What are the Centre and States doing to curb climate change, asks NGT

‘There is a conflict of interest between the Central Government and various States and because of this an important plan like the NAPCC has failed to get implemented in its true letter and spirit’

The National Green Tribunal on Monday sought response from the Centre, States and Union Territories about the measures they have been adopting to check climate change and how the governments have implemented the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Ministry of Power, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and several States.

The Bench was hearing a petition filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, who has been raising various environmental concerns before the NGT. Mr. Bansal sought directions to place on record the relevant materials and documents relating to steps taken by the Centre and States to implement the NAPCC.

The plea said, “As a part of the international commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions in India, the then Prime Minister on June 30, 2008, had released the NAPCC and said it reflects the importance the government attaches to mobilising the national energies to meet the challenges of climate change.”

In August 2009, the Central Government had directed all States and Union Territories to formulate individual state action plan on climate change guided by and consistent with the structure and strategies of the NAPCC, but nothing has been done in this direction, it said.

“The idea behind the individual State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) was that individual States and Union Territories must lay out sector-specific as well as cross sector time-bound priority actions along with indicative budgetary requirements, supplemented with details of necessary institutional and policy infrastructure for operationalisation of actions,” it said. The plea claimed that despite the Central Government’s direction, Maharashtra has not drafted its SAPCC. It further claimed that while preparing the SAPCCs, no States offered a clear, consistent and well-argued set of recommendations with either a vision or an action plan.

“There is a conflict of interest between the Central Government and various States of the country and because of this an important plan like the NAPCC has failed to get implemented in its true letter and spirit,” the plea said.

On January 30, 2010, the Joint Secretary, MoEF, in a letter to the Executive Secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change had informed that India will try to reduce the emission intensity by 20-25 per cent by 2020 in comparison to the 2005 level, it said.

IISc: novel way to reduce cell damage found

Vanadia nanowires mimic an antioxidant enzyme produced by the body

Preliminary studies have shown a way to reduce cell damage and blunt the effect of one of the factors responsible for the onset of several diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and ageing.

Reactive oxygen species, which are produced continuously in the body during cellular metabolism and responsible for cellular damage, are removed by naturally occurring antioxidants. However, the scavenging system fails when the amount of ROS produced is elevated. The most prevalent reactive oxygen species is hydrogen peroxide; excess amount of hydrogen peroxide can damage the cells the most.

By using vanadia nanowires, a team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore was able to successfully remove any excess reactive oxygen species produced. The vanadia nanowires functionally mimic an antioxidant enzyme (glutathione peroxidase) produced by the body to scavenge hydrogen peroxide. Glutathione peroxidase is one of the two enzymes that control the level of hydrogen peroxide inside a cell.

The results of the study were published recently in the journal Nature Communications.

Unlike the nano form, the bulk, foam and complex forms of vanadium do the exact opposite. They produce more reactive oxygen species thereby negatively affecting the viability of cells.

In a nano form, vanadium is able to reduce hydrogen peroxide without changing the oxidation state of the metal, which is unusual for a metal ion.

“If the metal changes its oxidation state then vanadium can produce reactive oxygen species, which is what happens when vanadium is in a bulk and foam form,” said Prof. Govindasamy Mugesh from the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, IISc. He is one of the corresponding authors of the paper.

The nanowires proved successful as an ROS scavenger as they reacted with hydrogen peroxide to produce water. “Hydrogen peroxide reacts with vanadia on the surface of the nanowires, and once water is produced, the next molecule of hydrogen peroxide binds to the nanowire surface. So vanadia is able to continuously scavenge hydrogen peroxide without getting deactivated,” Prof. Mugesh said.

The efficiency of the nanowires as a scavenger was tested using hydrogen peroxide in a test tube and inside cells; cell lines were used for in vitro studies. “The scavenging is 100 per cent when hydrogen peroxide is used. But inside a cell, vanadia maintains optimum levels of reactive oxygen species,” Prof. Mugesh said.

