{"id":1306,"date":"2022-03-30T15:32:20","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T15:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developmentdebate.in\/2022\/03\/30\/climate-change-on-periphery-of\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T08:21:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T08:21:25","slug":"climate-change-on-periphery-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developmentdebate.in\/?p=1306","title":{"rendered":"Climate Change on the periphery of Rajasthan State budget 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mitali Soni<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change is real. It is happening
\nright now, it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need
\nto work collectively together and stop procrastinating.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Leonardo Di Caprio, Actor &
\nEnvironmentalist<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Climate change is the greatest global
\nchallenge, which through a multitude of impacts poses a risk to our ecology,
\neconomy and society. Studies show that changes in the climate of Rajasthan are
\nover and above the natural climate variability prevailing in the region.
\nExperts say that Rajasthan falls in areas of greatest climate sensitivity,
\nmaximum vulnerability and lowest adaptive capacity. <\/span>Rajasthan is the largest state in India covering an area of 34.22
\nmillion hectares (10.5 percent of the country\u2019s geographical area), but sharing
\nonly 1.16 percent of its water resources. It is the driest state with nearly 70
\npercent (2\/3rd) of the area classified as arid and semi-arid region <\/span>that makes the land unfit for cultivation<\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Climate change challenges being faced by state <\/span><\/b><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Climate change is a global challenge with
\ndiverse implications at the national and subnational levels, through impacts on
\nvarious sectors such as agriculture, environment and human health. It has made
\nwater scarcity problem worse, as it has the potential to disrupt livelihoods
\nand well-being of farmers through impacting weather patterns. According to the
\nGround Water Year Book 2020-2021 Rajasthan, Comparison of water level for
\nJanuary 2021 with the mean of January 2011-20 infer that water levels in 60.76%
\nstations shows decline. Over exploitation and excess use of groundwater has led
\nto substantial decline in water levels which may ultimately result in drying up
\nof aquifers in many areas of state. For drinking and irrigation purpose, 90% of
\nstate\u2019s population rely upon groundwater.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>Climate Change and Environment in state budget 2022<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot
\npresented the state budget for the financial year 2022-23 touched almost every
\narea or sector (Health, Agriculture, social security, infrastructure, tourisms,
\netc.). In the Budget speech, announcement regarding various schemes related to
\nthese sectors were made.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the announcements made in the budget
\n2022-23, from the perspective of environment protection and improving the climate
\nchange situations include proposal of plantation to be done in more than 50000
\nhectares of forest area in the coming year to increase the forest cover and
\nincrease greenery in the state. In order to ensure proper disposal of e-waste,
\nit is proposed to set up a Jaipur-waste recycling park along with bringing in
\n‘e-waste disposal policy’. There is an exemption of 50% in motor vehicle tax to
\npromote new vehicles running on CNG for pollution control. Now this exemption will
\nalso be admissible on CNG Kit Retrofitment vehicles. The step has been taken to
\npromote the use of cleaner fuel and CNG is an environment friendly fuel and
\nemits less carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, particulate matter and smoke, as
\ncompared to petrol and diesel engines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Irrigation facility will be developed for the farmers of tribal
\narea through solar energy based community water-lifting irrigation scheme
\nthrough 50 lift irrigation schemes. Switching to solar energy eases reliance on
\nfossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil. This move will have direct
\ninfluence on the reduction of emission of harmful gases to the atmosphere. With
\na view to reduce the cost of energy generation and carbon emissions, expansion
\nof Chhabra Thermal Power Station based on ultra-super critical technology and
\nlignite coal, which in turn produces less heat and less amount of
\ncarbon-di-oxide and Sulphur-di-oxide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the announcements made about the agriculture are also
\nenvironment friendly and can change the climate change situations include proposal of Rs 2700 crores under Rajasthan Micro Irrigation Mission, <\/span>which can boost yields while lowering
\nwater, fertilizer, and labour costs. The approach lowers water loss by
\nconveyance, run-off, deep percolation, and evaporation by providing water
\ndirectly to the root zone. <\/span>Ground
\nWater Conservation and Management Authority will be <\/span>formed for the proper use of ground water
\nin the state. <\/span>Under the
\nRajasthan Organic Farming Mission, Rs. 600 crores has been proposed with the
\nperception to benefit 4 lacs farmers in 3 years. To promote the production and
\nsale of organic products, purchase of organic products and sale of these
\nproducts at grocery stores like Confed and Co-operative consumer stores,
\ndepartmental stores, D-mart stores etc. shall be provided. I appreciate
\ngovernment for promoting organic farming as this will avoid pesticides and
\nmitigate climate change by reducing GHG gas emissions and stores carbon in
\nsoil. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Special
\nEmphasis on Health Sector<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

As India enters the third year in its fight
\nagainst the global pandemic, special focus on health sector is clearly visible
\nin budget speech. In 2022-23, there is about 23.6% increase in health sector vudget compared to the
\nbudget estimate of year 2021-22. As mentioned above, various announcements
\nrelated to environment were made which are leading towards the reduction of
\nGreenhouse Gas emissions will be beneficial in improvement of respiratory,
\ncardiovascular and various chronic diseases contributing to well-being. As
\ndiscussed the water availability concerns in the beginning of this article, Under
\nJal Jivan Mision,24 new missions are going to be started through which
\n12,24,000 families will get Potable Drinking water and proposal of announcement
\nregarding 36 new projects were done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The state budget 2022-23 is an ambitious budget which has covered almost each and
\nevery area but did not directly discuss climate change but various announcements
\nwere done. With respect to environment, as mentioned above in the Rajasthan
\nbudget 2019-20, it was announced to draft a new policy on Climate Change but it
\nhas not come yet. <\/span><\/p>\n

A question was raised in Rajasthan
\nLegislative Assembly on 15\/02\/2022 with reference to the climate change policy and the establishment
\nof the Directorate of Environment and Climate Change in the State. The following\u00a0<\/span>answer\u00a0 was given by the state government:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe announcement of bringing climate
\nchange policy by the state government was made in the budget 2019-20. The
\ndraft of climate change policy has been prepared with the help of IIT Bombay, which
\nwill be finalized soon.\u201d (Quoted from Rajasthan Assembly website)<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier also the government had prepared a
\nState action plan on climate Change. However, there is no information on its
\nimplementation or outcome. It is appreciable that state government is taking initiatives such as organic farming, promoting CNG vehicles which are pro environment and beneficial for human health too. Under Jal Jeevan Mission, the government has again emphasized providing tapped drinking water to every rural household but as records shows that groundwater level is decreasing at a
\nrapid pace, therefore it is the matter of concern that by how the government
\nwill ensure sustainability in drinking water prgrammes. The government, therefore, must take proactive measures to check the environmental degradations and make the development climate resilient.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mitali is a public policy graduate and an independent consultant.<\/span><\/p>\n