case study of sustainable development in india

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• Published: 08 July 2022

A critical examination of a community-led ecovillage initiative: a case of Auroville, India

• Abhishek Koduvayur Venkitaraman   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8515-257X 1 &
• Neelakshi Joshi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8947-1893 2  

Climate Action volume  1 , Article number:  15 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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• Sustainability

Human settlements across the world are attempting to address climate change, leading to changing paradigms, parameters, and indicators for defining the path to future sustainability. In this regard, the term ecovillage has been increasingly used as models for sustainable human settlements. While the term is new, the concept is an old one: human development in harmony with nature. However, materially realizing the concept of an ecovillage is not without challenges. These include challenges in scaling up and transferability, negative regional impacts and struggles of functioning within larger capitalistic and growth-oriented systems. This paper presents the case of Auroville, an early attempt to establish an ecovillage in Southern India. We draw primarily from the ethnographic living and working experience of the authors in Auroville as well as published academic literature and newspaper articles. We find that Auroville has proven to be a successful laboratory for providing bottom-up, low cost and context-specific ecological solutions to the challenges of sustainability. However, challenges of economic and social sustainability compound as the town attempts to scale up and grow.

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Introduction.

Scientists have repeatedly argued and emphasized for an equilibrium between human development and the basic ecological support systems of the planet (IPCC 2014 ; United Nations 1987 ). Human settlements have been important in this regard as places of concentrated human activity (Edward & Matthew E, 2010 ; Scott and Storper 2015 ). Settlement planning has responded to this call through visions of the eco-city as a proposal for building the city like a living system with a land use pattern supporting the healthy anatomy of the whole city and enhance its biodiversity, while resonating its functions with sustainability (Barton 2013 ; Register 1987 ; Roseland 1997 ). In planning practice, this means balancing between economic growth, social justice, and environmental well-being (Campbell 1996 ). However, the concept of eco-cities remains top-down in its approach with city authorities taking a lead in involving the civil society and citizens to implement the city’s environment plan (Joss 2010a , b ).

Contrary to the idea of eco-cities, ecovillages are small-scale, bottom-up sites for experimentation around sustainable living. Ecovillages resonate the same core principles of an eco-city but combine the social, ecological, and spiritual aspects of human existence (Gilman 1991 ). Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland is one of the oldest and most prominent ecovillages in the world and has collaborations with the United Nations and was named as a best practice community (Lockyer and Veteto 2013 ).

Another notable example is the Transitions Town movement that started in Totnes, United Kingdom but has now spread all over the world (Hopkins 2008 ; Smith 2011 ). The movement focuses upon supporting community-led responses to peak oil and climate change, building resilience and happiness. Additionally, it emphasizes rebuilding local agriculture and food production, localizing energy production along with rediscovering local building materials in the context of zero energy building (Hopkins 2008 ). Ecological districts within the urban fabric are also termed as ecovillages (Wolfram 2017 ).

Ecovillages are intentional communities characterized by alternative lifestyles, values, economics and governance systems (Joss 2010a , b ; Ergas 2010 ). At the same time ecovillages are located within and interact with growth-oriented capitalistic systems (Price et al. 2020 ). This dichotomy presents a challenge for ecovillages as they put ideas of sustainability transformation into practice. We explore some of these contradictions through the case study of Auroville, an ecovillage located in southern India. A discussion on the gaps between the ideas of an ecovillage against their lived reality throws light upon the challenges that ecovillages face when they attempt to grow. We begin by elaborating the key characteristics of ecovillages in the “Characteristics of ecovillages” section. We then present our material and methods in the “Methodology” section. Furthermore, we use the key characteristics of an ecovillage as a framework for analysing and discussing Auroville in the “Auroville, an ecovillage in South India” and “Discussion” sections. We conclude with a reflection on the concept of ecovillages.

Characteristics of ecovillages

The concept of an ecovillage is broad and has multiple interpretations. Based on a reading of the existing literature on ecovillages, we summarize some of their key characteristics here:

Alternative lifestyles and values : Ecovillage can be seen as intentional communities (Ergas 2010 ) and social movements which have a common stance against unsustainable modes of living and working (Kirby 2003 ; Snow et al. 2004 ). Ecovillages advocate for achieving an alternate lifestyle involving a considerable shift in power from globalized values to those internalized in local community autonomy. Therefore many ecovillages aspire to restructure power distribution and foster a spirit of collective and transparent decision-making (Boyer 2015 ; Cunningham and Wearing 2013 ). However, it is difficult to convince many people to believe in a common value system since the vision is to establish a world that is not only ecologically sustainable but also personally rewarding in terms of self-sacrifice for a good cause (Anderson 2015 ).

Governance : ecovillages tend to rely on a community-based governance and there is an assumption that the local and regional communities respond more effectively to local environmental problems since these problems pertain to the local context and priorities (Van Bussel et al. 2020 ). In a community-based governance system, activities are organized and carried out through participatory democracy committed to consensual decision-making. However, participatory democracy has its own set of problems. Consensual decision-making is time-consuming, and the degree of participation tends to vary from time to time (Fischer 2017 ). Participatory processes have also been criticized on the grounds for slowing down the decision-making process and resulting in a weak final agreement which doesn’t balance competing interests (Alterman et al. 1984 ).

Economic models in an ecovillages : ecovillages have attempted to combine economic objectives along with the overall well-being of people and have experimented with budgetary solutions appealing to a wider society (Hall 2015 ). As grassroots initiatives, ecovillages have advocated and practised living in community economies (Roelvink and Gibson-Graham 2009 ) and have influenced twentieth century economic practices beyond their geographical boundaries (Boyer 2015 ). Due to the emphasis on sharing in ecovillages, they can be considered to accommodate diverse economies (Gibson-Graham 2008 ) where human needs are met through relational exchanges and non-monetary practices, highlighting strong social ties (Waerther 2014 ). In some ecovillages, living expenses are reduced by sharing costly assets and saving cost on building materials by bulk buying and growing food for community consumption and sale (Pickerill 2017 ). These economic models have their own merit but are perhaps insufficient for the long-term economic sustainability of ecovillages (Price et al. 2020 ). Eventually, ecovillages might have to rely on external sources to import goods and services which cannot be produced on-site. This contradicts the ecovillage principles of being a self-reliant economy, reduction of its carbon footprint and minimizing resource consumption, thus implying a dependence on the market economy of the region (Bauhardt 2014 ).

Self-sufficiency : fulfilling the community’s needs within the available resources is a cornerstone principle for many ecovillages (Gilman 1991 ). This is often achieved through organic farming, permaculture, renewable energy and co-housing. Such measures are an attempt to offset and mitigate unsustainable development and limit the ecovillage’s ecological footprint (Litfin 2009 ). The initial small scale of the community often allows for this. However, as ecovillages grow in size and complexity, the interconnectedness and inter-dependence to the surrounding space become more apparent (Joss 2010a , b ). Examples include drawing resources from central energy and water systems (Xue 2014 ). Furthermore, ecovillages might turn out to be desirable places to live, with better quality of life, driving up land and property prices in the region as well as carbon emissions with additional visitors (Mössner and Miller 2015 ). Furthermore, in their role as catalysts of change in transforming society, ecovillages need to interact with their external surroundings and neighbouring communities, the municipalities, and the state and national level policies (Dawson and Lucas 2006 ; Kim 2016 ). This is particularly relevant in the Global South, where the ecovillage development has the potential to drive regional-scale sustainable development.

The characteristics of an ecovillage, however, do not exist in a geographical vacuum. Scholarly understanding of ecovillages as bottom-up efforts to drive sustainability transitions largely draw from the experiences of the Global North (Wagner 2012 ). Such ecovillage models often challenge the dominant capitalistic paradigm of post-industrial development, overconsumption and growth. Locating ecovillages in the Global South requires an expansion or re-evaluation of their larger socio-economic context as well as their socio-ecological impacts (Dias et al. 2017 ; Litfin 2009 ) .

To build upon the opportunities and challenges of ecovillages, locating them within the context of the Global South, we present the case of Auroville, an ecovillage located in southern India.

Methodology

We use the initial theoretical framework of ecovillage characteristics as a starting point for developing the case study of Auroville. Here, we draw from academic literature published about Auroville during 1968–2021. We also draw inferences from self-published reports and documents by the Auroville Foundation. Although we cover multiple interconnected aspects of Auroville, the characteristics pertaining to an ecovillage remain the focus of our work. We review the literature sources deductively, drawing on aspects of values, governance, economics and self-reliance, established in the previous section.

We triangulate the secondary data sources against our ethnographic experience of having lived and worked in Auroville for extended periods of time (2010–2012 and 2013–2014, respectively). We have worked in Auroville as architects and urban planners. During this time, we participated in multiple meetings on Auroville’s development as part of our work. We have discussed aspects of Auroville’s sustainability with Aurovillians working on diverse aspects, from urban planning to regional integration. Furthermore, living and working in Auroville brought us in conversation with several individuals from villages surrounding Auroville, employed in Auroville. For writing this case study, we have revisited our lived experience of Auroville through memory, research and work diaries maintained during this period, photographs as well our previously published research articles (Venkitaraman 2017 ; Walsky and Joshi 2013 ). Given our expertise in architecture and planning, we have also presented the translation of the key characteristics of an ecovillage, namely, alternative values, governance and economic systems and self-reliance, in these domains.

We acknowledge certain limitations to our methodology. We rely largely on secondary data to expand upon the challenges and contradictions in an ecovillage. We have attempted to overcome this by drawing from our first-hand experience of having lived in Auroville. Although our lived experiences are almost a decade old, we have attempted to compliment it with recently published articles as well as newspaper reports.

The next section presents Auroville as an ecovillage followed by a critical examination of its regional impact, governance, and economic structure.

Auroville, an ecovillage in South India

Foundational values.

Sri Aurobindo was an Indian philosopher and spiritual leader who believed that “man is a transitional being” and developed the practice of integral yoga with the aim of evolving humans into divine beings (Sen 2018 ). His spiritual consort, Mirra Alfassa realized his ideas in material form through a “universal township” which would hopefully contribute to “progress of humanity towards its splendid future”. Auroville was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa, as a township near Pondicherry, India. Alfassa envisioned Auroville to be a “site of material and spiritual research for a living embodiment of an actual human unity” (Alfassa 1968 ). On 28 February 1968, the city was inaugurated with the support of UNESCO and the participation of people from 125 countries who each brought a handful of earth from their homelands to an urn that stands at its centre as a symbolic representation of human unity, the aim of the project. This spiritual foundation has guided the development of the socio-economic structure of Auroville for individual and collective growth (Shinn 1984 ). To translate these spiritual ideas into a material form, Mirra Alfassa provided simple sketches, a Charter, and guiding principles towards human unity (Sarkar 2015 ).

Roger Anger, a French architect translated Alfassa’s dream into the Auroville City Plan that continues to inform the physical development of Auroville (Kundoo 2009 ). The Auroville Masterplan 2025 envisions Auroville to be a circular township (Fig. 1 ) spread over a 20 sq. km (Auroville Foundation 2001 ). Initially planned for a population of 50,000 people, today Auroville today has 3305 residents hailing from 60 countries (Auroville Foundation 2021 ). Since its early days, there has been a divide between the “organicists” and the “constructionists” of Auroville (Kapur 2021 ). The organicists have a bottom-up vision of low impact and environmentally friendly development whereas the constructionists have a top-down vision of sticking with the original masterplan and realize an urban, dense version of Auroville.

A map of Auroville and its surrounding regions, with the main villages in the area

Auroville has served as a laboratory of low-cost and low-impact building construction, transportation, and city planning. Although the term sustainability has not been explicitly used in the Charter, it has been central to the city planning and building development process in Auroville (Walsky and Joshi 2013 ). Unlike many human settlements that negatively impact their ecology, the foundational project of Auroville was land restoration. The initial residents of Auroville were able to grow back parts of the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest in and around Auroville using top-soil conservation and rainwater harvesting techniques (Blanchflower 2005 ). While the ecological restoration has been lauded both locally and globally, Namakkal ( 2012 ) argues that it is seldom acknowledged that the land was bought from local villagers at low prices and local labour was used to plant the forest as well as build the initial city. At the time of writing this paper, the Auroville Foundation still needs to secure 17% of the land in the city area and nearly 50% of the land for the green belt to realize the original masterplan. However, land prices have gone up substantially as have conflicts in acquiring this land for Auroville (Namakkal 2012 ).

Governance structure

While the Charter of Auroville says that “Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole” (Alfassa 1968 ), in reality, it is governed by a well-defined set of individuals. Auroville’s first few years, between 1968 and 1973, were guided directly by Mirra Alfassa. After her passing, there was a power struggle between the Sri Aurobindo Society, claiming control over the project, and the community members striving for autonomy (Kapur 2021 ).