The scavenging capacity inside a cell was significant even after 24 hours.

Apparently, the inability to completely remove hydrogen peroxide turns out to be beneficial.

“Optimum removal ensures that other biological functions remain unaffected by vanadia. If it scavenges all the hydrogen peroxide then it may block certain functions of the cell,” he explained.

According to Prof. Patrick D’Silva, Department of Biochemistry, IISc, the vanadia nanowires work in parallel to and in conjunction with the normal cellular antioxidant system. Prof. D’Silva is the other corresponding author of the paper.

Though the number of nanowires that get into a cell cannot be controlled, the amount of vanadia nanowires used is very small — in parts per million.

As vanadium is found in trace quantity in human body, its antioxidant potential inside cells was investigated. Since its harmful effects when in bulk and foam form were already known, the researchers studied its properties at nanoscale. “We tested a few other metal oxide nanoparticles but they did not show such antioxidant effect,” Prof. Mugesh said.

They have not studied how the nanowires get into a cell but know that they cannot stay inside a cell for over a day or two.

Its potential as an antioxidant will be known only when animal and human clinical trials are carried out.

GSAT-16 to be launched from French Guiana

GSAT-16, the communications satellite being put in orbit for ISRO from French Guiana in the wee hours of Friday, December 5, will significantly improve the national space capacity with 48 transponders.

The addition is important as GSAT-16 comes 11 months after the last Indian communication satellite GSAT-14 was flown in January this year. In fact, this launch was advanced by about six months to meet user needs, ISRO Chairman, K.Radhakrishnan, noted ahead of the launch.

This is also the highest number of transponders packed into an Indian spacecraft so far.

Include more adaptation efforts in Paris climate deal: India

With the ministerial-level talks to begin next week at the UN climate summit here, India today said its position remains very strong on the need for a balanced inclusion of adaptation efforts in the 2015 Paris agreement and less focus on mitigation.

Sushil Kumar, interim head of the Indian delegation at the talks, said the first two days of the 12-day conference are “off to a good start” with discussions on adaptation and finance underway.

He said that on Wednesday countries participated in sessions for the adaptation and finance groups.

“Developing countries are talking quite a bit about adaptation, but not developed countries,” he said.

Ministerial-level talks will begin next week which will be attended by Environment Minister Prakash Javedkar on December 7.

“The Indian position is to remain very strong on the need for a balanced inclusion of adaptation in the 2015 Paris agreement and less focus on mitigation efforts,” said Mr. Kumar.

The conference has to agree on a draft agreement which would form the cornerstone of a historic deal to be signed in Paris in December 2015 and take effect by 2020.

Kumar said that India will “need to bring [climate change issues] into development planning” and “disseminate whatever is in the IPCC report” at the state-level within India.

The state-level action plans are important because each will be have different concerns depending on whether it is a coastal, desert, or tropical climate.

Kumar said these tailored state plans are crucial for India to put together a “comprehensive and robust” Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC).

A meeting of the Union Cabinet on Tuesday gave its approval to the negotiating position for the 20th Conference of Parties (COP—20) on climate change which is expected to conclude on December 12.

CoP-20 is expected to focus on the elements of 2015 Agreement and INDCs.

“The approach seeks to protect the interests of the country in climate change negotiations based on the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and its Kyoto Protocol (KP). It would also enhance the solidarity among the developing countries on these issues,” a statement said.

