Climate change

With drought affecting large parts of the country, there are question marks on an energy policy that stresses thermal power plants. The vagaries of climate change will make such plants even more inept.

Farmers in India could be forgiven for assuming that bureaucrats, political parties and their representatives want them to quit agriculture. In fact, without actually announcing that agriculture in any form is injurious to health and only death can end the agony of the disease, these sections do their best to communicate this message subtly.

The Paris Agreement on Climate Change has reiterated the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities, but has not referred to historical responsibility. How important is historical responsibility and what does it imply? How is one going to differentiate without historical responsibility? What would be India's responsibility? How do India's Intended Nationally Determined Contribution targets compare with its responsibility?

The growing focus on climate policy in India is not matched by an equivalent level of attention to institutions . Effective institutions are also needed for the design, coordination and implementation of policy. This paper examines the functioning of institutions, organised around three periods: pre-2007; 2007 to 2009 and 2010 to mid-2014. Several key themes emerge: First, the formation of climate institutions has often been ad hoc and is inadequately geared to India's co-benefits based approach to climate policy. Second, there is a lack of continuity in institutions, once established. Third, coordination across government has been uneven and episodic. Fourth, while various efforts at knowledge generation have been attempted, they do not add up to a mechanism for sustained and consistent strategic thinking on climate change. Fifth, the overall capacity within government remains limited. Sixth, capacity shortfalls are exacerbated by closed structures of governance that only partially draw on external expertise.

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