‘Monsoons and miracles’ is a Green Futures SpecialPublication, produced in association with the UK Departmentfor Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and InterfaceFLOR,Unilever plc and WWF-India.

Defra: www.defra.gov.uk

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Editor: Martin Wright

Consultant editor: Vedant Walia

Production: Hannah Bullock

Design: Declan Buckley

Design consultant: Jenny Searle

Front cover image: Martin Wright

Printed on Revive Silk by Beacon Press, using their pureprintenvironmental print technology and vegetable based inks.

Published January 2008.

© Green Futures 2008

Registered charity no. 1040519

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India’s search for a sustainable future

monsoons &miracles

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“India Shining.” The then-ruling BJP’s slogan at the 2004 election neatlycaptured what, on the surface at least, is a sparkling shift inthe country’s fortunes.

The turn of the century has seen India transformed. Barelya decade ago, it was widely seen as a typical, if huge, thirdworld nation: its government choked in bureaucracy, businesssmothered by state control, infrastructure an embarrassment– and its economy at the mercy of seasonal rains.

Now the long-rolling economic boom is turning thehearts of Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore into globalmegacities more like Shanghai than old India, studded withthe reflective glass towers of corporate HQs. Annual GDPgrowth hovers on the edge of double figures; engineering,energy, transport and, above all, software are booming. AndIndia has expertly welded its mastery of the Internet to itsimperial legacy of the English language, in order to seize thelion’s share of the world’s outsourcing.

The boom feeds, and is fed by, a rapidly burgeoningmiddle class, fast embracing the ‘essentials’ of consumeraffluence, from cars and foreign holidays to Western-styleapartments bristling with the latest electronics.

Indian universities are turning out growing numbers ofgraduates tutored for life in the global economy: nearly halfa million qualified in computing and engineering last yearalone. Leading companies talk of recruiting up to 40,000

people a year – each. Those white bodies by the pool in thebusiness districts aren’t tourists – they’re trainees, ormanagers, even, lured from Europe or the States by salarieswell within the grasp of India’s business giants. These haveshape-shifted in remarkably short order from state-cosseteddinosaurs to tigerish corporate raiders, pouncing on preyfrom Tetley Tea to Corus Steel.

Some of the wealth even manages to trickle down todistant villages: farms where family members work in citiesor overseas often boast breeze-block extensions, sometimeseven a satellite dish. And thanks to the quickfire spread ofinternet kiosks and mobile phones – with six million newsubscribers every month – the rural poor have a betterchance of plugging into the wider economy than ever before.

A recent report from Goldman Sachs predicts India’seconomy will overtake Italy, France and the UK within thedecade; and then the US, and be second only to China by 2050.

And yet… beneath, and occasionally breaking through,that shining surface is a rash of challenges which could yetderail the Indian express.

Pervasive corruption undermines the efficiency of bothbusiness and the public sector. The state struggles to providedecent health and security. The energy infrastructure isunderpowered and unreliable. Two-thirds of Indians have noaccess to sanitation, and over 1,000 a day die of diarrhoeaalone, along with other easily preventable diseases.

The much-vaunted rising tide of India’s economic surge

The sky’s the limitmay have floated some boats, but it has swamped others –and left many high and dry, cut off from the boomzones bydistance, corruption or just lack of skills. For all its economicsheen, India languishes at 126th in the world rankings onhuman development. No wonder the economy is sometimessummed up as ‘Silicon Valley in sub-Saharan Africa’.

The uneven spread of wealth has opened up a yawningrich-poor divide. Land grabs, legal and otherwise, arefuelling increasingly violent protests. Dispossessed ordesperate villagers make ready recruits for the Naxalites – aloose array of leftist guerrillas who, inspired by the successof the Maoists in Nepal, are increasing their influence acrossa swathe of remote rural areas in central and eastern states.

All these problems are being compounded by increasingenvironmental stress. According to a study carried out byThe Energy Research Institute, environmental degradation isalready costing India up to 10% of its annual GDP. Thedevastation wreaked by the 2004 tsunami highlighted India’svulnerability to climate shocks. And as climate change kicksin harder, so will its consequences for a country alreadyfacing growing problems of soil erosion, water shortagesand forest loss.

But as this Special Publication shows, between thethreatening clouds there are numerous sparks of promise.Economic growth may have fuelled pollution, but it is alsoseeing a massive expansion in renewable energies. Percapita, India remains a relatively ‘low carbon’ nation, which

holds out the prospect of it earning significant wealth viacarbon trading. Studies suggest that the Clean DevelopmentMechanism alone could bring in well over $1 billion annually.The success of the mass switch from diesel to compressednatural gas proves that, where the political will is there, localgovernments can act decisively to tackle environmentalproblems. And across the country, grassroots innovations inagriculture, energy and water management continue toconfound the sceptics.

And there is real potential, too, in the growing co-operation on these issues between India and the UK. Thelingering afterglow of the Raj has long been eclipsed byIndia’s dynamic economy. India is now one of the largestsources of foreign investment into the UK. Over the past twoyears, foreign direct investment flows from India to the UKhave actually exceeded those from the UK to India.

India’s long traditions of self-reliance and ‘right living’, asexpounded by Gandhi, and still embodied in thedetermination and commitment of community leaders andinnovators across the country, could be a powerful source ofstrength to meet the sustainability challenge. Faced with theimmense task of tackling, and adapting to, climate change,those traditions are perhaps needed now more than ever. ForIndia, poised at the dawn of what should be Asia’s century,the sky is the limit – in every sense…

Martin Wright, Editor

Delhi: serenity and smog. The capital claims to be cleaner andgreener, but with air pollution on the rise again, there’s nogrounds for complacency.

– in every sense

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MW: What’s the single thing that most needs to change in India?RP: We need to change mindsets. As people becomeincreasingly prosperous, they’re wanting to consume on thesame opulent scale as the rich in developed countries.They’ve borrowed images of a Western lifestyle. They’vebeen conditioned to feel that the ‘Good Life’ means a two-or three-car family, air-conditioned, energy-hungry homes,and so on. We need to shift that value system. MW: So how do you change that? Is there a particularly‘Indian’ way?RP: We really need someone like Gandhi, who practisedwhat he preached! We’ve almost forgotten him now. But weneed someone who can reignite that commitment, to bringto the fore all he was saying, and set it in today’s context. It’seven more relevant today than it was in his time.MW: But meanwhile, what practical action can government take? RP: It should use the market to move people in the rightdirection. So, those goods and services which impose anunsustainable impact on the ecosystem need to be taxed ina manner which reflects that. We need both regulations andmarket instruments. Regulations to make buildings andfactories and appliances much more energy-efficient, forexample. Higher taxation on inefficient cars, with greatersupport for public transport – particularly the railways, whichurgently need modernising and expanding... MW: There’s an argument that says such intervention willaffect Indian competitiveness....RP: Yes, but actions like this can actually make us morecompetitive! At present, a lot of our industry is highly energyintensive, and water intensive, too. These are resourceswhich are coming under growing pressure. If we can learn touse natural resources more efficiently, the cost of productionwill come down, and so we’ll be able to compete moreeffectively in the world market. If India were to develop anduse renewables and other sustainable technologies on alarge scale, it would provide Indian companies with a hugeglobal market. We’re already seeing that in sectors like windenergy, where Suzlon [Asia’s largest turbine manufacturer]has expanded very rapidly.MW: You know more than most about the threat of climatechange. How grave a threat is it to India?RP: Oh, it’s immense – immense. We can expect more watershortages, more heat waves, floods and droughts... all these

are serious enough in India as it is; climate change will makethem more so – particularly for agriculture. Farmers areseeing the impact now. The wheat yields are already fallingin the ‘granary of India’ – in Punjab, Haryana and UttarPradesh.MW: Are people becoming more aware of the danger?RP: Definitely. They can see the weather changing, andthat’s shaping their perception. The IPCC reports on thelikely impacts in India produced an explosion of interest inthe media.MW: So will the government shift its position and acceptbinding emissions targets?RP: I doubt it – at least not until developed countries reducetheir own emissions on a significant scale... But I think areappraisal is in hand. The prime minister has set up acouncil on climate change which he himself is chairing, andthat is hugely significant.

It’s important for people here in India to realise that youcan’t have countries like ourselves and China, which will bemajor emitters of greenhouse gases in the future, continuingmerrily on a different path to the rest of the world. We allneed to be part of a larger effort. After all, we will both beseverely affected by climate change.MW: China and India are increasingly spoken of in the samebreath by Western commentators concerned at their pace ofgrowth. So do you think we’ll ever see a joint ‘Chindian’stance on global issues?RP: At the moment we seem to be competing – particularlyover energy resources in other countries. If we workedtogether more, it would be of substantial benefit – forourselves, and for the rest of the world. We both have alarge rural population, for example, so we’ve got to come upwith a way to create sustainable energy solutions for ruralareas. There’s ample opportunity for co-operation here. Weneed to exchange ideas, information, set up joint ventures...There’s not much of that happening – yet. But I know for afact there’s a reappraisal of both countries’ approachesunderway. So we could see them taking [a more proactiveattitude]. It’s just a matter of time.MW: So are you optimistic about the future?RP: Absolutely. Just now, there’s a window of opportunityfor action. We must do the best we can to use it.

Dr Rajendra Pachauri is director-general of The Energy andResources Institute. www.teriin.org

As chair of the UN’s IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change, RajendraPachauri effectively shared the 2007Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. Nowhe talks exclusively to Martin Wrightabout his hopes and fears for hisnative India.

“We need a new Gandhi”

On my visits to India I have seen the fantastic potential thiscountry has to show real leadership on sustainabledevelopment and climate change.

In this increasingly interconnected world, countries willnot be able to overcome dangerous climate change on theirown. India, with a population of over a billion, has hugeresources and environmental wealth: for example, itsbiodiversity is one of the world’s richest, and its forests act asimportant carbon sinks. It is also a great repository ofknowledge and expertise in the environment and sustainabledevelopment.

Environment SecretaryHilary Benn introduces theSustainable DevelopmentDialogues.

“India has fantasticpotential”

“Not just conversations between men in suits”

If the world as a whole is to shift decisively onto a moresustainable path, then its leading nations need to co-operate urgently to find practical ways of making thathappen.

It sounds obvious, but it’s a lot easier said than done.It is one thing to sign pious agreements pledging bilateralco-operation – quite another to bring those accords to life.

That’s the starting point for the UK-India SustainableDevelopment and Climate Change Dialogues – a cross-government initiative which is led by the Department forEnvironment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests, India. The partnership, whichstems from the Prime Ministerial joint statement in 2004,was signed in 2005, and aims to adopt a fresh andproductive approach to the challenges of creating moresustainable development.

Defra, in close collaboration with the Foreign andCommonwealth Office and the Department forInternational Development, also has Dialogues with fourother key regional players: China, South Africa, Mexicoand Brazil. The focus throughout is on practical initiatives– ones which produce innovative partnerships betweenkey players – not just diplomatic ‘conversations betweenmen in suits’.

In the case of India, there are four main themes to theDialogues:

l Corporate social responsibility l Sustainable consumption and production l Natural resource management, including sustainable

forestry l Illegal trade in wildlife

These are well-established areas of co-operation betweenthe two countries, and also reflect both the opportunitiesthrown up by India’s rapid economic growth – and theconsiderable environmental impacts this creates, not onlyin India itself, but increasingly worldwide. Through itstrade with India, the UK also bears a share ofresponsibility for those impacts. The two countries havemuch to learn from one another, and sharing goodpractice is an excellent way of doing this.

IPCC Chair Dr Rajendra Pachauri, for one, is optimisticabout the potential for UK-Indian collaboration: “Thereare huge areas where [we] can work together for mutualbenefit. I personally feel there are great opportunities forjoint research and development, particularly in renewableenergy, and in… climate adaptation. And there could wellbe the potential to implement joint projects in othercountries, too. There needs to be more discussion on allthis.” – Martin Wright

For more details on the background and aim of the Dialogues, see GF60’s Greening the Dragon special publication, p31, and visit:www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/international/dialogues

The UK’slongstanding linkswith India aregrowing strongerevery day, inparticular throughtrade and travel. Theyare why we see theUK-India SustainableDevelopment andClimate ChangeDialogues as the wayto make real progresson the commitmentswe made at the World Summit on Sustainable Developmentand on fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals. Weneed strong international partnerships with countries likeIndia which bring enthusiasm, new ideas and innovativeways of working to this task.

