Strict environmental, social and governance regulations that extend throughout the EV supply chains imperative
Photo: iStock In September 2022, Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar wrote an article for the daily The Times of India in his popular column, Swaminomics. He, through facts and figures, argued that Medha Patkar was wrong in opposing the Sardar Sarovar Dam project and should apologise.
His corroborations included the incomes and remunerations received by the tribals and that they now had motorcycles and cell phones.
However, when we read about the recent swelling of the Narmada river, there are mostly talks of how it was an avoidable disaster in terms of the timing of the water release. There are no conversations around dam-named encroachments on flood banks of rivers.
The Narmada movement against Enron may have been an irritation for the powerful, but it was enabling and empowering for the tribals that Medha Patkar stood up for.
As reported by The Guardian in January 2020, the United States city with the highest population of African-American people is facing an environmental justice nightmare. Detroit, the centre of the US automobile industry, and home to the "Big Three" auto manufacturers- General Motors, Ford and Stellantis has appalling levels of air, soil and water pollution.
Detroit’s most vulnerable residents face inequalities like toxic air, lead poisoning, and water shutoffs. The auto industry has historically been a polluter not just through the emissions of the vehicles it produces, but also through its factories.
“The fact is that we live in the shadows of countless brownfield sites and lead smelters … that used to crush and incinerate batteries from the auto industry that contain lead,” alleged one of the residents of Detroit.
As per the Centre for Science and Environment, following were the salient revelations from a Green Rating Project on India’s automobile sector:
Thus, it is necessary that as the country rejoices in ushering in the e-mobility era, it remediates the mistakes that the auto industry has made in the past.
There need to be strict environmental, social and governance regulations that extend throughout the EV supply chains. The local communities need to be engaged justly not only through menial employment, but through appropriate education, skilling and incorporation in the EV community.
The three-wheeler and e-rickshaw drivers should not only become consumers in the EV economy. They should get an appropriate share of the profits. This may not mean direct equity transfers. But it would certainly involve ensuring affordability and availability of both EVs and charging infrastructure.
Some of the start-ups are doing well in this regard. The asset-light business model of BluSmart does not only lead to healthy books for the company but also allows the driver-partners to earn a fixed payout every month without having to own the vehicle or arrange for asset finance.
A co-founder of BluSmart, Anmol Jaggi, said, “We pay a monthly lease of Rs 25,000 per car and a payout of Rs 22,000 per contract driver. Our running cost comes at Re 1 / kilometre, including maintenance.”
The Indian citizens are resilient, progressive and very demanding: The National Green Tribunal has passed 91 judgements in the first 18 days of September 2023. Be it the Narmada movement, the Chipko movement or the CNG court battles, India has been ready and prepared to protect its environment.
“It is undoubtedly a milestone in Indian judicial history. After extensive hearing on all the nitty-gritty, the court used significant innovations of the law, such as health as a part of right to life and use of the ‘polluter pays’ principle to penalise a polluting technology, chart an exact course of action for a vacillating, evasive government,” according to India’s former chief justice, PN Bhagwati, when the Supreme Court delivered a seminal judgment, banishing diesel buses off the streets of Delhi in April 2002.
It is necessary for automakers to comply with industrial emission norms, be energy efficient while cooling their factories and govern their teams with empathy, safety and inclusion. This, combined with the strict government regulation will ensure the mobility sector’s transition to clean energy is truly green.
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