24 July 2024
Financial Express
Op-eds
FINANCE MINISTER NIRMALA
Sitharaman has presented a prudent and sustainability-oriented Budget. It is
remarkable that energy security is one of the nine priority areas for the
government. Energy security balances existing efforts in clean energy and
provides a thrust on newer technology options. These are essential, critical
measures to put the country on the green growth path.
Solar has been given the power
it needs. First, under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, the installation of
rooftop solar plants for 10 million households, providing up to 300 units of
free electricity per month has been continued. Second, expanding the list of
exempted equipment and inputs for manufacturing solar cells and panels and
removing customs duty exemptions on solar glass and tinned copper to
incentivise sufficient domestic manufacturing capacity augurs well for the
sector.
Exploring and harnessing other
forms of clean technology will be a critical vehicle as well in our Viksit
Bharat journey. The intent to further explore nuclear energy as a source by
collaborating with the private sector to develop and set up Bharat Small
Reactors is laudable. Many countries like Japan, China, the US and the UAE have
announced a revival of their nuclear fleets, as nuclear energy has the lowest
carbon footprint from cradle to grave and needs fewer materials and less land
than other electricity sources. More importantly, it can displace coal and act
as a flexible baseload in a low carbon grid dominated by wind and solar energy.
The announcement by the FM to
develop a roadmap for transitioning industries in the harder to abate sector
from energy efficiency and saving to carbon emission reductions is a hugely
strategic one. The more energy-intensive industries currently covered under the
Perform, Achieve and Trade Scheme have enabled emission reduction by 110.7
million tonne of carbon over 15 years. But with international initiatives like
the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism coming in, India needs its own
carbon market to avoid being locked out of key export markets for our
industrial goods.
The government has considered
other important aspects of energy security, such as the Critical Mineral
Mission that encourages domestic production, recycling, and overseas
acquisition of critical mineral assets. As nations worldwide accelerate the
deployment of clean energy technologies and electrify their economies, the
pressure on critical mineral supply chains is intensifying significantly.
Reserves and processing capabilities of most of the relevant minerals are
concentrated in a handful of countries, largely China.
This makes securing supplies
subject to geopolitical volatilities, and therefore unreliable. A systematic
and comprehensive approach in mission mode will be critical to securing India’s
access to these minerals that are the building blocks of energy transition.
It is notable that one of the
government’s priority themes in the Budget has been raising productivity and
resilience of the agriculture sector. Thrust has rightly been placed on climate
resilient crops and natural farming. This is important because in the absence
of the adoption of adaptation measures, rainfed rice yields in India are
projected to drop by 20% and wheat yields by 19.3% by 2050. The decision to
release 109 high-yielding climate-resilient varieties of 32 crops to improve
agricultural productivity and resilience against climate change will help the
farmers and the economy greatly.
Sumant Sinha(Founder,
Chairman And CEO)
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