Spoke in the wheel
Poll move hits rickshaw pullers
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The smog will remain
Transport ministry wants early review of National Auto Fuel Policy to highlight obstacles
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Time to bid adieu
April 23 marked the end of the 300-year-old coal mining industry in France. On that day, the last symbolic block of coal was extracted from the La Houve mine near the town of Creutzwald, abutting the
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Mount Abu notification sparks protests
mount Abu, in Sirohi district, Rajasthan was shut down from November 13 to 15. This was after the state's wildlife department issued a notification on October 4, 2006 declaring the area a wildlife
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SEZ, how special?
Despite having burned its fingers with export processing zones, which mainly involved a number of substantial fiscal benefits, the government has gone into overdrive to push its new policy on special economic zones. The difference, this time around, is th
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World Bank urges benefit assessment of bio-fuel
The World Bank, admitting the competition between food and fuel crops for land and water, has asked the national governments to carefully assess economic, environmental, and social benefits and the potential to enhance energy security. In its World Development Report-2008, it said: "The challenge for developing country governments is to avoid supporting bio-fuels through distortionary incentives that might displace alternative activities with higher returns - and to implement regulations and devise certification system to reduce environmental risks.' It suggested that the potential environmental risks from large scale bio-fuels production can be reduced through certification schemes for measuring environmentalaspects. It suggested a Green Bio-fuels Index of GHG reductions. The World Bank quoted that according to some available estimates, current bio-fuel polices the world over, can lead to a five-fold increase of the share of bio-fuels in global transport energy consumption - from 1% today to around 5% to 6% by 2020. "The grain required to fill the tank of a Sports utility vehicle with ethanol (240 kg of maize for 100 litre ethanol) could feed one person for a year, so competition between food and fuel is real,' the World Bank report said. It added that future bio-fuel technology may rely on dedicated energy crops and agricultural and timber wastes instead of food crops. "Technology to break cellulose into sugars distilled to produce ethanol or gasify biomass is not yet commercially viable - and will not be for several years. And some competition for land and water between dedicated energy crops and food crops will likely remain,' the report said. It further said that second generation bio-fuels using cellulosic technologies were likely to require even larger economies of scale, with investment costs in hundreds of millions of dollars just to build one plant. The report admitted that in industrial countries and till recently in Brazil, bio-fuel programmes were supported by high protective tariffs and large subsidies. These policies have caused land conversion away from food and led to an upward pressure on global food prices, severely affecting poor consumers. With a view to make bio-fuels compete with gasoline, industrial countries gave massive support and subsidies. According to recent estimates, more than 200 support measures costing around $5.5-7.3 billion a year in the US amount to $0.38-0.49 per litre of petroleum equivalent for ethanol and $0.45-0.57 for bio-diesel. In this context, the World Bank report questions - Are bio-fuels economically viable without subsidies and protection? It answers: "The breakeven price for a given bio-fuel to become economical is a function of several parameters. The most important determining factors are the cost of oil and the cost of the feedstock, which constitute more than half of today's production costs. Other often more cost-effective ways of delivering environmental and social benefits need to be considered, especially through improvements in fuel efficiency.
