So the Indian Government has finally come out with its Climate Action Plan. Many international media has give
n significance to it. CAP was released by none other than the PM. The pitch seems to be the old one: let’s suck in the name of millions of people. How?. Well it’s like this: Indians have been pulling the fast one on the international community with the nonsense of per capita emission. India’s per capita carbon emission stands at 1.02 metric tons wherein “developed” (sure developed!!) countries per capita emission is many times, USA per capita emission stands at whooping 20 metric tons !!. Therefore the US and European countries are worst polluters is the pitch. But the volume of carbon emission of India remains one of the highest in the world.
n significance to it. CAP was released by none other than the PM. The pitch seems to be the old one: let’s suck in the name of millions of people. How?. Well it’s like this: Indians have been pulling the fast one on the international community with the nonsense of per capita emission. India’s per capita carbon emission stands at 1.02 metric tons wherein “developed” (sure developed!!) countries per capita emission is many times, USA per capita emission stands at whooping 20 metric tons !!. Therefore the US and European countries are worst polluters is the pitch. But the volume of carbon emission of India remains one of the highest in the world.This blogger had written this earlier also that the worst culprits are the richer section. Poverty is not the polluter at the most it could make surrounding unhygienic which is not same as polluting (even this could be disputed as there are example wherein people with low capita income don’t necessarily lack hygiene or create unhygienic surroundings. On the contrary they are acutely aware of this reality- Kerala is a case study on this. Also I have seen more washing of cloths in slums of big cities than anywhere else). The per capita energy consumption as well as carbon emission of elite section (as also the increasingly aggressive upper middle class) in India is comparable to that of worst offe
nders in West. This section probably is less than 5 to10% of the population mostly based in big metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and so on. They are influential and can definitely pressurize the Governments to work in their favor. Also consider the Gini index -that measures inequality of income distribution, is increasing steadily in India varying in recent times between a high of 37%-42% (incidentally this index is more 'sensitive' than over rated and much celebrated BSE!!). Further, the inequality in access to clean drinking water, decent housing, good education, proper health care, etc.- is rising. The scene is same around the world the UN Human Development Report notes that incomes are distributed most unequally across the world’s people, with a Gini coefficient of 0.66 globally. The richest 5% in the world corner 114 times the income of the poorest 5%. The richest 1% have as much as the poorest 57%. The 2.5 crore richest Americans earn as much as 200 crore of the world’s poorest people. The poorest 20% in the world saw their share of the global income dip from 2.3% to 1.4% in the past 30 years. Meanwhile, the share of the richest 20% rose from 70% to 85%. With the hogwash
of per capita within national boundary most of these offenders are trying to hide behind millions of people whose energy consumption and carbon footprint is minimal. This is not acceptable. The international community should call this bluff. Just because people live within a geographical entity referred to as Nation is not the reason why they are similar in energy consumption or carbon emission. Green House Gases affects the whole planet, the boundaries of nations are insignificant. If the policy makers and concerned people are serious about reducing carbon emission then they need to see the world as one planet and not different nations. 
