for India. It also deliberated on the ongoing illegal beaching of some 125 ships in Alang. It attempted to uncover the state of affairs involving migrant casual workers, shipbreakers, cashbuyers, ship owners and ship owning countries culminating in Alang and emerging in Europe and other developed countries as a possible source of radioactive steel products.
The current goings on in this specific area of hazardous waste trade is happening even as parliamentary elections are underway. A new UN treaty to regulate or avoid regulation (of secondary steel production) is about to adopted under the manifest influence of shipowners at the upcoming International Maritime Organisation (IMO) meeting in Hongkong in the second week of May, 2009 to replace Basel Convention with reference to ship breaking/ship recycling.
The connivance of ship owning European countries like Germany, Spain and now IMO at their behest besides Indian Ministry of Shipping & others is quite stark in promoting & attempting to legitamize illegal traffic of obsolete & hazardous waste laden ships. They are out to ensure that the status quo of ongoing contamination of Alang beach & the adjoining community remains unchanged because it appears to them
that the marine environment and the most vulnerable workforce and villagers over here are "under polluted" and their interests and collateral damages can be bypassed for the greater common good.
In the second half the Round Table deliberated on the alarming rate of increase in the consumption of asbestos products, recent Kerala Human Right Commission's order on Asbestos, a new asbestos document by Union Ministry of Environment Forests and Asbestos liabilities of U.S. based company Asarco (formerly known as American Smelting and Refining Company) which is being bought over by London-listed Vedanta Group subsidiary Sterlite Industries wherein the agreement between Sterlite
Industries and Asarco involves Sterlite Industries assuming operating liabilities, but not legacy liabilities for asbestos and environmental claims for ceased operations. Earlier, Asarco had filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005 after it was sued for $1 billion over environmental clean-up and asbestos claims.
Unlike in Indian asbestos companies who are enjoying manifest immoral and unpardonable political patronage even U.S based Dow Chemicals Company has set aside $2.2 billion to address future asbestos-related liabilities arising out of its acquisition of the Union Carbide Company. It dwelt on asbestos and corporate accountability issue in the shipping industry as well. The fact remains Dow has not addressed the issue of its Bhopal liability in India as yet.
In the first half the Round Table it took stock of the occupational and environmental health aspects in the proposed UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) international treaty on ship breaking, Indian Comprehensive Code on Shipbreaking and the recent order of the Bangladesh High Court and their implications for India. It also deliberated on the ongoing illegal beaching of some 125 ships in Alang. It attempted to uncover the state of affairs involving migrant casual workers, shipbreakers, cashbuyers, ship owners and ship owning countries culminating in Alang and emerging in Europe and other developed countries as a possible source of radioactive steel products.
The current goings on in this specific area of hazardous waste trade is happening even as parliamentary elections are underway. A new UN treaty to regulate or avoid regulation (of secondary steel production) is about to adopted under the manifest influence of shipowners at the upcoming International Maritime Organisation (IMO) meeting in Hongkong in the second week of May, 2009 to replace Basel Convention with reference to ship breaking/ship recycling.
The connivance of ship owning European countries like Germany, Spain and now IMO at their behest besides Indian Ministry of Shipping & others is quite stark in promoting & attempting to legitamize illegal traffic of obsolete & hazardous waste laden ships. They are out to ensure that the status quo of ongoing contamination of Alang beach & the adjoining community remains unchanged because it appears to them
that the marine environment and the most vulnerable workforce and villagers over here are "under polluted" and their interests and collateral damages can be bypassed for the greater common good.
In the second half the Round Table deliberated on the alarming rate of increase in the consumption of asbestos products, recent Kerala Human Right Commission's order on Asbestos, a new asbestos document by Union Ministry of Environment Forests and Asbestos liabilities of U.S. based company Asarco (formerly known as American Smelting and Refining Company) which is being bought over by London-listed Vedanta Group subsidiary Sterlite Industries wherein the agreement between Sterlite
Industries and Asarco involves Sterlite Industries assuming operating liabilities, but not legacy liabilities for asbestos and environmental claims for ceased operations. Earlier, Asarco had filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005 after it was sued for $1 billion over environmental clean-up and asbestos claims.
Unlike in Indian asbestos companies who are enjoying manifest immoral and unpardonable political patronage even U.S based Dow Chemicals Company has set aside $2.2 billion to address future asbestos-related liabilities arising out of its acquisition of the Union Carbide Company. It dwelt on asbestos and corporate accountability issue in the shipping industry as well. The fact remains Dow has not addressed the issue of its Bhopal liability in India as yet.
Environmental Concerns in Political Manifestos
Excerpts of CPI ML Manifesto on Natural Resources & Environment
In spite of Vidarbha suicides being linked with the failure of seed MNC Monsanto’s Bt.cotton, the Indian Government has allowed Monsanto to conduct field trials of GM crops. Clearly the UPA Government is quite willing to risk our health and environment and sacrifice farmers’ lives in order to protect the interests of MNCs. The Manmohan regime’s Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture has signed away India’s own independence in agricultural research.
The neoliberal policies pursued by the UPA Government and all manners of State
Governments have intensified this offensive on this most vulnerable section.
Movements of Dalits and adivasis for their right to land, forests and natural
resources like water face the most brutal repression: Kalinganagar and Chengara
are stark examples.
Ending agrarian crisis and peasant distress:
• India should walk out of the WTO-sponsored Agreement on Agriculture
• Punishment for corporations guilty of pesticide poisoning and recovery of
damages from them under the principle of “polluter pays”
• Thoroughgoing land reforms and lowering of land ceiling
• Subsidised agro inputs for small and medium farmers and regulation of prices
of all inputs
• Ban on forward/futures trading in agricultural produce
• Scrapping of SEZ Act
• No to forcible acquisition of agricultural land
• No to introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops without a rigorous and transparent scientific evaluation; immediate stop to all field trials of GM crops
• Guaranteed housing for rural and urban poor
Checks on Corporates and MNCs
Seeks details of money stashed by Indian corporates in Swiss banks and reclaim
the same, recovery of unpaid loans defaulted by big business houses
• Confiscation of assets and nationalisation of enterprises of fraudulent
corporations
• Reverse the trend of FDI relaxation and corporate penetration in retail,
insurance and other sectors, impose strict curbs on foreign capital
• No to sops, subsidies, tax waivers etc. for corporates
• Ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for all
• Scrap Indo-US Nuclear Deal and long-term Defence Agreement with USA
• Full right on land, water and forest resources
• Full implementation of PESA provisions in areas with sizable tribal
populations
• Full protection of tribal rights in 5th and 6th Schedule areas
Excerpts of CPI M Manifesto on Water Resources & Environment
• Making the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) process transparent, accountable and independent of vested interests; Reviewing the EIA Notification, 2009
• Undertaking steps to control emission of greenhouse gases through energy efficient technologies and effective regulation; Promoting solar and other non-conventional energy sources
• Increasing central allocations for Natural Calamity Relief Fund; States to
have more powers in tackling natural calamities and disasters
• Checking pollution of rivers and other water bodies through effective regulation
• Implementing the Coastal Zone Regulation Act and the Wetlands Regulatory Authority in ways as to promote long-term interests of the people and of the environment
Water Resources
• A National Water Policy to be formulated to enhance water availability for domestic use, irrigation and industry; Provision of potable drinking water to all habitations to be accorded priority
• Curbing privatization and commercialization of water resources; Tackling depletion of ground water through greater regulation
Excerpts of Congress manifesto on Environment & Ganga Basin
•We will protect India’s natural environment and take steps to rejuvenate it
The Indian National Congress has declared the sacred Ganga as a
“national river”. The Ganga River Basin Authority has been established
with the Prime Minister at its head for ensuring that development
needs are met in an ecologically sustainable manner. This Authority
will be accorded the highest priority. Water security is of paramount
concern to the Indian National Congress and steps will be taken to
enhance it measurably for local communities.