So far 29 Indian states have submitted their action plans on adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change with 21 state plans already approved.

india and Japan to Cooperate in the Fields of Cyber Security and Green ICT

India and Japan to Cooperate in the Fields of Cyber Security and Green ICT (Information and Communication Technology)

​            India and Japan decides to cooperate in the fields of Cyber security and Green ICT (Information & Communication Technology). In a statement after India-Japan Joint Working Group Meeting on ICT, in New Delhi today, the two countries announced the decision to work on the following five areas which are to be implemented as India-Japan joint projects:- 1.      Green ICT -  Green Mobile Base Station project 2.      Cyber Security Cooperation -  Japan-India Combat Spam project 3.      Cooperative project for detecting symptoms and quick response to cyber attacks (PRACTICE) 4.      ICT for Disaster Management (ICT4DM) -  ICT Use in disaster-affected areas project  5.      ICT Application for Social and Economic Challenges -  National ID Application and Utilization Platform project             Ministry for Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) in India and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC, Japan will coordinate the activities for taking these projects forward by involving industrial partners in both the countries. They will aim towards implementation of these joint projects by early 2015.             The two countries also decided to further discuss development of standards in the field of ICT, for future cooperation. Further, India had also offered Japan to manufacture ICT equipment in India by taking advantage of new conducive environment for manufacturing in India.             The next meeting of the joint working group is to be held in Tokyo next year.

Indian systems for world’s largest telescope

Will gain dual-use technology to manufacture fine aspherical mirror segments

An artist’s rendition of the telescope.— Photo: AP

Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday signed a multilateral agreement admitting India’s participation in the development of the Thirty-Metre Telescope (TMT) in Hawaii.

The Cabinet rapidly cleared the project and India has agreed to spend Rs.1299.8 crore on it over the next decade. Besides learning about the universe, India will gain the technology to manufacture fine aspherical mirror segments from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This technology, say experts, will form the basis of the next generation of spy satellites.

TMT will contain 492 hexagonal mirror segments of 82 different kinds. These will behave like a single mirror with an aperture of 30-metre diameter. This large collecting area of 650 square metres is thrice as sensitive as the Hubble Space Telescope.

India’s role will primarily be to create the control systems and software that keep the mirrors aligned and collect the data.

The control system is an intricate process involving edge sensors that detect the mutual displacement of mirrors, actuators to correct their alignment, and the segment support assembly. These will be manufactured by General Optics (Asia) in Puducherry, Avasarala Technologies and Godrej in Bengaluru respectively.

G.C. Anupama of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics explained that India would also manufacture 100 aspherical mirror segments in Hoskote near Bengaluru. “These thin glass slabs made in Japan have minimal expansion when heated. We will apply a protective layer and a reflective coating using technology from Caltech,” she told The Hindu .

“Initially we will start off by producing two a year and after the technology transfer is complete, we will make one every fortnight,” she added. The telescope is expected to be ready by 2024.

Institutions from the United States, Canada, Japan and China are also participating in the construction of the world’s largest telescope on Mount Mauna Kea. This telescope, 4207 metres above sea level, may cost more than $1.47 billion.

Research Institutes Providing Solutions in Renewable Energy Sector

The need to have a sustainable energy supply necessitates the exploration of available energy resources. Among these, renewable energy resources are in the forefront. It is now an established fact that renewable energy can be an integral part of sustainable development because of its inexhaustible nature and environment friendly features. Renewable energy can also play an important role in resolving the energy crisis in urban areas to a great extend. So far , renewable energy projects with an aggregate capacity of about 33,200 MW have been installed in the country which includes 22,168 MW of wind power, 2870 MW of solar power, 4225 MW of bio power and 3938 MW of small hydro power.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has been supporting Research and Development (R&D) for technology development and demonstration through various academic and research institutions, autonomous organisations and industry. In addition, the Ministry has set up three research institutes, namely, National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurgaon, National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai and Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy, Kapurthala, Punjab for R&D in solar energy, wind energy and bio-energy, respectively.