The Government of India founded the Auroville Foundation Act in 1988 providing in the public interest, the acquisition of all assets and undertakings relatable to Auroville. These assets were ultimately vested in the Auroville Foundation which was formed in January 1991 (Auroville. 2015 ). The Auroville Foundation envisioned a notion of a planned future, resulting in a new masterplan in 1994. This masterplan encouraged participatory planning and recognized that the architectural vision needs to proceed in a democratic manner. This prompted the Auroville community to adopt a more structured form of governance. The Auroville Foundation has other governing institutions under it, namely: The Governing Board which has overall responsibility for Auroville’s development, The International Advisory Council, which advises the Governing Board on the management of the township and the Residents’ Assembly who organize activities relating to Auroville and formulate the master plan. Furthermore, there are committees and working groups for different aspects of development from waste management to building development.

Auroville is an example of the ‘bottom-up’ approach, in the sense that developments are decided and implemented by the community and the state level and national level governments get involved later (Sarkar 2015 ). An example of this is seen in the regular meetings held by the Town Development Council of Auroville which also conducted a weeklong workshop in 2019 for the community which covered themes such as place-making, dimensions of water and strategies for liveable cities and community planning (Ministry of Human Reource Development Government of India 2021 ).

Conflicts often arise between the interpretation of the initial masterplan and the present day realities and aspiration of the residents (Walsky and Joshi 2013 ). This is often rooted in the initial vision of Auroville as a city of 50,000 versus its current reality of being an ecovillage of around 3000 people. Spatially, this unusual growth pattern has been problematic in Auroville’s building and mobility planning (Venkitaraman 2017 ). At the time of writing this paper, there is a clash between the Residents’ Assembly and the Auroville Foundation over the felling of trees for the construction of the Crown Road project inside Auroville (The Hindu 2021 ). While the Residents’ Assembly wants a re-working of the original masterplan considering the ecological damage through tree cutting, the Auroville Foundation wants to move ahead with the original city vision.

Beyond its boundaries, Auroville is surrounded by numerous rural settlements, namely, Kuyilapalyam, Edayanchavadi, Alankuppam, Kottakarai, and Attankarai. The Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG) aims to help the village communities to strive towards sustainability and find plausible solutions to the problems of contemporary rural life. In September 1970, a charter was circulated among the sub-regional villages of Auroville, promising better employment opportunities and higher living standards with improved health and sanitation facilities (Social Research Centre Auroville 2005 ). Currently, there are about 13 groups for the development of the Auroville sub-region. However, Jukka ( 2006 ) points out that the regional development vision of Auroville is top-down and does not sufficiently engage with the villagers and their aspirations.

Auroville’s economic model

Auroville has also strived to move away from money as a foundation of society to a distinctive economic model exchange and sharing (Kapoor 2007 ). However, Auroville needs money to realize its multiple land and building projects. Auroville also receives various donations and grants. During 2018–2019, Auroville received around Rs. 2396 lakhs (around 4 million USD) under Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) and other donations. The Central Government of India supports the Auroville Foundation with annual grants for Auroville’s management and for the running costs of the Secretariat of the Foundation, collectively known as Grant-in-Aid. Auroville received a total of Rs. 1463 lakhs (around 2 million USD) as Grant-in-Aid during 2018–2019. The income generated by Auroville during this time was Rs. 687 lakhs (around 91,000 USD) (Ministry of Human Reource Development Government of India 2021 ).

Presently, the economy of Auroville is based on manufacturing units and services with agriculture being an important sector, and currently, there are about 100 small and medium manufacturing units. The service sector of Auroville comprises of construction and architectural services and research and training in various sectors (Auroville Foundation 2001 ). In addition to this, tourism is another important source of income generation for Auroville. As per the Annual Report of Auroville Foundation, the donations and income have not been consistent over the years. In this regard, Auroville’s growth pattern in terms of the economy has not been linear and it does not mimic the usual growth patterns associated with the development of counterparts, in terms of capitalization, finance, governance, and on key issues such as distribution policies and ownership rights (Thomas and Thomas 2013 ).

Auroville also benefits from labour from the surrounding villages. The nature of employment provided in Auroville to villages remains largely in low-paying jobs (Namakkal 2012 ). It can be argued that the fruits of Auroville’s development have not been equally shared with the surrounding villages and a feeling of ‘us and them’ still pervades. Striving for human unity is the central tenet of Auroville (Shinn 1984 ), however, it has struggled to do so with its immediate neighbours.

Striving for self-sufficiency

Auroville has strived for self-sufficiency in terms of food production from local farms, energy production from renewable sources like solar and wind sources and waste management.

Many prominent buildings of Auroville have been designed keeping in mind the self-sufficiency principle in Auroville. For example, the Solar Kitchen was designed by architect Suhasini Ayer as a demonstration project to tap the solar energy potential of the region. At present, this building is used for cooking meals thrice a day for over 1000 people. The Solar Kitchen also supports the organic farming sector in Auroville by being the primary purchaser of the locally grown products (Ayer 1997 ). Another example is the Auroville Earth Institute, renowned for its Compressed and Stabilized Earth Block (CSEB) technique, which constitute natural and locally found soil as one of its main ingredients (Figs. 2 and 3 ).

Compressed earth blocks manufactured by Auroville Earth Institute

A residence in Auroville constructed using compressed earth blocks

However, it is important to acknowledge that Auroville does not exist as a 100% self-sufficient bubble. For example, food produced in Auroville provides for only 15% of the consumption (Auroville Foundation 2004 ). An initial attempt to calculate the ecological footprint of Auroville estimates it to be 2.5 Ha, against the average footprint of an Indian of 0.8 Ha (Greenberg 1998 ). Furthermore, though Auroville has strived for material innovation in architecture, it has not been successful in achieving 25 sq. metres as the limit to individual living space (Walsky and Joshi 2013 ). This challenges the notion of Auroville continuing to be an ecovillage if it aspires to be a city of 50,000 people and might end up having substantial ecological impact on its surroundings.

Urban sustainability transformation in a rapidly urbanizing world runs into the risk of focusing on technological fixes while overlooking the social and ecological impacts of growth. In this light, bottom-up initiatives like ecovillages serve as a laboratory for testing alternative and holistic models of development. Auroville, a 53-year-old ecovillage in southern India, has achieved this to a certain extent. Auroville is a showcase of land regeneration, biodiversity restoration, alternative building technologies as well as experimentations in alternative governance and economic models. In this paper, we have critically examined some achievements and challenges that Auroville has faced in realizing its initial vision of being a “city that the world needs” (Alfassa 1968 ). Lessons learnt from Auroville help deepen our understanding of ecovillages as sites of fostering alternative development practices. Here we discuss three aspects of this research:

Alternate lifestyles and values in the context of an ecovillage : Ecovillages are niches providing space for realizing alternative values and lifestyles. However, ecovillages seldom exist in a vacuum. They are physically situated in existing societies and economies. Although residents in an ecovillage seek to achieve collective identity by creating an alternative society, an ecovillage is embedded within a larger culture and thus, the prevailing ideologies of the dominant society affect the ecovillage (Ergas 2010 ) as seen in Auroville. This can be noticed between the material and knowledge flows in and out of Auroville. Furthermore, the India of the 1970s when Auroville was born with socialist values is very different from present-day India where material and capitalistic aspirations are on the rise. These are reflected in higher land prices and living costs in and around Auroville. Amidst the transforming political landscape of India in the 1970s, there were implications which were seen in the character of architectural production. Auroville welcomed and immersed itself into this era of experimentation. These developments form an integral part of the ethos of Auroville. To achieve its initial visions, Auroville depends on multiple external economic sources. In analysing ecovillages, it is important to critically examine the broader context within which they are located and how they influence and, in turn, are influenced by their contexts.

Even though Auroville’s architects and urban planners remain committed to their belief that architecture is a primary tool of community - building, decades later, the developments seem to have progressed at a slow pace. The number of permanently settled residents in Auroville has barely reached 2000 currently and the overall urban design remains fragmentary. Despite witnessing a slower rate of progress, it has been able to sustain a culture of innovation and Auroville remains utopian in its aim to create an alternative lifestyle (Scriver and Srivastava 2016 ).

Governance, economy, and self-sufficiency in an ecovillage that wants to be an eco-city : In growth-based societies, ecovillages present the possibility of providing an alternative vision of degrowth (Xue 2014 ). However, Auroville currently functions as an ecovillage that aspires to be an eco-city as per its initial masterplan. This growth-based model sometimes conflicts with Auroville’s vision of being a self-reliant, non-monetary society. Given the urgent need to remain within our planetary limits, ecovillages like Auroville could re-evaluate their initial growth-based visions and explore alternatives for achieving sustainability and well-being. The visions of ecovillages should thus not be set in stone, but rather remain flexible to evolving ideas and practices (Ergas 2010 ).

Similarly, governance structures might need a re-evaluation with changing priorities within the ecovillage as well as a need to be inclusive of regional visions and voices. It would be intriguing to explore on what kind of governance model/leadership is best suited to fulfil the aims of an ecovillage. Auroville seems to follow the elements of sustainability-oriented governance: empowerment, engagement, communication, openness and transparency (Bubna-Litic 2008 ), yet it is seen that conflicts arise. One solution to this could be greater external engagement with government and continuing to engage the external community about Auroville. Generally, intentional communities are organized by embracing the ideology of consensus, but it remains to be seen whether the consensus decision-making model works to its full potential in the context of alternative lifestyles. When individuals seek alternative lifestyles in the current world, there is a shift from globalized values towards local community autonomy, this shift demands a need for processes that allow for a different and more equitable approach to governance (Cunningham and Wearing 2013 ).

Ecovillages in the Global South : Situating ecovillages in the Global South requires a nuanced examination of the social, economic, and environmental aspects of sustainability that the ecovillage aims to achieve (Dias et al. 2017 ; Litfin 2009 ). In the case of Auroville, Auroville has helped bring back ecologically restorative practices in forestry, agriculture, and architecture in the region. However, the average Aurovillian has a higher standard of living than the neighbouring villagers. This in-turn influences the material consumption practices within the community. The lessons in sustainable living, in ecovillages located in the Global South, need not be unidirectional (from the ecovillage to the surrounding society). Rather, the ecovillage also stands to lean from the existing models of low-impact living.

Ecovillages in the Global South such as Auroville face similar problems related to Governance as seen in some other ecovillages in the developed world such as The Aldinga Arts Village in South Australia (Bubna-Litic 2008 ) and in Sweden (Bardici 2014 ). However, despite the issues related to consensus in Governance, the ecovillages are noted for their sustainable innovations.

Auroville’s sustainable measures have been endorsed by the Government of India as well. The Auroville Master Plan for 2000–2025 has been dedicated to creating an environmentally sustainable urban settlement which integrates the neighbourhood rural areas. The surrounding Green Belt, intended to be a fertile zone is presently being used for applied research in various sectors such as water management, food production, and soil conservation. The results promise a replicable model which could be used in urban and rural areas alike (Kapoor 2007 ).

To address the expansion and re-evaluation of the larger socio-economic context of Auroville and its socio-ecological impacts, as enunciated by Dias et al. ( 2017 ) and Kutting and Lipschutz (2009), a proposal for a sustainable regional plan was prepared in 2012 jointly by Government of India, ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency), INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) and PondyCAN (An NGO which works to preserve and enhance the natural, social, cultural and spiritual environment of Pondicherry). The report was prepared and aimed to be a way forward for unique and diverse communities to grow together as a single entity and to develop a holistic model for future development in this region. This report takes into consideration the surrounding villages and districts around Auroville: Puducherry, Viluppuram and Cuddalore (ADEME, INTACH, PondyCAN,, and Government of India 2012 ).

The concept of eco-cities in urban planning is defined as utopias, hard to achieve standards of human settlements. Ecovillages emerge as small-scale realization of the ideas of an eco-city. Over the years, the alternative practices of Auroville have served as an educational platform for researchers, students, and the civil society alike. However, realizing alternative ecological lifestyles, governance and economic system and self-sufficiency struggle with challenges and contradictions as the ecovillage interact with a larger growth-oriented capitalistic system. Although ecovillages are sites of experimentation, they are seldom insular space. Regional impacts of and on ecovillage are important in analysing their developmental trajectories. Finally, the vision of ecovillages needs to evolve as the ecovillage as well is surroundings grow and change. Experiments in ecovillages like Auroville remind us that alternative visions of human settlements come with opportunities and challenges and are a work-in-progress in achieving a more sustainable future. There is further potential to understand the consensus-based approach and the governance models in an ecovillage in a better manner.