India has an enormously rich biodiversity that is under threat on
account of various reasons. The Indian National Congress commits
itself to strengthening people’s movements whose objective will be to
protect and preserve our bio-resources and ensure their sustainable
use.
Climate change has now emerged as a serious challenge for the world
community. India too has begun to feel its impact in different ways.
The Congress-led UPA government has already unveiled a National Action
Plan for Climate Change. It is an acknowledgment of our responsibility
to take credible actions within the overall framework of meeting the
development aspirations of our people for higher economic growth and a
higher standard of living. This action plan will be implemented in
letter and spirit.
Excerpts of BJP manifesto on Ganga, linking rivers & environment
Ganga occupies a special place in the Indian psyche. It is most
unfortunate that it has been thoroughly neglected even after India
attained freedom. It is a pity that even after six decades of
independence Ganga continues to be thoroughly polluted and is drying.
The BJP will ensure the cleanliness, purity and uninterrupted flow of
Ganga, and will take all measures, legal and administrative, in this
regard. Necessary financial and technical assistance will be provided
on priority. In addition, a massive ‘Clean Rivers Programme’ will be
launched across the country with the participation of voluntary
organisations.
Create irrigation facilities for an additional 35 million hectares of
land in five years: This will generate rural jobs as well as benefit
farmers. Drip irrigation will be promoted along with better water
management and use of check dams and Heavily invest funds in
agriculture to reverse the trend set by the Congress-led UPA and
make the farm sector an equal engine of growth along with industry and
the services sector.
Arrest the loss of jobs and reverse the trend of joblessness which is
far worse than unemployment by making massive public sector
investments in job-generating infrastructure programmes, especially
building of roads and highways, and linking of rivers.
The BJP will pursue national growth objectives through an ecologically
sustainable pathway that leads to mitigation of greenhouse gas
emissions. We recognise that containing global
warming is essential to protecting life and security of people and
environment. Mitigating the threat by building a low carbon economy is
the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century.
The BJP endorses the principle of “common but differentiated
responsibilities”, as enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change. We look at ‘Climate Change’ in the context of the
promises made by the international community for technology transfer
and additional financing since Rio, which have remained unfulfilled.
The BJP will actively pursue the transfer of critical technologies
that can have a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions.
Bearing in mind concerns on environment and related climate change
issues, the BJP will:
1. Give appropriate importance to containing climate change.
2. Lay importance on energy security and sustainable energy pathways
by setting clear targets for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
3. Bring about a complete shift in subsidy from chemical fertilisers
to rewarding farmers for pursuing conservation and enhancement of
local crop varieties, thereby enhancing the conservation of local
agro-biodiversity.
4. Offer attractive support prices and incentives for traditional
rain-fed crops and promote markets for them. This will be coupled with
a decentralised Public Distribution System that will mop up excess
production of local food and distribute it among those households that
are food deficit locally. A decentralised PDS will be more climate
smart since it will eliminate excessive costs of transportation and
storage.
5. Revisit laws for protecting forests and reserve parks to make them
more effective in preventing encroachment and man-animal conflict. All
resources will be provided for protecting forestland and animal
reserves; wilful destruction of forests and killing of wildlife for
profit or pleasure will fetch stringent punishment.
6. A permanent Task Force will be set up for the protection and
preservation of tigers, lions and other wild cats. A separate Task
Force will look after the protection and preservation of elephants. A
third Task Force will look after bird sanctuaries. They will be duly
empowered to take whatever steps are necessary to achieve their goals.
7. Provide incentives to encourage institutions and individuals to
switch over to energysaving devices and eco-friendly designs for
housing and workplace. Full support will be given for developing
low-energy, low-cost technology by both public and private sectors.
A Group of Experts will be set up to formulate target-driven
objectives towards this end.
8. Encourage citizens’ participation in protecting the environment and
curbing pollution. Schools will be involved in promoting environment
and ecology-related issues among children.
9. Adopt a mission-mode approach to clean all rivers.
10. Launch a national programme for citizens’ participation in
reforestation, agro-forestry and social forestry by planting a billion
trees every year.
11. Importance given to programmes to arrest the melting of Himalayan
glaciers from which most major rivers in North India originate.
In spite of Vidarbha suicides being linked with the failure of seed MNC Monsanto’s Bt.cotton, the Indian Government has allowed Monsanto to conduct field trials of GM crops. Clearly the UPA Government is quite willing to risk our health and environment and sacrifice farmers’ lives in order to protect the interests of MNCs. The Manmohan regime’s Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture has signed away India’s own independence in agricultural research.
The neoliberal policies pursued by the UPA Government and all manners of State
Governments have intensified this offensive on this most vulnerable section.
Movements of Dalits and adivasis for their right to land, forests and natural
resources like water face the most brutal repression: Kalinganagar and Chengara
are stark examples.
Ending agrarian crisis and peasant distress:
• India should walk out of the WTO-sponsored Agreement on Agriculture
• Punishment for corporations guilty of pesticide poisoning and recovery of
damages from them under the principle of “polluter pays”
• Thoroughgoing land reforms and lowering of land ceiling
• Subsidised agro inputs for small and medium farmers and regulation of prices
of all inputs
• Ban on forward/futures trading in agricultural produce
• Scrapping of SEZ Act
• No to forcible acquisition of agricultural land
• No to introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops without a rigorous and transparent scientific evaluation; immediate stop to all field trials of GM crops
• Guaranteed housing for rural and urban poor
Checks on Corporates and MNCs
Seeks details of money stashed by Indian corporates in Swiss banks and reclaim
the same, recovery of unpaid loans defaulted by big business houses
• Confiscation of assets and nationalisation of enterprises of fraudulent
corporations
• Reverse the trend of FDI relaxation and corporate penetration in retail,
insurance and other sectors, impose strict curbs on foreign capital
• No to sops, subsidies, tax waivers etc. for corporates
• Ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for all
• Scrap Indo-US Nuclear Deal and long-term Defence Agreement with USA
• Full right on land, water and forest resources
• Full implementation of PESA provisions in areas with sizable tribal
populations
• Full protection of tribal rights in 5th and 6th Schedule areas
Excerpts of CPI M Manifesto on Water Resources & Environment
• Making the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) process transparent, accountable and independent of vested interests; Reviewing the EIA Notification, 2009
• Undertaking steps to control emission of greenhouse gases through energy efficient technologies and effective regulation; Promoting solar and other non-conventional energy sources
• Increasing central allocations for Natural Calamity Relief Fund; States to
have more powers in tackling natural calamities and disasters
• Checking pollution of rivers and other water bodies through effective regulation
• Implementing the Coastal Zone Regulation Act and the Wetlands Regulatory Authority in ways as to promote long-term interests of the people and of the environment
Water Resources
• A National Water Policy to be formulated to enhance water availability for domestic use, irrigation and industry; Provision of potable drinking water to all habitations to be accorded priority
• Curbing privatization and commercialization of water resources; Tackling depletion of ground water through greater regulation
Excerpts of Congress manifesto on Environment & Ganga Basin
•We will protect India’s natural environment and take steps to rejuvenate it
The Indian National Congress has declared the sacred Ganga as a
“national river”. The Ganga River Basin Authority has been established
with the Prime Minister at its head for ensuring that development
needs are met in an ecologically sustainable manner. This Authority
will be accorded the highest priority. Water security is of paramount
concern to the Indian National Congress and steps will be taken to
enhance it measurably for local communities.