  Budgetary Support to R&D:

 Against a budget of Rs. 500.00 crore allocated for R&D in new and renewable energy sector for the 11^thFive Year Plan, a total of 169 R&D projects in the areas of solar energy, bio-energy, hydrogen and fuels cells with an outlay of Rs.525 crore were sanctioned and an amount of Rs.239.56 crore was released. The R&D projects taken up include: higher efficiency solar cells, Mega Watt scale solar thermal power generation, advance research in biomass energy, hydrogen production, storage and utilization and fuel cells development. In the area of biogas, demonstration projects on purification and bottling of biogas for various applications were taken up.  During the last two and a half years of the current plan period, a total expenditure of Rs.208.12 crore has been incurred on R&D in new and Renewable energy.

12^th Plan- Increased Support:

 For the current 12^th Plan Period, the Ministry has increased the budgetary provision for research and development to Rs.910.00 crore. The focus is on reduction of cost and improving efficiency of renewable energy systems and the key areas for R&D include: Solar energy, wind energy, biomass, biogas, bio-liquid fuels and Hydrogen/fuel-cell technologies.

The details of the Institutes involved in R &D in Renewable Energy Sector are as follows :

1.         National Institute of Solar Energy

The main objective of the institute is to assist the Ministry in implementing Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) and function as the apex National Centre for research, testing and technology development in the area of solar energy. The areas of research include solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, energy storage and solar resource assessment.

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2.         National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai (NIWE)

The NIWE serves as the technical focal point for wind power development and supports the growing wind power sector in the country. The activities being carried out include wind resource assessment onshore and offshore, wind turbine performance testing,  Grid connection and Power Quality, operation and maintenance, wind power development, human resource development, national and international collaborations for research & design development, NIWE has established real time network for  wind resource assessment with 100m met-masts  at 73 locations, and  121 automatic stations  for Solar radiation resource assessment  all over India. NIWE is also working on development and implementation of procedures and guidelines for orderly development of quality wind turbines besides preparation of Indian standards for wind turbines.

3.         Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy    

The main objective of the Institute is to carry out and facilitate research, design, development, testing, standardization and technology demonstration in bio energy. The R&D activities include development of bio energy, bio fuels and synthetic fuels in solid, liquid and gaseous forms for transportation, portable and stationary applications and development of new technologies for effective utilization of different types of biomass.

            The achievements made by three institutes during last three years are as follows:

1.         National Institute of Solar Energy

(a) Solar Photovoltaic

·        Setting up of module reliability test beds

·        Setting up of accredited SPV modules test lab

·        Setting up of solar cell test and characterization lab

·        Setting up of roof top SPV power units

·        Setting up of solar hydrogen production & research facility

·        Setting up of advanced lighting system test lab

(b) Solar Thermal

·        Setting up of solar thermal system test lab

·        Setting up of solar water desalination plant

·        Setting up of solar air conditioning

·        Setting up of solar-biomass cold storage system

·        Setting up of 1 MW solar thermal power plant

(c)   Energy Storage

·        Setting up of test bed for batteries used in solar systems

·        Setting up of test bed for inverters used in solar systems

(d) Solar Resource Assessment

·      Setting up of establishment of solar radiation measurement set up

2.         National Institute of Wind Energy

·      Continuous health monitoring facility for components of wind turbines of 2 MW established.

·      Three multi-institutional research projects dealing with grid connection, power quality and blade aerofoil  characteristics completed 

·      Capacity building for acoustic measurement, power quality measurement, small wind turbine performance testing, inter-laboratory comparison of power curve measurements, establishing world’s largest real time resource measurement networks for wind and solar, wind power forecasting and first offshore wind measurement at Dhanuskoti, near Rameshwaram.

·      Over Rs.33 crores of internal revenue generated through the expertise developed, to entirely meet and sustain the salary expenditure of regular and temporary staff in the last three years. 

·       Intangible outcome is the orderly development of over 7000 MW of wind power installed capacity in India using indirectly the expertise of NIWE scientists.

3.         Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy

·      The laboratory infrastructure for production and characterization of bio fuels has been created.