In today’s world, governments cannot do all these thingsalone. They need the support of companies and civil societygroups to improve the condition of people and of the planet.This is why I am really pleased at the range of stakeholdersinvolved in this dialogue – from the Confederation of IndianIndustry to the University of Bangor.

Despite an Indian, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairing the leadglobal body on climate change, the issue in India is virtuallya leadership-free zone.

Although not challenging the Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change (IPCC)’s scientific conclusions, the Indiangovernment seems in no rush to change. Prodipto Ghosh,architect of the government’s climate strategy, has said:“India is certainly not responsible for the mess. We are, infact, victims of it. So why expect us to tighten our belts?”

This sums up the government’s position for much of the past decade. As a poor developing nation, with percapita carbon emissions one twentieth that of the US, runs the argument, India’s ‘Right to Development’ cannot be compromised. Any emissions reductions must becompensated; and richer nations with greater historicalresponsibility for the problem must bear the brunt of the costs.

From a climate equity perspective, there is merit to India’sposition. But when it comes to climate impact, thegovernment’s position is short-sighted and dangerouslycomplacent. The global climate does not distinguishbetween borders. Greenhouse gas emissions being pumpedinto the sky do not come with country flags attached. What

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example of the gains to be made in the building sectoralone. Economists have calculated that bringing thecontinent’s building stock up to standards set by the EUEnergy Performance Directive could create 530,000 jobsevery year. There are lessons here for India.

Addressing climate change could create new skill setsand new markets for India as a leader in climate adaptationand mitigation technologies. The Dutch have done thisbefore us. They transformed their national disadvantage – acountry lying below sea level and prone to disastrousflooding – into an asset, and now lead the world in flooddefence technologies. There is no reason why a confident,

to take the moral high ground if our actions accelerate theevacuation of people from poorer, low-lying states or smallisland nations.

This is not about the politics of blame; it is aboutrecognising a shared dilemma and grasping the necessity forcollective leadership. To succeed, climate change must bereframed not as an agenda of fear and entitlement, but oneof growth and opportunity. We need to grow to provideprosperity and dignity for our people. But in a carbon-constrained world, that growth needs to be clean and green.

This need not be as hard as it seems. The money and thebrains are there. Green is the new gold, and capital marketsare awash with money for low-carbon technologies. Indiahas more dollar billionaires than Japan, and an army ofdomestic venture capitalists eager to sniff out green markets.The $30 billion carbon trading market is growing fast inIndia, which is now one of the biggest sellers of CleanDevelopment Mechanism credits worldwide.

Corporate India has heard the penny dropping. ITservices company ITC’s new building in Gurgaon is Platinum-rated by the US Green Building Council. Bangalore’s hybridREVA car is enjoying export success around the world. India’swind power giant, Suzlon, is now the fifth largest globallyand is poised to expand domestically. IT consultant Infosys ishelping build a foundation for Indian companies to benefitfrom carbon emissions management.

And it’s not only a story of big business responding. Atthe small and medium end of the market, Indianentrepreneurs are breaking new ground in renewables andenergy efficiency. The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy– the only one of their type – have had more award-winnersfrom India than from any other country [see p14].

Gearing the economy around sustainability may also helpIndia address two of its most pressing problems – highunemployment and ‘jobless growth’. Europe provides an

January 2008

matters is the total volume entering our fragile atmosphere.At present, India is the fifth largest – and growing – emitter,at a time when the window for remedial action is shrinking.

Yet the debate in India has been inaudible. The approachdocument to the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012) onlymentions the words ‘climate change’ twice in its 109 pages;the capital city’s newly adopted Delhi Master Plan avoids theissue altogether.

India’s climate position is a consequence of theschizophrenia of being both poor and rich at the same time. It speaks as the weak and insecure India, not the India of hope and confidence that seeks to stride the worldstage. The emotional message it sends out is of victimisationand fear.

India cannot have it both ways – we cannot be weak insome fora and strong in others. Which India gets to set ourapproach to the climate challenge – and the mindset, spiritand attitude it brings – matters.

A more enlightened approach would take ownership ofthe problem, facing up to the fact that our emissions now –at a time when the implications of our actions are crystalclear – are not without consequence. They risk turning usfrom climate victim into climate perpetrator. It will be harder

6 January 2008

Climate Change:

What are we waiting for?As climate change kicks in, it is time forIndians to wake up to the challenge anddemand more of our political class – and more of ourselves, argues Malini Mehra.

“On climate change,the government speaksas the weak andinsecure India, not theIndia of hope andconfidence that seeks tostride the world stage”

Salt of the earth: drought resulting from climate change coulddry out rivers – as here in Gujarat – and make farmlandsinfertile through salination.

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India currently imports about 78% of its annual crude oilrequirements, and rising – a huge drain on nationalresources. An imaginative climate change strategy wouldaddress this dependence head on, and chart a path towardsa low-carbon economic future that had more of a chance ofmeeting the energy needs both of industry and of India’s masses.

To help deliver this, the Prime Minister’s Office shouldcreate a new national policy platform, involving the four keyenergy ministries: Power, Coal, Petroleum and Natural Gas,and New and Renewable Energy; as well as the departmentsresponsible for India’s three-stage nuclear programme.

India needs to make major investments in infrastructureand transportation systems. We need to ensure that theseare climate-resilient, and cost- and energy-efficient over thelong-term. Government leadership could facilitate this bycreating national frameworks, setting guidelines, andincentivising public and private investments.

Prioritising low-carbon technologies today will yieldbenefits tomorrow in the form of an industrial economymuch more ready to compete in a carbon-constrained future.It will add rather than depreciate value for the country.

Studies have shown the diversity of measures that can betaken today. For example, all new housing stock could bebuilt to the highest possible standards of energy efficiency,and integrate microgeneration technologies such as solarand wind power. Combining this with technologies such assolar hot water systems and energy-efficient electrical goodscan greatly reduce future energy demands and associatedcarbon emissions. We have seen that this is already an area where Indian enterprise is alive and well. Governmentleadership to incentivise these sectors could reap dividends in climate security, employment generation and economic development.

But leadership need not only come from centralgovernment. In India, state-level responsibilities areconsiderable and it may just be a question of time before –as in the US – we see a clamour for change at the sub-national level, and mayors and municipal leaders begin torise to the challenge themselves.

Dealing with climate change could help provide Indiawith a new sense of national purpose. But it demands thateach one of us ask more of ourselves. The gains are there to

be realised. What are we waiting for?

Malini Mehra is CEO of the Centre for SocialMarkets, based in Kolkata. www.csmworld.org

pro-active India cannot be similarly versatile. We have thetalent; we just need the ambition and the leadership.

So: the technology is there, and the economics arepersuasive – but can we get the politics right?

There are signs that change may be coming. On June5th, World Environment Day, the prime minister, ManmohanSingh, admitted that “our future will be at peril” unlesspeople change their lifestyles. He has recently spoken of theneed for a national action plan and established agenda-setting committees.

Helping him deliver this is a task for us all – at all levels.But first we need to democratise the debate and move itfrom the arcane to the public. Climate Challenge India,launched by the Centre for Social Markets in 2007, is anattempt to do this. It seeks to drive a national debate andgenerate positive energy within India on climate change.Participants at Challenge events have called for role modelsand more visible leadership. Even small gestures and symbolscan carry weight. Imagine what a signal it would send if theprime minister swapped his car for a low-emissions Reva?

To paraphrase the business bestseller Green to Gold,smart companies use climate change to “innovate, createvalue, and build competitive advantage.” Smart nations canafford to do no less.

The prime minister should signal a new approach toclimate change, explicitly recognising the benefits ofearly and responsible action for front-line statessuch as India.

January 2008

2007 brought ‘wild weather’ to South Asia.The worst floodsin living memory killed thousands and displaced over 20million more. But they were just a taste of what awaits Indiaas the planet heats up, say climate scientists.

Average summer rainfall across the subcontinent couldincrease by about 10%, largely because a warmer IndianOcean will be able to hold more water. But it will be thewrong kind of rain and in the wrong place. It will fall lessfrequently, but much more fiercely; there will be fewer rainydays, but the number and intensity of destructive rains, suchas those which triggered last summer’s floods, will increase.

Since rain-fed agriculture makes up 70% of farmed land,increased drought will have a devastating impact on India’srural economy. It will struggle to feed its fast-growingpopulation – expected to hit 1.5 billion by 2030. By the endof this century, crop yields could be 70% less than they arenow, raising the prospect of mass starvation.

The misery will be compounded by sea levels, which areset to rise by at least 40 centimetres by 2100, according tothe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),inundating vast areas, including some of India’s most denselypopulated cities, whose populations will be forced tomigrate inland, or build defensive dykes. Already, islands andvillages in the Bay of Bengal have been lost to sea-level rise,causing a drift of ecological refugees to Kolkata.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC [see p5], lastyear warned that the rural poor, who make up 70% ofIndia’s population, would have no choice but to migrate tolarger towns and cities, compounding existing problems ofinadequate urban infrastructure and burgeoning slumpopulations. Meanwhile, temperatures will increase all yearround, with heat during the dry pre-monsoon months ofApril and May (already so high some years that they killthousands), soaring to dangerous new levels.

Scientists are quick to acknowledge thatpredicting the Indian weather is a

“Climate change mustbe reframed, not asan agenda of fear

and entitlement, butone of growth and

opportunity”

“Green is the new gold:capital markets are

awash with money forlow-carbon technologies”

notoriously inexact science. A background report for theStern Review admitted that current climate models fall shortin this area, where ocean, atmosphere, land surface andmountains all interact. But that very unpredictability is initself one of the most worrying aspects for India.

There’s a growing consensus, however, that one of themost severe effects will be on the glaciers of the Himalayas.Their meltwater currently supplies up to 85% of the flow ofthe Ganga, Brahmaputra and Indus rivers. Latest IPCCestimates suggest that they may shrink to one-fifth of theirvolume within a few decades. Initially this will cause floodsas the waters melt – and then a water crisis ofunprecedented proportions as the rivers dry.

Analysts tell us that future wars will be fought aroundresources such as water. Seven of the world’s major riverbasins originate in the Himalayan and Tibetan plateaus. Theyare the source of water for 40% of humanity. China, India,Nepal, Bhutan and Burma all share these borders. If therivers do run dry, a more serious cause of regionaldestabilisation can scarcely be imagined.

For the 700 million Indians who live on the land, climate change brings confusion and helplessness, as people lose their traditional capacity to ‘read’ the weatherand adjust accordingly. When the rains don’t come andwhen the natural world doesn’t behave as it should, societieswhich have survived by observing the world and adapting toit lose essential coping skills. Climate change, at a mostprofound level, disempowers by rendering traditionalknowledge useless.

So how well is India planning for these multiple assaults from a changing climate? On a scale of 1to 10, says Pachauri, India’s preparationstands at 0.5.

Terry Slavin and Malini Mehra

Under the weather Climate change could suck India’s rivers and soil dry

Soaring possibilities: India’s largest wind farm, near Kanyakumari,Tamil Nadu. A quarter of the state’s electricity comes from wind.

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Singh said this alone has the potential to save 240 milliontonnes of carbon dioxide and 10,000MW of electricity a year.

Ritu Kumar, European director of TERI (The EnergyResources Institute), sounds a note of caution about recentinitiatives. “The proof is always in the pudding,” she said.“Our track record on enforcement is not good.” Mehta atShell India says the fact that there are seven differentministries responsible for energy means companies are waryabout making long-term investments in R&D. “There shouldbe one energy ministry that has executive authority to developa co-ordinated energy policy.”