India has an enormously rich biodiversity that is under threat on
account of various reasons. The Indian National Congress commits
itself to strengthening people’s movements whose objective will be to
protect and preserve our bio-resources and ensure their sustainable
use.
Climate change has now emerged as a serious challenge for the world
community. India too has begun to feel its impact in different ways.
The Congress-led UPA government has already unveiled a National Action
Plan for Climate Change. It is an acknowledgment of our responsibility
to take credible actions within the overall framework of meeting the
development aspirations of our people for higher economic growth and a
higher standard of living. This action plan will be implemented in
letter and spirit.
Excerpts of BJP manifesto on Ganga, linking rivers & environment
Ganga occupies a special place in the Indian psyche. It is most
unfortunate that it has been thoroughly neglected even after India
attained freedom. It is a pity that even after six decades of
independence Ganga continues to be thoroughly polluted and is drying.
The BJP will ensure the cleanliness, purity and uninterrupted flow of
Ganga, and will take all measures, legal and administrative, in this
regard. Necessary financial and technical assistance will be provided
on priority. In addition, a massive ‘Clean Rivers Programme’ will be
launched across the country with the participation of voluntary
organisations.
Create irrigation facilities for an additional 35 million hectares of
land in five years: This will generate rural jobs as well as benefit
farmers. Drip irrigation will be promoted along with better water
management and use of check dams and Heavily invest funds in
agriculture to reverse the trend set by the Congress-led UPA and
make the farm sector an equal engine of growth along with industry and
the services sector.
Arrest the loss of jobs and reverse the trend of joblessness which is
far worse than unemployment by making massive public sector
investments in job-generating infrastructure programmes, especially
building of roads and highways, and linking of rivers.
The BJP will pursue national growth objectives through an ecologically
sustainable pathway that leads to mitigation of greenhouse gas
emissions. We recognise that containing global
warming is essential to protecting life and security of people and
environment. Mitigating the threat by building a low carbon economy is
the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century.
The BJP endorses the principle of “common but differentiated
responsibilities”, as enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change. We look at ‘Climate Change’ in the context of the
promises made by the international community for technology transfer
and additional financing since Rio, which have remained unfulfilled.
The BJP will actively pursue the transfer of critical technologies
that can have a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions.
Bearing in mind concerns on environment and related climate change
issues, the BJP will:
1. Give appropriate importance to containing climate change.
2. Lay importance on energy security and sustainable energy pathways
by setting clear targets for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
3. Bring about a complete shift in subsidy from chemical fertilisers
to rewarding farmers for pursuing conservation and enhancement of
local crop varieties, thereby enhancing the conservation of local
agro-biodiversity.
4. Offer attractive support prices and incentives for traditional
rain-fed crops and promote markets for them. This will be coupled with
a decentralised Public Distribution System that will mop up excess
production of local food and distribute it among those households that
are food deficit locally. A decentralised PDS will be more climate
smart since it will eliminate excessive costs of transportation and
storage.
5. Revisit laws for protecting forests and reserve parks to make them
more effective in preventing encroachment and man-animal conflict. All
resources will be provided for protecting forestland and animal
reserves; wilful destruction of forests and killing of wildlife for
profit or pleasure will fetch stringent punishment.
6. A permanent Task Force will be set up for the protection and
preservation of tigers, lions and other wild cats. A separate Task
Force will look after the protection and preservation of elephants. A
third Task Force will look after bird sanctuaries. They will be duly
empowered to take whatever steps are necessary to achieve their goals.
7. Provide incentives to encourage institutions and individuals to
switch over to energysaving devices and eco-friendly designs for
housing and workplace. Full support will be given for developing
low-energy, low-cost technology by both public and private sectors.
A Group of Experts will be set up to formulate target-driven
objectives towards this end.
8. Encourage citizens’ participation in protecting the environment and
curbing pollution. Schools will be involved in promoting environment
and ecology-related issues among children.
9. Adopt a mission-mode approach to clean all rivers.
10. Launch a national programme for citizens’ participation in
reforestation, agro-forestry and social forestry by planting a billion
trees every year.
11. Importance given to programmes to arrest the melting of Himalayan
glaciers from which most major rivers in North India originate.
Poeple's Manifesto on Western Ghats
Note: Unprecedented threats posed to our ecosystem from Himalayas to Sahyadri creates a compelling logic for citizens to undertake all kinds of sane interventions without any parochial and myopic considerations sans ulterior motives. What is at stake among other things is inter-generational equity. The business as usual scenario of most political parties and companies that fund them have set in motion a process akin to replumbing our ecosystem to satisfy hunger with one's own flesh. Manifesto on Western Ghats (Sahyadri) is a historic document and is quite relevant to the fragile Himalayan ecosystem as well.
Gopal Krishna
Press Release April 7, 2009
Manifesto on Western Ghats
A first-ever citizen’s manifesto on Western Ghats has been released by the Save Western Ghat Campaign to bring .the critical issues afflicting this 1,600 km mountainous stretch along the west coast, that is “gateway to monsoons and hotspot of biodiversity” to light:
· Political commitment to protect the natural forests is critical to the water security of south India, especially the flows in rivers like Cavery, Tungabhadra and Krishna. This will also help in attaining the power security for the region.
· Regenerate the forests by indigenous species rather than exotic species.
· Forest dwellers should not be resettled for establishing National Parks, instead community be given right to collect forest produce for livelihood security.
· Dam building across the rivers in Western Ghats needs to be stopped and a review of existing dams be done at the earliest.
· National Rural Employment Guarantee Act should be implemented specifically for ecological rehabilitation in Western Ghats.
· Western Ghats needs to be declared `GM free’, as it being the center of biodiversity for numerous plants, crops, and wild products that provide food and ecological security. Introduction of GM will unleash dreadful consequences.
· A series of mega thermal power plants are being established in Konkan and along West Coast. This will lead to increased climate change causing changes in micro climate affecting the cultivation of famous “Alphosno” mango.
There are 32 parliamentary constituencies coming under Western Ghats region from Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The activists of Save Western Ghats will campaign in these constituencies impressing upon major political parties as well as candidates to work towards meeting these demands.
The activists will also meet the prospective candidates and get a letter-of-commitment form them assuring their support towards holistic policies to conserve the Western Ghats and to give voice to the voiceless Sahyadri Mountains. Once elected they would help to form a lobbying group called MPs Forum for Western Ghats in Lok Sabha and for reforming the polices that impact the region.
This is the first time a people’s manifesto is being issued on ecologically important mountain range like Westen Ghats. This was prepared after consulting 85 non-government & research organisations and 8000 people from five states. We hope to get support form all the major political parties contesting from this region.
