Opinion Cant afford it
Are we really too poor to control carbon emissions?
It makes sense to corner first world countries into investing in eco-friendly technologies to control carbon emissions,as was attempted at Copenhagen. But the stand of the Indian government that India cannot afford to enforce better environmental norms because as a country with a huge backlog of poverty,its first priority is development implies that India is obliged to commit all the mistakes that the West committed in its pursuit of economic growth. While for the first world countries,the harmful impact of carbon emissions and consequent global warming may represent a future threat,for us in India it is a now-and-here nightmare. The air that citizens of Europe or America breathe is nowhere as lethal as what we in urban India have to inhale. The quality of water available to citizens of first world countries is nowhere close to the filthy,disease ridden water we in villages and cities of India have to consume.
In fact,it is far easier for India to undertake course correction since most of our people are not addicted to pollution-friendly life styles. However,our government seems to be doing the very opposite by aggressively attacking and destroying inexpensive eco-friendly technologies and promoting pollution-friendly technologies. While our cities are choking with carbon emissions,government actively encourages mindless increase in motorised vehicles. Our banks chase customers for car loans at low rates. The poor pay a 30 per cent rate of interest on micro credit but car-loans are offered at 8 per cent to 10 per cent per annum with government officials paying no more than 5 per cent. Not surprisingly,Delhi,the seat of Central government,has 60 lakh motorised vehicles more than all four metros put together. Each day,1000 new vehicles descend on Delhi roads.
Hostility towards non-motorised vehicles (NMV): As per a 2005 study,40 per cent of households in India own cycles,with Punjab at a high of 70 per cent. The use of bicycles in most towns and cities of India ranges from 25 per cent to over 50 per cent. But there is not a single inter-village road which has provided separate bullock cart or cycle tracks. On highways 20-40 per cent of the fatalities involve pedestrians and bicyclists.
An IIT Delhi study of 2007 found that cycling accounts for 50 per cent to 70 per cent of the commuter trips of those who work in the informal sector. The average daily wage of people in the informal sector ranges from Rs 120 to Rs 250 per day. Today,transport costs for those who come to the city from far flung areas for earning their livelihood comes close to Rs 80 per day. Therefore,many have to use bicycles. In the absence of separate tracks,cyclists and pedestrians account for nearly 70 per cent of road accident deaths in Delhi.
War against cycle rickshaws: Though private vehicles account for 93 per cent of total motor vehicles in Delhi,85 per cent have to rely on public transport of which cycle rickshaws are a very crucial part. Rickshaws are an inexpensive mode of short distance commutes as well as feeder service for Metro and public buses. They do not consume any fuel and do not cause air or noise pollution. But government has imposed bizarre regulations and laws with the stated purpose of eliminating this vehicle on the ground that cycle rickshaws are out of place in a fast modernising India.
Several thousand rickshaws are arbitrarily confiscated and destroyed every year for operating without licenses,which are so tightly controlled that virtually every rickshaw in Delhi ends up being illegal and therefore subject to confiscation. Rickshaws are banned on all arterial and most sub-arterial roads including the inner-walled city areas where cycle rickshaws have been the most popular form of transport. However,due to active public demand for their service,they operate on all these roads illegally. Municipal officials and traffic police look the other way if suitably bribed. Thousands are confiscated every month for going into no entry zones,which have been declared so arbitrarily that it makes their existence illegal almost everywhere. Many more are released after paying heavy penalties. All this totals to a loss of at least 360 crores a year to the rickshaw trade.
Today,Delhi has 600,000 to 700,000 cycle rickshaws and their number is growing daily. This clearly demonstrates that citizens are voting for cycle rickshaw through active demand for their services. Each rickshaw covers a distance of 20-25 kms per day amounting to a total of 120-150 lakh kms for the citys 600,000 rickshaws. If rickshaws are removed from Delhi,it would involve additional petrol expense of nearly 500,000 litres per day.
In 1997,a White Paper on Pollution in Delhi by the Ministry of Environment stated that Vehicular pollution contributes 67 per cent of the total air pollution load in Delhi. The 2005 RITES study predicts that between 2001 and 2021,Delhis vehicular trips per day will grow from 10.7 million to 24.7 million. To relieve congestion levels,the report advocated provision of bicycle tracks and other non -motorised vehicles. The Delhi Master Plan expressly mandates promotion of cycle rickshaws,as a measure of pollution control,and as a means of generating employment for self employed poor. And yet,the government agencies argue they have no space for NMVs.
The traffic police is fanatic in its opposition to the creation of separate tracks for non-motorised vehicles on the ground that rickshaws and cycles slow down motor vehicles! That does not mean rickshaws have disappeared. All it means is pullers have to bribe the traffic police to ply on banned roads.
One can provide innumerable cases of similar callous mismanagement in virtually every area of life. Reversing these trends does not require billions of aid money from America or Europe. All it requires is a dose of self respect,a bit of good sense and willingness on the part of our government to learn the basic art and tools of citizen friendly governance which will inevitably lead to eco-friendly policies.
The writer is professor,Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and founder editor Manushi
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