Dr. Smruti Smita Mohapatra

Regional IYRP Support Group of South Asia, Jammu & Kashmir
simplysmruti@gmail.com

Dr. Shivani Das

Veterinarian, Odisha

Dr. Ravia Gupta

Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Jammu

Abstract

Election manifestos represent the political standing of parties and are often discussed, debated, and compared during elections. The manifestos of political parties, released before every election, are the only documents that authentically explain the position of each political party. The Sustainable Development Goals – related election manifesto must call for the application of three principles – the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle, and the biosafety principle. Public policies in India should focus on the 3Rs – reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Keywords: Elections, manifesto, sustainable development goals, biosafety, public polity

Introduction

Election manifestos are frequently studied, argued, and evaluated during elections as they reflect the political positions of the various parties, and the only papers that truly define each political party’s stance are their manifestos, which are made public before every election. These cover a wide range of topics and assist voters in making sensible choices on anything from foreign policy to employment, health care, and education.

Out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by United Nations, this paper discusses the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle, and the biosafety principle. These principles when integrated in election manifesto will help a candidate to ensure his commitment to sustainable development and thus appeal to voters concerned with global challenges. Based on the data available the paper discusses how an election manifesto must act as a roadmap for political parties in India to achieve sustainable development goals agenda with a long-term vision.

Background

During COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference held in Glasgow with the participation of over 200 countries, India would achieve the target of net-zero emissions by 2070. Alongside reducing our carbon emissions, other commitments were made, including reaching 500GW non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, obtaining 50% of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2030, reducing total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now to 2030, and lowering the carbon intensity of the economy by 45% by 2030 over 2005 levels. While the commitments at the International Summit reflect the positive steps taken by countries across the globe, the alarming rate of climate change necessitates tangible interventions. Thus, an election manifesto must aim to provide directions to political parties in India towards a long-term vision of achieving sustainable development goals.

Discussion

In the latest IPCC report of 2023, it is highlighted that there is more than a 50% chance that the global temperature rise will reach or surpass 1.5 degrees Celsius between 2021 and 2040. The effects of climate change are expected to be more severe in the global south, as the report mentions that in the next decade, climate change will drive 32-132 million more people into extreme poverty and have a severe impact on biodiversity and ecology. Therefore, adaptation measures to the alarming crisis are needed right away. There is a need for a manifesto addressing the need for a green manifesto by reiterating that Article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees everyone a right to life, which is dignified. A right to a dignified life is not possible if the environment is degraded on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, the Right to a Pollution-Free Environment is a fundamental right of every human being. In India, political discourses determine the policies and initiatives of the government. The manifestos of political parties, released before every election, are the only documents that authentically explain the position of each political party. However, these documents lack depth and vision, especially on issues of sustainability and climate change. The consultation workshop stressed that our focus in the last several years has been to enrich these PP manifestos. The primary objective of this workshop is to generate debate and facilitate the development of policies towards climate action and ecological conservation. Dr. Purshottam Reddy emphasized that “Development has to be sustainable, and there is no other choice.” He further added that the Green Manifesto is an essential document because there is now an urgent need for reforms and measures for active intervention. On this path, SDGs can be a powerful instrument for leveraging transformative change that addresses inequity and injustice first. Despite India being a signatory to the international program of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), not much thought and action have gone into this, both by the government and the people alike. In India, political will is seen as a powerful tool for change. However, political parties are yet to take cognizance of SDGs and the need to integrate environmental concerns into them.

People-centric Manifesto

Dr. Narsimha Reddy stated that “SDGs provide a comprehensive framework for transformation, including constituencies of the poor, disempowered, and downtrodden, even while addressing ecological concerns.” Since India is one of the signatories to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), loading SDGs onto political party manifestos can be one method of pushing India deeper into the commitments made at the Paris Conference on Climate Change (COP21) in 2015. At the Rio Conference in 1992, it was emphasized that economic, social, political, and environmental aspects are interlinked. The Green Manifesto puts Nature at the center of employment, the economy, development, and growth while asserting that the current model of development is not sustainable. Therefore, a paradigm change is needed. Economic measures such as GDP contribute to environmental destruction because they do not account for biodiversity loss. A better alternative of measurement is the Better Life Index and the National Happiness Index. The environmental measures laid out by different court judgments, especially the 1986 Supreme Court Judgment which gave direction to establish the “Environmental Protection Act,” have still not been implemented. Dr. Purshottam Reddy stated that “there are still no autonomous authorities to implement various environmental acts which result in widespread climate disaster.” Further, he emphasized that the word ‘sustainable’ should be included in the preamble of the country, and the Directive Principle should include Sustainable Development Goals. India has launched International Coalition such as International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) to address climate change challenges as posted on 2 Feb, 2023 on PIB, Delhi.