Issued on behalf of Save Western Ghat Campaign
For further information contact:
Pandurang Hegde, Sirsi, Karnataka (09448818099); A Latha, Thrissur, Kerala (09847283120); Archana Godbole, Pune, Maharashtra (09890927727): Sudhirendar Sharma, Delhi (09868384744).
Citizen’s manifesto on WESTERN GHATS
15th LOK SABHA ELECTIONS
2009
(adopted by all candidates contesting elections irrespective of party affiliation)
Preamble
A. Western Ghats, like the Amazon, form the `girdle’ of the earth to maintain ecological balance, invoke monsoons and provide a cushion for climate change.
The mountainous corridor along the west coast is a distinct ecological continuum that is nature’s best gift to the country. Called Western Ghats, this narrow 1,700 km strip that stretches from the mouth of Tapti in Dhule district of Maharashtra to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu is nature’s unique evolutionary laboratory still at work. It is the Monsoon Gateway to the sub-continent when its ecological riches pull the strong oceanic currents to offload their first showers on the landmass.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Western Ghats, older than the Himalaya, is one of the 34 Global Hotspots of Biodiversity – flora, fauna, landscape and ethnicity.
Western Ghats is replete with bewitching locations that are home to known 4,050 type of plants, 121 species of frogs, 508 bird species, 6 types of turtles and terrapins, 87 species of snakes, 63 types of lizards and a wide variety of large mammals. New species are being discovered in this biodiversity hotspot where some 325 globally threatened species occur. It is under UNESCO’s active consideration to be declared a World Heritage.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issues
Shrinking Water Towers
The forest cover in Western Ghats, as per scientific guidelines, should be 66 per cent of the total geographical area in the hilly region. Unfortunately, the forest cover in the Western Ghats hill region is less than 35 per cent (that too in fragmented state) on account of forest clearance for unmindful development This has had adverse impact on the water security of the peninsular India. As catchments of most peninsular rivers like Cavery, Krishna, Tunga Bhadra and Periyar originate in Western Ghats, it is essential to conserve these forests to secure water security of south Indian states. It is imperative to conserve existing natural forests and regenerate natural forests with indigenous tree cover because the unique biodiversity exists only in such forests, and not amidst monoculture plantations of exotic species.
Man-Animal Conflicts
Forests are the sole and rapidly shrinking habitat of wildlife and any forest encroachment accelerates man-animal conflict. Forest conservation and wildlife protection go hand in hand but erroneous perception is that priority to wildlife triggers such conflicts. Both are complementary to each other and the need of the hour is to instill confidence among the forest dwelling tribes that their livelihood is secured through conservation of wild animals and habitats. This enhances the natural capital as well as provides ecological security for the human beings and wildlife. There should be no resettlement of villages from the National Park or Sanctuary. Indigenous people and tribes be given access to Non Timber Forest Produce.
Dam induced destruction
Silent Valley struggle created history by stopping the hydro dam for saving forests and wildlife in the Western Ghats. Nevertheless there are renewed attempts at harnessing each of the flowing rivers in Western Ghats to generate hydro power by building dams. Several dams across the rivers exist in Western Ghats, from Koyna in Maharashtra, Supa, Sharavati in Karnataka and Idduki in Kerala. There is an urgent need to review the performance of these dams before building any new structures. Dams have an impact on wildlife by causing infringement on animal corridors.
Eroding agriculture diversity
Agricultural crisis in Western Ghats need to be addressed differently as it has distinct zones - coastal, hill terrain and the edge of the ghats - requiring special attention. The impending climatic change calls for a system of agriculture that is resilient to such changes. Western Ghats has rich diversity of farm and plantation crops that need to be promoted at the expense of high yielding varieties, for securing local food and economic security and for providing sanctuary to wildlife. Being home to rare and rich biodiversity, Western Ghats should be declared GM FREE.
Threatened tribal livelihood
The forest dwelling tribes in Western Ghats represent a unique diversity of cultures that co-habit within forest ecosystems. Their resource base of natural forests is shrinking at a faster rate, affecting the livelihood opportunities like collection of Non Timber Forest Produce. In order to provide livelihood security, the Forest Right Act 2006 needs to be effectively implemented. Community control over forest resources, in addition to rights over land, can guarantee livelihood security with the added benefit of forest and diversity conservation. NREGA needs to be implemented specifically for ecological rehabilitation in Western Ghats.
Thermal Power Plants
There are attempts to establish a series of thermal power projects along the coastal belt of Western Ghats to generate captive power. Though it might be strategically important to locate these power projects on the coast due to cheap import of coal and raw material, it will be counter-productive to the ecosystem fragility in Western Ghats in the long run. Given the distinct ecosystem that is Western Ghats, any such attempt will alter the micro climate, weaken the ecosystem resilience and lead to the destruction of the famous alphonso mangoes from Ratnagiri in Konkan and the spices from Western Ghats, among other irreversible changes. It will have serious impact on aquatic diversity and fish catch in the estuaries and on the coast.
Destructive infrastructure
The host of infrastructure projects like building new roads, rail lines, SEZ, widening the existing highways in the forests, location of heavy industries in the region is bound to cause damage to the existing natural resources. It is essential to review the location of entire infrastructure projects and prioritize those which have least impact on the eco-systems and those that do not displace people, pollute the river systems, fragment the existing forests and cut off wildlife corridors. Expanding tourism need to be brought under strict regulation too.
Diverting rivers
There are numerous attempts to link and divert rivers flowing in the west to be linked to the east flowing rivers. This kind of engineering of the rivers, diverting their natural course is bound to create irreparable ecological, social and economic impacts on the downstream including loss of ‘ecological flows’ in rivers, causing hardship to people and forests on the west coast. It is essential to reconsider and halt such diversion of rivers in Western Ghats.
Reckless mining
Mining is one of the major causes of destruction of tropical forests in Western Ghats. It has not only caused the chocking of rivers and river courses, but it has destroyed the regenerating capacity of the land and forests. There is a need to do fresh thinking on extension of mining leases, limits to mining depth and identify the sites that can be used for mining without damaging the environment, for instance in those areas where there is no forest cover, or near the rivers. It must be made mandatory for the lessee to follow the polluter pay principle and comply with environment and rehabilitation laws.
Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve comprises of 5500 odd sq.km area covering the maximum extent of protected areas (National Parks, Tiger Reserves and Wild Life Sanctuaries) in three states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In order to address the emerging issues in this fragile region, it is essential to grant legal status to the protection of Biosphere Reserves in the country including the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The present status is that of apathy from all the state governments with lack of proper coordination and administrative hassles. This region should made a model Biosphere Reserve which will help maintain ecological security of these three states.
Demands
* Contesting candidates are seized of the global significance of Western Ghats as a rare repository of biodiversity and resolve to protect the same through the development of pro-poor and pro-environment policies and regulations for it to achieve the status of World Heritage.
* Once elected, peoples’ representatives will withhold `community’ concerns in protecting peoples’ rights to resources and livelihoods. They will work towards compliance of regulations to protect the natural flora and fauna conducive to the protection of livelihoods of the poor and the tribals.
* Candidates vouch to raise the stature of Western Ghats in policy processes and work jointly (with MPs from other parts of Western Ghats) towards declaring the region as Sahyadri Ecologically Sensitive Area at the earliest to prevent further destruction of the Western Ghats.
