A new crisis has emerged in the Indian environs and it is the ominous concept of climate change, which the Indian government is trying to deal with tooth and nails. But, what has come to the fore is that, in spite of having wise and honest intentions, the Indian point of view is failing to hold water.

This was also stated by a prominent environmental group in the recent days, which termed that the action plan of India on climate change, unfortunately, brings out the absence of a definite objective, if compared with plans and programs of China made for lessening the confidence on fossil fuels.  It is to be noted that the basic solution for bringing down emissions of Earth-warming greenhouse depends upon the full-fledged expansion of renewable energy like wind and solar power. In addition to this there is also the need of diminishing faith on carbon-laden fossil fuels through energy efficiency targets. 

In this regard, to the estimation of Greenpeace India, the plan released recently under the auspices of the Union Government has, no doubt, brought before an array of determined purposes for the expansion of renewable energy. However, there is a striking absence of a specified objective which has been delineated through the absence of specific targets and also obligatory mechanisms that will be important to put in force energy efficiency.

One should remember that the saga of increasing energy efficiency indicates that there would be more work motivated by a particular quantity of energy consumed.

Speaking on this K. Srinivas, policy adviser, Greenpeace India said, “The (Indian) plan doesn’t specify regulatory enforcement of energy efficiency standards on any industry, except automobiles. We’re happy to see a shift in language — the government is now talking of growth based on renewable energy and more efficiency, but we don’t see any targets for energy efficiency.”

On the contrary a similar form of plan released by China, only on the last year, was more professional and also placed an objective of the reduction of energy consumption by 20 per cent for every unit of growth. This, in turn, will be converted to a diminution of 550 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions during a five-year period.

It is true, that in the international spectrum, pressures are being exerted on both of India and China to reduce emissions. But it seems that China has better ways to tackle this than India. What India needs at this hour is a comprehensive design to fight back this baleful aspect.