Climate Change and Dalits

m c raj

Paper Presented at Gurukul Lutheran Theological College

Chennai

16 March 2010

Preamble

The irony of life in modern society and perhaps throughout the past epochs of
history is that those indigenous communities that have lived in complete
integrity with nature and harmony with the cosmic order are made to live as
hapless victims of the shenanigans of those forces that are out to destroy
nature and cosmos. This historical irony is summed up in the fact that all
indigenous communities including the Dalits have been kept outside the
peripheries of discourses and praxis of climate change, global warming
mitigation, clean development mechanism etc. The very same capitalist forces
that are out to exhaust the energy of the cosmos to satiate its greedy and
luxurious pursuits are now out to make the maximum out of its own
destructive dance through the latest order of global warming mitigation. Once
again this brings to the fore the urgent need for discourses on possible roles
of all indigenous communities, especially of Dalits in India.

Irrespective of whether there was an invasion or not the mythical history of

Hinduism through Ramayana is a historical locale of discovering the
ecological roots of the Indigenous pre-Aryan Dalit people.1 The introduction to
Valmiki Ramayana says that Rama decimated 14000 of the ancestors of the
Dalit people during his sojourn in the forest, after ascribing to them the
characters of Rakshasas and Asuras. The ancient Hindu rational foundation
for such mindless violence on the Dalit people needs to go through the
grinding mill of modern analytical methodologies to separate substance from
chaff.

The arrival of Aryans on the indigenous scene was the beginning of the
establishment of hegemony over a people and the cosmos in an
unprecedented way. The killing of indigenous ancestors is our point of
departure in tracking back the ecological and environmental concerns of the
Dalit people. The cabinet meeting in the Durbar of Indra deliberated on the
representations from Brahmin rishis that the Rakshasas and Asuras were
disrupting their performances of sacrificial rites, yagas and yagnas. The
ministerial meeting decided that Vishnu should incarnate as Rama and kill the

1
. The author holds the view that ancient history was written and orally handed over through
stories that are now considered to be myths. It will be too naïve to dismiss myths of ancient
times in any religion as grandiose imaginations.

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Asuras and Rakshasa kings and queens.

The indigenous kings and queens did disturb the performance of the Aryan
yaga and yagna mainly because they were lovers of nature and animals. The
Rishis were destroying forests and were killing thousands of animals in these
rites. Having subscribed to a cosmic philosophy, now known as Shamanic
Cosmism, Dalit ancestors were great lovers of nature and believed in
integrating themselves with the movement and change of cosmos. The arrival
of Aryans was a violent intrusion into their worldview and peaceful existence
with the harmonious rhythm of nature. They protected environment and
ecology even at the cost of their lives.

From the mythic period till the postmodern times, Dalit people have been
living as part of nature and cosmos. Their contribution to the contemporary
destruction of nature, ecological imbalance, global warming and GHG2
emission has been nil. Their subscription to hegemonic philosophy and ‘man’
being the master of the universe is unknown in any epoch of history.

Postmodern Global Warming

Global Warming is almost threatening to subsume the world in the near future.
Global actors are promoting the paradigm that the Planet Earth has to be
saved. It raises the question whether human beings can save the planet or
whether they have to save themselves from planet earth. There is no doubt
that consumption patterns in the world have been topsy-turvy. This makes the
developing nations of the world to say that developed nations must own a
responsibility for having brought the world to where it is and therefore, they
must be the frontrunners in mitigation measures. India is spearheading such
an attitude and assertion in GHG emission reduction discourses. Though
there is legitimacy in this argumentation it can easily be interpreted as
obscurantist at a crisis-ridden phase in world history.

The imagery is very strong. A group of people has set your house on fire.
There is no doubt that what they have done is unjust and cruel. But the image
of someone standing beside the burning house and trying to analyze and
apportion blame will only invite ridicule. The immediate need is to gather
forces to put out the fire without precluding the necessity for scientific analysis
and distributing proportionate responsibility.

The attitude and proposed measures of developed nations are in tune with
the exploitative trajectory they have set all along. They have been consistently
shifting the responsibility for corrective measures to the victims themselves.
Behind such endeavor lies the subtle attempt to brush off any possible blame
by others and also to wash of any guilt feeling that may have got stuck in their
collective conscience. Moral and legal responsibility fixing must accompany
mitigation efforts. But there should be no shying away from taking up
appropriate and stern measures for mitigation by all those who live in the
world.
2
. Green House Gas

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Compliance Vs Rewarding the Culprit