It can be deduced from the findings that ecovillages as catalysts of urban sustainability have a lot of potentials and challenges. The potential is in terms of devising an alternate lifestyle based on an alternative style of governance while the challenges include the local ecological impact and the difficulty in consensus about certain things. There is a future possibility to explore other conditions which facilitate the mainstream translation of ecovillage practices and how future ecovillages can progress to the next level (Kim 2016 ; Norbeck 1999 ).

Availability of data and materials

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

ADEME, INTACH, PondyCAN, & Government of India (2012) Sustainable Regional Planning Framework for Puducherry. Viluppuram, Auroville and Cuddalore

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India's achievement towards sustainable Development Goal 6 (Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all) in the 2030 Agenda

• Sourav Biswas   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2715-2704 1 ,
• Biswajit Dandapat 2 ,
• Asraful Alam 3 &
• Lakshminarayan Satpati 4  

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Clean water and sanitation are global public health issues. Safe drinking water and sanitation are essential, especially for children, to prevent acute and chronic illness death and sustain a healthy life. The UN General Assembly announced the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets for the 2030 Agenda on 25 September 2015. SDG 6 is very important because it affects other SDG (1, 2,3,5,11,14 and 15). The present study deals with the national and state-wise analysis of the current status and to access deficiency of India's achievement towards SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation for all) for the 2030 agenda based on targets 6.1, 6.2,6.4,6.6 from 2012 to 2020.

Materials and methods

Data of different indicators of SDG 6 are collected from different secondary sources—NSS 69th (2012) and 76th (2018) round; CGWB annual report 2016–2017 and 2018-2019; NARSS (2019–2020); SBM-Grameen (2020). To understand overall achievement towards SDG 6 in the 2030 agenda, the goal score (arithmetic mean of normalised value) has been calculated.

Major findings

According to NSS data, 88.7% of Indian households had enough drinking water from primary drinking water sources throughout the year, while 79.8% of households had access to toilet facilities in 2018. As per the 2019–2021 goal score for States and UTs in rural India based on SDG 6 indicator, SDG 6 achiever States and UTs (100%) are Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Drinking water and sanitation for all ensure a healthy life. It is a matter of concern for the government, policymakers, and people to improve the condition where the goal score and indicator value of SDG 6 are low.

Peer Review reports

Clean Water and sanitation are global public health issues. "Water collected from sources like—piped water into dwelling, piped water into yard/plot, household connection, public standpipes/tap, boreholes/tube well, protected dug wells, protected springs and rainwater collection and bottled water are considered as improved sources of drinking water. Drinking water collected from improved sources located on-premises, available when needed and free from faecal and contamination is known as safely managed drinking water" [ 1 ]. "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases” [ 2 ]. Water, sanitation and hygiene are known as WASH. WASH includes the use of safe drinking water; safe disposal and management of human faecal matter, human waste (solid and liquid). Open defecation is much more common in rural India than in urban India. About 70% of the Indian population lives in rural areas. In fact, 89% of households without toilets were in rural areas, according to the 2011 census. Although the Indian government has spent decades building latrines and the country has had consistent economic progress, rural open defecation statistics have remained stubbornly high [ 3 ].Control of vector-borne diseases, handwashing practices. Open Defecation Free (ODF) is the termination of faecal-oral transmission in an open space or ending open defecation using a toilet. India has progressed in access to safe drinking water (tap/hand-pump/tube well) in the household from 38% in 1981 to 85.5% in 2011. Water, sanitation, and hygiene-related diseases are Infectious Diarrhoea, Typhoid and paratyphoid fevers, Acute hepatitis A, Acute hepatitis E and future F, Fluorosis, Arsenosis, Legionellosis, Methamoglobinamia, Schistosomiasis, Trachomaa, Ascariasis, Trichuriasis, Hookworm, Dracunculiasis, Scabies, Dengue, Filariasis, Malaria, Japanese encephalitis, Leishmaniasis, Onchocerciasisa, Yellow fever, Impetigo and Drowning [ 4 ]. The United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation to recognise the critical need for increased political awareness and action on sanitation. The purpose is to promote awareness and speed up progress toward the Millennium Development Goal of decreasing the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015. Due to poor sanitation, people suffer from bad health, lost income, inconvenience, and indignity. Despite this, billions of people worldwide do not have access to basic sanitation [ 4 , 5 ]. According to WHO (2015), 2.4 billion people lack sanitation facilities, and 663 million people still lack access to safe and clean drinking water facilities [ 6 ]. WHO (2019) state that 3.3% of global death and 4.6% of DALYs is attributed to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene condition. "Unsafe sanitation is responsible for 775,000 deaths per year, 5% death in low-income countries due to unsafe sanitation, 15% of the world still practising open defecation [ 7 ]. "Age-standardized death rate attributable to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) (per 100,000 population) 268.587 in 1990, 239.719 in 1995, 210.642 in 2000, 180.757 in 2005, 143.453 in 2010 and 104.202 in 2016″ [ 7 ]. So safe drinking water and sanitation are essential, especially for children, to prevent acute and chronic illness death and sustain a healthy life. After the Millennium Development goal, on 25 September 2015, in UN general assembly 17th sustainable development goal (SDG) and 169 targets set up for 2030 agenda [ 8 , 9 ]. "SDG 6 is essential because it affects other SDG (1 – poverty eradication, 2 – ending hunger, 3 – healthy life and well–being, 4 – quality education, 5 – gender equality, 11 – inclusive cities, 14 – life below water and 15 – terrestrial ecosystem)" [ 10 ]. The present study deals with the national and state-wise analysis of current status and to access deficiency of India's Achievement towards SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation for all) for the 2030 agenda based on targets 6.1, 6.2, 6.4, 6.6 from 2012 to 2020. In this study, special focus is given to rural India.

Census of India continuously collecting data about drinking water and sanitation from all households in house listing and housing. “The National Statistical Office (NSO) Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation” (MOSPI), Government of India has been collecting data on housing condition, drinking water, sanitation and hygiene; those were collected by NSO from NSS 7th round (October 1953—March 1954) to NSS 23rd round (July 1968—June 1969), 28th round (October 1973—June 1974), 44th round (July 1988—June 1989), 49th round (January—June 1993), 54th round (January—June 1998) 58th round (July—December 2002), 65th round (July 2008—June 2009), 69th round (July—December 2012), and latest NSS 76th round. The Indian government has undertaken attempts to enhance drinking water and sanitation.

1949: The Environment Hygiene Committee advises that a clean water supply be provided to 90% of India's population within a 40-year timeframe.

1969: The National Rural Drinking Water Supply Program was initiated with UNICEF's technical assistance, and Rs.254.90 crore is spent on 1.2 million bore wells and 17,000 piped water supply systems during this phase.

In 1972–73, the Government of India launched the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) to assist states and union territories in expanding drinking water supply coverage.

1986: The National Drinking Water Mission (NDWM) was established. The National Drinking Water Mission was renamed the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission in 1991 (RGNDWM). The 73rd Constitutional Amendment mandates the provision of drinking water by Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs).

In 1986, the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) was established to provide safe sanitation in rural regions. The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) was launched in 1999 to promote local sanitary marts and various technical choices to develop supply-led sanitation.

1999: The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) was launched in 1999 as part of the reform principles to provide sanitation facilities in rural regions to eliminate open defecation. Swajal Dhara, a national scale-up of sector reform, was launched in 2002. All drinking water programmers were placed under the RGNDWM's umbrella in 2004.

2005: The Indian government begins the Bharat Nirman Programme, aiming to improve housing, roads, power, telephone, irrigation, and drinking water infrastructure in rural regions [ 11 ].

In 2009, the ARWSP was renamed the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). One of the goals was to allow all households, to the extent practicable, to have access to and utilise safe and adequate drinking water inside the premises.

In 2012, The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan was reformed and renamed (rural sanitation).

The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched across the country on 2 October 2014 to achieve the objective of a clean India by 2 October 2019. (PM India).

The current National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) was reformed and incorporated under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) on 15 August 2019 to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household, i.e. Har Ghar Nal Se Jal (HGNSJ) by 2024. Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is a non-profit organisation.

The goals of SBM(Gmain) are to enhance the general quality of life in rural areas by fostering cleanliness, hygiene, and the elimination of open defecation. The Individual Household Latrines (IHHL) unit cost was increased from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 12,000 rupees to accommodate for water availability. To meet the Swachh Bharat aim, improve rural sanitation coverage by 2 October 2019. Raising awareness and providing health education encourages communities and Panchayati Raj institutions to adopt sustainable sanitation practices and infrastructure. Encourage the use of cost-effective and suitable sanitation methods that are environmentally safe and long-lasting. Develop community-managed sanitation systems in rural regions, concentrating on scientific Solid and Liquid Waste Management systems for overall cleanliness [ 11 , 12 ].

In New York in 2000, 189 nations approved the Millennium Declaration for 2015, promising to work together to create a safer, more prosperous, and equal world. There are eight objectives, seven of which deal with sanitation and hygiene (target 7. C – Reduce the share of the population without sustainable access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015). (Millennium Development Goal of the United Nations) Following the millennium development goal (SDG), the United Nations General Assembly approved 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on 25 September 2015. Out of 17 SDGs, SDG 6 ensures availability and sustainable water and sanitation management. SDG 6 has different target for the year 2030—6.1: Achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all; 6.2: Achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying particular attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations; 6.3: Improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally; 6.4: By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity; 6.5: Implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate; 6.6: Protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes; 6.a: Expand international cooperation and capacitybuilding support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies; 6.b: Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management [ 8 ].

As the nodal institution for SDGs, NITI Aayog, the Government of India has striven to provide the necessary encouragement and support to forge collaborative momentum among them. Since 2018, the SDG India Index & Dashboard has worked as a powerful tool to bring SDGs clearly and firmly into the policy arena in our States and UTs [ 13 ]. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India developed a National Indicator Framework (NIF), which is the backbone for facilitating monitoring of SDGs at the national level and provides appropriate direction to the policymakers and the implementing agencies of various schemes and programmes [ 14 ].

The main objective of this study is to find out the status of SDG target 6.1, 6.2, 6.4 and 6. towards the achievement of SDG 6 in the 2030 agenda in India (National and State level) and to assess deficiency towards the Achievement of clean Water and sanitation for all in 2030 agenda India (National and State level).

The present study is based on seven indicators of SDG 6;

a: those are % population having improved source of drinking water- SDG 6.1,

b: % of individual household toilets constructed against target (SBM(G))- SDG 6.2,

c: % of districts verified to be ODF (SBM(G))- SDG 6.2,

d: % of school has a separate toilet for boys and girls- SDG 6.2,

e: % of households having safe disposal of liquid waste- SDG 6.a,

f: % of blocks/ mandals / taluka having safe groundwater extraction—SDG 6.4, and.

g: % of blocks/ mandals / taluka over-exploited- SDG 6.4. Data of those indicators are collected from the following secondary sources:

The present study is based on percentage distribution, normalization and arithmetic mean methods. The percentage of groundwater extraction from extractable groundwater resource annually is calculated by the formula: \(\left(\frac{\mathrm{total}\;\mathrm{annual}\;\mathrm{groundwater}\;\mathrm{extraction}}{\mathrm{annual}\;\mathrm{extractable}\;\mathrm{groundwater}\;\mathrm{resource}}\times100\right)\%\) . And goal score for SDG 6 indicators is calculated by target setting, followed by normalizing the raw data of indicator arithmetic mean of the normalizing value of indicators. The methodology of goal score calculation was developed by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in 2019. The target of those indicators was set by United Nations at the global level. The national target value for indicator a:100%, b:100%, c:100%, d:100%, e:100%, f:100% and g:0%. The next step is normalizing the raw data. It is important to maintain a standard indicator value between 0 and 100. An indicator higher value = lower performance, following formula, was used – the normalized value of an indicator \(({N}_{V})=\left(1-\frac{\mathrm{Actual }\;\mathrm{value}\;\mathrm{of}\;\mathrm{an}\;\mathrm{indicator}\;\left(\mathrm i\right)-\mathrm{target}\;\mathrm{value}\;\mathrm{of}\;\mathrm{the}\;\mathrm{indicator}\;(\mathrm i)}{\mathrm{maximum}\;\mathrm{value}\;\mathrm{of}\;\mathrm{the}\;\mathrm{indicator}(i)-\mathrm{Target}\;\mathrm{value}\;\mathrm{of}\;\mathrm{the}\;\mathrm{indicator}\;\left(\mathrm i\right)}\right) \times100\) . Normalization does not require for indicators a, b, c, d, e & f because values of that indicator are already in percentage and g have been done using the above formula. The goal score for all indicators of SDG 6 for each state and UTs have been done by the arithmetic mean of normalized value, using the following formula- Goal score of indicator(GSI) = ( \({\sum }_{i=1}^{Ni}Nv\) and \(Av\) × \(\frac{1}{\mathrm{Ni}}\) ). Whereas Ni means = the number of non-null indicators and \(Nv\) means the normalized value of the indicator and Av means the actual value of the indicator.

