Saturday, October 17, 2015

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Welcome step by Government' that was published in Newsband

Welcome step by Government
In the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or INDCs — which has been submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Narendra Modi government has emphasised the expansion of clean technologies to generate power, greater energy efficiency in infrastructure, and a significant widening of forestry as key measures. There are several other actions that it will take in the areas of transport, buildings, agriculture and waste management in order to balance economic growth with carbon emissions. The national plans given in the INDC is ahead of the Paris Climate Conference in December 2015,
It's a welcome step taken by government. High alerts have been given all around the world by environmentalists about the danger posed by increasing emission of greenhouse gases. Several islands are under imminent danger. So it's high time we start using clean technologies to generate energy. Funds required for this would be huge. Government should tax people according to their transport fuel usage so people using more will contribute more towards environment fund. Government should also encourage people to use solar energy. In Odisha, Barapitha has become the first solar village. We should also appreciate the Kerala government for its solar based airport which is first of its kind. Central Government should ask state governments to encourage this type of initiatives.
India commitments towards the carbon emission is appreciable given the fact that the carbon emission is the only responsible factor for world's climate change and there has been evident effects due the same. Also the commitment will require huge amount of investment and technology. The Nuclear energy and solar energy are the options and both of these will need huge amount of capital cost. Risk in the Nuclear power plant is also high hence best technologies must be adopted to avoid accidents. India's efforts to have cleaner and greener atmosphere is welcome. Steps should be taken to improve public transport, planting of trees and town planning protecting forest wealth and reduce contamination of water, land and air.
INDC reflects india's long standing commitment for sustainable development. Yet, it is also important that these commitments do not hamper the economic growth. As the Climate change is a global issues, so is the welfare of people, which if neglected may result in even more catastrophic outcomes. World needs to understand the synergy between two and needs to address both of them simultaneously for a better tomorrow.
The middle class of today is flushed with high savings. They turn to petroleum driven vehicles for commuting. Banks are generous with loans for this section. The earning of Indian Railways from the passenger segment is less than earnings by selling cars. Governments are slave to the automobile industries. They spend on roads. Will not addition to railway lines add to GDP?

In European countries people prefer to travel in railway because the rail system there is much much more efficient, comfortable and cleaner. In India technologies like metro and mono rail are already being introduced, which is becoming a preferred means of transport, eg Delhi. With the expansion of metro and mono rail many across India will prefer these public transports. However, the Government must make sure that we are keeping ourselves updated with the latest transport technologies.

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