The sustainability primer for Congress, BJP and AAP policies

The recently released manifestos for all parties are supportive but devoid of exact details for their vision of a resource efficient India. While BJP broadly commits to a ‘clean energy revolution to end blackouts and revive economic growth’, the party has been tight-lipped about providing details. Similarly, while the AAP outlined specific measures for deploying solar leading up to the Delhi elections, its manifesto shies from providing specific details for how it will support a transition to renewables. Congress intends to maintain a status quo direction by pledging to support the national schemes rolled out far.

Below is a high level primer of what the parties have stated against sustainability areas:

Whereas Congress and BJP seem to prefer a centralized model for resource management and growth; the AAP outlook seems predicated on decentralized sustainability interventions that support a local model of governance.

From a sustainability stand-point, a focus on local ecosystems and communities, guided by a broader national structure, is deemed the most effective in ensuring sustainable development. However, the political ideologies of the party most aligned to decentralized resource management seems uninterested in providing concrete national policy guidance for a long term, stable action plan required to resolve the complex entangled mix of state and central incentives, regulation, process structures and strategy across inter-linked sustainability areas. 

What all parties have missed is showing leadership in communicating an integrated, coherent long term vision for securing India’s resources.  As examples, such a vision would necessarily entail a public discussion on resource efficiency, resource pricing, mandating policies to support closed-loops for production and consumption, and creating confidence in emerging market instruments such as Perform Achieve Trade or the RPO mechanism. 

Image Credits: Jpoonnolly