Result and Discussion

Result of households having access to Drinking Water (SDG 6.1) in India (National level and state level) as per National Sample Survey (NSS) data. Figure  1 depicts the sources of safe drinking from households accessing the drinking water throughout the year.

Percentage of households with access to principle sources of safe drinking water in India with resident type, 2018. Source: NSS 76th round (July—December 2018), graph prepared by the author. Notes: 0.0% indicate the least or negligible Percentage of household

In India 2018, most of household collect safe drinking water from hand pump (30.5%) followed by piped water into dwelling (21.4%), piped water to yard / plot (12.3%), tube well (10.7%), public tap / standpipe (9.2%), bottled water (6.8%), protected well (2.5%), piped water from neighbour (1.0%), private tanker truck (0.4%), public tanker truck (0.3%), protected spring (0.2%) and rainwater collection (0.2%). In urban areas, a higher percentage of households use piped water into the dwelling (40.9%), piped water into yard/plot (16.0%), bottled water (12.2%), public tanker truck (0.8%), private tanker track (0.5%) than a rural area. In rural area higher percentage of household using hand pump (42.9%), tube well (10.9%), public tap / standpipe (10.3%), protected well (2.9%), protected spring (0.3%) and rainwater collection (0.2%) [ 14 ].

"Bottled water, piped water into dwelling, piped water to yard/plot, public tap/standpipe, tube well/borehole, protected well, protected spring and rainwater collection are considered as improved sources of drinking water" [ 15 ]. As of 2018, 88.7% of households have access to drinking water from principal drinking water sources throughout the year, but 95.5% of household’s access improved drinking water sources in India. In contrast, the urban area has a higher percentage of access to principle (90.9%) and improved (97.4%) drinking water sources throughout the year than the rural area 87.6% and 94.5%, respectively. In India, 1.7% of principle sources and 4.9% improved drinking water sources increased from 2012 to 2018. As of 2018, 11.3% of households have a deficit in case of access principle sources of drinking water, and 4.5% of households have an obligation in case of access to improved sources of drinking water throughout the year for achieving safe and affordable drinking water for all (SDG 6.1) in 2030 agenda. Table 1 showing the percentage of households with access and deficit to drinking water with resident type in India.

From Fig.  2 , we can say the performance of states and UTs in India towards the Achievement of SDG 6 of target SDG 6.1 by using the percentage of households having access to improved sources of drinking water indicator. As per 2018, SDG 6.1 target achiever ( 100%) states and UTs are Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Sikkim; Front Runner (65%– 99%) States and UTs are Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Group of UTs, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Andaman and Nicober Islands, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Group of NE States, Tripura, Nagaland, Lakshadweep and Manipur; performer state (50%—64%) in Kerala. Kerala has lower access to improved safe drinking water sources. Deficit of performance to achieve SDG 6.1 target based on the above indicator for states and UTs in India are Bihar 0.1%, Haryana 0.1%, Punjab 0.1%, Delhi 0.2%, Goa 0.2%, Tamil Nadu 0.2%, Dadra and Nagar Haveli 0.4%, Puducherry 0.6%, Group of UTs 0.7%, Uttar Pradesh 0.8%, Gujarat 0.9%, Telangana 0.9%, Arunachal Pradesh 1.2%, West Bengal 1.8%, Andaman and Nicober Islands 1.9%, Himachal Pradesh 1.9%, Andhra Pradesh 2.6%, Uttarakhand 2.8%, Mizoram 3.7%, Maharashtra 3.8%, Karnataka 4.6%, Chhattisgarh 4.8%, Rajasthan 7.4%, Madhya Pradesh 8.5%, Assam 8.6%, Odisha 8.8%, Jammu and Kashmir 9.1%, Meghalaya 9.1%, Jharkhand 12%, Tripura 12.2%, Nagaland 15.5%, Lakshadweep 24.1%, Manipur 25.1% and Kerala 43.3%. Although Kerala has a higher socio-economic development performance, Kerala faces a water crisis. "Urbanisation, modernisation, increasing material prosperity, the disintegration of traditional joint family structure, pressure on land, replacing open dug well with bore well, overexploitation of groundwater contribution to the water crisis in Kerala" [ 16 ]. "Kerala received 80% less rainfall than normal after a flood. So more dry spells and drops in groundwater levels are one of the reasons for the water crisis." (V P Dineshan). In terms of households having toilet facilities, all northeastern states exceed the national average. However, except with Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, all northeastern states are below the national average regarding access to improved drinking water sources.

Percentage of households having access to improved sources of drinking water in states & UTs in India, 2018. Source: NSS 76th round (July—December 2018), graph prepared by the author

Similarly, the percentage of villages in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya where the “Village Health and Sanitation Committee” exist is less than the national figure. Efforts should be made to form a "Village Health and Sanitation Committee" in an increasing number of villages. Financial assistance should promote family toilets and provide safe drinking water [ 17 ].

Result of households having access to latrine facility (SDG 6.2) in India (National level and state level) as per National Sample Survey (NSS) data.

As per 2018, in India, 79.8% of households have access to latrine facilities, whereas urban area has a higher percentage of household having access to latrine facility (96.2%), than rural areas (40.6%) given in the Fig.  3 . From 2012 to 2018, India had a 23.2% improvement in accessing latrine facilities, where the urban area has 5%, and the rural area has 30.7% improvement. As of 2018, in India, 20.2% of households have a deficit in accessing latrine facilities towards achieving SDG 6.2 in 2030, whereas in an urban area, it is a low deficit (3.8%) and in rural areas, it is a higher deficit  (28.7%).

Percentage of households having access to latrine facility with resident type, 2012 & 2018. Sources: NSS 76th round (July—December 2018) & 69th round (July—December 2012), graph prepared by the author

As per NSS 76th round, it is seen that in 2018 in India, 2.8% of the population never used a toilet. Although households have latrine facilities, it is higher in rural areas at 3.5% and lowers in an urban area at 1.7%. The various reasons behind not using the toilet are that 2.8% there is no superstructure, 8.2% impure unclear and insufficient water, 3% malfunctioning of the latrine, 0.5% deficiency of latrines, 1.3% lack of safety, 6.3% personal preference, 0.6% cannot bear the charge of the paid latrine, and another reason is 76.9%. It is also observed that the female population uses toilets more than the male population. 74.1% of households washed their hands with water and soap/detergent, and 13.4% washed their hands with water only after defecation [ 14 ]. Infrastructure is inadequate in the rural sanitation sector that must be addressed through immediate legislative reforms and government subsidies to develop appropriate and adequate facilities [ 18 ].

Figure  4 showing the Percentage of households having access to latrine facilities. A higher percentage of households having access to latrine facilities is found in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Lakshadweep, etc. A lower percentage of households below the national level are found in Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Inadequacies in rural infrastructure are undoubtedly a significant source of the 'failure.' It has multiple causes, which can be baffling at times. Government-subsidized latrines in rural areas are often inappropriate, especially for women, due to a lack of roofs, doors, walls, buried pits, and adequate spatial dimensions, each of which depends on the convenience of latrine usage and, more crucially, privacy [ 18 ]. Performance of states and UTs in India towards the Achievement of SDG 6 of target SDG 6.2 by using the percentage of households having access to latrine facility indicator.

Percentage of households having access to latrine facilities in states & UTs in India, 2018. Source:NSS 76th round (July—December 2018), graph prepared by the author

As per 2018, SDG 6.2 target achiever (100%) states and UTs are Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Chandigarh and Lakshadweep; front runner ( 65%– 99%) states and UTs are Daman and Diu, Kerala, Delhi, Tripura, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Andaman and Nicober Islands, Punjab, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand; performer (50% to 64%) states are Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. As per 2018, deficit of performance towards achievement of SDG 6.2 target in 2030 agenda in States and UTs in India are Daman and Diu 0.1%, Kerala 0.2%, Delhi 0.5%, Tripura 0.6%, Meghalaya 1.5%, Uttarakhand 2.1%, Assam 2.2%, Himachal Pradesh 2.6%, Haryana 2.7%, Andaman and Nicober Islands 3.4%, Punjab 3.9%, Goa 7%, Chhattisgarh 7.4%, Dadra and Nagar Haveli 7.7%, Jammu and Kashmir 11.7%, West Bengal 11.9%, Arunachal Pradesh 12%, Puducherry 12.5%, Telangana 12.7%, Maharashtra 12.8%, Gujarat 14.2%, Andhra Pradesh 16%, Karnataka 18.5%, Tamil Nadu 21.5%, Madhya Pradesh 22.5%, Rajasthan 26.3%, Bihar 32.8%, Jharkhand 33.6%, Uttar Pradesh 37.7% and Odisha 45.1%. The result of the Percentage of blocks/mandals/talisie safe extraction of groundwater (SDG 6.4 and 6.6) in India (National level and state level) as per NSS 76 th round data. Infections and illnesses tend to be exacerbated by a lack of latrine facilities. Women and girls are usually disadvantaged due to several socio-cultural and economic factors that deny them equal rights with males. They have distinct physical needs from males, but they also have a greater need for privacy and safety regarding personal cleanliness. Actions such as going long distances in search of a good defecation site and carrying water are a sign of added load, which may be physically unpleasant and hard for women, particularly pregnant women [ 19 ].

Figure  5 showing the Percentage of blocks/mandals/talisie safe extraction of groundwater. As per 2017, the performance of States and UTs in India towards the Achievement of SDG 6.4 and 6.6 in 2030 agenda based on indicator percentage of blocks/mandals/taluka are safe extraction of groundwater (groundwater extraction does not exceed the total annual groundwater recharge, which is below 70% extraction) shows achiever (100%) States and UTs are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Dadra and Nagar Haveli; Front Runner (65%-99%) are Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Odisha, Jharkhand, Total UT's, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Lakshadweep, Uttar Pradesh; performer (50%-64%) are India, Karnataka, Daman and Diu, Puducherry; aspirant (0%-49%) are Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chandigarh. InIndia 63% blocks/mandals/taluka are safe extraction of groundwater.

Percentage of blocks/mandals/taluka are safe extraction of groundwater in States & UTs in India,2017. Source: CGWB annual report 2019–2020, graph prepared by the author

Result of the percentage of groundwater extraction (SDG 6.4) in India (National level and state level) as per 2017:

As per the "National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India (2017)" report by the CGWB, groundwater extraction below 70 per cent is considered a Safe extraction. Over extraction of groundwater annually (groundwater extraction exceed extractable groundwater annually) is found in Punjab (165.80%), Rajasthan (139.87%), Haryana (136.91%) and Delhi (120.00%); safe groundwater extraction is found in Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, India, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. In India, 63.33% of groundwater is extracted annually as per 2017. The States and UTs with safe groundwater extraction achieve the SDG 6.4 target based on the indicator – the annual percentage of groundwater extraction from extractable groundwater resources. Figure  6 showing the Percentage of groundwater extraction from extractable groundwater resource annually in States and UTs.

Percentage of groundwater extraction from extractable groundwater resource annually in States & UTs in India,2017. Source: CGWB annual report 2019–2020, graph prepared by the author

"In India as per 2017 Total Annual Groundwater Recharge is 431.86 billion cubic meters (bcm) out of which Annual Extractable Ground Water Resource is 392.7 bcm and Current Annual Ground Water Extraction is 248. 7 bcm" (CGWB annual report 2019–2020).

Result of the overall performance of SDG 6 in India (National level and state level) 2019 – 2021.

Table 2 shows the achievements towards SDG 6 of all States and UTs. Overall goal score of the indicator—Percentage of the rural population having improved source of drinking water (SDG 6.1), percentage of individual household toilets constructed against target (SBM(G)) (SDG 6.2), percentage of districts verified to be ODF (SBM(G)) (SDG 6.2), the school has a separate toilet for boys and girl (%) ( SDG 6.2), percentage of Household Safe Disposal of Liquid waste (SDG 6.a), percentage of blocks/ mandals/ taluka having safe groundwater extraction (SDG 6.4) and percentage of blocks/ mandals/ taluka over-exploited (6.4) reveal that states and UTs belonging in achiever stage are Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Sikkim and Goa. The states and UTs belonging to front runner stage (66–99%) are Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Jharkhand, Odisha, Kerala, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Assam, West Bengal, Nagaland, Tripura, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Puducherry, Telangana, Karnataka, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab. Delhi is the only Union Territory belonging to the aspirant stage.

