Environment & Biodiversity

KEY POINTS

Government’s efforts

·        The government has set some ambitious targets for environmental protection in the recent years. It includes –

·        strict environmental standards for coal-fired power plants

·        target to implement Bharat Stage VI emission norms from April 1, 2020

·        efforts to produce and sell electric vehicles in the country by 2030

·        revision of National Solar Mission, accelerating transition to renewable sources of power

·        accordingly, revising the target for setting up solar capacity from 20 GW to 100 GW by 2021-22

·        assurance to clean up highly polluted Ganga by 2018

Shortfalls

·        Unfortunately, there appears to be a big gap between policy goals and action.

·        India seems to be moving in the right direction on solar targets.

·        However, balancing it with other goals is seriously lacking.

·        Evidently, the promise of implementing strict power plant emission norms by December 2017 has been relaxed.

·        Annual electronic waste collection target for electronics manufacturers was set at 30% of the products sold in the market.

·        However, this has now been relaxed to 10%.

·        The automobile industry has stated that full conversion to electric vehicles was realistically possible only by 2047.

·        This is in contrast to the government's targets.

·        CAG, in a recent report, highlighted the lag in developing an action plan and poor fund utilisation in the clean-up of the Ganga.

Way forward

·        The environmental costs of development should be duly recognised in addressing environmental problems.

·        Reassessing our environmental policy is the immediate necessity. It includes –

·        Transition to renewables, especially solar energy, should be accelerated by offering subsidies.

·        On the other hand, the more polluting fuels should be priced higher.

·        Strict environmental standards for coal plants should be put in place.

·        Similarly, the transition to electric vehicle use should be aided by higher pricing of petrol and diesel.

·        Existing environmental laws and regulations should be implemented properly with more political will.

Pls review my ans