* As Members of Parliament, the representatives of the Western Ghats will campaign to have the ecological corridor come under a representative bottom-up Western Ghats Conservation Authority and will demand that the existing environmental laws are given special provisions (teeth) for the protection of the region.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Western Ghats Manifesto has been released for and on behalf of Save Western Ghats Campaign, a civil society coalition striving to rebuild concerns to save the ghats.
(Letter to be signed by the prospective candidates contesting Lok Sabha from Western Ghats)
Dear People of Western Ghats,
I understand the importance of the Sahyadri or Western Ghats as a source of ecological security to the millions of people in India. Recognising this fact, once elected to the Parliament, I shall strive to work towards evolving a holistic policy towards the Sahyadri mountain range. In order to attain this I shall try my best to work on the following issues:
1. Will try to work towards conserving the remaining natural forests, flora and fauna in the region
2. Will try to bring policy changes towards establishing Western Ghats Conservation Authority, an inclusive and representative body vested with powers to initiate actions to protect the fragile ecosystems.
3. Will not support any actions, policies that will lead to destruction of the natural resources like forests, wildlife, river or coastal areas
4. Will protect the livelihood base of forest dwellers, without destroying their natural resource base
5. Will work towards reduction of conflicts between man and wildlife
As I am one of the persons who is part of Western Ghats, it is my duty to be the messenger of these mountains which is voiceless. I assure you that I shall be the spokesperson for this Sahyadri in the Lok Sabha.
For Sahyadri
Yours truly,
Name
Address and Phone No:
Gopal Krishna
Press Release April 7, 2009
Manifesto on Western Ghats
A first-ever citizen’s manifesto on Western Ghats has been released by the Save Western Ghat Campaign to bring .the critical issues afflicting this 1,600 km mountainous stretch along the west coast, that is “gateway to monsoons and hotspot of biodiversity” to light:
· Political commitment to protect the natural forests is critical to the water security of south India, especially the flows in rivers like Cavery, Tungabhadra and Krishna. This will also help in attaining the power security for the region.
· Regenerate the forests by indigenous species rather than exotic species.
· Forest dwellers should not be resettled for establishing National Parks, instead community be given right to collect forest produce for livelihood security.
· Dam building across the rivers in Western Ghats needs to be stopped and a review of existing dams be done at the earliest.
· National Rural Employment Guarantee Act should be implemented specifically for ecological rehabilitation in Western Ghats.
· Western Ghats needs to be declared `GM free’, as it being the center of biodiversity for numerous plants, crops, and wild products that provide food and ecological security. Introduction of GM will unleash dreadful consequences.
· A series of mega thermal power plants are being established in Konkan and along West Coast. This will lead to increased climate change causing changes in micro climate affecting the cultivation of famous “Alphosno” mango.
There are 32 parliamentary constituencies coming under Western Ghats region from Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The activists of Save Western Ghats will campaign in these constituencies impressing upon major political parties as well as candidates to work towards meeting these demands.
The activists will also meet the prospective candidates and get a letter-of-commitment form them assuring their support towards holistic policies to conserve the Western Ghats and to give voice to the voiceless Sahyadri Mountains. Once elected they would help to form a lobbying group called MPs Forum for Western Ghats in Lok Sabha and for reforming the polices that impact the region.
This is the first time a people’s manifesto is being issued on ecologically important mountain range like Westen Ghats. This was prepared after consulting 85 non-government & research organisations and 8000 people from five states. We hope to get support form all the major political parties contesting from this region.
Issued on behalf of Save Western Ghat Campaign
For further information contact:
Pandurang Hegde, Sirsi, Karnataka (09448818099); A Latha, Thrissur, Kerala (09847283120); Archana Godbole, Pune, Maharashtra (09890927727): Sudhirendar Sharma, Delhi (09868384744).
Citizen’s manifesto on WESTERN GHATS
15th LOK SABHA ELECTIONS
2009
(adopted by all candidates contesting elections irrespective of party affiliation)
Preamble
A. Western Ghats, like the Amazon, form the `girdle’ of the earth to maintain ecological balance, invoke monsoons and provide a cushion for climate change.
The mountainous corridor along the west coast is a distinct ecological continuum that is nature’s best gift to the country. Called Western Ghats, this narrow 1,700 km strip that stretches from the mouth of Tapti in Dhule district of Maharashtra to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu is nature’s unique evolutionary laboratory still at work. It is the Monsoon Gateway to the sub-continent when its ecological riches pull the strong oceanic currents to offload their first showers on the landmass.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Western Ghats, older than the Himalaya, is one of the 34 Global Hotspots of Biodiversity – flora, fauna, landscape and ethnicity.
Western Ghats is replete with bewitching locations that are home to known 4,050 type of plants, 121 species of frogs, 508 bird species, 6 types of turtles and terrapins, 87 species of snakes, 63 types of lizards and a wide variety of large mammals. New species are being discovered in this biodiversity hotspot where some 325 globally threatened species occur. It is under UNESCO’s active consideration to be declared a World Heritage.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issues
Shrinking Water Towers
The forest cover in Western Ghats, as per scientific guidelines, should be 66 per cent of the total geographical area in the hilly region. Unfortunately, the forest cover in the Western Ghats hill region is less than 35 per cent (that too in fragmented state) on account of forest clearance for unmindful development This has had adverse impact on the water security of the peninsular India. As catchments of most peninsular rivers like Cavery, Krishna, Tunga Bhadra and Periyar originate in Western Ghats, it is essential to conserve these forests to secure water security of south Indian states. It is imperative to conserve existing natural forests and regenerate natural forests with indigenous tree cover because the unique biodiversity exists only in such forests, and not amidst monoculture plantations of exotic species.
Man-Animal Conflicts
Forests are the sole and rapidly shrinking habitat of wildlife and any forest encroachment accelerates man-animal conflict. Forest conservation and wildlife protection go hand in hand but erroneous perception is that priority to wildlife triggers such conflicts. Both are complementary to each other and the need of the hour is to instill confidence among the forest dwelling tribes that their livelihood is secured through conservation of wild animals and habitats. This enhances the natural capital as well as provides ecological security for the human beings and wildlife. There should be no resettlement of villages from the National Park or Sanctuary. Indigenous people and tribes be given access to Non Timber Forest Produce.
Dam induced destruction
Silent Valley struggle created history by stopping the hydro dam for saving forests and wildlife in the Western Ghats. Nevertheless there are renewed attempts at harnessing each of the flowing rivers in Western Ghats to generate hydro power by building dams. Several dams across the rivers exist in Western Ghats, from Koyna in Maharashtra, Supa, Sharavati in Karnataka and Idduki in Kerala. There is an urgent need to review the performance of these dams before building any new structures. Dams have an impact on wildlife by causing infringement on animal corridors.
Eroding agriculture diversity
Agricultural crisis in Western Ghats need to be addressed differently as it has distinct zones - coastal, hill terrain and the edge of the ghats - requiring special attention. The impending climatic change calls for a system of agriculture that is resilient to such changes. Western Ghats has rich diversity of farm and plantation crops that need to be promoted at the expense of high yielding varieties, for securing local food and economic security and for providing sanctuary to wildlife. Being home to rare and rich biodiversity, Western Ghats should be declared GM FREE.