As per January 2021, the performance of States and UTs in Rural towards Achievement of SDG 6.1 based on indicator Percentage of the rural population having improved source of drinking water shows achiever States and UTs are; Ladakh, Sikkim, Goa, Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Telangana, Karnataka, Manipur and Himachal Pradesh; front runner are Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Bihar, Puducherry, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tripura and Assam.

From Fig.  7 , we can see that most of the states and union territories belong to the green colour shade. That means all these states and union territories are in the Front Runner (65–99%) stage as per the Goal Score Indicator (GSI). Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Sikkim and Goa are all states and Union Territories observing blue colour shade, indicating that all these states and union territories have reached the achiever stage as per the Goal Score Indicator (GSI). Delhi is the only union territory where orange colour is observed, indicating that the union territory is still at the performer (50–64%) stage.

Overall performance of different indicators of SDG 6 (Goal score of the indicator). Sources: Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, January 2021; Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin Dashboard,2020; NARSS round 3, 2019–2020; map prepared by the author

Figure  8 shows the spatial distribution of households having access to improved sources of drinking water and Fig.  9 shows the spatial distribution of households having access to latrine facilities in States and UTs in India.

Spatial distribution of households having access to improved sources of drinking water (%) in states & UTs in India, 2018. Source: NSS 76th round (July—December 2018), map prepared by the author

Spatial distribution of households having access to latrine facility (%) in states & UTs in India, 2018. Source: NSS 76th round (July—December 2018), map prepared by the author

From Fig.  8 , light green indicates states and union territories with 95–99% coverage of improved drinking water sources. Moreover, deep green indicates those states and union territories with more than 99% coverage of improved drinking water sources. The red colour indicates below 90% coverage of improved drinking water sources. Furthermore, orange indicates those states and union territories with 90–95% coverage of improved drinking water sources. All South Indian states except Kerala fall into more than 95% coverage of improved drinking water sources. Almost all States and Union Territories above and near the Tropic of Cancer have < 95% coverage of Improved Sources of Drinking Water except Chhattisgarh and Gujarat. Almost all states of North India except Jammu and Kashmir have more than 95% coverage of improved drinking water sources.

From Fig.  9 , light green indicates states and union territories with 80–90% coverage of access to latrine facilities. Moreover, deep green indicates those states and union territories with 90–100% coverage of access to latrine facilities. The red indicates below 50–60% coverage of access to latrine facilities. Furthermore, pink indicates those states and union territories with 60–70% coverage of access to latrine facilities. Whitish Grey indicates states and union territories with 70–80% coverage of access to latrine facilities. Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha fall into less than 70% coverage of access to latrine facilities. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are found to have 70–80% coverage of access to latrine facilities. The rest of the states and union territories have found more than 80% coverage of access to latrine facilities.As per NSS data in 2018, 30.5% of households collect safe drinking water from the hand pump; in the case of urban areas 40.9% of households use piped water into the dwelling; and in rural areas 42.9% of households use the hand pump. 88.7% of households have access to a principle source of drinking water, and 95.5% use improved drinking water sources throughout the year. 100% of households having access to improved sources of drinking water (SDG 6.1 target achiever) in Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Sikkim and Kerala has the lowest percentage 56.7%. In India, 79.8% of households have access to latrine facilities, whereas urban area has a higher percentage of household having access to latrine facility 96.2%, than rural areas (40.6%). The female population are more using toilets than the male population. 100% of households have access to latrine facilities (SDG 6.2 target achiever) in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep; and the lowest found in Odisha 54.9%. Safe groundwater extraction from extractable groundwater resources annually (SDG 6.4 target achiever) in States and UTs in India, 2017 are found in Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, India, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. In India, 63.33% of groundwater is extracted annually as per 2017. As of 2020, all the States and UTs in Rural India 100% individual household toilets constructed against target (SBM(G)) and 100% districts verified to be ODF (SBM(G)) (SDG 6.2 target achiever). As per January 2021, 100% rural population has improved source of drinking water (SDG 6.1 target achiever) in Ladakh, Sikkim, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Telangana, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Manipur. As per 2019–2020, 100% school having a separate toilet for boys and girl (SDG 6.2 target achiever) in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. Goa achieves 100% safe disposal of liquid waste. Overall goal score expresses all the states belong to front runner stage (65% to 99%). Based on SDG 6.1 and SDG 6.2, it is observed that in Rural India achiever (100%) state is Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2019–2021.Since the population is increasing, the number of sustainable water resources is not. Future population expansion will likely result in further reduced renewable water available per capita. Most changes in India's overall and rural regions, moderate changes in the world's overall and rural areas, and very little change in both India's and the world's urban areas have been seen in terms of access to essential drinking water services [ 20 ]. The top eight states are Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana; the bottom eight are Delhi, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, and West Bengal. Due to their location in the Ganges basin, most of the eight lowest performing states have abundant water resources, in contrast to the higher performing states, which are comparatively water scarce. Severe droughts have recently affected Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana. From an endowment standpoint, this focuses the attention of water concerns in India toward improved management and control of water resources. The top five states in terms of performance are Goa, Delhi, Kerala, Gujarat, and Telangana, whereas the worst five are Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Jharkhand. In Jharkhand, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh, childhood malnutrition and stunting have increased due to poor sanitation services. Individually, these indices point to significant disparities in access to sanitary facilities and clean water throughout the states. Few states have been able to implement comprehensive planning to meet the key objectives [ 21 , 22 ].

The WHO/UNICEF, joint monitoring program estimated in 2012 that 60% of the world's open defecation occurs in India. While this trend is declining rapidly in other countries, it continues stubbornly in India. According to the 2011 Census of India data, about 90% of rural people in India defecate in the open. Social context always plays a vital role in countries like India, where households with higher income and better education are more likely to use latrines and toilets. Previous research has shown that Muslims are 25% less likely to defecate in the open than Hindus. Although Hindus have 6% more per capita consumption than non-Hindus, Hindus are less likely to use latrines [ 23 ].

Open defecation at the individual level is a more accurate reflection of the disease environment than latrine ownership at the household level. It is particularly true in rural India, where earlier research has shown that many residents of homes with latrines do not use their latrines. The literature indicates that the Indian government's policy of subsidizing pit latrines has not achieved large-scale behaviour change and may still represent a misguided focus. This policy has continued mainly under the current Swachh Bharat Mission (2014–present). Despite the evidence, understanding latrine demand is critical to understanding latrine uptake [ 24 , 25 ]. Sanitation practices and social norms receive minimal consideration in sanitation programmes. Sanitation policy would probably be more effective if it addressed the underlying social environment in which judgments about where to defecate and what kind of latrine is socially acceptable since even the well-educated and wealthiest households adopt latrines at such a slow pace [ 26 ].

After lunch of Swachh Bharat Mission and other programmes related to sanitation and drinking water, sanitation coverage and accessibility of drinking water rise which has reinforcement substantially in accelerating the Achievement of Sustainable Development goal 6. States and UTs having the lower status of sanitation, drinking water, groundwater and hygiene need to improve those condition by increasing availability, accessibility and affordability of the WASH facility. Localisation or bottom-up approach by giving responsibility to rural and urban local body enforced Achievement of SDG 6. Total water withdrawal per capita was 576.96 m 3 in 1975, which was 602.3 m 3 in 2010. Total water withdrawal has increased by about 3.07% in these few decades. From 1962 to 2014, 64.29% per capita of total internal renewable water resources decreased. From 1979 to 2011, 18.4% increase in water stress. To fulfil essential human needs and attain sustainable development aims, central and local governments must collaborate. These initiatives and actions for recyclable and reusable, sufficient, and treated water, as well as enhancing sanitation and hygiene infrastructure, are linked to creating opportunities that improve economic sustainability. Additionally, establishing sanitation, hygiene and drinking water infrastructure in households grants social dignity, which can assist in social sustainability.

Those States and Union Territories that have not achieved the goal of 100% overall SDG-6 should fulfil the goals through a specific regional development approach. If successful locally, it will help the country's overall progress on a large scale. India and other underdeveloped and developing countries need to fulfil the goals of SDG-6. If successful in achieving the target, it will accelerate overall health improvement and help reduce regional disparities. Developed countries need to help developing and underdeveloped countries. Finally, the various organizations of the United Nations should try to solve the problems at the local level through each country-specific regional approach that will accelerate the overall achievement.

To prevent and reduce acute and chronic illness death and sustain a healthy life, we need to increase awareness and facilities to access safe and adequate drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. For raising awareness, different days are celebrated on 22 March as World Water Day for Water, 19 November as World Toilet Day for sanitation and 15 October as Global Handwashing Day for hygiene. Still, we need to maintain safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene all day. 

Availability of data and materials

The study is based on secondary data analysis. No data was collected for this study. The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available in the NSS (Download Reports | Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation | Government Of India), Central ground water control board (Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, GOI (jalshakti-ddws.gov.in)), NARSS (Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, GOI (jalshakti-ddws.gov.in)) NITI Aayog (Reports on SDG | NITI Aayog) repository.

Abbreviations

National Sample Survey

Sustainable Development Goals

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to NSS and NARSS for making the data available for this study.

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Asraful Alam

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Biswas, S., Dandapat, B., Alam, A. et al. India's achievement towards sustainable Development Goal 6 (Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all) in the 2030 Agenda. BMC Public Health 22 , 2142 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14316-0

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Renewable energy for sustainable development in India: current status, future prospects, challenges, employment, and investment opportunities

• Charles Rajesh Kumar. J   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2354-6463 1 &
• M. A. Majid 1  

Energy, Sustainability and Society volume  10 , Article number:  2 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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The primary objective for deploying renewable energy in India is to advance economic development, improve energy security, improve access to energy, and mitigate climate change. Sustainable development is possible by use of sustainable energy and by ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for citizens. Strong government support and the increasingly opportune economic situation have pushed India to be one of the top leaders in the world’s most attractive renewable energy markets. The government has designed policies, programs, and a liberal environment to attract foreign investments to ramp up the country in the renewable energy market at a rapid rate. It is anticipated that the renewable energy sector can create a large number of domestic jobs over the following years. This paper aims to present significant achievements, prospects, projections, generation of electricity, as well as challenges and investment and employment opportunities due to the development of renewable energy in India. In this review, we have identified the various obstacles faced by the renewable sector. The recommendations based on the review outcomes will provide useful information for policymakers, innovators, project developers, investors, industries, associated stakeholders and departments, researchers, and scientists.

Introduction

The sources of electricity production such as coal, oil, and natural gas have contributed to one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is essential to raise the standard of living by providing cleaner and more reliable electricity [ 1 ]. India has an increasing energy demand to fulfill the economic development plans that are being implemented. The provision of increasing quanta of energy is a vital pre-requisite for the economic growth of a country [ 2 ]. The National Electricity Plan [NEP] [ 3 ] framed by the Ministry of Power (MoP) has developed a 10-year detailed action plan with the objective to provide electricity across the country, and has prepared a further plan to ensure that power is supplied to the citizens efficiently and at a reasonable cost. According to the World Resource Institute Report 2017 [ 4 , 5 ], India is responsible for nearly 6.65% of total global carbon emissions, ranked fourth next to China (26.83%), the USA (14.36%), and the EU (9.66%). Climate change might also change the ecological balance in the world. Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) have been submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. The latter has hoped to achieve the goal of limiting the rise in global temperature to well below 2 °C [ 6 , 7 ]. According to a World Energy Council [ 8 ] prediction, global electricity demand will peak in 2030. India is one of the largest coal consumers in the world and imports costly fossil fuel [ 8 ]. Close to 74% of the energy demand is supplied by coal and oil. According to a report from the Center for monitoring Indian economy, the country imported 171 million tons of coal in 2013–2014, 215 million tons in 2014–2015, 207 million tons in 2015–2016, 195 million tons in 2016–2017, and 213 million tons in 2017–2018 [ 9 ]. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find alternate sources for generating electricity.

In this way, the country will have a rapid and global transition to renewable energy technologies to achieve sustainable growth and avoid catastrophic climate change. Renewable energy sources play a vital role in securing sustainable energy with lower emissions [ 10 ]. It is already accepted that renewable energy technologies might significantly cover the electricity demand and reduce emissions. In recent years, the country has developed a sustainable path for its energy supply. Awareness of saving energy has been promoted among citizens to increase the use of solar, wind, biomass, waste, and hydropower energies. It is evident that clean energy is less harmful and often cheaper. India is aiming to attain 175 GW of renewable energy which would consist of 100 GW from solar energy, 10 GW from bio-power, 60 GW from wind power, and 5 GW from small hydropower plants by the year 2022 [ 11 ]. Investors have promised to achieve more than 270 GW, which is significantly above the ambitious targets. The promises are as follows: 58 GW by foreign companies, 191 GW by private companies, 18 GW by private sectors, and 5 GW by the Indian Railways [ 12 ]. Recent estimates show that in 2047, solar potential will be more than 750 GW and wind potential will be 410 GW [ 13 , 14 ]. To reach the ambitious targets of generating 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022, it is essential that the government creates 330,000 new jobs and livelihood opportunities [ 15 , 16 ].