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Expectations of the Left
Prasenjit Bose Since the Finance Minister would not have the opportunity to present a full Budget in 2009 because of impending Lok Sabha elections, Budget 2008-09 would be his last opportunity to fulfil the promises made in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). The expenditure priorities have already been set forth by the Eleventh Plan. What is required is adequate budgetary support for the Plan, especially in priority areas like agriculture, PDS, education, health and employment generation. To meet the NCMP commitments, the gross budgetary support (GBS) for the Plan has to be stepped up. Budgets in 2006 and 2007 witnessed increases in GBS by around Rs 30,000 crore over previous years. It is evident that an increase of such magnitude, which amounts to less than 1% of current GDP, is inadequate for vital expenditure commitments. The increase in the GBS should be twice the amount seen in recent budgets. Agriculture, which was promised a new deal under the UPA, continues to languish. The advanced estimates for 2007-08 already show agricultural growth slipping to 2.6%, compared to 3.4% registered in 2006-07. To meet the Eleventh Plan target of 4% agriculture growth rate, the government needs to replace the half-hearted measures adopted so far with substantial allocations for debt relief, the Food Security Mission and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. The rise in prices of essential commodities over the last two years has underlined the importance of strengthening the PDS. Domestic food production and public procurement also needs to increase to avoid the embarrassment of high-cost wheat imports. India should increase the food subsidy, which currently stands only at around 1% of GDP. It is also time to consider doing away with the targeted PDS, which has turned out to be a failure, and introduce a revamped, more efficient and universal PDS. The ban on futures trading of wheat, rice and some pulses imposed last year should continue for the sake of stability in food prices. Education and health have been accorded high priority under the Eleventh Plan. Expenditure on the former, up five-fold over the Tenth Plan, is aimed at building 6,000 schools, funding the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to ensure the Right to Education, building new ITIs and vocational training institutes to bridge the skill deficit, and setting up 30 new central universities along with new IITs, IIMs and IISERs to expand the country's knowledge base. These laudable objectives have to be backed up by adequate outlays. Outlays on the rural health mission and more Aiims-type institutions also have to be increased. The universalisation of the ICDS is being impeded by inadequate funding, which needs to be addressed. The NREGA, despite problems, has succeeded in providing work to 27.7 million people this year. No doubt, its implementation needs to be streamlined and the monitoring mechanism improved. However, this should not come in the way of expanding the employment guarantee to all rural districts and also to urban areas. This is the single biggest welfare measure adopted by the UPA government, and has offered relief to the poorest and most vulnerable. This safety net must be strengthened under all circumstances. The revenue buoyancy seen over the past few years should help mobilise resources for increased welfare expenditure and public investments. Efforts to widen the tax base should continue. The last Budget contained a study of corporate tax, which showed that the effective tax rate for Companies in 2006-07 was 19.2% against the scheduled tax rate of 33.6%. Tax concessions to corporate taxpayers increased from Rs 34,618 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 50,075 crore in 2006-07. Budget 2008-09 should take steps to bring down these tax expenditures. The burgeoning foreign exchange reserves built up on the basis of FII inflows have turned into a liability. Rupee appreciation is hurting export sectors and efforts to buy up foreign exchange followed by sterilisation are also leading to additional fiscal costs. Reintroduction of long-term capital gains tax and increasing the rate of the short-term capital gains tax and the STT would help stanch the inflow of speculative capital, curb equity market volatility and raise resources. Budget 2008 also offers the opportunity to initiate the long pending restructuring of the indirect tax structure on petroleum products
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Coal prices may set new record on Asian demand
Banpu Pcl, Thailand's biggest coal miner, expects prices of the raw material to set new records as demand growth in Asia, led by China and India, outpaces supply. India will raise purchases at a faster pace in the next two years, compared with 2007 and 2008, as the nation completes power plants, Philip Gasteen, head of marketing and logistics, said during the McCloskey Group coal conference in Singapore yesterday. Indonesia, the world's second-biggest thermal coal exporter, is promoting coal-fired power output to cut oil use. Benchmark prices at Newcastle, the world's biggest export harbor for thermal coal in Australia, dropped $4.71 to $134.45 a metric tonne in the week ended February 22 after four weeks of records, according to the globalCOAL NEWC Index. Prices had climbed after heavy rains in Australia, power shortages in South Africa and snowstorms in China cut output. "Things got tighter because of growth,'' Gasteen said in the interview. China's export ban after the nation's worst snowstorms in 50 years will pull 8 million tonnes out of the Pacific basin during the first quarter and "is a big loss,'' he said. China, the world's second-biggest energy consumer, banned coal exports so that local utilities "don't have grounds to raise prices'' amid government efforts to curb inflation, Gasteen said. Vietnam's exports Vietnam, China's largest coal supplier, plans to reduce exports 32 per cent this year and gradually eliminate the sales to meet rising domestic demand, Nguyen Khac Tho, vice director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's energy and petroleum department, said February 15. Exports may drop to a forecast 22 million tonnes from 32.2 million in 2007 and the government is recommending halting overseas shipments after 2015. Coal producers are keeping inventories at half of typical levels of 6 to 7 per cent of annual output because of rising demand, Gasteen said. Banpu is maintaining stockpiles at about 3 to 4 percent of annual production, he said. "Demand has been very high so producers have been shipping out higher proportions than production and not putting as much in stock ,'' he said. Gasteen declined to comment on prices being negotiated with Japanese customers for annual supplies starting in April. Australian miners are seeking between $125 and $136 a tonne under one-year contracts, compared with offers from Japanese utilities to pay $110 a ton, Peter Ball, vice president for marketing at PT Bumi Resources, Indonesia's largest thermal coal exporter, said earlier this week in an interview. In the year ending March 31, the price is about $55. Japan is Banpu's biggest export destination, representing 25 per cent to 30 per cent of its sales. Banpu also ships to buyers in Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and Italy, Gasteen said.
