Image Source : PTI International little one rights activist Greta Thunberg
International little one rights activist Greta Thunberg has come below assault for utilizing her “bully pulpit” to wade into political points, such because the farmers’ protest in India. Mohinder Gulati, Former Chief Operating Officer, United Nations Sustainable Energy for All, has written a letter to Thunberg, which can also be marked to the United Nations Secretary-General.
“I had admired your courage, commitment, and capturing the global imagination on climate justice when you stood up at the 2018 UNCCC. As Chief Operating Officer of United Nations Sustainable Energy for All until 2015, I was deeply involved with global advocacy and building consensus for Sustainable Development Goal-7 and Paris Climate Agreement. When I heard you in 2018 and 2019 my heart warmed up since we had been advocating that the youth would drive the change for a better future, and you emerged as a torch bearer of that trust,” Gulati mentioned within the letter to Thunberg.
“However, I am writing to you with some disappointment that you have started using your well-earned bully pulpit to wade into political issues, such as farmers’ protest in India, which may not be as simple and as straightforward as you may have been led to believe,” he added.
“You are doing a great service to the cause of climate change, an existential threat to humanity that needs to be addressed urgently. We need global consensus for implementation of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals,” Gulati mentioned.
“Walking into the thicket of local political issues, often mired in a battle with corrupt and vested political interests, would undermine your ability to keep the moral high ground to exhort world leaders into action for a sustainable future. I would urge you not to expend your political and moral capital on controversial local political issues. I am sending a copy of this letter to the United Nations Secretary-General H.E. Antonio Guterres for his information,” Gulati mentioned within the letter.
Gulati mentioned within the letter that there are different sturdy vested pursuits benefiting from the established order. The authorities procures massive portions of wheat and rice for the general public distribution system and pays a pre-announced minimal assist worth (MSP). Out of about 210 Mt of wheat and rice produced within the nation, the federal government procures about 85 Mt on the market to the poor at one-tenth of the procurement worth. About 52 per cent of this procurement is constituted of solely three states – Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh – the hub of agitating farmers, he added.
“More than 90 per cent of the farmers in the rest of India do not benefit from this system. Normally, the market price is lower than the MSP. This is what creates a great opportunity for the broker mafia. Brokers and politicians purchase wheat and rice from farmers in other states at a lower price (about 60 per cent of MSP) and pay them in cash, bring it to government procurement stations in Punjab, Haryana and UP, sell it at a higher price (MSP) and get paid by cheque. This is counted as their agriculture income which is tax-exempt,” Gulati mentioned.
“So these brokers, often politicians or campaign financiers, not only earn the huge arbitrage but also convert the cash (generally crime money) to legitimate tax-free income. New laws would bring in transparency and make it difficult to legitimise crime money. No wonder the farmer agitation is so well-funded. I feel the innocent farmers may not even know the source of this questionable ‘philanthropic’ funding. I wonder if you would support a system of legitimising crime and corruption money in the hands of corrupt politicians and their cronies,” Gulati mentioned.
Gulati added that farmers in Punjab, Haryana, and part of Uttar Pradesh have a professional apprehension which must be addressed via dialogue and never intransigence of both get together. India has ample establishments of Parliament, courts, media, and public opinion to permit peaceable protests and open dialogue to unravel its myriad issues of poverty and improvement.
“I am sure, eventually a satisfactory solution would be found not only for the agitating farmers of a few states but also for the remaining 90 per cent farmers of India who would stand to gain from the new laws,” he added.
Gulati mentioned that farmers demanded, and regrettably the federal government of India agreed, to withdraw penalties for burning crop residue. Indian farmers, largely round Delhi within the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, burn about 100 million tons (Mt) a 12 months of crop residue which generates 140 Mt of CO2, 12 Mt of different noxious gases and 1.2 Mt of particulate matter, choking a inhabitants of about 50 million within the space, he added.
“Smog in Delhi forces young children to skip school and stay indoors, 2.2 million children suffer irreversible lung damage. Your embassy in Delhi can inform you how they gasp for air during that period. Do you support farmers’ demand to let them continue to burn crop residue and add to emissions?” Gulati requested Thunberg.
Gulati mentioned that yearly in India, about 67 million tonnes of meals is wasted, which has been estimated to be round $14 billion and will feed 100 million individuals. Up to 40 per cent of the meals produced in India is wasted, in keeping with the United Nations Development Program, and about 21 million tons of wheat (2.5 Mt GHG) e equal to gross annual manufacturing of Australia – is wasted yearly.
FAO estimates present that two-thirds of meals is wasted in post-harvest transportation, storage, processing, and distribution earlier than it reaches the buyer. If meals wastage was a rustic, it could be the third-largest emitter after the US and China, Gulati mentioned.
Embedded carbon within the wasted meals in India is about 60 Mt of CO2 equal. India desperately must modernise its agriculture, strengthen market linkages, and spend money on the entire provide chain, he added.
“This cannot, and should not, be done by the governments and should be left to a competitive, efficient, and well-regulated private sector. Do you support India to continue with the current archaic systems and waste food that could feed 100 million hungry every year?” Gulati requested Greta.
Gulati mentioned {that a} extreme water disaster is looming massive in India. About 85 per cent of irrigated agriculture in India is determined by groundwater. India extracts about 230 km3 of groundwater yearly of which 90 per cent of groundwater is used for irrigation.
Gulati mentioned 50 years in the past, farmers in Punjab and Haryana valiantly rose to the problem of meals insecurity and began rising rice in a semi-arid agro-climatic zone to feed the nation. It has come at a really heavy environmental value of extreme depletion of groundwater, deteriorating water high quality, extreme use of chemical fertilisers, and cancer-causing pesticides.
“India is now food surplus and needs to create incentives to make agriculture less resource-intensive and demand-driven. Agitating farmers want the government to lock into the current system of growing resource-intensive and chemical-ridden agriculture. Do you support that?” Gulati requested Greta.
On corruption-controlled agriculture markets, Gulati mentioned, “You may not be aware but the current system forces farmers to sell their produce through government-established market yards where they have to pay a brokerage of about 2 to 3 per cent and market tax of about 5 to 6 per cent. Market committees collect this tax supposedly for ‘rural development’, but they are controlled by politicians, and their accounts are not audited for years.”
“The revenue is often swindled by corrupt politicians controlling these committees. The new laws give a choice to the farmers to either continue to sell in the existing market yards or sell to anyone anywhere in the country and that too without paying any tax,” Gulati added within the letter to Greta.
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