A mixture of push policies and pull mechanisms, accompanied by particular strategies should promote the development of renewable energy technologies. Advancement in technology, proper regulatory policies [ 17 ], tax deduction, and attempts in efficiency enhancement due to research and development (R&D) [ 18 ] are some of the pathways to conservation of energy and environment that should guarantee that renewable resource bases are used in a cost-effective and quick manner. Hence, strategies to promote investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector along with jobs for the unskilled workers, technicians, and contractors are discussed. This article also manifests technological and financial initiatives [ 19 ], policy and regulatory framework, as well as training and educational initiatives [ 20 , 21 ] launched by the government for the growth and development of renewable energy sources. The development of renewable technology has encountered explicit obstacles, and thus, there is a need to discuss these barriers. Additionally, it is also vital to discover possible solutions to overcome these barriers, and hence, proper recommendations have been suggested for the steady growth of renewable power [ 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Given the enormous potential of renewables in the country, coherent policy measures and an investor-friendly administration might be the key drivers for India to become a global leader in clean and green energy.

Projection of global primary energy consumption

An energy source is a necessary element of socio-economic development. The increasing economic growth of developing nations in the last decades has caused an accelerated increase in energy consumption. This trend is anticipated to grow [ 25 ]. A prediction of future power consumption is essential for the investigation of adequate environmental and economic policies [ 26 ]. Likewise, an outlook to future power consumption helps to determine future investments in renewable energy. Energy supply and security have not only increased the essential issues for the development of human society but also for their global political and economic patterns [ 27 ]. Hence, international comparisons are helpful to identify past, present, and future power consumption.

Table 1 shows the primary energy consumption of the world, based on the BP Energy Outlook 2018 reports. In 2016, India’s overall energy consumption was 724 million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe) and is expected to rise to 1921 Mtoe by 2040 with an average growth rate of 4.2% per annum. Energy consumption of various major countries comprises commercially traded fuels and modern renewables used to produce power. In 2016, India was the fourth largest energy consumer in the world after China, the USA, and the Organization for economic co-operation and development (OECD) in Europe [ 29 ].

The projected estimation of global energy consumption demonstrates that energy consumption in India is continuously increasing and retains its position even in 2035/2040 [ 28 ]. The increase in India’s energy consumption will push the country’s share of global energy demand to 11% by 2040 from 5% in 2016. Emerging economies such as China, India, or Brazil have experienced a process of rapid industrialization, have increased their share in the global economy, and are exporting enormous volumes of manufactured products to developed countries. This shift of economic activities among nations has also had consequences concerning the country’s energy use [ 30 ].

Projected primary energy consumption in India

The size and growth of a country’s population significantly affects the demand for energy. With 1.368 billion citizens, India is ranked second, of the most populous countries as of January 2019 [ 31 ]. The yearly growth rate is 1.18% and represents almost 17.74% of the world’s population. The country is expected to have more than 1.383 billion, 1.512 billion, 1.605 billion, 1.658 billion people by the end of 2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050, respectively. Each year, India adds a higher number of people to the world than any other nation and the specific population of some of the states in India is equal to the population of many countries.

The growth of India’s energy consumption will be the fastest among all significant economies by 2040, with coal meeting most of this demand followed by renewable energy. Renewables became the second most significant source of domestic power production, overtaking gas and then oil, by 2020. The demand for renewables in India will have a tremendous growth of 256 Mtoe in 2040 from 17 Mtoe in 2016, with an annual increase of 12%, as shown in Table 2 .

Table 3 shows the primary energy consumption of renewables for the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) from 2016 to 2040. India consumed around 17 Mtoe of renewable energy in 2016, and this will be 256 Mtoe in 2040. It is probable that India’s energy consumption will grow fastest among all major economies by 2040, with coal contributing most in meeting this demand followed by renewables. The percentage share of renewable consumption in 2016 was 2% and is predicted to increase by 13% by 2040.

How renewable energy sources contribute to the energy demand in India

Even though India has achieved a fast and remarkable economic growth, energy is still scarce. Strong economic growth in India is escalating the demand for energy, and more energy sources are required to cover this demand. At the same time, due to the increasing population and environmental deterioration, the country faces the challenge of sustainable development. The gap between demand and supply of power is expected to rise in the future [ 32 ]. Table 4 presents the power supply status of the country from 2009–2010 to 2018–2019 (until October 2018). In 2018, the energy demand was 1,212,134 GWh, and the availability was 1,203,567 GWh, i.e., a deficit of − 0.7% [ 33 ].

According to the Load generation and Balance Report (2016–2017) of the Central Electricity Authority of India (CEA), the electrical energy demand for 2021–2022 is anticipated to be at least 1915 terawatt hours (TWh), with a peak electric demand of 298 GW [ 34 ]. Increasing urbanization and rising income levels are responsible for an increased demand for electrical appliances, i.e., an increased demand for electricity in the residential sector. The increased demand in materials for buildings, transportation, capital goods, and infrastructure is driving the industrial demand for electricity. An increased mechanization and the shift to groundwater irrigation across the country is pushing the pumping and tractor demand in the agriculture sector, and hence the large diesel and electricity demand. The penetration of electric vehicles and the fuel switch to electric and induction cook stoves will drive the electricity demand in the other sectors shown in Table 5 .

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), a quarter of India’s energy demand can be met with renewable energy. The country could potentially increase its share of renewable power generation to over one-third by 2030 [ 35 ].

Table 6 presents the estimated contribution of renewable energy sources to the total energy demand. MoP along with CEA in its draft national electricity plan for 2016 anticipated that with 175 GW of installed capacity of renewable power by 2022, the expected electricity generation would be 327 billion units (BUs), which would contribute to 1611 BU energy requirements. This indicates that 20.3% of the energy requirements would be fulfilled by renewable energy by 2022 and 24.2% by 2027 [ 36 ]. Figure 1 shows the ambitious new target for the share of renewable energy in India’s electricity consumption set by MoP. As per the order of revised RPO (Renewable Purchase Obligations, legal act of June 2018), the country has a target of a 21% share of renewable energy in its total electricity consumption by March 2022. In 2014, the same goal was at 15% and increased to 21% by 2018. It is India’s goal to reach 40% renewable sources by 2030.

Target share of renewable energy in India’s power consumption

Estimated renewable energy potential in India

The estimated potential of wind power in the country during 1995 [ 37 ] was found to be 20,000 MW (20 GW), solar energy was 5 × 10 15 kWh/pa, bioenergy was 17,000 MW, bagasse cogeneration was 8000 MW, and small hydropower was 10,000 MW. For 2006, the renewable potential was estimated as 85,000 MW with wind 4500 MW, solar 35 MW, biomass/bioenergy 25,000 MW, and small hydropower of 15,000 MW [ 38 ]. According to the annual report of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for 2017–2018, the estimated potential of wind power was 302.251 GW (at 100-m mast height), of small hydropower 19.749 GW, biomass power 17.536 GW, bagasse cogeneration 5 GW, waste to energy (WTE) 2.554 GW, and solar 748.990 GW. The estimated total renewable potential amounted to 1096.080 GW [ 39 ] assuming 3% wasteland, which is shown in Table 7 . India is a tropical country and receives significant radiation, and hence the solar potential is very high [ 40 , 41 , 42 ].

Gross installed capacity of renewable energy in India

As of June 2018 reports, the country intends to reach 225 GW of renewable power capacity by 2022 exceeding the target of 175 GW pledged during the Paris Agreement. The sector is the fourth most attractive renewable energy market in the world. As in October 2018, India ranked fifth in installed renewable energy capacity [ 43 ].

Gross installed capacity of renewable energy—according to region

Table 8 lists the cumulative installed capacity of both conventional and renewable energy sources. The cumulative installed capacity of renewable sources as on the 31 st of December 2018 was 74081.66 MW. Renewable energy (small hydropower, wind, biomass, WTE, solar) accounted for an approximate 21% share of the cumulative installed power capacity, and the remaining 78.791% originated from other conventional sources (coal, gas diesel, nuclear, and large hydropower) [ 44 ]. The best regions for renewable energy are the southern states that have the highest solar irradiance and wind in the country. When renewable energy alone is considered for analysis, the Southern region covers 49.121% of the cumulative installed renewable capacity, followed by the Western region (29.742%), the Northern region (18.890%), the Eastern region (1.836%), the North-Easter region 0.394%, and the Islands (0.017%). As far as conventional energy is concerned, the Western region with 33.452% ranks first and is followed by the Northern region with 28.484%, the Southern region (24.967%), the Eastern region (11.716%), the Northern-Eastern (1.366%), and the Islands (0.015%).

Gross installed capacity of renewable energy—according to ownership

State government, central government, and private players drive the Indian energy sector. The private sector leads the way in renewable energy investment. Table 9 shows the installed gross renewable energy and conventional energy capacity (percentage)—ownership wise. It is evident from Fig. 2 that 95% of the installed renewable capacity derives from private companies, 2% from the central government, and 3% from the state government. The top private companies in the field of non-conventional energy generation are Tata Power Solar, Suzlon, and ReNew Power. Tata Power Solar System Limited are the most significant integrated solar power players in the country, Suzlon realizes wind energy projects, and ReNew Power Ventures operate with solar and wind power.

Gross renewable energy installed capacity (percentage)—Ownership wise as per the 31.12.2018 [ 43 ]

Gross installed capacity of renewable energy—state wise

Table 10 shows the installed capacity of cumulative renewable energy (state wise), out of the total installed capacity of 74,081.66 MW, where Karnataka ranks first with 12,953.24 MW (17.485%), Tamilnadu second with 11,934.38 MW (16%), Maharashtra third with 9283.78 MW (12.532%), Gujarat fourth with 10.641 MW (10.641%), and Rajasthan fifth with 7573.86 MW (10.224%). These five states cover almost 66.991% of the installed capacity of total renewable. Other prominent states are Andhra Pradesh (9.829%), Madhya Pradesh (5.819%), Telangana (5.137%), and Uttar Pradesh (3.879%). These nine states cover almost 91.655%.

Gross installed capacity of renewable energy—according to source

Under union budget of India 2018–2019, INR 3762 crore (USD 581.09 million), was allotted for grid-interactive renewable power schemes and projects. As per the 31.12.2018, the installed capacity of total renewable power (excluding large hydropower) in the country amounted to 74.08166 GW. Around 9.363 GW of solar energy, 1.766 GW of wind, 0.105 GW of small hydropower (SHP), and biomass power of 8.7 GW capacity were added in 2017–2018. Table 11 shows the installed capacity of renewable energy over the last 10 years until the 31.12.2018. Wind energy continues to dominate the countries renewable energy industry, accounting for over 47% of cumulative installed renewable capacity (35,138.15 MW), followed by solar power of 34% (25,212.26 MW), biomass power/cogeneration of 12% (9075.5 MW), and small hydropower of 6% (4517.45 MW). In the renewable energy country attractiveness index (RECAI) of 2018, India ranked in fourth position. The installed renewable energy production capacity has grown at an accelerated pace over the preceding few years, posting a CAGR of 19.78% between 2014 and 2018 [ 45 ] .

Estimation of the installed capacity of renewable energy

Table 12 gives the share of installed cumulative renewable energy capacity, in comparison with the installed conventional energy capacity. In 2022 and 2032, the installed renewable energy capacity will account for 32% and 35%, respectively [ 46 , 47 ]. The most significant renewable capacity expansion program in the world is being taken up by India. The government is preparing to boost the percentage of clean energy through a tremendous push in renewables, as discussed in the subsequent sections.

Gross electricity generation from renewable energy in India

The overall generation (including the generation from grid-connected renewable sources) in the country has grown exponentially. Between 2014–2015 and 2015–2016, it achieved 1110.458 BU and 1173.603 BU, respectively. The same was recorded with 1241.689 BU and 1306.614 BU during 2015–2016 and 1306.614 BU from 2016–2017 and 2017–2018, respectively. Figure 3 indicates that the annual renewable power production increased faster than the conventional power production. The rise accounted for 6.47% in 2015–2016 and 24.88% in 2017–2018, respectively. Table 13 compares the energy generation from traditional sources with that from renewable sources. Remarkably, the energy generation from conventional sources reached 811.143 BU and from renewable sources 9.860 BU in 2010 compared to 1.206.306 BU and 88.945 BU in 2017, respectively [ 48 ]. It is observed that the price of electricity production using renewable technologies is higher than that for conventional generation technologies, but is likely to fall with increasing experience in the techniques involved [ 49 ].