Subsidies – good and bad – will be a crucial factor in thesuccess or otherwise of India’s efficiency drive. Nicholas Sternargues for scrapping the hefty subsidies on LPG and kerosene,widely used for domestic cooking and lighting. Thegovernment should ensure “energy is priced properly, notalways given free,” he says. “As long as it is given away, you’llhave it used wastefully.”

India’s various biogas schemes (which turn methane fromlivestock waste into cooking fuel) would undoubtedly stand a much better chance of competing in the marketplace ifLPG’s subsidy advantage was removed. “All we want,” says DrG Vasudeo, of Tamil Nadu-based energy NGO VK Nardep, “isa level playing field for biogas. Then it would really take off.”

Mark Runacres, former UK deputy high commissioner anda senior fellow at TERI, thinks the money should be used topromote green alternatives to kerosene. “If you could transferit across to solar you could make a big difference.” It isalready making a difference in West Bengal: Gon Choudhuri,head of the state’s renewable energy development authority,recently received an award from the European solar industryfor his scheme to redirect the state’s kerosene subsidy to helpbring solar lighting to 6,000 villages. It builds on his dramaticsuccess in ‘solarising’ Sagar Island, via a mini-grid that’sbrought electricity to thousands of islanders, and which wonhim an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy.

“The government’s basic job,” says Ashok Khosla,chairman of NGO Development Alternatives, “is to removebad subsidies.” Shifting them to small-scale renewables likesolar and biogas might be helpful to kickstart those sectors, hesays, but warns that: “Subsidies get hijacked by the wrongpeople; you have to be very careful how you design them.” Astudy found that 50% of the subsidised kerosene never evenreaches households because it is diverted to the black market.Even for large-scale energy like wind power, straightforwardsubsidies have a mixed record. Spurred by special taxincentives in the 1990s, the wind industry rapidly took off. But

How can the fastest-growing country in the world beexpected to cut its CO2 emissions when more than half of itspeople don’t even have access to electricity?

It’s a question that must have Indian policymakers wakingup in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. The numbersare frightening. India is already the sixth largest energyconsuming country in the world, yet by 2030 its ballooningneeds will put it in third place.

India’s Planning Commission reckons the country will needto quadruple its primary energy supply – and increase itselectricity supply by a factor of between five and seven – overthe next two decades, if it is to feed its mushroomingeconomy and population. Surely the idea that such ravenousneed for energy could be satisfied without melting vastswathes of the Arctic is a pipedream. Or is it?

Climate change economist Sir Nicholas Stern believes Indiacan do quite a lot, if policymakers approach it the right way.“India should recognise that this is an inequitable story, butdraw the right conclusions from it, not the wrong ones,” hesays. “Growth, energy security and climate change can bebrought into harmony by good policy, the right kind of taxes,the right kind of prices.” And besides cleaning up India’snoxious coal industry, says Stern, energy efficiency should bethe prime focus of the battle.

For many, the most critical energy efficiency task for Indialies in upgrading the plethora of state-owned electricity grids.A 2001 government report said that up to 50% of energywas being lost before it even reached users in some states,due to low investment and unplanned grid extension.

Vikram Mehta, chairman of Shell Group in India, saysIndian companies are some of the most energy inefficient inthe world. “Indian companies need to recognise that it’s anissue that will hurt them economically if they don’t addressit,” he said. “It’s not just enough to switch off the lights. Theyhave to invest heavily in R&D.” And it is not only industry thathas to clean up its act. As Rajendra Pachauri has emphasised,consumers, too, need to be targeted through both educationand savvy market instruments [see p5].

On paper, India has already done a lot. It’s one of the firstdeveloping countries to adopt European emissions standardsfor transport fuels, and it has recently introduced mandatoryenergy labelling on white goods. Building codes have imposedenergy efficiency standards, and a new Green Building Council(www.igbc.in) has just been set up. One of the firstannouncements of prime minister Singh’s new council onclimate change was a proposal to use carbon credits tosubsidise a mass conversion to energy-efficient light bulbs.

January 2008

Can India fuel its economic surge without melting half the Arctic? Terry Slavin unpacks the mother of all energy challenges.

Fire up or powerout?

11

“India’s boomingeconomy is set to makeit the world’s thirdlargest user of energy”

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what really gave it wings was the decision by the governmentof Tamil Nadu to guarantee to buy wind-generated electricityfor the state grid at a decent price, coupled with attractivecredit terms. Within three years, its proportion of electricitygenerated by wind rocketed from 3% to 25%. Result? India isnow the fourth largest wind-energy generating country in theworld. Ernst & Young reckons it has the potential to generateanother 48GW from onshore wind alone. But wind is theexception. A recent UNEP report, Global Trends in SustainableEnergy, worryingly ranked India with Africa as lagging behindother developing countries in terms of investment inrenewable energy.

There are signs, though, that this may be changing. Thecountry currently ties in second place with Britain on Ernst &Young’s quarterly index of the attractiveness of globalrenewable energy markets for investors. And while the focusis still on wind, other technologies have entered the picturesince the government set up the Ministry for New andRenewable Energy in 2005.

The market for solar water heating systems has surgedsince the ministry mandated their use in all new publichousing. Grants covering half the capital costs haveencouraged investment in projects to trap methane fromlandfill sites. And the use of biomass to generate power bothin villages and in industry is spreading.

The government has an ambitious goal of using biofuelsto replace 20% of its diesel requirements by 2012, which isattracting investment from the likes of BP. Most of theattention is on jatropha [see opposite], but ethanol also hasgreat potential to help re-energise the troubled sugar industry,says Ritu Kumar. “The sugar industry is in the dumps. A lot ofmill owners are looking at ethanol and biogas [derived fromethanol] to supply to the grid.”

But it is solar which is seen as the brightest hope for Indiain the short run. Spurred by scores of success stories featuringsolar entrepreneurs and enterprising NGOs across the country,the ministry announced a major program to bring light to the100,000 villages that are not connected to the grid.

Not everyone’s convinced. Leena Srivastava, member of anexpert committee set up by the Planning Commission in 2005to develop an integrated energy strategy for India, is cautiousabout the country’s renewables prospects. She thinksalternative energy can only account for between 8% and10% of India’s energy supply – about the same proportion asnuclear. Biomass gasification and solar both have a lot ofpotential to bring electricity to rural villages with no access tothe grid, she says, but the technologies remain expensive, anda lot of investment is needed. “Unless we have an enormoustechnological breakthrough on solar or gas hydrates[hydrogen], so that they become technically and economicallyviable, I don’t think we will have revolutionary change.”

But Runacres points to major investments that havealready been made in the solar sector by Moser Baer, theworld’s biggest CD maker, and energy giant RelianceIndustries. “These guys have the resources and liquidity andthey are determined to push the technology to its limits tomake it affordable for the Indian market,” Runacres said.Reliance’s chairman Mukesh Ambani recently told aconference that the costs of solar electrical systems would behalved over the next few years. “The large-scale generation ofsolar energy is imminent,” he promised.

Terry Slavin is a regular contributor on energy andenvironmental issues for The Guardian and Green Futures.

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India’s dreams of weaning itself off expensive oil imports restheavily on a single lowly bush, the jatropha.

Imports of oil, already a worrying 70%, are growing fast,and reliance on diesel fuel is growing at the fastest clip ofall. India’s stated goal over the next five years is to replace afifth of its entire diesel consumption with biodiesel derivedfrom the seeds of the jatropha plant.

Several states have aggressive planting programmes andtens of thousands of small farmers have been given loans togrow it. UK biofuels company D1 Oil, which has planted156,000 hectares of the stuff, last year went into a £160 million joint venture with BP to plant up one millionhectares, most of it in India.

The success of all this activity will be known in anotheryear, when the first substantial harvests are due. But canbiofuels really be an answer for India, when alarm bells areringing all over the globe about the critical shortages of foodand water caused by land being turned over to grow them?

The Indian government thinks so, and for one simplereason: because it thrives in arid soil, jatropha need notcompete with food. Research by TERI (The Energy ResourceInstitute) found that half the 60 million hectares of land now classed as wasteland in India would be suitable forjatropha cultivation.

But critics worry that even if jatropha can be grown onmarginal land with little water, it does so best on soil alsosuitable for food crops. Instead of farmers growing it onsmall landholdings, as they have been encouraged to dountil now, say the critics, the jatropha industry will evolveinto enormous monoculture plantations, gobbling up vastamounts of arable land.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that somefarmers given generous loans from the government to plantthe bush on marginal land had already reported financiallosses after poor yields. Jutta Kill, climate campaigner atFern, a European NGO that monitors carbon trading, says:“If you want good fruits that are high in biofuel content

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then you need good land. If you were to grow jatropha ondegraded land, you get lots of flowers but little fruit.”

Steve Douty, who is responsible for developing D1’s India operations, insists that jatropha need not hurt India’sfood security. He concedes that the plant grows best whenirrigated, but adds: “The message we put out is grow it as an additional crop, intercropped with food crops, so when you are irrigating your food you are irrigating jatrophaas well.”

Mark Runacres, who is also a director of D1, points outthat seeds are only part of the value of the jatropha to ruraleconomies. He says the cuttings can be burned as biomass,and the cake by-product can make a good quality soap. Theseeds can even be burned in lamps as a clean substitute forkerosene, which the government spends billions of dollarssubsidising because it is the only light source for millions of people.

But India’s 20% diesel target won’t just be met by smallfarmers. Jatropha will likely be part of the Green Indiainitiative announced by the Council on Climate Change,under which six million hectares of state land is to be leasedout to companies for afforestation.

Meanwhile, some of India’s biggest players are alreadyinvesting in jatropha. Industrial giant Reliance has plantedthousands of hectares, and its life sciences division isdeveloping transgenic high-yielding varieties of the plant andlooking at bioreactors to mass-produce jatropha oil. Reliancechairman Mukesh Ambani recently said a biofuels revolutioncould set India on a new development path, with agricultureat its heart. “It is possible to develop hybrid and transgenictechnologies to use marginal land for the production ofbiofuels crops,” he said. “It is possible to create a wholevalue chain that links the marginal farmer with global energy markets.” And, with characteristic bullishness, headded: “In the process, we can put more wealth into the hands of Indian farmers, instead of wealthy sheiks indesert kingdoms.” – TS

When oil grows on treesIndia’s new oil bonanza could revitalise its wastelands – or starve its poor. Terry Slavin assesses theperils and the promise of jatropha.

Can black be green?

The first hard truth to recognise about India’s energysituation is that it is dependent on coal, one of theworld’s most polluting energy sources, for 70% of itsenergy needs. And India is not about to kick the habit.According to a recent UNEP report, Global Trends inSustainable Energy Investment, the country is set tobuild more than 100 coal-fired power plants [below]over the next decade.

India’s state-run coal industry is one of the dirtiest inthe world, reliant on antiquated technologies. There isconsensus that its biggest priority must be theintroduction of clean coal technologies and carboncapture and storage as soon as possible. Suchtechnologies are prohibitively expensive, however, and itis not a move that India could finance on its own.

Shruti Shukla, WWF-India’s climate and energypolicy officer, says coal was India’s main motivation forsigning up to the Asia-Pacific Partnership (APP) on CleanDevelopment, a grouping of six countries promoted by

US president George Bush as an alternative to the KyotoProtocol. But while there has been much talk within theAPP about bilateral agreements to help India clean upits coal industry, so far this has not translated into anyaction, says Shukla.

So there was relief this autumn when the UN bowedto mounting pressure and ruled that very efficient coal-fired power plants will now be allowed to sell carbonoffsets under the Clean Development Mechanism(CDM). The executive board of the CDM had resistedthe move for fear that it would penalise renewableenergy and lock in a dependence on fossil fuels. Butthere are safeguards built into the mechanism, includinga phase-out clause limiting the number of carboncredits which clean coal projects can earn. The rulingwill also only apply to countries, such as India andChina, that rely on coal for more than 50% of theirenergy needs.

Hans Jürgen Stehr, CDM board chair, said the UNhad to bow to the inevitable. “Fossil fuels will remain abig part of the world’s energy mix for decades to come.It’s essential that we burn that fuel as efficiently aspossible.” - TS

All hands to the pump? Jatropha’spotential may tempt farmers to abandonfood crops in favour of biofuels.

