Why India didn’t have the ‘climate election’ it needed, even amid a lethal heat wave

[Pelican Press 0]

Why India didn’t have the ‘climate election’ it needed, even amid a lethal heat wave

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The recent Indian election saw prime minister Narendra Modi re-elected for a third consecutive term, although his party, the BJP, ******* to secure a majority in the lower house of parliament.

This election season was characterized by severe heat waves, which have already *******

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and are likely to happen

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as the world keeps warming.

All the major parties made various climate pledges. The BJP, for instance, stressed the importance of green industry and energy, and targeted

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, while the opposition Congress party had its own renewable targets and

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creating an “Environment Protection and Climate Change Authority.” Despite all this, climate change did not become a major issue.

This is likely to change in the near future. As the election dust settles across the subcontinent, and further heat waves arrive, talk of the right to a fan, a cooler, ice and aircon will only intensify. How to communicate the critical challenges posed by climate change to the people of India ******** an abiding question that transcends any single election.

For now, what some in India refer to as the “brown agenda” still trumps the “green agenda.” The

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refers to meeting the basic needs of a community, such as food, clothing and shelter. Where it overlaps with environmental issues, it tends to focus on things like safe drinking water, sanitation and drainage, and the transition from low-grade domestic fuels.

Pre-poll surveys in India indicated that employment, inflation and taxes remained the

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. Even among millennials, climate change was only the

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issue. No wonder then that elections across the subcontinent still focus on caste, religion and identity at the expense of a “green alternative.”

Where a green agenda has emerged it is as a result of the Indian economy transitioning from a subsistence rate of growth to one of the fastest growing in the world. Some environmental issues are being camouflaged as social or ******** issues. For instance, given that

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are still engaged in the farming sector, which is already provided subsidies for water, fertilizer and price guarantees for its produce, there is a renewed demand for key waterbodies to be protected from pollutants caused by rapid industrialization.

Identifying water sources for farming ******** critical. The political parties have focused on the immediate needs of their constituencies, be it access to water, sanitation, waste management or preserving the environment, without necessarily labeling it as an environmental agenda.

A collective and democratic response

India ******** one of the countries

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to climate change. It is estimated that

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due to rising temperatures and climate-driven extreme weather and there is a growing burden on

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.

To become “climate-smart” and ready for even more extreme weather, India must come to appreciate that ecological ******** is as important as economic ********. And ecological survival is only possible with collective and democratic responses to both the brown and green agendas. That will probably mean further economic growth—the luxury of zero growth is a non-starter for the developing world.

At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, Modi stressed that India, with 17% of the world’s population, contributed

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.

Lifting millions of people out of ******** ******** a Herculean task. Speaking after his recent reelection,

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his dedication to ushering in a “green era” characterized by a synthesis of development and environmental sustainability.

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Citation:
Why India didn’t have the ‘climate election’ it needed, even amid a lethal heat wave (2024, June 12)
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