India needs to invest in infrastructure: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan on climate change, and why individuals cutting down on their energy consumption will not be enough.

Nobel Laureate V Ramakrishnan and his son in Mumbai in 2010. (Source: Express Archive)

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the Indian-born American-British molecular biologist who won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 2009, was one of the 65 Nobel laureates who participated at the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings held at the Lindau island in Lake Constance, south Germany, from June 28 to July 3, this year. On the concluding day, about 35 Nobel laureates signed a declaration on climate change calling for “decisive action” to bring down future global emissions. Ramakrishnan is not a signatory, since he left Lindau before it was signed, but is in favour of it.

Climate change is a major concern for Ramakrishnan. He does not own a car and cycles to work every day. He relies on public transport whenever required, also during his visits in India. He narrates how once his fellow commuters were surprised to find him in the second-class compartment of the Mumbai local train from Victoria Terminus to Chembur.

Ramakrishnan, currently based at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, will take up as the president of the prestigious Royal Society in December this year. As the head of the world’s oldest scientific organisation, his new role is expected to see him voicing key policy issues, such as climate change — a major topic of discussion this year, owing to the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris in November-December. Edited excerpts of an interview:

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What do you think is India’s position in the global fight against climate change? And what steps must India immediately take?
India is in a great position, because it has tremendous amount of sunshine. The costs of solar power have been coming down steadily over the years. I think it is a unique opportunity to invest in solar technology and try to leapfrog its way to the forefront where it can be the leader instead of just being a follower. India needs to invest in infrastructure. It needs to invest in railways, roads, and mass transit. You go to any Indian city, mass transit is choking, and is only used by the poor people.

Indian cities are now the most polluted in the world. They are more polluted than Chinese cities which have been criticised. Every Indian child who now grows up in a major city is effectively smoking like a pack of cigarettes or something a day. I think the government needs to get serious.

In May, India and China issued a joint statement on climate change. What will be the impact of their coming together to tackle climate change?
I believe this is a huge step forward. In the past, both countries were reluctant even to admit there was a real problem. However, translating good intentions into action is hard, and I note that India, in particular, is committed to extensive use of coal. Indian cities are now among the most polluted in the world, with bad health consequences, especially for poor people. Currently China is investing heavily in wind and solar technologies. I am not sure that India is matching this sort of effort even though it is ideally placed geographically to exploit solar power.

You don’t own a car, cycle to work, and take public transport whenever required. How difficult or easy is it to follow that lifestyle? How much impact do you think such individual contributions make in the global fight against climate change?
I am not nearly as strict as I could be. For one thing, I use energy for things that are not really necessary such as discretionary air travel, consumer electronics, etc. Also, I can do this without much difficulty because of my particular circumstances. This illustrates a general problem, that it will be difficult to address a global problem solely by asking individuals to modify their behaviour. Rather, countries have to make it such that environmentally-acceptable behaviour becomes the norm. They can do this by a combination of legislation and incentives and make sure appropriate technologies are available or being developed. For instance, there could be legislation banning the use of low efficiency cars or inefficient light bulbs and appliances, taxing petrol, etc. At the same time, they could subsidise efficient mass transportation (for example, both national and local railways), and the construction of energy-efficient housing and other such measures. They could invest in sustainable energy technologies. So it will require a multi-pronged attack on the problem.

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You will be taking up the position of the president of the prestigious Royal Society this year end. What are your plans concerning the new role?
I don’t take office until December. I don’t want to discuss the plans now, partly because I have still to formulate them. And also I don’t think it’s appropriate to pre-empt what the Royal Society is doing now. One thing that Indians might care about is I do think it would be nice if there were more exchanges, and foster exchanges between young and established scientists, especially young scientists, and more established scientists in Britain. That’d be a nice thing to do.

Anuradha Sharma is a Kolkata-based freelance journalist. She attended the Lindau meetings on invitation from the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings

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