Threatened tribal livelihood
The forest dwelling tribes in Western Ghats represent a unique diversity of cultures that co-habit within forest ecosystems. Their resource base of natural forests is shrinking at a faster rate, affecting the livelihood opportunities like collection of Non Timber Forest Produce. In order to provide livelihood security, the Forest Right Act 2006 needs to be effectively implemented. Community control over forest resources, in addition to rights over land, can guarantee livelihood security with the added benefit of forest and diversity conservation. NREGA needs to be implemented specifically for ecological rehabilitation in Western Ghats.
Thermal Power Plants
There are attempts to establish a series of thermal power projects along the coastal belt of Western Ghats to generate captive power. Though it might be strategically important to locate these power projects on the coast due to cheap import of coal and raw material, it will be counter-productive to the ecosystem fragility in Western Ghats in the long run. Given the distinct ecosystem that is Western Ghats, any such attempt will alter the micro climate, weaken the ecosystem resilience and lead to the destruction of the famous alphonso mangoes from Ratnagiri in Konkan and the spices from Western Ghats, among other irreversible changes. It will have serious impact on aquatic diversity and fish catch in the estuaries and on the coast.
Destructive infrastructure
The host of infrastructure projects like building new roads, rail lines, SEZ, widening the existing highways in the forests, location of heavy industries in the region is bound to cause damage to the existing natural resources. It is essential to review the location of entire infrastructure projects and prioritize those which have least impact on the eco-systems and those that do not displace people, pollute the river systems, fragment the existing forests and cut off wildlife corridors. Expanding tourism need to be brought under strict regulation too.
Diverting rivers
There are numerous attempts to link and divert rivers flowing in the west to be linked to the east flowing rivers. This kind of engineering of the rivers, diverting their natural course is bound to create irreparable ecological, social and economic impacts on the downstream including loss of ‘ecological flows’ in rivers, causing hardship to people and forests on the west coast. It is essential to reconsider and halt such diversion of rivers in Western Ghats.
Reckless mining
Mining is one of the major causes of destruction of tropical forests in Western Ghats. It has not only caused the chocking of rivers and river courses, but it has destroyed the regenerating capacity of the land and forests. There is a need to do fresh thinking on extension of mining leases, limits to mining depth and identify the sites that can be used for mining without damaging the environment, for instance in those areas where there is no forest cover, or near the rivers. It must be made mandatory for the lessee to follow the polluter pay principle and comply with environment and rehabilitation laws.
Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve comprises of 5500 odd sq.km area covering the maximum extent of protected areas (National Parks, Tiger Reserves and Wild Life Sanctuaries) in three states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In order to address the emerging issues in this fragile region, it is essential to grant legal status to the protection of Biosphere Reserves in the country including the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The present status is that of apathy from all the state governments with lack of proper coordination and administrative hassles. This region should made a model Biosphere Reserve which will help maintain ecological security of these three states.
Demands
* Contesting candidates are seized of the global significance of Western Ghats as a rare repository of biodiversity and resolve to protect the same through the development of pro-poor and pro-environment policies and regulations for it to achieve the status of World Heritage.
* Once elected, peoples’ representatives will withhold `community’ concerns in protecting peoples’ rights to resources and livelihoods. They will work towards compliance of regulations to protect the natural flora and fauna conducive to the protection of livelihoods of the poor and the tribals.
* Candidates vouch to raise the stature of Western Ghats in policy processes and work jointly (with MPs from other parts of Western Ghats) towards declaring the region as Sahyadri Ecologically Sensitive Area at the earliest to prevent further destruction of the Western Ghats.
* As Members of Parliament, the representatives of the Western Ghats will campaign to have the ecological corridor come under a representative bottom-up Western Ghats Conservation Authority and will demand that the existing environmental laws are given special provisions (teeth) for the protection of the region.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Western Ghats Manifesto has been released for and on behalf of Save Western Ghats Campaign, a civil society coalition striving to rebuild concerns to save the ghats.
(Letter to be signed by the prospective candidates contesting Lok Sabha from Western Ghats)
Dear People of Western Ghats,
I understand the importance of the Sahyadri or Western Ghats as a source of ecological security to the millions of people in India. Recognising this fact, once elected to the Parliament, I shall strive to work towards evolving a holistic policy towards the Sahyadri mountain range. In order to attain this I shall try my best to work on the following issues:
1. Will try to work towards conserving the remaining natural forests, flora and fauna in the region
2. Will try to bring policy changes towards establishing Western Ghats Conservation Authority, an inclusive and representative body vested with powers to initiate actions to protect the fragile ecosystems.
3. Will not support any actions, policies that will lead to destruction of the natural resources like forests, wildlife, river or coastal areas
4. Will protect the livelihood base of forest dwellers, without destroying their natural resource base
5. Will work towards reduction of conflicts between man and wildlife
As I am one of the persons who is part of Western Ghats, it is my duty to be the messenger of these mountains which is voiceless. I assure you that I shall be the spokesperson for this Sahyadri in the Lok Sabha.
For Sahyadri
Yours truly,
Name
Address and Phone No:
Coca Cola, UN Global Compact & Tharoor
Written By mediavigil on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 | 12:53 AM
In March 2006, the UN Global Compact issued a statement noting that Coca-Cola Company has announced that it has officially joined the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative. Coca-Cola Chairman and Chief Executive Officer E. Neville Isdell informed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the company’s commitment to the Global Compact and its ten principles during a meeting at United Nations Headquarters. The statement also noted that Coca Cola is the world's largest beverage company. Along with Coca-Cola, recognized as the world's most valuable brand, the Company markets four of the world's top five soft drink brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite, and a wide range of other beverages, including diet and light soft drinks, waters, juices and juice drinks, teas, coffees and sports drinks. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate exceeding 1.3 billion servings each day.
It is no secret that Business Enterprises in general and Multinational Enterprises in particular do indulge in ethical positioning of their brands through their hollow corporate social responsibility initiatives. NGOisation of such efforts by companies has been underway for quite some time.
Prior to his resignation, Shashi Tharoor defended his association with Coca-Cola India Foundation saying, "I serve, alongside several renowned social activists and human rights leaders, under the chairmanship of the former Supreme Court Chief Justice and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Justice J.S. Verma, on the advisory board of a purely philanthropic organization.” Is Tharoor really so naive as to believe it is “a purely philanthropic organization”?
Tharoor urges us to look at the "the difference between the Foundation and the company." Is it really the case that the interest of a company's Foundation and company itself really different? Isn’t there a manifest conflict of interest?
Like many such corporate Foundations , Tharoor informs defensively that. "The Foundation is financed by the Coca-Cola Company as part of its corporate social responsibility, which is a practice that I have encouraged around the world since my United Nations days, when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the “Global Compact” to encourage corporations around the world to adhere to certain globally-accepted principles and practices."
It must be noted that the emptiness of UN's Global Compact that was announced by Kofi Annan in January 1999 at the World Economic Forum in Davos and officially launched at UN headquarters in New York in July, 2000 has been exposed by the “UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights” approved in August, 2003, by U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights resolution. The Compact is an impotent voluntary guideline based on nine principles of human rights, labor standards and environmental protection and adherence to it depends on the whims and fancies of the companies based on nine principles. Theoretically, companies cannot become signatories of the UN Global Compact if they violate human rights, tolerate forced or child labor, manufacture or distribute anti-personnel mines, or violate other relevant commitments of the UN. In practice, the UN does not have the wherewithal to check compliance or non-compliance with the UN Global Compact. Not surprisingly, no company has been removed from UN Global Compact membership because of guideline violation. In effect, UN has allowed the sale of its logo (blue-washing) in the interests of major corporations like Nestle, Shell, Nike, Rio Tinto and BP Amoco whose poor track record with regard to commitments to environmental sustainability, social protection and human rights is well known.