·      A project entitled “Integrated technology development for biodiesel production using heterogeneous catalyst” was completed successfully in 2013. Under this project a process has been developed for biodiesel production from high free fatty acid containing Jatropha curcas oil in a single step, under elevated condition.

·      Two numbers of highly efficient thermo tolerant yeasts i.e. NIRE-K1 and NIRE-K3, for bio ethanol production from lignocelluloses biomass have been isolated, characterized and submitted to culture bank. A process has been developed for bio ethanol production from lignocelluloses materials.

·      A thermo phallic consortium isolated and process has been developed for biogas production from paddy straw and the research under biogas area is in progress.

·       Testing and R&D facilities for improved biomass cook stove have been established.

Development as a people’s movement

Modern technology-based industries and services cannot generate employment on a massive scale. It is therefore imperative that this modern sector must rein in its adverse impacts on labour-intensive, natural resource-based livelihoods

Development was a key issue in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. In his very first speech after taking over as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi asserted that his government is committed to carrying on development as a people’s movement. This, he has asserted, will draw upon India’s democratic, demographic and demand dividends. But are we genuinely moving towards organising development as a people’s movement while building on these strengths?

At the heart of democracy is access to information. We do have the vital Right to Information Act, but need to do much more since the public is being continually misled. To reap the demographic dividend, our youth should be well nourished. But what is the reality? The government’s statistics show that 28 per cent of school children were malnourished in 1993; this came down to 17 per cent by 1999 and declined further to 8 per cent by 2006. However, this is based on information provided by schools, and many of them are guilty of maintaining bogus records of enrolment and expenses towards the provision of mid-day meals. As a cross-check, we have the data provided by the carefully and professionally conducted National Family Health Survey. According to its very different and shocking results, 53 per cent of school children were malnourished in 1993. This came down slightly to 47 per cent by 1999 and changed a little by 2006, to 46 per cent.

To cater to India’s massive population of consumers, people should have adequate purchasing power, such as that enjoyed by people employed in the industries or services sector. Unfortunately, as the malnourishment statistics indicate, a vast majority of Indians are poor, with barely 10 per cent employed in the organised sector. We are being convinced that vigorous economic growth is generating substantial employment. But this is not so. When our economy was growing at 3 per cent per year, employment in the organised sector was growing at 2 per cent per year. As the economy began to grow at 7-8 per cent per year, the rate of growth of employment in the organised sector actually declined to 1 per cent per year since most of the economic growth was based on technological progress, including automation. At the same time, the increasing pressure of the organised sector on land, water, forest and mineral resources has adversely impacted employment in farming, animal husbandry and fisheries sectors. People who are being pushed out of these occupations are now crowding in urban centres. This is in turn leading to a decline in the productivity of the organised industries and services sector. Evidently, the ship of our development is sadly adrift.

What is development?

Undoubtedly, people aspire for development. But what is development? Joseph Stiglitz, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics and one-time chairman of Bill Clinton’s Economic Advisory Council, offers an insightful analysis, asserting that development should result in an enhancement of the totality of a nation’s four-fold capital stocks: the capital of material goods, natural capital such as soil, water, forests and fish, human capital including health, education and employment, and social capital comprising mutual trust and social harmony. Our current pattern of economic development is by no means a balanced process resulting in the overall enhancement of the totality of these stocks. Thus, for instance, mining in Goa has severely damaged the State’s water resources and caused high levels of air and water pollution. The ever-increasing content of metals in drinking water reservoirs has adversely impacted health. When thousands of trucks were plying ore on the roads of Goa, the resulting chaos in traffic and accidents seriously disrupted social harmony. Evidently, the single-minded focus on industrial growth is not leading to sustainable, harmonious development, but merely nurturing a money-centred violent economy.

“The single-minded focus on industrial growth is not leading to sustainable, harmonious development, but merely nurturing a money-centred violent economy.”