The annual growth in power generation as per the 30th of November 2018

Gross electricity generation from renewable energy—according to regions

Table 14 shows the gross electricity generation from renewable energy-region wise. It is noted that the highest renewable energy generation derives from the southern region, followed by the western part. As of November 2018, 50.33% of energy generation was obtained from the southern area and 29.37%, 18.05%, 2%, and 0.24% from Western, Northern, North-Eastern Areas, and the Island, respectively.

Gross electricity generation from renewable energy—according to states

Table 15 shows the gross electricity generation from renewable energy—region-wise. It is observed that the highest renewable energy generation was achieved from Karnataka (16.57%), Tamilnadu (15.82%), Andhra Pradesh (11.92%), and Gujarat (10.87%) as per November 2018. While adding four years from 2015–2016 to 2018–2019 Tamilnadu [ 50 ] remains in the first position followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Gross electricity generation from renewable energy—according to sources

Table 16 shows the gross electricity generation from renewable energy—source-wise. It can be concluded from the table that the wind-based energy generation as per 2017–2018 is most prominent with 51.71%, followed by solar energy (25.40%), Bagasse (11.63%), small hydropower (7.55%), biomass (3.34%), and WTE (0.35%). There has been a constant increase in the generation of all renewable sources from 2014–2015 to date. Wind energy, as always, was the highest contributor to the total renewable power production. The percentage of solar energy produced in the overall renewable power production comes next to wind and is typically reduced during the monsoon months. The definite improvement in wind energy production can be associated with a “good” monsoon. Cyclonic action during these months also facilitates high-speed winds. Monsoon winds play a significant part in the uptick in wind power production, especially in the southern states of the country.

Estimation of gross electricity generation from renewable energy

Table 17 shows an estimation of gross electricity generation from renewable energy based on the 2015 report of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) [ 51 ]. It is predicted that the share of renewable power will be 10.2% by 2022, but renewable power technologies contributed a record of 13.4% to the cumulative power production in India as of the 31st of August 2018. The power ministry report shows that India generated 122.10 TWh and out of the total electricity produced, renewables generated 16.30 TWh as on the 31st of August 2018. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation report, it is anticipated that by the year 2040, around 49% of total electricity will be produced using renewable energy.

Current achievements in renewable energy 2017–2018

India cares for the planet and has taken a groundbreaking journey in renewable energy through the last 4 years [ 52 , 53 ]. A dedicated ministry along with financial and technical institutions have helped India in the promotion of renewable energy and diversification of its energy mix. The country is engaged in expanding the use of clean energy sources and has already undertaken several large-scale sustainable energy projects to ensure a massive growth of green energy.

1. India doubled its renewable power capacity in the last 4 years. The cumulative renewable power capacity in 2013–2014 reached 35,500 MW and rose to 70,000 MW in 2017–2018.

2. India stands in the fourth and sixth position regarding the cumulative installed capacity in the wind and solar sector, respectively. Furthermore, its cumulative installed renewable capacity stands in fifth position globally as of the 31st of December 2018.

3. As said above, the cumulative renewable energy capacity target for 2022 is given as 175 GW. For 2017–2018, the cumulative installed capacity amounted to 70 GW, the capacity under implementation is 15 GW and the tendered capacity was 25 GW. The target, the installed capacity, the capacity under implementation, and the tendered capacity are shown in Fig. 4 .

4. There is tremendous growth in solar power. The cumulative installed solar capacity increased by more than eight times in the last 4 years from 2.630 GW (2013–2014) to 22 GW (2017–2018). As of the 31st of December 2018, the installed capacity amounted to 25.2122 GW.

5. The renewable electricity generated in 2017–2018 was 101839 BUs.

6. The country published competitive bidding guidelines for the production of renewable power. It also discovered the lowest tariff and transparent bidding method and resulted in a notable decrease in per unit cost of renewable energy.

7. In 21 states, there are 41 solar parks with a cumulative capacity of more than 26,144 MW that have already been approved by the MNRE. The Kurnool solar park was set up with 1000 MW; and with 2000 MW the largest solar park of Pavagada (Karnataka) is currently under installation.

8. The target for solar power (ground mounted) for 2018–2019 is given as 10 GW, and solar power (Rooftop) as 1 GW.

9. MNRE doubled the target for solar parks (projects of 500 MW or more) from 20 to 40 GW.

10. The cumulative installed capacity of wind power increased by 1.6 times in the last 4 years. In 2013–2014, it amounted to 21 GW, from 2017 to 2018 it amounted to 34 GW, and as of 31st of December 2018, it reached 35.138 GW. This shows that achievements were completed in wind power use.

11. An offshore wind policy was announced. Thirty-four companies (most significant global and domestic wind power players) competed in the “expression of interest” (EoI) floated on the plan to set up India’s first mega offshore wind farm with a capacity of 1 GW.

12. 682 MW small hydropower projects were installed during the last 4 years along with 600 watermills (mechanical applications) and 132 projects still under development.

13. MNRE is implementing green energy corridors to expand the transmission system. 9400 km of green energy corridors are completed or under implementation. The cost spent on it was INR 10141 crore (101,410 Million INR = 1425.01 USD). Furthermore, the total capacity of 19,000 MVA substations is now planned to be complete by March 2020.

14. MNRE is setting up solar pumps (off-grid application), where 90% of pumps have been set up as of today and between 2014–2015 and 2017–2018. Solar street lights were more than doubled. Solar home lighting systems have been improved by around 1.5 times. More than 2,575,000 solar lamps have been distributed to students. The details are illustrated in Fig. 5 .

15. From 2014–2015 to 2017–2018, more than 2.5 lakh (0.25 million) biogas plants were set up for cooking in rural homes to enable families by providing them access to clean fuel.

16. New policy initiatives revised the tariff policy mandating purchase and generation obligations (RPO and RGO). Four wind and solar inter-state transmission were waived; charges were planned, the RPO trajectory for 2022 and renewable energy policy was finalized.

17. Expressions of interest (EoI) were invited for installing solar photovoltaic manufacturing capacities associated with the guaranteed off-take of 20 GW. EoI indicated 10 GW floating solar energy plants.

18. Policy for the solar-wind hybrid was announced. Tender for setting up 2 GW solar-wind hybrid systems in existing projects was invited.

19. To facilitate R&D in renewable power technology, a National lab policy on testing, standardization, and certification was announced by the MNRE.

20. The Surya Mitra program was conducted to train college graduates in the installation, commissioning, operations, and management of solar panels. The International Solar Alliance (ISA) headquarters in India (Gurgaon) will be a new commencement for solar energy improvement in India.

21. The renewable sector has become considerably more attractive for foreign and domestic investors, and the country expects to attract up to USD 80 billion in the next 4 years from 2018–2019 to 2021–2022.

22. The solar power capacity expanded by more than eight times from 2.63 GW in 2013–2014 to 22 GW in 2017–2018.

23. A bidding for 115 GW renewable energy projects up to March 2020 was announced.

24. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) acting for system/components of solar PV was established.

25. To recognize and encourage innovative ideas in renewable energy sectors, the Government provides prizes and awards. Creative ideas/concepts should lead to prototype development. The Name of the award is “Abhinav Soch-Nayi Sambhawanaye,” which means Innovative ideas—New possibilities.

Renewable energy target, installed capacity, under implementation and tendered [ 52 ]

Off-grid solar applications [ 52 ]

Solar energy

Under the National Solar Mission, the MNRE has updated the objective of grid-connected solar power projects from 20 GW by the year 2021–2022 to 100 GW by the year 2021–2022. In 2008–2009, it reached just 6 MW. The “Made in India” initiative to promote domestic manufacturing supported this great height in solar installation capacity. Currently, India has the fifth highest solar installed capacity worldwide. By the 31st of December 2018, solar energy had achieved 25,212.26 MW against the target of 2022, and a further 22.8 GW of capacity has been tendered out or is under current implementation. MNRE is preparing to bid out the remaining solar energy capacity every year for the periods 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 so that bidding may contribute with 100 GW capacity additions by March 2020. In this way, 2 years for the completion of projects would remain. Tariffs will be determined through the competitive bidding process (reverse e-auction) to bring down tariffs significantly. The lowest solar tariff was identified to be INR 2.44 per kWh in July 2018. In 2010, solar tariffs amounted to INR 18 per kWh. Over 100,000 lakh (10,000 million) acres of land had been classified for several planned solar parks, out of which over 75,000 acres had been obtained. As of November 2018, 47 solar parks of a total capacity of 26,694 MW were established. The aggregate capacity of 4195 MW of solar projects has been commissioned inside various solar parks (floating solar power). Table 18 shows the capacity addition compared to the target. It indicates that capacity addition increased exponentially.

Wind energy

As of the 31st of December 2018, the total installed capacity of India amounted to 35,138.15 MW compared to a target of 60 GW by 2022. India is currently in fourth position in the world for installed capacity of wind power. Moreover, around 9.4 GW capacity has been tendered out or is under current implementation. The MNRE is preparing to bid out for A 10 GW wind energy capacity every year for 2018–2019 and 2019–2020, so that bidding will allow for 60 GW capacity additions by March 2020, giving the remaining two years for the accomplishment of the projects. The gross wind energy potential of the country now reaches 302 GW at a 100 m above-ground level. The tariff administration has been changed from feed-in-tariff (FiT) to the bidding method for capacity addition. On the 8th of December 2017, the ministry published guidelines for a tariff-based competitive bidding rule for the acquisition of energy from grid-connected wind energy projects. The developed transparent process of bidding lowered the tariff for wind power to its lowest level ever. The development of the wind industry has risen in a robust ecosystem ensuring project execution abilities and a manufacturing base. State-of-the-art technologies are now available for the production of wind turbines. All the major global players in wind power have their presence in India. More than 12 different companies manufacture more than 24 various models of wind turbines in India. India exports wind turbines and components to the USA, Europe, Australia, Brazil, and other Asian countries. Around 70–80% of the domestic production has been accomplished with strong domestic manufacturing companies. Table 19 lists the capacity addition compared to the target for the capacity addition. Furthermore, electricity generation from the wind-based capacity has improved, even though there was a slowdown of new capacity in the first half of 2018–2019 and 2017–2018.

The national energy storage mission—2018

The country is working toward a National Energy Storage Mission. A draft of the National Energy Storage Mission was proposed in February 2018 and initiated to develop a comprehensive policy and regulatory framework. During the last 4 years, projects included in R&D worth INR 115.8 million (USD 1.66 million) in the domain of energy storage have been launched, and a corpus of INR 48.2 million (USD 0.7 million) has been issued. India’s energy storage mission will provide an opportunity for globally competitive battery manufacturing. By increasing the battery manufacturing expertise and scaling up its national production capacity, the country can make a substantial economic contribution in this crucial sector. The mission aims to identify the cumulative battery requirements, total market size, imports, and domestic manufacturing. Table 20 presents the economic opportunity from battery manufacturing given by the National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, which provides relevant technical advice to central and state governments while designing strategic and long-term policies and programs for the Indian government.

Small hydropower—3-year action agenda—2017

Hydro projects are classified as large hydro, small hydro (2 to 25 MW), micro-hydro (up to 100 kW), and mini-hydropower (100 kW to 2 MW) projects. Whereas the estimated potential of SHP is 20 GW, the 2022 target for India in SHP is 5 GW. As of the 31st of December 2018, the country has achieved 4.5 GW and this production is constantly increasing. The objective, which was planned to be accomplished through infrastructure project grants and tariff support, was included in the NITI Aayog’s 3-year action agenda (2017–2018 to 2019–2020), which was published on the 1st of August 2017. MNRE is providing central financial assistance (CFA) to set up small/micro hydro projects both in the public and private sector. For the identification of new potential locations, surveys and comprehensive project reports are elaborated, and financial support for the renovation and modernization of old projects is provided. The Ministry has established a dedicated completely automatic supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)—based on a hydraulic turbine R&D laboratory at the Alternate Hydro Energy Center (AHEC) at IIT Roorkee. The establishment cost for the lab was INR 40 crore (400 million INR, 95.62 Million USD), and the laboratory will serve as a design and validation facility. It investigates hydro turbines and other hydro-mechanical devices adhering to national and international standards [ 54 , 55 ]. Table 21 shows the target and achievements from 2007–2008 to 2018–2019.