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Now that the model’s a proven success, Hande’s hopingto extend it to biogas and improved cookstoves. And he’snot alone. In the last few years, Indian innovators have madesignificant progress in such small-scale energy technologies,generating jobs as well as energy. Several of these schemeshave, like SELCO, won the coveted Ashden Award forSustainable Energy (www.ashdenawards.org – see GF66,pp52-53; and the Green Futures Special Supplements, ‘Lightemerging’, ‘Slow Burn’ and ‘A hundred thousand points oflight’).

In Kerala, the BIOTECH company (www.biotechindia.com)has developed an innovative biogas plant capable of runningon food waste. This both helps tackle one of urban India’s

greatest hygiene problems – as anyone who’sseen rats swarming over rotting vegetables cantestify – and at the same time produces gas forcooking. It’s even producing electricity, too:BIOTECH has installed 17 plants in municipal fishmarkets. They run on fish waste: using it togenerate gas which in turn runs a 3kW engine –producing enough power to light the indoor market.

In Karnataka, the NGO SKG Sangha(www.skgsangha.org) has combined its 40,000-plus household biogas plants with training forrural women on producing high-potency fertiliserfrom the residue, thanks to a simple worm-basedcomposting system. Many of the women nowearn half as much again from selling the compostas they do from the household’s crops.

On India’s northern plains, simple treadlepumps are enabling farmers to grow crops all yearround, rather than just at monsoons. Cheaper,simpler and much more effective than dieselpumps, they’ve made irrigation affordable to poor

households – many of whom have more than doubled theirincome as a result. This means they can stay on their land allyear round (and their children stay in school), rather thanseek casual, hazardous work on building sites in the cities.The pumps were developed by NGO IDEI (www.ide-india.org), and now form the heart of a thriving network ofenergy entrepreneurs – manufacturers, retailers and installers– which has generated sales of over half a million pumps in total.

As Harish Hande puts it: “The problem is very large. Butthat doesn’t mean it needs a single large solution.Cumulative small solutions can amount to a very large one.We can create hundreds of thousands of energyentrepreneurs, providing energy services to end users,tailored to local needs and opportunities.”

And the government, he adds, could exert “massiveleverage” to help make this happen, thanks to its stake inthe rural banks. It could mandate a minimum amount oflending for sustainable energy schemes, so helping foster anentrepreneurial solution. And it would prove a lot cheaper,and more efficient, to meet rural energy needs like this, thanby pouring money into inefficient subsidies – or propping upa creaking electricity grid.

January 2008

MW: Does Indian business accept the reality of climate change?VSM: Yes, people certainly accept it’s a major issue andneeds to be tackled. But when you ask that question[whether of people in business or government] you willnormally get an add-on response, which is that the West isresponsible. So they don’t move on to the next question –what should we do? – because they [don’t see themselves] asthe cause of the problem... MW: But that’s not your view...?VSM: That is not my view. My view is very simple. Globalwarming may have been caused largely by the West, but theimpact falls disproportionately on India – so we cannot affordjust to point our finger at the West or anywhere else. Weneed to see how we can tackle this issue in India –independently of whether or not there is an internationalconsensus on it.MW: So what can Shell do about it?VSM: First, we can support sustainable energy projects. Sofor example, we’re working with the Appropriate RuralTechnology Institute (www.arti-india.org) to developsmokeless chulhas (cooking stoves) for five million homes inMaharashtra. ARTI has the technology; we can provide thefunds. We’ll market the chulhas and get the income fromthem. [Among other environment and energy projects], we’reproviding solar lighting in Karnataka, and we’re restoring50,000 hectares of mangrove forest in Gujarat – the largestsingle reforestation programme in India, I believe. Secondly,we can pick up some of the work which the Shell Group isdoing on [large-scale] renewable energy – wind, solar,biomass and hydrogen – and use it ourselves and inpartnership with other companies in India.MW: But is climate change really affecting your long-termplanning as an energy business?

VSM: The country has to move towards a cleaner energysystem. The talk of carbon mitigation is not just talk, we haveto play a role in it. We’re very conscious of the importance ofcutting back on our own carbon emissions: we need targetshere, and there is a lot of focus on that just now. We’re alsoinvesting quite a lot of money in green technology – inmoving towards new energy systems that will ultimately carryus beyond fossil fuels.MW: Is the government doing enough?VSM: We need to weaken the link between economicgrowth, energy demand and environmental degradation. Andone of the best ways of doing that is for the government tomake energy efficiency and demand management acentrepiece of its agenda. As a country and a government,we need to realise that there is no trade-off betweeneconomic growth and carbon mitigation. Especially in anenergy-importing country like India, we need to realise thatgreen technology and renewables are a way of improvingenergy security and food security [and develop themaccordingly]. In the process, we will be able to capitalise oneconomic growth to improve public welfare. MW: Do you think the government underestimates thepower of this link?VSM: I don’t know. I think it’s a bit of a controversial pointthat I’m making. The government goes out across the worldsaying that “we will not cut emissions” – but I don’t thinkthey can purport to take that stance domestically. They needto make sure that the companies that are in their hands – thebig public sector companies – are looking to pursue alternativeenergy and create more energy-efficient systems. These arethe companies that have the funds and the technical supportto engage in the major R&D effort that’s needed. Some ofthese companies do have green departments. But is it reallyhigh on their agenda? I’m not sure...

“We can’t afford just to point our fingers at the West”Vikram Singh Mehta, managing director of Shell India, tells Martin Wright why his company sees climate change as a business opportunity.

If there’s one man who epitomises the rise of India’ssustainable energy entrepreneurs, it’s Harish Hande. His SolarElectric Light Company (www.selco-india.com) has sold over80,000 home systems – of between 10W and 70W – mainlyto relatively poor, rural households.

Most of them live in areas still out of reach of mainselectricity, forcing them to rely on smoky kerosene lanterns.Compared to those, solar is a huge leap forward. It meansfamilies have decent light for cooking and for their childrento study by, they can work on handicrafts in the evenings,and they have access to all the social and economic benefitsof mobile phones. Over time, this means they get richer,their children get a better education, and they start to

benefit from some of the advantages of urban living withouthaving to leave the countryside. With the price of keroseneon a seemingly inexorable rise, it means they save money,too. Increasingly, SELCO is also receiving orders fromhouseholders who have mains electricity – in theory, butwho are frustrated at the growing number and length ofblackouts – as much as 18 hours a day in places.

For Harish Hande, the beauty of it all is that it’s notreliant on the heavy hand of state subsidy: SELCO is abusiness, pure and simple, and an increasingly successfulone, too. He’s only ever had one grant, from a renewableenergy scheme supported by USAID – and that was paidback in full, with interest. (Ironically, had SELCO failed, thegrant would not have been repayable – which is, as Handedryly remarks, hardly “an incentive for success”.)

Otherwise, the funds come from the customers – thanksto the helping hand of rural banks and credit networks,which enable them to meet capital costs of up to severalhundred dollars which would otherwise be prohibitive.Over a couple of years, the combination of savings onkerosene and increased income as a result of having solarlight more than covers the cost. And after that, solar isvirtually free power.

A series of small revolutionsA single solar panel may not light up India – but multiply that by hundreds of thousands, says MartinWright, and you have one of India’s most exciting economic successes.

The sun dries the bricks – can the wind power India…?

Solar cleans up: India’s energy entrepreneurs are taking a shine to PV

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It’s all a stark contrast to 1991, when India’s long-protected enterprises stood trembling as liberalisation threwopen its economy. The last decade has seen Indian firmsembrace globalisation and prosper. IT and offshoring haveled the way, but they’re now being joined by manufacturing,natural resources and pharmaceuticals. Take Ranbaxy, a pharma company which sells in 125 countries andmanufactures in seven. Or Infosys, which has hired 25graduates from the UK to join others from America, Japanand Australia to be trained in the historic city of Mysore. TheIndian multinational company is a rapidly emerging reality.

“The Empire Strikes Back!” That was the headlinetrumpeting Tata Steel’s victory in a high stakes auction toacquire Corus (formerly British Steel) for £6.2 billion, and sobecome the world’s fifth largest steelmaker. For the mediaand politicians alike, this was cause to celebrate: India Inc.had firmly announced its presence on the world stage.

Flushed with confidence, Indian business has seen itsoverseas acquisitions soar from £500 million in 2000 to over£10 billion last year. India is now the second largest inwardinvestor to the UK, and is rivalling China in Africa andCentral Asia.

India’s business success has triggered waves – and takeovers– across the globe. But, asks Vedant Walia, can it make thetransition from short-term profits to long-term value?

India Inc: Triumphor time bomb?

January 2008 17

But there are clouds on the horizon. Climate change is threatening to degrade the resource base on which thisgrowth depends. And the growing divide between themetropolitan hubs with their highly skilled workforce and the impoverished majority could yet derail India’s economicmiracle.

That may seem like an overly harsh assessment for aneconomy that is growing at over 8% annually and hasenriched millions of people. But for some Indians it has alsomeant forced dislocation from their homes to make way forthe latest industrial complex. In Nandigram, West Bengal, anIndian state whose communist ruling party brought inMcKinsey & Co to upgrade its image to internationalinvestors, 14 people were killed during a protest against landbeing taken for a new Malaysian-owned chemical factory.These local flashpoints are flaring across the country, fromfarmers fighting Coca-Cola for water rights in Kerala toviolent labour protests at a Honda plant near New Delhi.Increasing tension between the aam aadmi (the ‘commonman’) and India Inc. now seems inevitable – unless action is taken.

But what action – and by whom? “Stop having suchostentatious weddings!” That was the implicit message fromprime minister Manmohan Singh in a recent speech tobusiness leaders. He laid out a ten-point social charter forwidening the benefits of India’s economic boom by creating“socially, politically, environmentally, and financiallysustainable growth processes.” He called for moreinvestment in skills development and innovation, and for ashift away from conspicuous consumption “not just becauseit is socially undesirable at our level of development, but alsobecause it is environmentally unsustainable.”

Fine words, perhaps, but they drew a frosty receptionfrom an audience all too ready to spot hypocrisy when theyheard it. Highlighting the lavish lifestyles of Indian ministers,one commentator declared that “governments inglasshouses should not throw words like ‘conspicuousconsumption’ around”. And such calls are unlikely to appealto businesses whose surging profits are founded on theconsumerist appetites of India’s burgeoning middle classes –with everyone from small Scottish whisky distillers to globalgiants like Vodafone cashing in. More fundamentally, criticspointed out that the government was unlikely to risksmothering the economic fruits of liberalisation with ablanket of regulation.

India Inc. is facing a very ‘Big Ask’. It needs to reconcileits industrial boom with social and environmental crises,while at the same time satisfying its shareholders bymaintaining its impressive rates of growth in an increasinglycompetitive global marketplace. There is no shortage ofentrepreneurial energy, skills or innovation capacity in 21st-century India, but can it be mobilised in time – and will it be enough?

CSR India-style

Ritu Kumar of The Energy Research Institute(www.teriin.org) has identified four distinctapproaches to CSR in India: l old school national beacons such as Tata thathave traditionally followed a ‘nation-building’approach; l joint ventures with multinationals such as HeroHonda that adapt global CSR practices; l public sector enterprises with vestiges of theirsocial purpose still alive after privatisation; l new economy companies such as Infosys thatuse a combination of philanthropy and corebusiness skills to address social problems.

A distinctly Indian approachWhen the city of Jamshedpur won a UN award in 2004, itwas in recognition of the quality of its urban infrastructure,vibrant economy and cosmopolitan population. But byimplication, it also recognised a distinctively Indian approachto corporate responsibility.

Jamshedpur – also known as Tatanagar – was builtaround India’s first steel plant, and is still run by subsidiariesof the mighty Tata Group (www.tatasteel.com), whichprovides housing, municipal services, education andhealthcare. It’s reminiscent of an enlightened Victorianfactory town – but one combined with a particularly Indianbrand of industrial nationalism. “The Tata Group has playeda crucial... role in nation-building, consciously choosingbusinesses that build the foundations of our economy andlead to long-term growth,” claims MD Kishor Chaukar.Other leading Indian companies, such as Birla, also subscribe

Facing the future 2: Protests at land seizuresare increasingly widespread

Facing the future 1: Each year, India turns out half amillion computing and engineering graduates

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to this view. Typically, the ‘foundations of our economy’means heavweight sectors such as steel, mining, cement and transport.

