Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) in its Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report published in 2015 states that increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions together with other anthropogenic drivers such as aerosols, land cover and solar radiation are extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of the observed warming since mid-20th century.
To cater to this the Indian government launched National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) in 2008, which outlines India’s strategy to meet the challenge of Climate Change.
Two of the eight National Missions, i.e., National Solar Mission and National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency relate to mitigation of emissions and include ambitious programmes aimed at generating solar power and conserving energy.
Energy Efficiency mission envisages setting norms for achieving energy efficiency with perform, achieve and trade scheme. Further, public and private sector entities participate in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, which helps in reducing emissions.
These initiatives have the effect of reducing carbon emissions. In addition, the government has initiated a range of policies and programmes to respond to the challenge of climate change. Some of them are:
a) More than five times increase in renewable capacity from 35 GW (upto March 2015) to 175 GW by 2022.
b) National Solar Mission scaled up five-fold from 20 GW to 100 GW by 2022. Kochi Airport is the World’s first airport to fully run on solar power.
c) Solar powered toll plazas envisaged for all toll collection booths across the country.
d) Green energy corridor projects being rolled out to ensure evacuation from renewable energy plants.
e) Nationwide campaign for energy conservation launched with the target to save 10 per cent of current energy consumption by the year 2018-19.
f) Smart Cities Mission to develop new generation cities by building a clean and sustainable environment.
g) Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is a new urban renewal mission for 500 cities across India.
h) ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ (Clean India Mission) to make country clean and litter free by 2019 and promote waste management.
i) Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles (FAME India) to promote faster adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles.
j) Under ethanol blending programme, the government has scaled up blending targets from 5 to 10 per cent to promote blending of ethanol with petrol and its use as an alternative fuel.
k) Leapfrogging to BS-VI emission norms by 1st April 2020.
l) Eight-fold increase of coal cess in a short span of two years.
m) Initiation of project green ports to make major ports cleaner and greener
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[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]2021 WEF Global Gender Gap report, which confirmed its 2016 finding of a decline in worldwide progress towards gender parity.
Over 2.8 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. As many as 104 countries still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is astonishing that a handful of countries still allow husbands to legally stop their wives from working.
Globally, women’s participation in the labour force is estimated at 63% (as against 94% of men who participate), but India’s is at a dismal 25% or so currently. Most women are in informal and vulnerable employment—domestic help, agriculture, etc—and are always paid less than men.
Recent reports from Assam suggest that women workers in plantations are paid much less than men and never promoted to supervisory roles. The gender wage gap is about 24% globally, and women have lost far more jobs than men during lockdowns.
The problem of gender disparity is compounded by hurdles put up by governments, society and businesses: unequal access to social security schemes, banking services, education, digital services and so on, even as a glass ceiling has kept leadership roles out of women’s reach.
Yes, many governments and businesses had been working on parity before the pandemic struck. But the global gender gap, defined by differences reflected in the social, political, intellectual, cultural and economic attainments or attitudes of men and women, will not narrow in the near future without all major stakeholders working together on a clear agenda—that of economic growth by inclusion.
The WEF report estimates 135 years to close the gap at our current rate of progress based on four pillars: educational attainment, health, economic participation and political empowerment.
India has slipped from rank 112 to 140 in a single year, confirming how hard women were hit by the pandemic. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two Asian countries that fared worse.
Here are a few things we must do:
One, frame policies for equal-opportunity employment. Use technology and artificial intelligence to eliminate biases of gender, caste, etc, and select candidates at all levels on merit. Numerous surveys indicate that women in general have a better chance of landing jobs if their gender is not known to recruiters.
Two, foster a culture of gender sensitivity. Take a review of current policies and move from gender-neutral to gender-sensitive. Encourage and insist on diversity and inclusion at all levels, and promote more women internally to leadership roles. Demolish silos to let women grab potential opportunities in hitherto male-dominant roles. Work-from-home has taught us how efficiently women can manage flex-timings and productivity.
Three, deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the education and skilling of women and girls at the bottom of the pyramid. CSR allocations to toilet building, the PM-Cares fund and firms’ own trusts could be re-channelled for this.
Four, get more women into research and development (R&D) roles. A study of over 4,000 companies found that more women in R&D jobs resulted in radical innovation. It appears women score far higher than men in championing change. If you seek growth from affordable products and services for low-income groups, women often have the best ideas.
Five, break barriers to allow progress. Cultural and structural issues must be fixed. Unconscious biases and discrimination are rampant even in highly-esteemed organizations. Establish fair and transparent human resource policies.
Six, get involved in local communities to engage them. As Michael Porter said, it is not possible for businesses to sustain long-term shareholder value without ensuring the welfare of the communities they exist in. It is in the best interest of enterprises to engage with local communities to understand and work towards lowering cultural and other barriers in society. It will also help connect with potential customers, employees and special interest groups driving the gender-equity agenda and achieve better diversity.