{"id":20007869,"date":"2014-04-08T16:48:32","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T11:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=7869"},"modified":"2020-08-19T19:48:46","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T14:18:46","slug":"little-space-for-environment-in-indian-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/little-space-for-environment-in-indian-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental issues sidelined at Indian elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

There has been almost no talk of the environment by candidates as India goes to the polls, and the manifestos are woefully short on specifics<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"<\/a>
If BJP come to power as expected, potentially disastrous plans to interlink India’s rivers could become a flashpoint. (Image courtesy of Al Jazeera<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The world\u2019s largest elections have started. Opinion polls give a distinct edge to the current main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has campaigned almost exclusively on the issue of corruption in the outgoing government. Most of the corruption scandals in recent years have been over allocation of natural resources \u2013 land, water for hydropower and minerals.<\/p>\n

Still, neither the BJP<\/a> nor today\u2019s ruling Congress<\/a> party has much to say in their campaign or their manifesto on how the next government will ensure these resources are used in a manner that is fair, efficient, equitable and sustainable.<\/p>\n

A few commentators have pointed out how this campaign for the April 7-May 13 elections has been almost exclusively about politicians, with almost nothing about policies. The manifestos do mention many policies, but very little on how they are to be implemented. At best, they remain wish lists. Whoever comes to power once the votes are counted on May 16 will find it relatively easy to duck accountability on the basis of his party\u2019s manifesto.<\/p>\n

And even in the policy lists, those related to the environment and natural resources find little space, especially when it comes to the Congress or the BJP.<\/p>\n

In the analysis of a senior bureaucrat \u2013 who was supportive of the Congress manifesto \u2013 the reason for this is that \u201cmany in India still consider environmental protection an elitist concern, and believe that the \u2018bread and butter\u2019 issues \u2013 economic and social \u2013 are what the electorate really cares about.\u201d However, he said the picture was changing. \u201cThe growing impact of climate change \u2013 in the form of changing monsoon patterns, unseasonal rains, increasing incidence of droughts and floods etc. \u2013 are changing the nature of the debate. All this is happening in a rapidly growing economy where the trade-offs with environmental protection are becoming starker.\u201d<\/p>\n

See also: An Indian manifesto for the environment<\/a><\/p>\n

The big promise of the Congress manifesto<\/a> in the field of environment is to set up an independent green regulator for mining and development projects \u2013 what it calls the National Environmental Appraisal and Monitoring Authority (NEAMA). What it does not mention is that such an authority will have to be set up anyway by whoever comes to power, since it has been ordered by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

The Congress manifesto does have some other statements of good intentions, such as the need to have tribal and forest dwelling communities engaged more centrally in forest management. But there is nothing about how this will be done.<\/p>\n

See also: India\u2019s Congress party releases manifesto, green promises remain unfulfilled<\/a><\/p>\n

As for the BJP, it does take overt note of climate change in its manifesto<\/a>, saying \u201cWe will take climate change mitigation initiatives with all seriousness and work with the global community and institutions in this regard.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it has also reiterated its commitment to the potentially disastrous plan to interlink the rivers of the country. It has also promised to launch a rural irrigation scheme with the motto of providing water to every farm, though there is no mention of where that water will come from.<\/p>\n

The plan to interlink rivers envisages a series of canals, pumps and reservoirs to shift water from the Brahmaputra and lower Ganga basins in eastern India to water scarce regions of western and central India. Scientists and environmentalists criticised it from day one, since it plans to alter the natural flow of water, for the waterlogging and salinity such massive water transfers would cause and for ignoring the requirements of downstream Bangladesh in transboundary river basins.<\/p>\n

The plan found mention in the party\u2019s 2009 manifesto though it was more or less buried once the BJP lost power in 2004. If the opinion polls are correct and the BJP heads the next government, this may become a major flashpoint.<\/p>\n

See also: Environmentalists attack catch-all BJP manifesto<\/a><\/p>\n

In contrast to the big two, the new player on India\u2019s national political scene \u2013 the Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party (AAP) \u2013 has a different way of looking at ecology, placing it in the same section as economy in its manifesto<\/a>, though it too is short on specifics.<\/p>\n

The new party has emphasised its desire to hand over control to village councils on many issues, and stressed that exploitation of minerals, water and forests will not be done without the consent of local communities.<\/p>\n

Commercial exploitation of natural resources should be done on the basis of a royalty and revenue sharing agreement with local communities, the AAP says. If mining or any other activity requires displacement of people, local consent would have to be sought and those moved provided with alternative means of livelihood.<\/p>\n

See also: New Indian political party integrates economy and ecology<\/a><\/p>\n

Even if the AAP does offer voters a different development path, however, the party is still far too weak for this to matter. Since the next government will almost certainly be led by the BJP or the Congress, the depressing news is that it will be business as usual, when it comes to safeguarding India\u2019s environment and natural resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has been almost no talk of the environment by candidates as India goes to the polls, and the manifestos are woefully short on specifics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20000114,"featured_media":20007870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[761],"tags":[50029993,50041598,580],"hashtags":[],"country":[20000111],"class_list":["post-20007869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","tag-elections","tag-government","tag-policy","country-india"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEnvironmental issues sidelined at Indian elections | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There has been almost no talk of the environment by candidates as India goes to the polls, and the manifestos are woefully short on specifics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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