But as the old adage goes, ‘it’s not how you spend themoney, but how you make it, that matters’. Indiancompanies are starting to realise that the foundations for amore sustainable future will not come from a small share ofthe profits generated through short-term business modelsthat add to environmental problems and social tension. It’s

January 2008

India ranks third – behind the US and China – in terms ofthe resources used to sustain its population and absorb itswaste, according to a league table of countries’ ecologicalfootprints published in WWF’s Living Planet report(www.panda.org/livingplanet). With the economy surgingahead, that print is in danger of ballooning ominously.

Per capita, India’s impact is still relatively slight: itsfootprint of 0.8 global hectares per person (gha) is less thanhalf the world average of 2.2 gha. But that is still twice thecountry’s “bio capacity”. The problem, says WWF-Indiaproject head Dr TR Manoharan, is that it has precious few ofthe world’s resources. It has 16% of the globe’s populationbut just 1% of its forests and a surprisingly tiny 2.2% of itsland mass. “As [India grows], we will depend even more onresources from abroad to meet our energy and foodrequirements,” says Manoharan.

India has set ambitious – some would say hopelesslyunrealistic – targets to have one-third of its area under forestor tree cover by 2012. But even that won’t meet its needs.It’s one of the biggest global importers of wood and woodproducts, and is responsible for much of the deforestationthat is threatening critical ecosystems in Southeast Asia and

Measuring what matters

As Indian companies increasingly compete in theglobal marketplace, so there’s a growingexpectation, from customers and investors alike,for them to live up to international standards on CSR.

Working out how they can best do so will bethe focus of a new partnership between theConfederation of Indian Industry and the UK’sSustainable Development Dialogues.

The initiative covers three issues of particularconcern to Indian industry:l Greenhouse gas disclosure. With India fastbecoming one of the world’s leading greenhousegas emitters, its businesses can expect to comeunder increasing scrutiny over their ownperformance. This project will provide training inhow to monitor, record and report on industrialclimate emissions, so equipping companies to take leadership positions in open reporting on the issue, and giving them essential baselineinformation for planning strategies on emissionsreduction.l Good governance for the extractive industry.India’s mining and quarrying sector has recentlydrawn sustained fire over alleged environmentalfailings and mistreatment of local communities,particularly in Orissa and in Goa. Unless theindustry can demonstrate it’s addressing theseaccusations, it can expect to see its activitiescurtailed. Hence this project: working with thegovernments of the two states respectively, it willbring together the mining companies, localstakeholders and international experts, to identifythe key sustainability issues in each case, and workout how best to resolve them. l Mapping Indian performance against OECDstandards. Many Indian companies are alreadyundertaking voluntary disclosure of a range ofenvironmental, social, and health and safety data,going well beyond the statutory minimum. Thisproject will compare their performance and data-gathering methods with the guidelines laid downby the OECD for multinational enterprises (MNEs),with a view to helping standardise good practiceacross Indian industry. Doing so will not onlyencourage Indian businesses to step up tointernational norms, but might also obviate theneed for extensive regulatory intervention bygovernment. – MW

Shrinking the yeti.. India may sit near the bottom of the global league tables whenit comes to human development, but it is uncomfortably close to the top on a less salubrious indicator:the size of its ecological footprint – which is starting to take on yeti-like proportions. Now a newinitiative aims to help business take the lead in shrinking the print.

Latin America, Manoharan says.WWF’s approach is to focus on four key areas – palm oil,

soya, pulp and paper, and timber – and persuade Indiancompanies in these sectors to source their products moresustainably. In the West, consumer pressure has forcedboardrooms to take a greener approach, but consumereducation takes years, if not decades, to bear fruit. Socompanies, rather than consumers, are being targeted. “Our message to companies is that footprint reductiondoesn’t necessarily mean less consumption,” saysManoharan. “It just means, for example, that you don’tconvert high value forests [to grow palm oil].”

Businesses that supply Western customers are alreadygetting the message in the marketplace, he adds. Handicraftcompanies are under increasing pressure to use wood certifiedby the Forestry Stewardship Council, for example. “Many ofthem are asking us how to go FSC, because it’s a new demandfrom buyers, [who] will pay a high premium for that.”

Manoharan firmly believes it is possible to minimise thecountry’s ecological footprint without compromising its drivefor economic growth: “India is in a position to become astandard bearer for the developing world.” – Terry Slavin

against this backdrop that the corporate responsibilitybandwagon has finally rolled into India’s boardrooms,pushed by the growing adoption of multinational businessnorms. One hundred and twenty-four Indian companieshave signed up to the UN’s Global Compact principles onhuman rights, labour standards and the environment.

So is Indian business shifting seamlessly fromphilanthropy to a wider view of corporate socialresponsibility? On the surface, yes. A recent WWF survey of192 prominent Indian companies (including multinationals)found that 60% claim to assign high priority to criticalenvironmental issues when making commercial decisions. Itsreport, Indian Companies in the 21st Century, declared :“Many [business leaders] in India [understand] themagnitude of the challenges it faces, but also [show] awillingness to turn these challenges into businessopportunities.” So far, so good. But one in ten admit tobreaking environmental laws themselves, and over halfbelieve other companies routinely do so. This sanguineappraisal is reinforced by an assessment from US pensionfund CalPERS, which concluded that 25 leading Indiancompanies are in danger of failing to meet its basic socialand environmental standards. So while there may be anappetite for innovation, many Indian companies wouldcurrently struggle to satisfy entry-level CSR criteria.

But is Western-style CSR really the best approach forIndia? Arguably, a model developed for the relativelycomfortable operating conditions of London or New York,which grew out of managing reputation and addressingniche issues such as volunteering or diversity, will always fallshort in India. For India, a better model might be that of the‘leader business’. This is a term coined by Forum for theFuture to refer to companies aiming to build long-term valuefor shareholders and society. It’s echoed by Patrick Cescau,Group CEO of Unilever, who says that “tackling social,economic and environmental issues is an integral part of ourmission and business strategy”.

It’s finding echoes in India, too. Sudhir Sinha, vicepresident at Reliance ADA Group (one of India’s largestcompanies with interests in energy, telecoms and finance),calls for companies to “integrate CSR into their businessagenda in a way that changes the conditions of society andmarkets”. Harish Manwani, chairman of Hindustan Lever,puts it more starkly: “We cannot have a successful companyin a failing society”. (Manwani is only too aware of thechallenges which that implies: Hindustan Lever is facinglabour unrest after announcing job cuts as part of anefficiency drive.) Out of this mix of growing pressure andgrowing awareness, a distinctly Indian model of sustainablebusiness is starting to emerge.

In November, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)’sGreen Business Centre hosted an ‘investor forum’ inMumbai, bringing together energy entrepreneurs withpotential investors. The CII has also partnered with ITservices company ITC to set up a Centre for Excellence in Sustainable Development.

ITC’s latest sustainability report talks of a “convictionthat country must come before corporation”. In practicalterms, this translates into initiatives such as the awardwinning e-choupal rural internet programme, providingvaluable market information to three million farmers, and its‘sustainable value chain’ initiatives around enhanced seedsand livestock management.

This enthusiasm for selling to the ‘base of the pyramid’

(BOP) is increasingly shared by rising Indianexecs. Villagers have found themselves theunlikely hosts for fact-finding groups of bright-eyed professionals, armed with laptops andmosquito repellent – and it seems to be payingdividends. By combining specially designedtechnology with the reality of Indian conditionsand limited infrastructure, companies are findingthat they can successfully engage with the poorto mutual benefit.

India’s largest private sector bank, ICICI, ispioneering new ways to increase access tofinancial services in rural villages. Using acombination of adapted technologies such asbiometric cards and voice recognition toovercome low literacy levels, products such ascattle loans or crop insurance are offered inpartnership with community basedorganisations. This is business, not philanthropy.ICICI (www.icicibank.com) now has 3.2 millionrural customers and a loan portfolio of some$3.2 billion.

But successful and sustainable BOP modelswill not be easy. If companies only pursue waysto sell more products to more poor peoplewithout regard to broader consequences, then BOP will notbe part of an inclusive economy. Tata Motors wants to makeobsolete the familiar sight of an entire Indian familybalanced dangerously on a small Vespa scooter. In its place,it wants them to be driving a Tata car – albeit the world’scheapest, with an initial price tag of around $2,000. Goodfor the families who can afford to upgrade, perhaps, but alot more damaging in terms of congestion, air pollution andclimate change.

Squaring the circle of social aspiration and environmentalsustainability remains a huge challenge. But the combinationof Indian entrepreneurship on the one hand, with a slowlydawning sense of sustainable responsibility on the other,might yet spring some surprises.

Vedant Walia is a senior sustainability advisor at Forum forthe Future, and consultant editor of Monsoons and Miracles.

A brisk trade at the base of the pyramid: ‘Shaktientrepreneurs’ sell Lifebuoy soap to village women

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G-Wiz, it’s a REVA! Despite, or perhaps because of Jeremy Clarkson’s scathingreviews, the G-Wiz electric car has become a familiar sightaround some of London’s trendier neighbourhoods. Althoughits boxy profile won’t win it any style awards, the G-Wizscores on the grounds of compactness (great for Londonparking) and price – around £3,000 cheaper than the nearestalternative. Now it’s being rolled out in markets as diverse asCyprus, Australia and Norway.

One of the lesser-known facts about the G-Wiz, though,is that it is actually made in Bangalore, by the REVA ElectricCar Company (www.revaindia.com). Founder Chetan Mainicut his green teeth by designing an award-winning solar carwhile a student at the University of Michigan, before movingonto what became the G-Wiz. New models based on lithium-ion batteries and (inevitably) a higher speed sports variety arein the pipeline, and there’s already a prototype fuel cellversion. All of this has helped REVA pull in $20 million worthof venture capital investment from the US - attracted in partby the growing enthusiasm among governments toincentivise the take-up of electric cars. But the real challenge is to create affordable versions for the Indian and Chinese markets.

The wind is in the eastTulsi Tanti must thank India’s unreliable electricity network formaking him a billionaire. Tanti, 49, started Suzlon(www.suzlon.com) in 1995 to manufacture wind turbinesafter his family textile business was frustrated by the lack ofreliable power supplies. It’s now the world’s fifth largestmanufacturer – and is worth $6 billion on the Bombay StockExchange. No one expected cutting-edge clean technologycompanies to come from India, but Suzlon has proven itsstrategy of building on the domestic market to pursue global success.

In many ways, it’s an exemplar for India Inc. It’s aninternational business with R&D centres in Germany,Denmark and Belgium, to go with its manufacturing sites inIndia, China and (confounding the line that manufacturing

chases low wages) the US. Suzlon is also an aggressive buyer.Following the acquisition of Hansen Transmissions, a Danishgearbox manufacturer, in 2006, it recently outbid Areva, theFrench energy giant, to purchase Germany’s REpower.

Banking on the millionsMicrocredit still has a charitable ring to it, but Vikram Akulahas turned it into a hugely successful business. He set up SKSMicrofinance in 1998, using a combination of newtechnologies and sophisticated management systems toimprove efficiency and drive down costs. SKS(www.sksindia.com) is now one of the fastest growingmicrofinance institutions in the world, expanding by 171% in2006 alone, and has provided a total of $170 million to650,000 clients.

It’s attracted multi-million dollar investment from SequoiaCapital of the US (which also backed Google and Yahoo),and Citigroup has launched an innovative programme inwhich it holds loans originated and managed by SKS.

Ignite the mighty light Around 400 million people in India still rely on kerosene forhousehold lighting. Now a new entrepreneurial start-up iscombining cutting-edge technology with attractive pricing tooffer an alternative. The ‘Mighty Light’ combines nextgeneration LED lighting with solar panels to provide adurable, portable light source which will last a staggering100,000 hours. Echoing the experience of Harish Hande’sSELCO [see p14], Matthew Scott came up with the idea whilea student at Stanford, and partnered with Amit Chugh, anIndian entrepreneur, to found Cosmos Ignite Innovations(www.cosmosignite.com).