We must, of course, continue to develop modern technology-based industries and services, but these cannot generate employment on the massive scale required. It is therefore imperative that this modern sector must rein in its adverse impacts on labour-intensive, natural resource-based occupations and livelihoods. The modern capital-intensive, technology-based economic sector must nurture a symbiotic relationship with the nature-based, labour-intensive sector. Our democracy provides for fashioning such a mutual relationship through the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments and the Biological Diversity Act, the Panchayats (Extension to Schedule Areas) Act and the Forest Rights Act. We must take advantage of this constitutional framework that promotes decentralised governance and work with nature and people to move forward on a path towards genuine development — a path that would be entirely compatible with making development a people’s movement.

Examples of people’s movements

In Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts of Maharashtra, both of which are Naxal-torn, there are hopeful examples emerging of how development may be nurtured as a people’s movement. A number of tribal and other traditional forest-dwelling communities of these districts now have management rights over Community Forest Resources under the Forest Rights Act. The state retains ownership over such resources, and these cannot be diverted to other purposes. But now these resources are being managed holistically with a fuller involvement of the people. The citizens of Pachgaon, for instance, have, through two full-day meetings of their entire Gram Sabha, decided upon 40-odd regulations. Tendu leaves are a major forest produce, but their harvest entails extensive lopping and setting of forest fires. So, Pachgaon has decided to forego this income and instead focus on marketing the edible tendu fruit. By stopping the collection of tendu leaves, the trees are healthier and both fruit yield and income from its marketing have gone up. Incomes from bamboo harvest have also gone up manifold, and for the first time the people are moving out of the earlier precarious existence. Notably, they have on their own initiated protecting part of these forests as newly constituted sacred groves. Such community management of forest resources is the only sane way to combat extremism, and I have every hope that the new government, with its commitment to making development a people’s movement, will wholeheartedly support these initiatives.

Verle village, perched atop Sahyadri mountains in Goa’s Sanguem taluk, provides another instance of how we can make development a people’s movement. In this charming village, the locals have initiated a cooperative tourism project. Visitors stay in the homes of the locals, which are now equipped with modern amenities, and enjoy home-cooked food. They can wander around to their heart’s content with three well-trained local youth who serve as nature guides. This is a neat example of how development benefits people at the grassroots level while safeguarding the natural heritage.

Recently, I had requested Goa University students to write an essay on any issue of their interest. Many chose tourism; they were very concerned with the negative fallout of the flourishing hotel industry. These included depletion and pollution of ground water, ever-growing piles of solid waste, encroachments on public beaches and alarming growing drug abuse, associated crimes and women’s insecurity. They also felt that few economic benefits actually reach the people of Goa. Why then can we not focus on enterprises that are nature-friendly and give full scope to local initiatives like Verle to develop tourism? Why do we not organise activities such as these that genuinely promote development as a people’s movement?

Furthermore, Goa could revive its currently stagnating mining business through novel people-oriented initiatives such as the proposal from the tribals in Caurem village in Goa’s Quepem taluka. There, extensive community lands that harbour a large sacred grove — lands that ought to have been assigned as Community Forest Resources — have been encroached upon by palpable illegal mining, which has damaged water resources, affected farming, and created social dissonance. The mines are currently closed because of the illegalities, and the Gram Sabha has unanimously resolved that if they are to be restarted, this should be done through the agency of their multi-purpose cooperative society.

The Goa government ought to seize this golden opportunity and do all that it can to ensure that it succeeds. When the first cooperative sugar factory in the country was established at Pravaranagar in Maharashtra 60 years ago, many doubted if the farmers could manage such an enterprise. But it succeeded beyond people’s wildest dreams because of capable farmer-leaders like Vitthalrao Vikhe Patil and a sympathetic Finance Minister like Vaikunthbhai Mehta. Let us therefore hope that the Goa government with its commitment to making development a people’s movement will vigorously support the Caurem initiative and create for the country a new model of how mining can be developed as a people’s activity.