On the other hand UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights was a step to ensure corporate accountability. According to Article 14 of the UN Norms drafted by Prof. David Weissbrodt and other co-authors as member of the UN Sub-commission on Human Rights, transnational corporations and other business enterprises are responsible for the environmental and human health impact of their activities. Article 18 of the Norms called on transnational corporations and other business enterprises to make reparations for damage done through their failure to meet the standards spelled out: "Transnational corporations and other business enterprises shall provide prompt, effective and adequate reparation to those persons, entities and communities that have been adversely affected by failures to comply with these Norms through, inter alia, reparations, restitution, compensation and rehabilitation for any damage done or property taken. In connection with determining damages, in regard to criminal sanctions, and in all other respects, these Norms shall be applied by national courts and/or international tribunals, pursuant to national and international law."
Article 17 calls on states to have in place the necessary legal and administrative framework to give effect to the Norms: "States should establish and reinforce the necessary legal and administrative framework for ensuring that the Norms and other relevant national and international laws are implemented by transnational corporations and other business enterprises."
But in July 2005, in an effort to ensure that corporations do not have to follow any mandatory norms and escape corporate accountability Kofi Annan appointed Prof. John Ruggie to be Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business & human rights under the manifest influence of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE), non-governmental organizations in general consultative status with the UN who had submitted a joint written statement saying, UN Norms “are counterproductive to the UN's ongoing efforts to encourage companies to support and observe human rights norms by participating in the Global Compact; and they risk inviting a negative reaction from business, at a time when companies are increasingly engaging in voluntary initiatives to promote responsible business conduct.”
It further said, “The binding and legalistic approach of the draft norms will not meet the diverse needs and circumstances of companies and will limit the innovation and creativity shown by companies in addressing human rights issues in the context of their efforts to find practical and workable solutions to corporate responsibility challenges. The approach taken by the draft norms is bound to conflict with company policies and practices based on history, culture, philosophy and laws and regulations of the countries in which they operate. To be effective and relevant to a company's specific circumstances, business principles and responsibilities should be developed and implemented by the companies themselves.”
Adding, “Indeed, the IOE, ICC and their member companies are already demonstrating their commitment to encourage good corporate practice and responsible business conduct through actions taken by individual companies -- as well as through their participation in the Global Compact, their constructive contribution to the revised OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and various other initiatives such as the Global Sullivan Principles. The IOE and ICC strongly believe that the establishment of the legal framework for protecting human rights and its enforcement is a task for national governments. Indeed, to the extent that the draft norms divert the attention and resources of national governments away from implementing their existing obligations on human rights – obligations intended to protect all citizens not just those doing business with foreign enterprises – they would do more harm than good. The IOE and ICC recognize nonetheless that, beyond being obligated to act in accordance with the laws and regulations of the countries within which it operates, business has an interest in encouraging the improvement of social conditions, which are an important factor for stable development, and in providing an example of good human rights practices.”
IOE and ICC submitted conclusively that “the way to ensure a greater business contribution to social progress is not through more – and more prescriptive – norms and regulations. Voluntary business initiatives, be they formal or informal, play an important role in bridging cultural diversity within companies and in enhancing awareness of societal values and concerns. This is primarily a matter of persuasion and peer pressure rather than prescription.”
Subsequently, John Ruggie the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative for Business and Human Rights killed the UN Norms of on Transnational Corporations. In February, 2006, Ruggie had submitted an interim report to the UN Commission on Human Rights wherein he noted that the Norms would “undermine efforts to build indigenous social capacity and to make Governments more responsible to their own citizenry.”
It was after the submission of the interim report that Coca-Cola Company that it has officially joined the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative. How about ensuring compliance with Criminal Procedures Codes and Penal Codes voluntary? Why should there be a distinction between corporate criminals and petty criminals?. Aren’t likes of Ruggie and Tharoor supported UN Global Compact supporting voluntary regulation and corporate social responsibility of likes of Bernard Madoff who is notorious for $50 billion investment scandal or Ramalinga Raju’s scam that exposed PricewaterhouseCoopers supported Satyam company that was ranked 185 of the Fortune 500 companies and which won Golden Peacock award given by the London-based World Council for Corporate Governance.
After the submission of the final report in April 2008 titled “Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights” that in effect mutilated and butchered the UN Norms on corporate accountability, Ruggie underlined the need for voluntary regulation and self compliance by the companies saying, “While corporations may be considered “organs of society,” they are specialized economic organs, not democratic public interest institutions. As such, their responsibilities cannot and should not simply mirror states’ duties, as the draft Norms would have had it” in an interview to Compact Quarterly published by Global Compact.
While corporate funding of political parties and the consequent benefits reaped by the companies and politicians amassing wealth in Switzerland is not a secret but the secrecy about the names of individuals and companies that is in the process of being revealed to the discomfort of Swiss Banking Association and other tax havens makes a case for mandatory and transparent regulations as proposed by the Norms and not the voluntary approach advocated by Ruggie, ICC, IOE and the dinosaurs of pre-financial crisis era.
Coca-Cola company has been using 3.8 litres of freshwater to generate a litre of carbonated drink, it has been entering into long-term partnership with the World-wide Fund for Nature and supporting of $1 million to the Global Water Initiative among other things. In an interview to Business Line, Shashi Tharoor was asked:"About your recent resignation from membership of the Advisory Board of the Coca-Cola India Foundation. Do you think you were wrong initially in trying to defend the company in Kerala? Were you misguided (by the company) initially?"
Tharoor responded, "I was not misled. It was not that at all. I resigned on the 14th of March and it was not as soon as the controversy erupted either. Some controversy does not bother me. But by March 14 it was clear to me that I would be a candidate from either Palakkad or Thiruvananthapuram. So I said it was not reasonable for me to continue with that politically controversial engagement. I would rather be free to speak my own mind... But on the merits of my defence, it was not so much of a defence of the company as a regretful response to the tone of a letter that was sent to me."
The fact remains that resignation of Tharoor from the Advisory Board of the Coca-Cola India Foundation is incomplete until and unless he denounces the UN Global Compact that was cited by him while defending his presence on the Coca Cola India Foundation Board.
It is no secret that Business Enterprises in general and Multinational Enterprises in particular do indulge in ethical positioning of their brands through their hollow corporate social responsibility initiatives. NGOisation of such efforts by companies has been underway for quite some time.
Prior to his resignation, Shashi Tharoor defended his association with Coca-Cola India Foundation saying, "I serve, alongside several renowned social activists and human rights leaders, under the chairmanship of the former Supreme Court Chief Justice and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Justice J.S. Verma, on the advisory board of a purely philanthropic organization.” Is Tharoor really so naive as to believe it is “a purely philanthropic organization”?
Tharoor urges us to look at the "the difference between the Foundation and the company." Is it really the case that the interest of a company's Foundation and company itself really different? Isn’t there a manifest conflict of interest?