One of the first group of buyers for the $50 light werefishermen in south India, who wanted bright, reliable light fornight-time fishing. The company has also partnered with NGOsto supply the ‘Mighty Light’ for earthquake relief in Pakistanand in many countries in Africa and Latin America. Chughhopes to ramp up commercial distribution and reduce priceseven further, making it more affordable for the masses. – VW

India’s new wave From wind power to green cars, Indian entrepreneurs are carving out some innovative responses to thesustainability challenge. Here are four of the leaders.

21January 2008 January 2008

This is not for want of challenge, nor of attempted cure.As long ago as 1992, a retired Indian navy officer who hadonce sailed regattas on the Yamuna took his government tothe Supreme Court, accusing it of preventing Hindus fromperforming ritual baths, as is their constitutional right. Hewon the case, and the Court ordered the water authority totreat all sewage flowing into the river. But since then, thecity’s population has risen by 40%, and while new treatmentplants have come on stream, half the sewage that goes intothe river still does so untreated.

Similar problems arise in water supply, which has failed tokeep pace with rising demands due to population andindustrial growth. Shortages of electricity make public pipedsupplies erratic and unreliable; but at the same time theeffective granting of free power in some states encouragesexcessive extraction by farmers and industry alike. Thisdoesn’t encourage investment in storage and distributionsystems. Climate change may eventually make the rainfallinadequate too, but currently there is plenty. It is wasted.China may not be a model of good water practice, but again,it would seem to be ahead of India here – which is ironic,given Indian engineers’ growing experience in devising simple‘rainwater harvesting’ technologies.

India’s economic growth is accelerating to Chinese levels,and manufacturing is now expanding more rapidly even thanservices. Surya Sethi, the government’s principal energyadviser, is keen to differentiate its progress from China’sallegedly far dirtier variety: “China has grown faster thanIndia, but has also consumed over 11 times the fossilfuels…since 2002”. India, on the other hand, “has beendelivering an 8% GDP growth with only 3.7% growth in itsenergy consumption”.

But if that growth is to be sustained, then unlessefficiency improves dramatically, power generation capacitywill need to double every five years, which will do little forsustainability. Policymakers in Delhi acknowledge that this willrequire tighter environmental controls, but the political biasremains clearly on the side of growth rather than theenvironment. The hope is that economic growth will bringhigher tax revenues, which in turn will finance more publicinvestment to deal with basic environmental issues such aswater supply and sewerage. Meanwhile, however, the race isin danger of being lost.

India’s always sensitive to how it compares to China. Ifthis sensitivity helps drive a stronger pursuit of sustainability,then competition, far from being odious, might be just whatthe country’s environment needs.

Bill Emmott was editor-in-chief of The Economist from 1993-2006. His new book, ‘Rivals’, about the new Asian powergame between India, China and Japan, will be published byPenguin in April 2008.

In a family, it is always convenient for a younger brother iftheir older sister is even worse behaved than they are. India isfortunate that China, its great economic rival across theHimalayas, draws so much attention for its soaringgreenhouse gas emissions, and for the fact that its cities areswathed in smog and its rivers are dying.

By comparison, India may appear to have a relativelyclean bill of health. But in some respects, it lags well behindChina. On Yale University’s environmental performance index,charting everything from pollution to biodiversity, Chinalanguishes in 94th place. Yet India is even lower, at 118th.Part of the reason for that, ironically, is not its surgingeconomic growth, but its persistent poverty. India’s low scoreson air quality owe much to the rural poor’s dependence oninefficient cookstoves burning wood or dung.

Poverty is not the whole explanation, however. India’s mostintractable environmental problems lie in the mundane issue ofwater. China’s rivers are dying because of industrial pollution –India’s because of human pollution. Even the Yamuna river,which flows from the Himalayas down through Delhi, is to allintents and purposes dead once it rolls out of the capital, ladenwith 950 million gallons of sewage each day.

TheCHINDIAfactor

Sibling rivalry

INDIA CHINAGreenhouse gas emissions(per capita)* 0.5 tonnes 1.8 tonnesGreenhouse gas emissions(total per annum) 529 million 2,430 million Energy use per capita(kg of oil equivalent) 504 889Ecological footprint per capita 0.8 hectares 1.5 hectaresPopulation 1,135 million 1,324 millionFertility rate 2.8 1.8Life expectancy 64 72GDP growth (2007) 9.2% 10.7%

*By comparison, Australia = 10 tonnes; US = 8.2; UK = 3.2Source: www.yale.edu/epi

India’s sensitivity to comparisons with China might begood for its environment, says Bill Emmott.

Electric avenue: a REVA prototype takes to the streets

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formal innovation capacity – the kind you find in theadvanced labs and government research centres of Mumbaiand Bangalore – is increasingly impressive. But it is theinformal capacity of places like Sankat Mochan that can bemost striking. As scholars like Clayton Christensen are fondof reminding us, the most disruptive innovations often comefrom inauspicious, small-scale beginnings. India’s sheerdiversity could give it an all-important edge – if it can be harnessed.

This will be no mean feat. India is not just a patchworkof cultures and languages, it’s a mosaic of economicdevelopment. Its dollar billionaires (36 at the last count)cohabit with the third of the country who live on less than adollar a day. As one Bangalore entrepreneur put it, travellingout from the mirrored skyscrapers, malls and multiplexcinemas of the city to its rural hinterland is like journeyinggradually back in time.

The conditions that are creating the demand for Indianinnovation – social diversity, environmental precariousness,rapid economic catch-up and increasing scientific capacity –are also shaping the ‘national innovation system’ that isemerging in response. The phrase refers to the nexus ofpublic and private actors that, in the terms of ChristopherFreeman, the economist who coined the phrase, help

A sacred temple on the banks of the Ganges might not bethe most obvious place to come to learn about Indianscience and innovation. But focusing on the obvious in Indiais a surefire way to miss what you’re looking for.

The Sankat Mochan temple is home to Veer BhadraMishra, known to locals as Mahant Ji. An unusual priest,Mishra is not a scholar of Sanskrit as tradition dictates, but aretired professor of civil engineering at the nearby BanarasHindu University. We visited him to find out about hisSwatcha Ganga Campaign to clean the holy river. Slightlyapologetic about the steady flow of supplicants kissing hisfeet during the interview, he explained the simple, butrevolutionary wastewater system he developed with aBerkeley professor. It runs on gravity, not electricity, so isimmune to local power cuts, and saves money, too. Thanksto the campaign, thousands of people have helped build thenecessary oxidation ponds as an act of religious devotion.

Mishra’s story of people-powered innovation illustratestwo themes that are becoming increasingly central to India’ssuccess story. First, necessity truly is the mother of invention.The sheer scale of the sustainable development challengesfacing India’s growing population are creating powerfulincentives for ingenuity. Second, that ingenuity is just aslikely to come from the margins as the mainstream. India’s

January 2008

“initiate, import, modify and diffuse new technologies”,creating a pathway from idea to commercialisation. Theactors involved – including universities, research labs,companies, venture capitalists (VCs), patent offices – areincreasingly present in India, but the connections betweenthem are sporadic and incomplete.

The result is a system at once confusing and quintessen-tially Indian. According to CNR Rao, one of prime ministerSingh’s chief scientific advisors, the Indian approach toscience and innovation bears a striking resemblance to thepreparations for an Indian wedding. There’s moderate chaos,and so many people are in charge that no one seems toactually be in control. But behind the scenes, things falltogether for an unexpectedly beautiful result.

Whether it’s the result Indians themselves are looking fordepends on three key driving forces acting on its innovationsystem. That’s the conclusion we’ve reached whileresearching the latest stage of the ‘Atlas of Ideas’, Demos’sinvestigation into the ‘new geography of science’.

First is the historic, top-down commitment to ‘science fordevelopment’ that has long been a feature of Indiangovernment policy. It’s best epitomised by the spaceprogramme. When other nations were racing to put men onthe moon in the battle for Cold War prestige, India focusedits efforts on using space technology as a solution to ruralpoverty. Its unique ‘Edusat’ satellite for reaching the ruralmasses with education has made it an authority on remotehealth and learning.

The government’s recent statements on the need totackle climate change and its enthusiasm for the CleanDevelopment Mechanism, could be seen as following in thistradition. But as the difficult experience with CDM in India

has shown, implementing solutions from the top is fraughtwith difficulties. Targets to provide electric power for allinhabitants by 2012, with 10% of this to be supplied byrenewable sources, look a tall order at a time when the gridis constantly breaking down. Top-down solutions play theirrole, but can only ever be one part of the picture.

The second driving force comes from India’s growingweb of international connections, particularly its diaspora ofhigh-tech entrepreneurs, at least some of whom arechomping at the bit to make the most of the emergingcommercial opportunities back home. The low-maintenance,high-tech REVA car [see p20], jointly developed by teams inBangalore and California, is one such striking example of

collaborative ‘bright green’ innovation in India.Of course, for the vast majority of the population, the

transatlantic commute of the technology elite is a distantprospect. But the kind of innovations that transform daily lifeare often the ones without enormous R&D budgets.Management guru CK Prahalad made waves when he spokeof the market potential of the mass underpriviledged – theso-called “fortune at the bottom of the pyramid”.

And it’s there that the third driving force of Indianinnovation can be found. It is exemplified by companies likethe Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO), which has found away to realise both commercial and sustainable benefits bycombining affordability and scale [see p14]. TC, a majoragribusiness conglomerate, developed an innovative systemto help Indian farmers get a competitive price for theirproduct. Through a network of internet kiosks in villages,around three million farmers can access real-time,customised data on prices and market trends, overcomingthe information deficits that had allowed them to beexploited by buyers.

Innovation is not just serving local actors like these, butemerging from them. Take the Honey Bee Network. Thebrainchild of Professor Anil Gupta from the Indian Instituteof Management at Ahmedabad, it’s home to a searchabledatabase of over 10,000 grassroots innovations. It promotesthe ideas whilst protecting intellectual property, andincreasingly supports efforts at commercialisation, too. Whilesome have faded into obscurity, others have beenpropagated throughout India. They range from rainwaterharvesting techniques and ‘rain guns’, through herbalpesticides, natural air coolers – and even bamboo falseteeth. Not all these inventions will change the world, butsome will change many lives.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen has warnedthat India’s future “cannot be one that is half California andhalf Sub-Saharan Africa”. Whether it avoids this fate willdepend on its ability to turn the sheer scale and diversity ofits society from a source of vulnerability to one ofcomparative advantage. It will need to marry theentrepreneurial energies of those both internationally and atthe grassroots, to the national-level support that will allowthem to have an impact at scale. Disruptive innovators maybe one in a million. But when you’re one in a million inIndia, there are at least 1,100 people just like you.

Sridhar Mitta, a Silicon Valley old hand, now MD ofBangalore-based technology incubator e4e, believes a cultureof innovation is beginning to take root. Mitta visited atemple to ask for a blessing from Ganesh, the elephant-headed god of success, a common practice in India. TheHindu priest offered his blessing, and then earnestly turnedto ask the supplicant whether he had his funding in place.

“Because if not,” he said, “I know a great VC.”

Kirsten Bound is a senior researcher at Demos and author of ‘India: The Uneven Innovator’ (Demos, 2007). Additionalcontributions by Demos Associate Paul Skidmore. Thesecond phase of The Atlas of Ideas was launched in late2007, with support from NESTA and a consortium ofgovernment and corporate partners. www.atlasofideas.org

Swatcha Ganga Campaign,http://members.tripod.com/sankatmochanHoney Bee Network, http://www.sristi.org/honeybee.html

Beneath the surface chaos, there are powerful currents ofinnovation flowing through India, and they spark inunlikely places – and people, says Demos’s Kirsten Bound.

