India’s Submergence and future emergence is the topic of this post, however I would first like to draw to attention the monsoon rains which are economically important to India when they fall in fair amounts is good for Agriculture with 17% of the population relying on the rains as a means for profit and survival within the agriculture industry.
Unfortunately I mentioned the monsoon early on with the natural flooding disaster which is a sad state to see happening right now in Chennai; where floods have taken hundreds of lives and where two-thousand residents have been evacuated. Many poor people living in wood built homes have been left homeless and many have lost everything including their lives. The Indian Government have come in for criticism for building to close to the rivers which are seen as a reason for the substantial levels of water, with bad drainage and architectural planning taking criticism.
Prime-minister Narendra Modi fresh from his visits to Britain and France (which I will mention more about later) has gone to see for himself the devastation that has been caused in Chennai.
India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh informed India’s fourth largest city (Chennai) that the government had released 9.4 billion rupees ($141 million) for flood relief and restoration. Mr. Modi went on to announce an additional 10 billion rupees for relief operations, he said:
“The Government of India stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Tamil Nadu in this hour of need.” Chennai formerly known as Madras is said to have been impacted by the effects of climate change, Mr Modi claims, however this could be an attempt to shy away from ongoing criticism of his Governments handling of the situation and the lack of taking onboard that much of the flooded land is low in level and that this should have been flagged as a danger to Chennai early on to prevent the crisis coming to people wading through the depths of muddy water amongst snakes and debris.
As Modi was leaving Britain onto his next stop in France for the Climate Conference, rain was beginning to fall continuously across Scotland, David Cameron spoke a week later about the mass floods’ in Scotland (which are still ongoing) and attributed the floods to Climate Change too, although he too came under criticism for the same reasons as Prime-Minister Modi in India.
In France there have been many events occurring such as the awful terrorist incidents, immediately followed by the UN Climate Change Conference held in France near Paris.
The conclusions after these events were a declared war by France on the terrorist organisation responsible (Daesh).
Also a new 1.5 to a Max of 2.0 warming limit has been drafted by the countries involved in the UN Climate Change Conference, the Coalition of about 100 developed and developing countries could have some influence over nations less willing to sign up to a truly ambitious deal due to be finalised soon.
The US have set out an aim for the 1.5 warming limit for the climate, however countries like Africa and India have said that it is not fair that they take the burden of the developed countries who have for the most part developed at the cost of polluting the skies, whilst expecting the undeveloped countries to put their poor people aside and take the burden to clear the airs.
Although the developing countries want to work with greener energy they are still set on the route of fossil fuels like coal to continue burning and stressing that the onus is on the developed countries to cut their emissions and assist in greener development in the undeveloped world.
The UN Climate Change conference has seen most countries asked to answer to the call for a legally binding, fair, durable agreement in Paris that must set a long-term goal, be reviewed every five years and include a system for tracking progress.
India receive aid from the UK and on the back of this Conference taking place many of the British Tabloid and broadsheet papers had eye catching headlines highlighting that the UK gives hundreds of millions in Pounds of Aid to India. Britain gave India nearly £300million in financial aid last year despite pledges by ministers to end the handouts.
India became the second highest recipient of Britain’s aid spending after its funding rose by £10million to nearly £279million, more than Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Syria. Conservative MPs said the amount of taxpayer’s money being given to one of the World’s fastest growing economies is “ridiculous”. India has its own space programme and recently unveiled plans to spend more than £10billion on a fleet of new warships and submarines. “A country with its own space programme does not need aid from us” said Sir Gerald Howarth, Conservative Party Member of Parliament.
Japan gives more in Aid to India than the UK and Germany and the US are said to be giving more in the future which will outdwarf that of the UK.
It sounds unfair that although the developed world have brought about their ease of development through fossil fuels that they can then turn around and expect the opposite from the undeveloped nations. Although India is being helped in aid it is to promote greener cleaner use and implementation of green energy.
It was reported recently that Uruguay now have a solely green energy for the country with 100% renewable energy being used to provide electricity.
The leaders of 30 of the world’s poorest countries said they wanted the world to be 100 per cent renewable by 2050 at the UN Climate Conference.
Renewable energy and climate targets will be a key theme of these talks in the future. There is a major push by poorer nations for their – and the world’s – energy needs to be supplied by renewable energy, as part of their insistence that the climate target be tightened to prevent average warming of more than 1.5C.
India is focusing on strong solar power generated energy, yet it is being said that India may cause an upset in Paris at the UN Climate Conference, with a possibility that they may not play ball in the talks or come to agreement with other countries.
When will India eradicate poverty and be a key developed country and emerge to be a real Superpower who talks the talk and walks the walk. Prime-Minister Modi before being elected campaigned on the reforms he would bring in and ensure that India will continue to develop at a leading economic rate which they are continuing to do, despite China’s slight slow-down. Modi has made it clear that he will continue as China and Africa will be doing to continue relying on fossil fuels whilst slowly working towards greener and renewable energy.
With PM – Modi it seems his nationalism is what is driving him and he is intent on driving the country to the best possible rise in economy, not a graceful rise but a rise by any means for Modi; India has recently seen pollution that is worse than China’s smog in places like Delhi. Is it right that India are saying that fossil fuels are essential in bringing the poor out of poverty or is it a case that to fund the green projects is less profitable even though green renewable is the right thing for the long-term as it is sustainable and clean.
Government official was quoted as saying “We’ve taken more care for nature than the earlier regime.” The introduction of an air pollution monitoring system, a revision of emission norms and a bill to plant trees in degraded forest areas.
India is not doing enough and have made the talks in Paris seemingly look like it is all about money, and in this world it is always about money to every Country around the globe. The British empire were selfish when they raided India and left it in a worse position economically before they arrived. It will be interesting to see how India reduce its carbon footprint and poverty by 2020, it is a choice that they will decide whether to act on the aforementioned or not.
David Cameron went all out for PM Modi’s arrival to the UK and this was because he wants to promote more investment and trade between the two nations, can the former colonial empire/power work well with India, already TATA’s success in the UK with Jaguar and Land Rover is a symbol of success between the two. India may choose to invest more in the UK and also vice-versa although the Indian market is still seen as difficult to break into for UK companies wanting to expand into the lucrative Indian market.
Before I conclude on some positives about India, I would like to note that there are many upsetting things in relation with India – (the list as mentioned in the title) :
- Natural Disasters
- Smog/Pollution/Emissions
- Poverty still not eliminated although being considered as a superpower
- Corruption in all areas of governance and black money
- Banning of NGO’s like Greenpeace India amongst 5,000 other banned NGO’s
- Forest cutting bad for the environment bad for the Tigers and projects like WWF Tiger
- Human Rights Abuse not just in India but also in Nepal
- Internet over-regulated and censored
I hope to have given you all an insight into India as it is leading into 2016 on some of the most important aspects, what Incentives will India choose to act upon and how they go about it will be a point of focus by many nations as India is clearly a key player in the future, it is a leader in its region already, whether it remains in the future depends on Modi for now and his successors; Technology company IBM has said India needs better governance too if it is to be a real leader in the 21st Century.
Will India make it to a Developed nation and be a real superpower, will India set a stable platform on which to lead on, before rushing into a super pose, as Modi seems to be doing a lot of. When will India re-emerge and emerge as a real force for the future, only time will tell, although going by India’s economic performance it can be done and substance will be key, alongside key alliances for economic trade and progress.
India will be a focus and how it emerges in 2016 will be interesting to see.
Raj News 
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