Dr. Donthi Narasimha Reddy, the principal author of Green Manifesto addresses three key dimensions of ecological sustainability, diversity, and equity. It emphasizes diversity and plurality of knowledge and expertise.” Green Manifesto argues for an integrated resource planning approach, which interlinks economic growth (livelihoods, green skills, etc.), equity (access, subsidies, quality of service), and nature sustainability (internalizing impacts, promoting climate-friendly energy sources, and food systems). The Green Manifesto calls for employment creation by shifting economic priorities to responsible production and sustainable consumption. Green skills have to be given priority, even though universal education should receive a level of policy attention. The SDG-related election manifesto must call for the application of 3 principles – the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle, and the biosafety principle. Public policies in India should focus on the 3Rs – reduce, reuse, and recycle – wherever reduction in material consumption and material change is not possible. Political parties are being called upon to increase access to zero chemical-residue food systems (natural, organic). Further, gender equality is both a human rights principle and a precondition for sustainable, people-centered development. In general, some path-breaking suggestions include food, water, land, and health linkages that should have to be acknowledged, through appropriate, transformative public policies, India’s agriculture should be de-chemicalized and decarbonized. An annual water budget would be developed and presented in the national Parliament and respective State Legislatures, Indian economy should be decarbonized and as part of this, the National Fibre Policy should encourage natural fibers, an equal opportunities commission should be created to address all kinds of discrimination, cities should be production, consumption, and recycling centers of air, water, food, and energy, phase out plastic production and petrol & diesel vehicles by 2030, the environment impact assessment of the annual National Budget must be done, restoration of major ecological systems in the Eastern Ghats, Himalayas, Western Ghats, and northeast India, a national environment protection authority needs to be established, a green manifesto calls for achieving sustainable development, reducing future economic, environmental, and social costs, strengthening economic competitiveness, and reducing poverty, power to people – local self-government should also be strengthened, rejuvenation of the rural economy, ecosystem conservation, land restoration, and livelihood support, common property resources ownership with people and villages, food security through diversity and local production, public policy development process review – consultative and participatory, poverty eradication, education for all, health for all, support to farmers in soil conservation, agroecology, and remunerative prices, decarbonization of the Indian economy – phasing out coal and fossil fuels, welfare – women, children, youth, and old and labour, clean drinking water, housing for the poor, land use policy, including distribution and redistribution, cooperatives to be strengthened, civil society organizations should be liberalized from state control, trade review – local production to get priority, autonomy to constitutional institutions, such as the Election Commission, Central Information Commission, and Reserve Bank of India, review of political parties’ role in elections – regulation is the goal, implementing a Carbon tax with progressive rebates, rebates can be larger for low-income households. The revenue from the Carbon tax can be directed toward clean energy initiatives, green technology transfer and capacity building- this would allow developing countries to pursue low Carbon development pathways without compromising their rights to development, in India, near about 27 % population reside in forests or are dependent on forests and are known as indigenous people. So, lawmakers should give importance to indigenous people’s rights. Climate change can affect indigenous communities more as they rely heavily on natural resources for their livelihoods and cultural practices. Coal, a major player in India’s energy sector needs to be regulated and shifted towards green energy. Forests that are carbon sinks need sustainable management from the cooperative efforts of local communities and government. The natural carbon-rich ecosystems like forests and wetlands should be conserved and enhanced. Long-term low carbon development strategy; India’s seven key transitions to low carbon development pathways. One of these transitions will focus on promoting adaption in urban design, energy and material efficiency in buildings, and sustainable urbanisation. There is a need for the Climate Change Considerations or issues to be a part of the law structure, also known as Climate Conscious Lawyering. The lawyers dealing with such types of cases should be much more aware of the reality of climate change and how it interacts with daily legal problems. Lawyers are also required to draw upon existing legal tools to make climate-protective arguments. India needs to expand its take on solar energy projects like floating solar and offshore wind projects and schemes for pastoralists in India must be inclusive.

Conclusion

The world’s largest democratic country- India’s people have the highest power to force their political parties to include climatic and ecological concerns in their political parties’ manifesto during the election. This would not be possible unless the people are aware of the consequences of Climate change, how it affects the standard of their living, and how it is a big threat to their lives. Many seminars and workshops should be done regarding green skills, the protection of biodiversity, and environmental laws and regulations.

References

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