The unlikely innovator

Tea and connectivity: farmers check crop prices at an IKiosk

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“Building materials, sanitation, recycling, food processing…there’s any number of industries which can thrive at a locallevel. And it’s local enterprises, not the huge corporations,which can create the most jobs.”

“Give people property rights so they have security toborrow from banks. Provide training facilities for theunskilled. Put people in charge of their lives by helpingcreate income-generating opportunities. That’s how toreduce poverty.”

He sketches a vision of well-connected communities,linked by digital technology, sourcing their food and rawmaterials from the local area. “I don’t want to glorify thevillage – the village can be an exceedingly dull place! But thefact of the matter is that with today’s communications –with the internet, mobiles, etc – it is possible to lead afulfilling life out there in a remote community. People don’thave to migrate to the city, where [all too often] they’ll findthere aren’t any jobs, and they lead miserable lives in slums.”

If the world can outsource to India, says Khosla, thenmaybe it’s time India itself started outsourcing from the cityto the village. – Martin Wright

BMWs versus bullock carts; software versussadhus; the sleek security of the gated suburbversus the grubby confusion of the village.

These and other cliches about ‘the Two Indias’ aretrotted out with increasing frequency. But the implicationbehind them – that rural life is irrevocably stuck in the mirewhile the city surges ahead – is deeply flawed. Rural Indiamay be poor, but it’s not devoid of new ideas. Nor, as someof the recent protests over land rights bear witness, are ruralpeople simply passive victims of circumstance.

Across the countryside, thousands of innovative projectsare offering improved prospects to people for whom India’snew wave of wealth has yet to trickle down. Small-scaleenergy is at the heart of many of these [see p14], but thereare plenty of other sectors, too – such as sustainablefarming, healthcare, crafts and tourism – where rural peopleare reclaiming their future, as the initiatives on the followingpages demonstrate.

Ashok Khosla, chair of rural NGO DevelopmentAlternatives, is convinced of the potential for economicrevival through local industries meeting local needs.

25January 2008

Dry rice

More crops with less water – that’s the key toIndia’s future food security. A revolution inrice cultivation could be one way to achieve it.

India’s population is one of the most water-starved onthe planet – a parlous situation that is projected tobecome far more acute with climate change. Threecritical crops in particular depend on large quantities ofwater: cotton, sugar and rice. WWF-India is workingwith farmers on sustainable ways of cutting water usewhile at the same time raising yields.

In Tripura, rice farmers have adopted a methodcalled SRI (‘system of rice intensification’) that generatesat least 30% higher yields, but uses 40% less water todo it. Contrary to popular belief, explains Dr BikshamGujja, senior policy adviser at WWF International, rice isnot an aquatic plant. The main reason it is submergedin water in conventional cultivation is for controllingweeds.

Under SRI, the paddies are wet, but not saturated.This means the rice develops a root system, which ismore effective at absorbing nitrogen, making for ahardier, more pest-resistant plant (so requiring lesspesticide).

SRI rice is more labour-intensive as the paddy fieldsneed weeding. But because of the higher yields – fourto five tonnes per hectare rather than three, says Gujja,“it makes land, water, labour and capital moreproductive at the same time.”

WWF reckons that if the method was applied to 20million hectares of land under rice cultivation in India,the country could meet its objectives of producing 220million tonnes of food grain by 2012 instead of 2050.

Tripura’s chief minister, Manik Sarkar, for one, isconvinced: “Our farmers proved that SRI boostsproductivity, and we will convert at least 40% of ourrice cultivation using this method over the next fiveyears.” – Terry Slavinwww.wwfindia.org

Magic in a gherkin

Small cucumber; big potential.

The word ‘gherkins’ may not exactly set the pulseracing, but for hundreds of small farmers, struggling to make a decent living in central and southern India,they’re a crop of great promise.

That’s partly because of a contract arrangement set up by Unilever, aimed at marginal growers inKarnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. As part of its sustainable agriculture programme, the companysupplies them with agricultural advice, seeds, fertilisersand pesticides, to enable them to grow gherkins (alsoknown as ‘cornichons’) for a range of approvedsuppliers. “The farmer supplies the land, water andlabour”, explains project manager Ramesh Anadramiah,“and we supply all the inputs. We deduct the cost from the farmer only after he’s received the money[from the harvest].”

In a good season, an enterprising farmer can earn up to40,000 rupees (£500) profit per acre from gherkins,which have a growing season of about three months.

Working via their suppliers, Unilever offers thefarmer a guaranteed price fixed at the start of theseason. Both parties benefit. For the farmer, it means asecure income, freed from the vagaries and fluctuationsof the fruit and vegetable markets. For Unilever, itmeans a secure supply for its Amora brand – assumingthe farmer can come up with a quality crop. “We paythe highest price – but that’s because we want thehighest quality”, says Ramesh.

But it’s not just quality in terms of the crop thatUnilever’s interested in – it’s the wider environment, too.They’re working with farmers to find ways of reducingthe use of pesticides, by introducing pest traps andnatural predators. Since the initiative started in 1998,fungicide use has gone down by 90% and overallpesticide use by 40% – while yields are up by a striking60%. And they’re curbing water use too – thanks tothe introduction of ‘drip’ irrigation, rather thantraditional flooding. Again, it’s something of a win-win:reduced inputs cut the cost of the operation foreveryone – and help satisfy the growing market demandfor healthier, ‘greener’ foods. – MWwww.unilever.com

Simple innovations like this bicycle pump (www.moderntechnicalcentre.com) are saving farmers money and energy, and boosting harvests

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Clean water, clean hands Health promotion is also at the heart of another HULinitiative: Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna (‘HealthAwakening’). The ‘Lifebuoy’ reference reflects thesimple message at its heart – to save lives, wash yourhands with soap. While greater use of one of its keyproducts is obviously of commercial interest to a majorsupplier like HUL, the health benefits are undeniable. Astudy by the London School of Hygiene and TropicalMedicine found that washing with soap can reduceincidence of diarrhoea – still one of the biggest killers inIndia, particularly among children – by 47%.

Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna uses specially trainedhealth educators to go into the villages, targetingschoolteachers and children, mothers and village elders.One of its main messages is to dispel the commonlyheld notion that ‘visible clean is safe clean’: in otherwords, to get across the reality of ‘invisible germs’.

Over the last five years, HUL’s committed over $5 million on the campaign, reaching over 80 millionpeople in close on 30,000 villages. Its Lifebuoy soapsales have gone up – but so has life-saving healthawareness.

Also on the health promotion front, HUL haslaunched a unique in-home water purifier, designed to

provide clean, safe water at a running cost of just 0.004Euros per litre. The ‘Pureit’ purifier uses a ‘Germkill’battery to provide protection against commonwaterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid anddiarrhoea. It does so without the hassles of boiling, andwithout needing electricity. Crucially, it can work inhomes without a continuous tap water supply. Testshave shown that the filtered water meets the toughestUS Environmental Protection Agency tests, and is as safeas the boiled variety.

The Pureit costs around 32 Euros – a substantialinvestment for a poor family, but one which is withinreach, particularly when savings in fuel as a result of notboiling water are taken into account. HUL is nowpiloting a project with UNICEF to bring the benefitswithin reach of thousands of children in low-incomefamilies in Tamil Nadu. – MW

wholly new to business, enabling them to earn a decentliving by selling HUL’s products, such as soap or shampoo, ona commission basis. As well as giving its members access toa range of affordably-priced stock, it also provides them withbusiness education and support.

There are now over 40,000 Shakti entrepreneurs,covering around 100,000 villages all across India, in 15 statesfrom Tamil Nadu to Uttar Pradesh. The typical ‘Shakti amma’(‘mother’) spends around 20 hours a month on the work,earning on average 800 rupees (£10) for that time – morethan double a rural woman’s typical monthly income.

For women like Susheela, it provides a desperatelyneeded sense of security – and respect. “When the peoplesee me, they crowd around me and call me ‘Shakti amma’. Iam someone today.”

HUL’s long-term aim is to recruit 100,000 entrepreneurs,covering half a million villages – so touching the lives of 600million people. And it’s keen to stress that this isn’t simplyphilanthropy – it’s sound business, too, enabling thecompany to sell its products in remote rural regions. But itcombines this with health and hygiene education under the‘Shakti Vani’ programme, training women to communicatebest practice in personal and community health to localvillagers, self-help groups and schools. It’s recently launchediShakti – a network of internet ‘kiosks’. Run by Shaktientrepreneurs, these provide specially tailored informationservices on everything from agriculture to vocational training.

It’s hard feeding a family of five on the income from a chaistall, and Susheela was keen to find an alternative. But inremote villages in Andhra Pradesh, these aren’t exactly thickon the ground. A chance conversation with a neighbour,however, put her in touch with Project Shakti. It’s a micro-enterprise scheme with a difference, aimed atunderprivileged rural women. It’s been set up by HindustanUnilever Ltd (HUL), in partnership with a number ofdevelopment NGOs, microfinance institutions andgovernment agencies. At its heart is the use of micro-credit,to enable the women to set up and sustain viable smallbusinesses.

Micro-credit is the sub-continent’s great grassrootssuccess story. Over 30 years have passed since MuhammadYunus founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh,confounding sceptics by proving that the poor could be‘bankable’: that they could be trusted with loans to set uptheir own small businesses, and so help lift themselves out of poverty.

Since then, the micro-credit revolution has spread acrossSouth Asia and beyond, with millions of people, mainlywomen, involved in self-help groups, running everythingfrom tailoring shops to farming enterprises.

Founded in Andhra Pradesh in 2000, Project Shakti(meaning ‘strength’) takes the classic micro-credit model acouple of steps further. Its immediate aim is to foster anetwork of rural women entrepreneurs, many of them

A micro credit scheme with a difference is revolutionisinglives for hundreds of thousands of rural women, reportsMartin Wright.

Shakti power

Wild crime catchers

Recent revelations of the crash in India’s tiger numbers[see p31] have highlighted the extent to which thecountry is plagued by wildlife crime.

The tiger is just the tip of the iceberg: dwindlingpopulations of the rare Asian lion, along with elephantsand rhinos, are all targeted by criminals, expert in saferoutes for smuggling skins and body parts out of thecountry – and, it must be said, in knowing which palmsto grease to smooth the passage.

As part of the Sustainable Development Dialogues(SDD), UK wildlife crime experts are starting to workwith their counterparts in India’s National Wildlife CrimeBureau on strategies to stem the tide. This will includetraining programmes for everyone from enforcementofficers in protected areas to customs and borderofficials, as well as exchange visits to help Indian andBritish experts learn from each other.

A series of short films on wildlife crime, produced inassociation with the British Council, has helped bringhome to Indian audiences the scale and extent of theproblem. Premiered on World Environment Day lastJune, the films attracted widespread media coverage,sparking a debate over the need for more stringentaction against the criminals.

* Protecting India’s forests is vital to the fate not only ofits endangered species, but of millions of forest dwellers– and indeed, its climate as a whole. In another SDDinitiative, UK and Indian experts are looking at ways ofenhancing the value of standing forests via the sale ofcarbon credits. There are also projects underway to helplocal communities develop sustainable uses of forestresources, and secure a voice in their future via jointforest management committees. – MW

Sells soap, saves lives

High profile target

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Among the lofty peaks of Ladakh, the Buddhist monks ofKorzok Monastery are working to solve an urgent andtemporal problem: to save some of the most endangeredbird and mammal species in India before they are destroyedby the depredation of modern tourism.

The 16th-century monastery is on the western shores ofLake Tsomoriri [above], one of the highest in the world,perched in barren landscape near the Chinese border.Along with neighbouring Lake Toskar, it’s a breedingground for rare birds like the black-necked crane and bar-headed goose – and an oasis for the elusive snow leopard,lynx, marmot and kiang (Tibetan wild ass).

But they, and the tent-dwelling Changpa people whohave summer pastures around the wetlands, are underthreat from the increasing onslaught of tourists. Theirnumbers have climbed as vertiginously as the surroundingmountains: from less than 100 in 1994 to 27,000 this year.The impact of tourism on the wetlands is magnified by thefact that the short tourism season coincides with thebreeding phase of the migratory birds.