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A new era of agricultural renaissance begins
It's a significant budget in India's agricultural history because it addresses some of the key issues facing our small and marginal farmers today. So far, we had an uncoordinated and piecemeal approach to this big problem, but P Chidambaram has addressed it in a holistic manner now. For example, the debt waiver and one-time settlement is an important step for the revival of agricultural sector. Our name is in the mud today. We are called a country of farmer suicides and not Green Revolution. That is why I think Chidambaram has taken a very bold step to put small and marginal farmers back on the track. They were thrown out of the credit system so far. So this is a very important step. There is still a problem, though. According to the Economic Survey, nearly 42% of the debt is not from institutional sources. About 49% farmers are indebted, including 60% marginal farmers. Out of them 42% have taken money from moneylenders, traders and relatives. This waiver does not cover them, so you still have a problem at hand. Until our credit system and insurance systems are further improved, people will be still forced to go to moneylenders because our support is not holistic. If a farmer has committed suicide, his family might need money to pay for the doctor's fee and medicines. So they require consolidated support, and not fragmented support. This debt waiver is a good beginning for them. I think those farmers who are not covered under this scheme and have taken loans from moneylenders should be given smart cards by state governments with the help of the Central government. These smart cards should entitle them to inputs like seeds and fertilisers. It means if we can't waive their loans because of lack of verification, they can still get help for farming because they have some land. Now the second important malady of the Indian agriculture as diagnosed by the Economic Survey is the degeneration of natural resources. Chidambaram has mentioned that we must strengthen our soil testing laboratories. He has provided more funds and mobile testing soil vans. He has accelerated irrigation projects and is going to offer new national irrigation finance. Another very important budgetary provision is pricing of fertiliser on nutrient basis, not just on NPK. Plants need 14 nutrients. Therefore, he is providing subsidy on nutrients and not only on fertilisers on an experimental bases in Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Thereby, he has taken a few steps to overcome the problem of natural resource degeneration. Thirdly, schemes on rural growth, rural education, communication and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will cover all the rural districts of India, which can be a very important source of income generation for the whole country. So all in all, I would say that a very serious beginning has been made to end the era of farmer suicides and to begin a new era of agricultural renaissance. There are also many other older schemes in places. All these schemes should work in convergence and synergy. They should not work in isolation. Now I think people have been awakened. The fact remains the approach to food security must be pan political because all of us need food.
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Lack of quality seeds hits prawn production
During this biting cold what can be better than a dish of black-tiger prawns cooked in oriental style for dinner or just batter fried along with your evening drink. But then, be prepared to shell out a huge sum as black-tiger prawns supply is going down with stagnant production over the past several years. India is the leading producer of black-tiger prawns in the world but today the prawn farmers are faced with the problem of stagnant production due to lack of quality seeds and financial support from the government. According to I.P.R. Mohan Raju, president of the Prawn Farmers Federation of India, "Although India is the leading producer of black-tiger prawns in the world, the production in our country is stagnant for the past few years. The primary reason for the stagnation is the inadequate supply of quality seeds. The hatchery operators depend on the supply of wild brood stock for the production of seeds. The quality and quantity of this wild brood stock has deteriorated over the past few years.' The hatchery operators depended on the supply of wild brood stock for the production of seeds but the quality and quantity of this had deteriorated over the past few years. The federation, the first national platform for prawn farmers constituted by state federations of the 10 maritime states and union territories, would collaborate with the hatchery operators and the government to address this issue, he said. India has over 1,50,000 hectares under prawn cultivation with around 1.2 to 1.4 million hectares potential brackish water area available. More than 91per cent of the 1,00,000 plus farmers are small scale with land holding of less than two hectares. About 6 per cent of the farmers' own land only between two to five hectares and the remaining three percent own land over five hectares. Total production is around 1,35,000 tons with an average production of less than 1000 kg per hectare. Farming methods are mostly extensive or modified extensive with less than 20 per cent of the farms having electricity connections. Black-tiger (Penaeus monodon) is the major species cultivated constituting over 97 per cent of the total production. More than 90 per cent of the 135,000 tons produced and over 94 per cent of the value of exports come from small-scale farmers. Said V. Balasubramaniam, general secretary of the federation, "Lack of institutional finance and insurance coverage is a big deterrent for the growth of the small farmers. More than 90 per cent of the over Rs 3,000 crore invested in prawn farms in India is from the pockets of the small farmers or borrowed from unorganised money lenders. More over, more than 90 per cent of the production cost is financed by credit from the dealers of inputs and companies, since the farmer does not get any type of crop loan from financial institutions. "This drives the cost of production up by 20 to 30 per cent, since credit is involved at various levels in the chain of crop input supplies. If farmers get institutional financing and insurance coverage for their crop, the accrued benefits will make him more competitive in the world market,' he said.
