There are many questions about the sustainability of India’s green recovery employment opportunities and their availability in terms of geographical location.
The trend of promoting renewable energy in the world has been steadily increasing, but there are still many questions regarding the sustainability and geographical location of employment opportunities arising from it. Experts also believe that the situation of 100 percent dependence on renewable energy in India is not seen to happen for the next two decades. We need to invest in renewable energy for sustainable development. This can create a lot of employment opportunities. The number of large grid-connected renewable energy projects will determine how many jobs can be created and where. If we are to take full advantage of this, then we will have to focus on rural skills as well as promote domestic manufacturing and new technologies and have a clear roadmap for sustainable transformation. There is also a big question, how do we ensure social security in the entire region, especially renewable energy.
The kind of human and economic disaster that is seen in the world after the Kovid-19 epidemic is the first of its kind in modern history. Many countries have prepared economic reform packages to deal with these difficult situations. India is also making efforts in this direction, but while recovering the economy, an important question also arises that what are the reforms that can be done to bring this scattered economy back on track in an environment friendly manner Provide job opportunities to millions of Indians. A webinar was organized on Wednesday by Carbon Copy to discuss this important topic. It was moderated by senior environmental journalist Hridayesh Joshi. Research student in the webinar, Sandeep Pai, said that a lot of research is being done on renewable energy not only in India but all over the world. We collected data from 50 countries and studied it and found that today there are 1.8 crore employment opportunities in the renewable energy sector all over the world, which is expected to increase to 26 million by 2050. There are 8.7 lakh employment opportunities in this sector in India, which will increase to 14 lakh by 2050. Solar and wind energy will have the largest share in this. If we keep the environmentally friendly compensation targets in mind, there will definitely be more employment opportunities, but it is not clear where these jobs will go in India.
He said that if we look at today, the emphasis is on renewable energy in the southern and western states but the geographical location of coal producing areas is different. The coal sector provides employment to five lakh people, so the jobs that will go to the coal sector on the promotion of renewable energy, there is no need that jobs created in the renewable energy sector should also be available in those areas. It is not yet known whether those jobs will be permanent or temporary. Will they get a fair salary from them. Overall, there are more jobs in green policies but some important questions remain unresolved.
Sandeep said that according to the government’s claim, coal mining will provide three lakh new employment opportunities. When asked about the basis of this claim by questioning under RTI, the Ministry of Coal replied that it has no documentary evidence to support it, so it is not clear how much employment will be provided. It is also not known whether these three lakh jobs are permanent and whether they will get good salary.
Madura Joshi, representative of Clean Energy and Success and Climate Policy, said that from a global perspective, the Kovid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the entire world, which will cause historical economic crises. According to the IEA study, 300 million people became unemployed in the second quarter of 2020. 3 million jobs in the fields of electricity, coal, oil and gas and biofuels have either been lost or are in danger. If we see, between 2014 and 2019, there has been a five-fold increase in employment in the renewable energy sector in India.
He said, “According to a study by Power for All, in the year 2018, 95000 direct employment opportunities have been created in the renewable energy sector in India. According to another study, if South India moves towards 100% renewable energy conversion, by the year 2050 the region could have more than 5 million jobs, which is more than three lakh jobs as reported by the government in the fossil fuel sector. . ”
Madhura suggested that we must invest in renewable energy for sustainable development. This can create a lot of employment opportunities. The number of large grid-connected renewable energy projects will determine how many jobs can be created and where. If we are to take full advantage of this, then we will have to focus on rural skills as well as promote domestic manufacturing and new technologies and have a clear roadmap for sustainable transformation. This will ensure our direction in the future.
Also read in Hindi: क्या ग्रीन रिकवरी दे पा रही है एवरग्रीन रोज़गार के अवसर?