A WWF investigation found that unregulated campingby tourists had both degraded the environment and

produced a pressing rubbish problem. It has intruded onthe local people, exposing them to many of the downsidesof Western culture. In response, WWF launched asustainable tourism programme, involving both local peopleand the monks in community conservation trusts.

It’s all part of a wider WWF programme to conserve the region’s fragile, but ecologically vital, high altitudewetlands.

The Tsomoriri Trust manages a successful homestayprogramme, which has the twin benefits of reducingcamping pressure near the wetlands and allowing localpeople to benefit from the tourism economy. This hasproved very popular with the tourists in the two years it’sbeen running, says WWF’s Vidya Soundarrajan. Around halfthe villagers support homestays, on a rotational basis. Andin doing so, says Soundarrajan, they’re reinforcing theirown culture. “They provide local food and accommodationand maintain their traditions. That is the whole point.” Indoing so, they’re not only helping secure a future forcranes, geese and snow leopards – but for their ownlivelihoods, as well.www.wwfindia.org

Kathijal Arikesavanallur squats in the shade of a simplethatched workshop in a village outside the ancient city ofTirunelveli, in the far south of Tamil Nadu. She’s weaving afloor mat of rivergrass and sisal – a delicate, dextrous craftwhich she learned from her mother, and which she hopes topass on to her daughters, too.

The scene has a timeless air – until the sudden chirp of amobile serves as a reminder that globalisation, with all itspromise and pitfalls, has reached this quiet haven, too.

In another context, you might expect that it would beringing the death knell for the traditional weavers, their skillsabout to be made redundant by cheap labour in massproduction factories. But unlike many of India’s vanishingcrafts people, the weavers of Tirunelveli are able to tap intothe global economy.

That’s because they’re working with the Indus Tree CraftsFoundation (ICF), set up in 2000 with the aim of helpingrural producers such as Arikesavanallur hone their skills andaccess the lucrative Western markets. The ICF, in turn, istaking part in a groundbreaking pilot with global flooringcompany InterfaceFLOR which, if successful, could offer apowerful new outlet for ICF’s weavers.

It springs from some commercially minded soul-searchingwithin InterfaceFLOR, explains innovation project manager, Miriam Turner. “We were asking ourselves questions like:‘How can such local crafts survive in a globalised economy?’‘Can our products really be seen as beautiful unless theyhave social integrity too?’ And ‘can a large business like ours have a meaningful role to play in alleviating poverty onthe ground?’”

In an effort to find answers, they set up a new productcategory: FairWorks. If all works out as hoped, then it shouldresult in local craftspeople being brought into the globaleconomy in a way which respects their traditional way oflife, and their local environment – and which providesInterfaceFLOR with new lines of commercially viable,desirable products.

That last aspect is crucial. As Karin Laljani, SVPMarketing, puts it: “This is about business, not aid. We haveto find out if this model is really viable.” To that end, Laljaniand Turner are working with architects and designers,drawing up specs for flooring products which can meet theincreasingly high standards of today’s clients. “Then we

stage design workshops with the weavers, finding ways ofblending traditional designs with the demands of theWestern market.” In some cases, this has meantincorporating new materials, like leather or metal, into themats.

As Laljani says: “Both the ‘story’ [of local craft producers]and the product have to be good. We can’t have a goodstory and a bad product!”

The village women have risen to the challenge,impressing Laljani and her colleagues with their willingnessto take on new ideas and weave them, literally, into their work.

It’s a learning process for InterfaceFLOR and theircustomers, too, explains Turner. “When we told people wewanted to experiment with material woven by Indian villagewomen out of rivergrass, there were some pretty scepticalreactions! People said: ‘We’re not a charity – will it be up tostandard? What will our customers think?!’”

Although still at the pilot stage, the scheme is graduallywinning round the doubters, Miriam says. “Like anydisruptive innovation, it’s feeding back into the way we thinkabout our products. So for example, our technical people arebecoming more familiar with the qualities of natural fibres:they’re seeing just how well a wholly natural product canperform.”

But thanks to the ICF’s success in establishingpartnerships such as this, it’s the weavers themselves whoare seeing the greatest benefit, explains ICF’s NeelamChhiber. The trick, she says, was to target the export market.And that meant using better quality materials, and trainingthe weavers to produce finer, subtler work. “They took to itlike ducks to water,” she says, and their income shot up –from around 30 rupees (40p) to 150 rupees a day.

As Kathijal Arikesavanallur says: “This has changedeverything. Before we were completely dependent on ourhusbands, but now we have our own money. Some of us areeven earning more than them! It means we can support ourfamilies, and give our children a proper education.”

“The future looks good to us now.”

ICF, www.industreecrafts.comThe first FairWorks products will be launched in 2008,www.interfaceflor.eu/fairworks

Weaving a future that worksTraditional skills are oftenundervalued or squeezed outby globalisation. But asMartin Wright reports,innovative newpartnerships can bringthem back to life – and intoprofit, too.

Tourism can mean troublefor fragile habitats andtraditional cultures. But anew scheme in India’s farnorth shows that this neednot always be the case,says Terry Slavin.

High level respect

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January 2008 January 2008 31

In the fading light in Ranthambhore’s Bakola Valley, Iwatched the cat raise her head and send out moan afterhaunting moan that floated across her forest. Within tenminutes, first one, then the other of her two-year-old cubsemerged from hidden adventures to nuzzle their mother.

It was the winter of 1984 and the Ranthambhore tigerreserve was in its prime. Its forests were intact, its valleyswere well watered, its cubs well fed.

We were riding the crest of a conservation wave thathad seen the remarkable recovery of threatened wildlife,including elephants in Orissa, tigers in Madhya Pradesh,rhinos in Assam and lions in Gujarat.

The success owed much to prime minister IndiraGandhi, who had pushed through legislation protectingboth the species and the forests on which they depend.She personally chaired wildlife board meetings, and phonedchief ministers to castigate, encourage, or instruct them toprotect this habitat, that species. A simple message filteredthrough India’s tangled administrative system: “Wildlife andhabitat protection is a priority.”

Within months of her death, the protective web thathad been woven around natural India began to unravel. By the end of the 1980s, mines and dams that had beenrefused permission began to be cleared. Highways were cut through parks and sanctuaries. Rivers and lakes thathad watered protected areas were diverted for favouredpolitical constituencies. Politicians began to predate onnatural India, milking it for money and cheap popularity,gifting forest real estate to voters in the run-up toelections.

The poachers picked up the signals – it was openseason on tigers and other wildlife. By the end of theeighties we were losing one tiger a day – far above thenatural replacement rate. The slide had begun.

In the nineties, World Bank-backed projects turnedancient forests to plantations for eucalyptus, wattle andtropical pine in biodiverse habitats. Other ecosystems suchas wetlands and grasslands, which had moderated theclimate and helped harvest the monsoon for millions ofrural Indians, began to vanish, too. When theinfrastructures of survival began to be converted intoinfrastructures of commerce, more than ‘mere animals’suffered; the quality of life of millions also plummeted.

Both the Stern Review and the Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change tell us that deforestation is responsiblefor at least 20% of all greenhouse gases in theatmosphere. (By comparison, transport and industryaccount for around 14% each.) So it defies reason that theforests and natural ecosystems that are responsible forsequestering and storing carbon should be so undervaluedby everyone from the World Bank to India’s leaders.

No national (or international) purpose could be betterserved than by allowing forests that harbour tigers andother wildlife to regenerate. Little known to most

economists, as many as 300 rivers originate in just 29Indian tiger reserves. The forests of India are key to humansurvival. And, in an era of climate change, it is clear that ifthese go, India goes.

In December 1995, tiger expert Valmik Thapar and Iwalked together through the ravines of the ChurnaSanctuary, a little-known section of Madhya Pradesh’s fast-vanishing tigerland. We marvelled at the rock shelters thatdotted the landscape, where the forest-dwellers of 10,000years ago had drawn pictures of tigers which still survivetoday. Future Indians, we thought gloomily, would probablybe able to view the magnificent Neolithic galleries decadesfrom now - but not their star subject, the tiger.

Valmik Thapar is now part of a Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) which,since 2002, advises the court on key decisions involvingforests and wildlife. Over the last five years, hundreds of mines, dams, roads and commercial projects have been blocked from accessing resources in ecologicallyfragile areas.

In September 2007, the Supreme Court rejected agovernment plea to disband the CEC. Instead, it extendedits term indefinitely – much to the dismay of those officials,politicians and corporate giants who wanted it disbanded,or at least defanged. Out of the reach of political orfinancial pressure, the CEC has been directly responsible for the regeneration of thousands of square kilometres ofnatural forests; it has freed large lakes from commercialencroachment, and has insisted that funds exceeding one billion US dollars be set aside for the protection ofIndian wildernesses.

There’s grounds for cautious hope that this could be theturning of the tide.

Like a cut or bruise on your body that rapidly heals, theearth is a self-repairing machine. As we have seen inhabitats as far removed as Corbett in Uttarakhand, Periyarin Kerala, Nagarahole in Karnataka and the Sundarbans inWest Bengal, protecting wildernesses from human impactsis almost all that is necessary to usher in magical renewal.In all these forests, plus scores of others including the GirLion Sanctuary in Gujarat, Kaziranga in Assam and Tadobain Maharashtra, nature’s renewal automatically ends uprecharging aquifers, restocking lakes and rivers with fishand feeding people with nutrition-rich wild foods.

And despite the best efforts of the Indian government,the defences of the deep forests of Arunachal Pradesh, thevast swamps of the Sundarbans, and the cold deserts ofLadakh have not been breached. Here, nature stillsomehow manages to tenuously guard its wards, despiteofficial plans to build roads and even nuclear reactors inthese most remote wonderlands.

The toughest task before us now is not how to save thetiger, or ward off the worst impacts of deforestation,pollution or climate change. It is how to answer thequestion that young Sahir Doshi, founder of RhinosForever, an offshoot of Kids for Tigers, asks: “What is theproblem with the older generation? How can they keepteaching us what is going wrong with the world, yet carryon damaging it as though they are unaware of the fate towhich they condemn us?”

Bittu Sahgal is editor of Sanctuary magazine, India, andfounder of Kids for Tigers, a movement involving over onemillion school children.www.sanctuaryasia.com

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A concerted drive to savethe tiger could be the best way of saving India’slast forests – and helping its poorest, too, arguesBittu Sahgal.

Five steps to save the tiger

l Assess the carbon storage and sequestration role ofthe Protected Area Network, and then amend thecurrent carbon credit regime to provide incentives forlocal communities to benefit from the protection offorests.l Re-evaluate the benefits of ecosystem services so thatland management decisions are not skewed by anunderestimation of the value of wild habitatsl Place a moratorium on the conversion of tiger foreststo non-forest use, barring mines, dams, roads andmonocultures.l Rescind the recently promulgated Scheduled Tribesand Forest Dwellers Act, which effectively convertsmillions of hectares of forest lands to private real estate.l Put wildlife and forest field staff on a par with thepolice and armed forces.

Cat’s cradle

To save his job, save the tiger

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‘Monsoons and miracles’ is a Green Futures SpecialPublication, produced in association with the UK Departmentfor Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and InterfaceFLOR,Unilever plc and WWF-India.

Defra: www.defra.gov.uk

InterfaceFLOR: www.interfaceflor.eu

Unilever plc: www.unilever.com

WWF-India: www.wwfindia.org

Editor: Martin Wright

Consultant editor: Vedant Walia

Production: Hannah Bullock

Design: Declan Buckley

Design consultant: Jenny Searle

Front cover image: Martin Wright

Printed on Revive Silk by Beacon Press, using their pureprintenvironmental print technology and vegetable based inks.

Published January 2008.

© Green Futures 2008

Registered charity no. 1040519

Green Futures brings you the latest news and thinking onpositive progress towards sustainable development in the UKand the rest of the world – both on the web(www.greenfutures.org.uk) and in a quarterly magazine. It ispublished by Forum for the Future, the sustainabledevelopment charity which finds practical ways private andpublic organisations can deliver a sustainable future.

www.forumforthefuture.org.uk

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India’s search for a sustainable future

monsoons &miracles

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