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The US-Chinese joint statement: No change given
<p>Late yesterday, US president, Barack Obama and the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, issued a joint statement on climate change. The statement was much awaited. It was believed that President Obama on his maiden visit to the region would get the Chinese to change their position on climate change.
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Cancun must not repeat Copenhagen
<p>Developing countries must guard against a repeat of the situation at Copenhagen, where negotiations under the UNFCCC were deliberately stalled, and Heads of State/Ministers from developing countries were pressured to agree to “something” to save the climate regime from collapse.
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Air Pollution in the Month of October is Getting Worse - is Delhi Ready?
<div>For the city of Delhi, an air quality index methodology was proposed and applied for six criteria pollutants - PM10, PM2.5, CO, NOx, SO2, and Ozone and analyzed for trends in the past three years of data. The AQI is reported on a scale of 0 to 500 and subdivided into six colored bins for easy understanding of the common person and the media.
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The future we do not want
<div class="content"> <div class="field field-type-text field-field-intro"> <p class="rtejustify">World leaders attending Rio+20 did nothing to tackle the interlinked crises of economy and ecology,
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Wastewater Treatment
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Wastewater Treatment</strong></span></p> <p><img alt="Wastewater Treatment" src="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/country/bangladesh/wastewater_treatment_hl" style="width: 530px; height: 300px;" /></p> <p>Increasing urbanisation and water usage has resulted in a proliferation of waterborne sanitation in Bangladesh. The majority of infrastructure projects focus on the provision of sanitation, but management of residual wastes is generally not given sufficient consideration.</p> <p>For instance, according to <a href="http://www.wssinfo.org/documents-links/documents/?tx_displaycontroller%5Bcategory%5D=&tx_displaycontroller%5Byear%5D=&tx_displaycontroller%5Bregion%5D=UNICEF:8&tx_displaycontroller%5Bsearch_word%5D=&tx_displaycontroller%5Btype%5D=country_files">Joint Monitoring Programme</a> by WHO and UNICEF in 2006, 51% of urban areas had improved sanitation facilities and only 7% urban areas had sewerage connection. In addition, only 32% of the rural population was using improved sanitation in 2006. As a result, many urban dwellers remain unserved with basic sanitation and the vast majority of wastewater and septage is discharged without any form of treatment into rivers and water bodies, seriously polluting water resources and causing a diversity of economic impacts.</p>
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A Dearth of Ideas
Delhi needs to critically rethink its move to abandon roof top solar scheme In many countries it is now possible to feed electricity from solar roof top systems into the grid. What that means is you
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Doha: inaction in the face of urgency
<p><span class="standalone-image" style="width: 200px"><img alt="cop18" src="http://www.downtoearth.org.in/dte/userfiles/images/3_201212311.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid; float: left;
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For a place in the sun
<p>How will solar energy be made to work in India? As I discussed in my previous article there are three key challenges. One, how will the country pay for solar energy in a situation where there is no
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Meeting of minds on our sustainable future?
<p><strong>Balancing national strategic interests and global concerns requires new rules for collective action</strong></p> <p class="rtejustify">The upcoming sequel to the 1992 Earth Summit, once again
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US, equity and the elephants in the room
<p>Indian top negotiator, R R Rashmi said yesterday at a <a href="http://cseindia.org/content/doha" target="_blank">side event</a> we had organized on equity in climate negotiations that they could not