PAKISTAN has pledged to the world that it will drastically reduce its reliance on fossil fuels by shifting to cleaner energy sources and encouraging electric vehicles. The SAPM on climate change assured the international community during a US-hosted virtual conference that the country will shift to 60pc clean energy and convert 30pc of its overall vehicular fleet to electricity by 2030. That is a tall order given that renewable sources, barring hydropower, constitute only a fraction of the nation’s overall energy mix, and issues such as infrastructural impediments, higher upfront costs and range anxiety are likely to keep consumers from shifting to electric vehicles for many years. Besides, the government is yet to fully align its climate change goals with its power and automotive strategies even though it has separately drawn up EV and alternative energy policies. For example, the long-term plan prepared by the NTDC last year totally ignored the renewable energy option in favour of dirty fossil fuels without taking into account the cost of their impact on the environment. Likewise, some ministers appear reluctant to encourage cheaper, environment-friendly hybrid technology as a way to encourage a shift to green electric technology.
Indeed, the shift to cleaner fuels is crucial to slow down climate changes affecting food security across the globe. But that is not enough. Countries like Pakistan, which are affected the most by the changing climate, need to go beyond measures aimed at slowing down environmental degradation and promote policies that target the reversal of damage already done. One of those measures would include helping farmers switch to modern irrigation and seed technologies for conserving depleting water resources for the future. In fact, unless the government formulates an umbrella policy that covers all sectors of the economy and all segments of the population, it will not be able to win the climate war. The execution of different policies in silos will not work or produce the desired results. By making big pledges at the conference, the government has already fired the starting pistol. The ambitious targets spelled out at the conference will have no hope of being met without a comprehensive effort. There’s no doubt that developing countries are also looking towards major economies responsible for global warming for financial assistance to tackle the problem. But they cannot sit still, waiting for the promised help to arrive. It is time they joined the race.
India’s Covid disaster
INDIA is in the midst of a cataclysmic Covid-19 nightmare that has unleashed unimaginable suffering on its people. The stats are getting grimmer by the day; after claims earlier in the year that the government had ‘beaten’ the virus with new cases down to 11,000 a day, this week India recorded the world’s highest single-day coronavirus cases at 332,730. The overall death toll at 190,000 is staggering, with 2,624 deaths recorded in 24 hours on Saturday alone. The accounts coming from across the border are truly heartbreaking: there are desperate pleas for oxygen with patients begging doctors for treatment outside emergency wards as others breathe their last; death is occurring in plain sight; makeshift crematoriums are being created in parking lots to deal with the deluge of bodies. With hospitals exceeding their capacity and the collapse of the healthcare infrastructure, doctors across India are exhausted from swimming against an all-consuming current. Thousands are dying a slow death each day due to the lack of oxygen and medication — many of these lives could have been saved had it not been for the deplorable lack of leadership.
India’s Covid-19 story did not have to be this horror show. But complacency, denial, and an utter disregard for science and data pushed millions into a crippling crisis. As early reports of mutated strains and their high transmissibility surfaced, the Narendra Modi government continued with its grandstanding. Instead of chalking out a plan to vaccinate Indians first, the government was quick to secure deals to export the vaccine. The result is almost too painful to bear: citizens of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer are dying by the thousands. Meanwhile, superspreader gatherings such as election rallies in West Bengal and the Kumbh Mela were allowed to continue. The role of BJP leaders here has been criminal. Just a month ago, the party encouraged supporters to attend the Kumbh festival, falsely claiming it to be safe. In Uttarakhand, the chief minister went as far as to say that “faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus”. It was only a few days ago that Prime Minister Modi announced the cancellation of pre-election roadshows, when criticism against his government’s handling of the crisis intensified.
It is because of this absence of leadership that India has become a cautionary tale for others in the region. In Pakistan, where Covid-19 cases are climbing at an alarming rate and hospitals in the capital are at capacity, the government appears to be sleepwalking into a similar disaster. Poor vaccine rollout, a creaking healthcare system and blatant disregard for SOPs could spell doom in a matter of weeks. The government’s strategy that it will implement a lockdown only if the system collapses is appalling. If authorities do not reconsider this strategy and act fast, the coming weeks will bring relentless pain and suffering.
Digitising parliament
IN a meeting on the President’s Initiative for Cyber Efficient Parliament on Wednesday, President Arif Alvi expressed his desire to see parliamentary operations completely digitised by January 2023. In the first phase of this initiative, the minister for information technology and telecommunication has said, agendas of sessions of both houses of parliament and their committees, motions, proceedings, etc would be presented through a computerised system. Though there are not enough details at present to scrutinise the plan in depth, and there are likely to be implementation challenges (such as cybersecurity, data protection and technology literacy among parliamentarians) the drive to automate operations is in general a welcome move towards modernising and streamlining parliamentary procedures and records management.
Moreover, besides making the work of parliament more efficient, this effort can lay the groundwork for increasing transparency and public participation with their elected representatives. A fully digitised information management system can provide interesting opportunities to expand and improve the way that open data is made available to citizens. An accessible, searchable public dashboard that is updated in real time, for example, and which eventually includes digitised archives of past sessions of the National Assembly and Senate and members’ voting records, can prove to be a much greater resource for journalists, researchers and the general voting public than government websites in their current state. Several studies have found that a key barrier in greater citizen engagement is knowledge of how parliament works. Used strategically, technology can bridge the gap between constituents and parliamentarians, enhancing decision-making and promoting civic education. Both governmental and non-governmental initiatives (such as the UK’s TheyWorkForYou) have shown promising results in this regard. But an increasing reliance on technology can also widen inequalities between online and offline populations unless also supplemented with a holistic strategy to improve digital literacy and internet access. There is plenty of potential in digitising parliament, provided that the key aims of building transparency, trust and participation remain in the foreground.