The world has entered into an ironical situation where the serious threat of
global warming has been converted into an opportunity by the gullible
capitalist world to reap a rich harvest. In order to do this the same forces that
have taken the world to the doors of doom have created a compliance
mechanism and simultaneously also a compliance market. This is where the
market meets to perform its dance of negotiations standing on dilapidated
citadels. The case of RWE in Germany is just one randomly picked up
example of how this dance is choreographed. This company is one of the
biggest electrical companies in Europe that produce nuclear power and is
under the UN compliance to reduce carbon emission to the tune of 90 million
tones. There are many such companies that are crucial players in the
compliance market. They prowl around poorer parts of the world to pounce on
unassuming companies and organizations who, with all their good faith and
commitment get seriously into the business of global warming mitigation
measures. One such officially set up establishment is the UNFCCC 3 with
CDM4 as its major programme. They buy CERs5 from such companies or
organizations at a rate that is much lower than in the market and make a huge
profit out of their compulsion for compliance. Instead of they themselves
complying with UNFCCC mitigation measures they make others reduce
carbon emission into the atmosphere, pay a low price for such emissions and
are allowed to show this as their compliance measure. In the ultimate analysis
they arm-twist the same establishments that bring them under the compulsion
of compliance. There is a legitimate argumentation that by joining hands with
such huge companies organizations can end up contributing to the devil that
causes unmitigated global warming.

Voluntary Market and Mitigation

As against the compliance market there is a voluntary market created by

conscientious individuals, organizations and companies that get into the
business of reducing GHG reduction and at the same time get a price for their
contribution to mitigation. As against the CER they float and promote VER.6
Though their initial aim is not to make huge profit many of them get easily
sucked into the profit mechanism and mindset and begin to imitate their
counterparts in the CDM world. Their returns through VER are much lower in
the global market when compared to the price of CER.

Looked at both ways global warming has become one of the biggest level

3
. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change
4
. Clean Development Mechanism
5
. Certified Emission Reduction
6
. Voluntary Emission Reduction

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playing fields for all those who know how to get into this arena. Here comes a
serious question for Dalits and other indigenous people who are traditional
lovers of nature and who have no share in the guilt of subverting the cosmic
rhythm. Being lovers of nature they do not have the necessary expertise to
exploit it in order to make huge profit out of its misery. However, the very
survival of these indigenous people is at stage if they do not develop the
expertise not only to understand but also to enter the market mechanisms of
climate change and global warming mitigation.

While the dominant world deals with compliance and its marketing dynamics
the Dalit and other poor worlds need to forward another thesis in this crisis
ridden climate situation. Those sections of people who are not contributing
anything to global warming and who have by their nature contributed to the
preservation of an ecologically balanced world should be rewarded. If
measurements can be made for making compliance compulsory it can also be
made for the quantum that the poor do not contribute to global warming and
what they contribute to preservation by not depleting fossil fuel resources.
Such rewards will go a long way to the economic development of the Dalit
community in India and other indigenous communities across the world.

India

The following details about India have been given out by different articles and
books.

žIndia is the second fastest growing economy in the world. But a third of its
people go without access to electricity. A third of its energy is imported. India
is in need of consuming 450 million tones of coal; 94 million tones of oil and
220 million units of electricity. Household sector in India consumes 45-50% of
India’s total energy. Energy sector absorbs the largest portion of resources
invested in Indian economy.
žTherefore, renewable energy is a compulsion for India in the face of the
depletion of fossil fuel sources.
žIndia is the fourth largest user of wind energy in the world. Yet the share of
renewable energy in its total energy is less than 8%. žIndia has 3.23 million
bio-gas plants installed, it is second in the world. žIndia has the largest
deployment of solar PV (50 MW). žIndia is third in annual production capacity
of solar PV (17 MW) ahead of Germany, France and Australia.

žData released by German renewable energy industry institute IWR showed

India's emissions of planet- warming carbon dioxide grew 125% between
1990 and 2008, while China's grew 178% and the United States 17%. China
is the world's top GHG polluter, followed by the United States, Russia, India
and Japan. "America has got a l ot of money, muscle power and there is a
possibility that India may be left out as the lone voice (in Copenhagen),"
Sunita Narain, head of the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and
Environment, told Reuters.

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žIndia has an average of 250-300 sunny days. With its vast geography India
receives over 5000 trillion KWh/year. This is much more than the total energy
consumption of the country. žHence the need for tapping solar energy.
Energy sector holds the key to India’s economic growth. žIndia also has the
potential to become the biggest lead player in the global solar PV market. The
National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) announced a 10 year FiT
(Feed in Tariff) of around 0.25 Eurocent per kilowatt. This reduces motivation.
žEurope gives 50 Cent FiT. Harish Hande, the Founder of SELCO feels the
Indian FiT has remained a Paper Tiger.
ž
The producer and consumer of solar energy in India still is the Corporate
Sector. Renewable energy has not yet reached the poor. The Rural
Electrification Corporation has declared that 82.3% of villages are electrified.
But this is strange. It declares a village electrified even when only 10%
households are electrified. 70% of rural areas in India do not have electricity.
ž60% of rural households use kerosene lamps.