Like many such corporate Foundations , Tharoor informs defensively that. "The Foundation is financed by the Coca-Cola Company as part of its corporate social responsibility, which is a practice that I have encouraged around the world since my United Nations days, when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the “Global Compact” to encourage corporations around the world to adhere to certain globally-accepted principles and practices."
It must be noted that the emptiness of UN's Global Compact that was announced by Kofi Annan in January 1999 at the World Economic Forum in Davos and officially launched at UN headquarters in New York in July, 2000 has been exposed by the “UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights” approved in August, 2003, by U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights resolution. The Compact is an impotent voluntary guideline based on nine principles of human rights, labor standards and environmental protection and adherence to it depends on the whims and fancies of the companies based on nine principles. Theoretically, companies cannot become signatories of the UN Global Compact if they violate human rights, tolerate forced or child labor, manufacture or distribute anti-personnel mines, or violate other relevant commitments of the UN. In practice, the UN does not have the wherewithal to check compliance or non-compliance with the UN Global Compact. Not surprisingly, no company has been removed from UN Global Compact membership because of guideline violation. In effect, UN has allowed the sale of its logo (blue-washing) in the interests of major corporations like Nestle, Shell, Nike, Rio Tinto and BP Amoco whose poor track record with regard to commitments to environmental sustainability, social protection and human rights is well known.
On the other hand UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights was a step to ensure corporate accountability. According to Article 14 of the UN Norms drafted by Prof. David Weissbrodt and other co-authors as member of the UN Sub-commission on Human Rights, transnational corporations and other business enterprises are responsible for the environmental and human health impact of their activities. Article 18 of the Norms called on transnational corporations and other business enterprises to make reparations for damage done through their failure to meet the standards spelled out: "Transnational corporations and other business enterprises shall provide prompt, effective and adequate reparation to those persons, entities and communities that have been adversely affected by failures to comply with these Norms through, inter alia, reparations, restitution, compensation and rehabilitation for any damage done or property taken. In connection with determining damages, in regard to criminal sanctions, and in all other respects, these Norms shall be applied by national courts and/or international tribunals, pursuant to national and international law."
Article 17 calls on states to have in place the necessary legal and administrative framework to give effect to the Norms: "States should establish and reinforce the necessary legal and administrative framework for ensuring that the Norms and other relevant national and international laws are implemented by transnational corporations and other business enterprises."
But in July 2005, in an effort to ensure that corporations do not have to follow any mandatory norms and escape corporate accountability Kofi Annan appointed Prof. John Ruggie to be Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business & human rights under the manifest influence of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE), non-governmental organizations in general consultative status with the UN who had submitted a joint written statement saying, UN Norms “are counterproductive to the UN's ongoing efforts to encourage companies to support and observe human rights norms by participating in the Global Compact; and they risk inviting a negative reaction from business, at a time when companies are increasingly engaging in voluntary initiatives to promote responsible business conduct.”
It further said, “The binding and legalistic approach of the draft norms will not meet the diverse needs and circumstances of companies and will limit the innovation and creativity shown by companies in addressing human rights issues in the context of their efforts to find practical and workable solutions to corporate responsibility challenges. The approach taken by the draft norms is bound to conflict with company policies and practices based on history, culture, philosophy and laws and regulations of the countries in which they operate. To be effective and relevant to a company's specific circumstances, business principles and responsibilities should be developed and implemented by the companies themselves.”
Adding, “Indeed, the IOE, ICC and their member companies are already demonstrating their commitment to encourage good corporate practice and responsible business conduct through actions taken by individual companies -- as well as through their participation in the Global Compact, their constructive contribution to the revised OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and various other initiatives such as the Global Sullivan Principles. The IOE and ICC strongly believe that the establishment of the legal framework for protecting human rights and its enforcement is a task for national governments. Indeed, to the extent that the draft norms divert the attention and resources of national governments away from implementing their existing obligations on human rights – obligations intended to protect all citizens not just those doing business with foreign enterprises – they would do more harm than good. The IOE and ICC recognize nonetheless that, beyond being obligated to act in accordance with the laws and regulations of the countries within which it operates, business has an interest in encouraging the improvement of social conditions, which are an important factor for stable development, and in providing an example of good human rights practices.”
IOE and ICC submitted conclusively that “the way to ensure a greater business contribution to social progress is not through more – and more prescriptive – norms and regulations. Voluntary business initiatives, be they formal or informal, play an important role in bridging cultural diversity within companies and in enhancing awareness of societal values and concerns. This is primarily a matter of persuasion and peer pressure rather than prescription.”
Subsequently, John Ruggie the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative for Business and Human Rights killed the UN Norms of on Transnational Corporations. In February, 2006, Ruggie had submitted an interim report to the UN Commission on Human Rights wherein he noted that the Norms would “undermine efforts to build indigenous social capacity and to make Governments more responsible to their own citizenry.”
It was after the submission of the interim report that Coca-Cola Company that it has officially joined the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative. How about ensuring compliance with Criminal Procedures Codes and Penal Codes voluntary? Why should there be a distinction between corporate criminals and petty criminals?. Aren’t likes of Ruggie and Tharoor supported UN Global Compact supporting voluntary regulation and corporate social responsibility of likes of Bernard Madoff who is notorious for $50 billion investment scandal or Ramalinga Raju’s scam that exposed PricewaterhouseCoopers supported Satyam company that was ranked 185 of the Fortune 500 companies and which won Golden Peacock award given by the London-based World Council for Corporate Governance.
After the submission of the final report in April 2008 titled “Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights” that in effect mutilated and butchered the UN Norms on corporate accountability, Ruggie underlined the need for voluntary regulation and self compliance by the companies saying, “While corporations may be considered “organs of society,” they are specialized economic organs, not democratic public interest institutions. As such, their responsibilities cannot and should not simply mirror states’ duties, as the draft Norms would have had it” in an interview to Compact Quarterly published by Global Compact.
While corporate funding of political parties and the consequent benefits reaped by the companies and politicians amassing wealth in Switzerland is not a secret but the secrecy about the names of individuals and companies that is in the process of being revealed to the discomfort of Swiss Banking Association and other tax havens makes a case for mandatory and transparent regulations as proposed by the Norms and not the voluntary approach advocated by Ruggie, ICC, IOE and the dinosaurs of pre-financial crisis era.
Coca-Cola company has been using 3.8 litres of freshwater to generate a litre of carbonated drink, it has been entering into long-term partnership with the World-wide Fund for Nature and supporting of $1 million to the Global Water Initiative among other things. In an interview to Business Line, Shashi Tharoor was asked:"About your recent resignation from membership of the Advisory Board of the Coca-Cola India Foundation. Do you think you were wrong initially in trying to defend the company in Kerala? Were you misguided (by the company) initially?"
Tharoor responded, "I was not misled. It was not that at all. I resigned on the 14th of March and it was not as soon as the controversy erupted either. Some controversy does not bother me. But by March 14 it was clear to me that I would be a candidate from either Palakkad or Thiruvananthapuram. So I said it was not reasonable for me to continue with that politically controversial engagement. I would rather be free to speak my own mind... But on the merits of my defence, it was not so much of a defence of the company as a regretful response to the tone of a letter that was sent to me."
The fact remains that resignation of Tharoor from the Advisory Board of the Coca-Cola India Foundation is incomplete until and unless he denounces the UN Global Compact that was cited by him while defending his presence on the Coca Cola India Foundation Board.