Rural Education for Development Society (REDS)

CDM Photovoltaic Lighting Project and Wood Stove Project

REDS’ commitment to renewable energy consumption and Climate Concerns

do not emerge from such alarming situations in the world. REDS is concerned
with environment and energy as a fundamental value arising from a cosmos-
centric, earth-centric, woman-centric and community centric worldview. At the
same time REDS sees an opportunity in the global threat to climate. REDS
seeks to enhance a global concern for preserving the resources of nature to
provide space for all people of the earth. REDS has chosen two areas of
meaningful engagement in this global endeavor to mitigate global warming by
reducing GHG emissions.

1. Removal of the daily use of 180,000 kerosene lamps in poor

households and replacing them with Photovoltaic Lamps.

2. Reduction of the use of firewood for cooking by introducing

Woodstove in 60,000 households.

REDS has become the third pro-poor project and first Dalit project in the world
to be registered under the UNFCCC CDM Project.

Photovoltaic Lighting Project

REDS is providing clean lighting option though Clean Development

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Mechanism (CDM) finance to 60,000 rural households that do not have
electricity. The purpose of the project activity is to install 180,000 Photovoltaic
Lamps in 60,000 non-electrified rural homes in nine of the ten taluks of
Tumkur District, Karnataka. The lamps use 3W CFL or LED luminaries that
derive their power from Photovoltaic modules using monocrystalline or
amorphous panels. The systems are tried and tested. The systems will be
supplied by reputed lighting systems companies, depending on the quantities
required and choice of design and brand preferred by the users after technical
tests.

The aim of the project is to improve the quality of life of people in un-electrified
rural households. Currently kerosene is used for lighting, but the quality of
light is very poor. The Photovoltaic Lights will improve the standards of living
by providing higher quality lighting. The project will also reduce Green House
Gas emissions to the atmosphere. The view of the project participants of the
contribution of the project activity to sustainable development through social,
economic, environmental and technical improvement is as follows:

The SPV technology is renewable as it enables direct conversion of sunlight

into electricity. Photovoltaic cells, commonly known as solar cells, are used to
convert light into electricity. A combination of solar module(s) in
series/parallel combination, storage battery, interface electronics, mechanical
support structure, cable and switches etc. constitute a SPV system. Thus
implementation of the project will contribute to reduction in GHG emissions
and also will lead to achieving sustainable development goals of the host
country.

Social benefits: Households will get light in order to go about their domestic
and educational activities in the home more efficiently. They can switch on a
clean, white, bright light after dark or before sunrise. Family members will not
have to inhale dirty fumes from the Kerosene flame as they bend over the
lamp to read. Fire hazards will be eliminated.

Economic benefits: The households buy on an average of 0.36 litres of

Kerosene every day for lighting purposes. The household members earn their
living by working in the agricultural fields and by doing daily labour (Coolie).
The earning is not sufficient to meet their daily food demands. Thus, the
installation of Photovoltaic Lamps through this CDM project will provide,
efficient and long-lasting lighting to the user and will help lead a better life. It is
proposed to provide number of lamps based on the population of each
household and requirements as under taken in the baseline study. The only
cost will be the savings to replace the batteries every two years.

Technical benefit: Renewable energy technology that is currently not

available in these regions will be disseminated to new constituents. Local
people will be inspired to find out more about these new technologies. This
also means penetration of new technology in the rural area, which can serve
as the model to rural electrification. Apart from that entrepreneurship will be
given a boost through the distribution of the lamps through a business model.
Connectors and other Balance of systems items will in some places be

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assembled locally, and replacements, spares, and operation and maintenance
support will be provided by the local entrepreneurs.

Environmental benefit: At the national level infrastructure associated with

rural electrification and the associated transmission and distribution losses will
be avoided. At the national level fossil fuels are saved, which is important in
view of the rapid depletion of these resources. The environmental benefits
include the utilization of green solar renewable energy for electrification to the
user.

Woodstove Project

REDS plans to provide 60,000 Woodstoves to as many households in order

reduce the use of fossil fuel by about 60% from its present use. The PDD for
this project is ready and preparations are underway for validation of the
project. There will be a generation of over six hundred thousand CERs
through this project.

Through these two projects, if they are financed through CERs REDS will be
able to take the Dalit community into a new era of development cooperation. It
will not any more be a donor-receiver equation but a win-win business for both
the donor from rich countries and for the Dalits in India. If more and more Dalit
groups equip themselves to get into this business world the advantage to
ecology and environment will be unprecedented in human history. That will be
the actualization of the Dalit worldview as well as the opening of the path of
Dalit development.

Grey Leaves and Rose Flowers

If Dalits manage to succeed to implementing CDM projects the type of

visibility the community will get at the international arena will be qualitatively
different from what it has been till now.

Even some groups taking up this business propositions will instill a sense of
business in the community and Dalit will begin to count money in a way it
needs to be counted.

It is bound to create a different type of creamy layer in the Dalit community

that can virtually and actually negotiate Dalit rights standing on platforms that
are different from reservation.