National policy regarding biofuels—2018

Modernization has generated an opportunity for a stable change in the use of bioenergy in India. MNRE amended the current policy for biomass in May 2018. The policy presents CFA for projects using biomass such as agriculture-based industrial residues, wood produced through energy plantations, bagasse, crop residues, wood waste generated from industrial operations, and weeds. Under the policy, CFA will be provided to the projects at the rate of INR 2.5 million (USD 35,477.7) per MW for bagasse cogeneration and INR 5 million (USD 70,955.5) per MW for non-bagasse cogeneration. The MNRE also announced a memorandum in November 2018 considering the continuation of the concessional customs duty certificate (CCDC) to set up projects for the production of energy using non-conventional materials such as bio-waste, agricultural, forestry, poultry litter, agro-industrial, industrial, municipal, and urban wastes. The government recently established the National policy on biofuels in August 2018. The MNRE invited an expression of interest (EOI) to estimate the potential of biomass energy and bagasse cogeneration in the country. A program to encourage the promotion of biomass-based cogeneration in sugar mills and other industries was also launched in May 2018. Table 22 shows how the biomass power target and achievements are expected to reach 10 GW of the target of 2022 before the end of 2019.

The new national biogas and organic manure program (NNBOMP)—2018

The National biogas and manure management programme (NBMMP) was launched in 2012–2013. The primary objective was to provide clean gaseous fuel for cooking, where the remaining slurry was organic bio-manure which is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Further, 47.5 lakh (4.75 million) cumulative biogas plants were completed in 2014, and increased to 49.8 lakh (4.98 million). During 2017–2018, the target was to establish 1.10 lakh biogas plants (1.10 million), but resulted in 0.15 lakh (0.015 million). In this way, the cost of refilling the gas cylinders with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was greatly reduced. Likewise, tons of wood/trees were protected from being axed, as wood is traditionally used as a fuel in rural and semi-urban households. Biogas is a viable alternative to traditional cooking fuels. The scheme generated employment for almost 300 skilled laborers for setting up the biogas plants. By 30th of May 2018, the Ministry had issued guidelines for the implementation of the NNBOMP during the period 2017–2018 to 2019–2020 [ 56 ].

The off-grid and decentralized solar photovoltaic application program—2018

The program deals with the energy demand through the deployment of solar lanterns, solar streetlights, solar home lights, and solar pumps. The plan intended to reach 118 MWp of off-grid PV capacity by 2020. The sanctioning target proposed outlay was 50 MWp by 2017–2018 and 68 MWp by 2019–2020. The total estimated cost amounted to INR 1895 crore (18950 Million INR, 265.547 million USD), and the ministry wanted to support 637 crores (6370 million INR, 89.263 million USD) by its central finance assistance. Solar power plants with a 25 KWp size were promoted in those areas where grid power does not reach households or is not reliable. Public service institutions, schools, panchayats, hostels, as well as police stations will benefit from this scheme. Solar study lamps were also included as a component in the program. Thirty percent of financial assistance was provided to solar power plants. Every student should bear 15% of the lamp cost, and the ministry wanted to support the remaining 85%. As of October 2018, lantern and lamps of more than 40 Lakhs (4 million), home lights of 16.72 lakhs (1.672 million) number, street lights of 6.40 lakhs (0.64 million), solar pumps of 1.96 lakhs (0.196 million), and 187.99 MWp stand-alone devices had been installed [ 57 , 58 ].

Major government initiatives for renewable energy

Technological initiatives.

The Technology Development and Innovation Policy (TDIP) released on the 6th of October 2017 was endeavored to promote research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) in the renewable energy sector [ 59 ]. RD&D intended to evaluate resources, progress in technology, commercialization, and the presentation of renewable energy technologies across the country. It aimed to produce renewable power devices and systems domestically. The evaluation of standards and resources, processes, materials, components, products, services, and sub-systems was carried out through RD&D. A development of the market, efficiency improvements, cost reductions, and a promotion of commercialization (scalability and bankability) were achieved through RD&D. Likewise, the percentage of renewable energy in the total electricity mix made it self-sustainable, industrially competitive, and profitable through RD&D. RD&D also supported technology development and demonstration in wind, solar, wind-solar hybrid, biofuel, biogas, hydrogen fuel cells, and geothermal energies. RD&D supported the R&D units of educational institutions, industries, and non-government organizations (NGOs). Sharing expertise, information, as well as institutional mechanisms for collaboration was realized by use of the technology development program (TDP). The various people involved in this program were policymakers, industrial innovators, associated stakeholders and departments, researchers, and scientists. Renowned R&D centers in India are the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gurgaon, the National Institute of Bio-Energy (NIBE), Kapurthala, and the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), Chennai. The TDP strategy encouraged the exploration of innovative approaches and possibilities to obtain long-term targets. Likewise, it efficiently supported the transformation of knowledge into technology through a well-established monitoring system for the development of renewable technology that meets the electricity needs of India. The research center of excellence approved the TDI projects, which were funded to strengthen R&D. Funds were provided for conducting training and workshops. The MNRE is now preparing a database of R&D accomplishments in the renewable energy sector.

The Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) program seeks to develop engineering and technology (prototype/process development) on a national scale. IMPRINT is steered by the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) and Indian Institute of science (IISCs). The expansion covers all areas of engineering and technology including renewable technology. The ministry of human resource development (MHRD) finances up to 50% of the total cost of the project. The remaining costs of the project are financed by the ministry (MNRE) via the RD&D program for renewable projects. Currently (2018–2019), five projects are under implementation in the area of solar thermal systems, storage for SPV, biofuel, and hydrogen and fuel cells which are funded by the MNRE (36.9 million INR, 0.518426 Million USD) and IMPRINT. Development of domestic technology and quality control are promoted through lab policies that were published on the 7th of December 2017. Lab policies were implemented to test, standardize, and certify renewable energy products and projects. They supported the improvement of the reliability and quality of the projects. Furthermore, Indian test labs are strengthened in line with international standards and practices through well-established lab policies. From 2015, the MNRE has provided “The New and Renewable Energy Young Scientist’s Award” to researchers/scientists who demonstrate exceptional accomplishments in renewable R&D.

Financial initiatives

One hundred percent financial assistance is granted by the MNRE to the government and NGOs and 50% financial support to the industry. The policy framework was developed to guide the identification of the project, the formulation, monitoring appraisal, approval, and financing. Between 2012 and 2017, a 4467.8 million INR, 62.52 Million USD) support was granted by the MNRE. The MNRE wanted to double the budget for technology development efforts in renewable energy for the current three-year plan period. Table 23 shows that the government is spending more and more for the development of the renewable energy sector. Financial support was provided to R&D projects. Exceptional consideration was given to projects that worked under extreme and hazardous conditions. Furthermore, financial support was applied to organizing awareness programs, demonstrations, training, workshops, surveys, assessment studies, etc. Innovative approaches will be rewarded with cash prizes. The winners will be presented with a support mechanism for transforming their ideas and prototypes into marketable commodities such as start-ups for entrepreneur development. Innovative projects will be financed via start-up support mechanisms, which will include an investment contract with investors. The MNRE provides funds to proposals for investigating policies and performance analyses related to renewable energy.

Technology validation and demonstration projects and other innovative projects with regard to renewables received a financial assistance of 50% of the project cost. The CFA applied to partnerships with industry and private institutions including engineering colleges. Private academic institutions, accredited by a government accreditation body, were also eligible to receive a 50% support. The concerned industries and institutions should meet the remaining 50% expenditure. The MNRE allocated an INR 3762.50 crore (INR 37625 million, 528.634 million USD) for the grid interactive renewable sources and an INR 1036.50 crore (INR 10365 million, 145.629 million USD) for off-grid/distributed and decentralized renewable power for the year 2018–2019 [ 60 ]. The MNRE asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), attempting to build renewable power projects under “priority sector lending” (priority lending should be done for renewable energy projects and without any limit) and to eliminate the obstacles in the financing of renewable energy projects. In July 2018, the Ministry of Finance announced that it would impose a 25% safeguard duty on solar panels and modules imported from China and Malaysia for 1 year. The quantum of tax might be reduced to 20% for the next 6 months, and 15% for the following 6 months.

Policy and regulatory framework initiatives

The regulatory interventions for the development of renewable energy sources are (a) tariff determination, (b) defining RPO, (c) promoting grid connectivity, and (d) promoting the expansion of the market.

Tariff policy amendments—2018

On the 30th of May 2018, the MoP released draft amendments to the tariff policy. The objective of these policies was to promote electricity generation from renewables. MoP in consultation with MNRE announced the long-term trajectory for RPO, which is represented in Table 24 . The State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) achieved a favorable and neutral/off-putting effect in the growth of the renewable power sector through their RPO regulations in consultation with the MNRE. On the 25th of May 2018, the MNRE created an RPO compliance cell to reach India’s solar and wind power goals. Due to the absence of implementation of RPO regulations, several states in India did not meet their specified RPO objectives. The cell will operate along with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and SERCs to obtain monthly statements on RPO compliance. It will also take up non-compliance associated concerns with the relevant officials.

Repowering policy—2016

On the 09th of August 2016, India announced a “repowering policy” for wind energy projects. An about 27 GW turnaround was possible according to the policy. This policy supports the replacing of aging wind turbines with more modern and powerful units (fewer, larger, taller) to raise the level of electricity generation. This policy seeks to create a simplified framework and to promote an optimized use of wind power resources. It is mandatory because the up to the year 2000 installed wind turbines were below 500 kW in sites where high wind potential might be achieved. It will be possible to obtain 3000 MW from the same location once replacements are in place. The policy was initially applied for the one MW installed capacity of wind turbines, and the MNRE will extend the repowering policy to other projects in the future based on experience. Repowering projects were implemented by the respective state nodal agencies/organizations that were involved in wind energy promotion in their states. The policy provided an exception from the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for wind farms/turbines undergoing repowering because they could not fulfill the requirements according to the PPA during repowering. The repowering projects may avail accelerated depreciation (AD) benefit or generation-based incentive (GBI) due to the conditions appropriate to new wind energy projects [ 61 ].

The wind-solar hybrid policy—2018

On the 14th of May 2018, the MNRE announced a national wind-solar hybrid policy. This policy supported new projects (large grid-connected wind-solar photovoltaic hybrid systems) and the hybridization of the already available projects. These projects tried to achieve an optimal and efficient use of transmission infrastructure and land. Better grid stability was achieved and the variability in renewable power generation was reduced. The best part of the policy intervention was that which supported the hybridization of existing plants. The tariff-based transparent bidding process was included in the policy. Regulatory authorities should formulate the necessary standards and regulations for hybrid systems. The policy also highlighted a battery storage in hybrid projects for output optimization and variability reduction [ 62 ].

The national offshore wind energy policy—2015

The National Offshore Wind Policy was released in October 2015. On the 19th of June 2018, the MNRE announced a medium-term target of 5 GW by 2022 and a long-term target of 30 GW by 2030. The MNRE called expressions of Interest (EoI) for the first 1 GW of offshore wind (the last date was 08.06.2018). The EoI site is located in Pipavav port at the Gulf of Khambhat at a distance of 23 km facilitating offshore wind (FOWIND) where the consortium deployed light detection and ranging (LiDAR) in November 2017). Pipavav port is situated off the coast of Gujarat. The MNRE had planned to install more such equipment in the states of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. On the 14 th of December 2018, the MNRE, through the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), called tender for offshore environmental impact assessment studies at intended LIDAR points at the Gulf of Mannar, off the coast of Tamil Nadu for offshore wind measurement. The timeline for initiatives was to firstly add 500 MW by 2022, 2 to 2.5 GW by 2027, and eventually reaching 5 GW between 2028 and 2032. Even though the installation of large wind power turbines in open seas is a challenging task, the government has endeavored to promote this offshore sector. Offshore wind energy would add its contribution to the already existing renewable energy mix for India [ 63 ] .

The feed-in tariff policy—2018

On the 28th of January 2016, the revised tariff policy was notified following the Electricity Act. On the 30th May 2018, the amendment in tariff policy was released. The intentions of this tariff policy are (a) an inexpensive and competitive electricity rate for the consumers; (b) to attract investment and financial viability; (c) to ensure that the perceptions of regulatory risks decrease through predictability, consistency, and transparency of policy measures; (d) development in quality of supply, increased operational efficiency, and improved competition; (e) increase the production of electricity from wind, solar, biomass, and small hydro; (f) peaking reserves that are acceptable in quantity or consistently good in quality or performance of grid operation where variable renewable energy source integration is provided through the promotion of hydroelectric power generation, including pumped storage projects (PSP); (g) to achieve better consumer services through efficient and reliable electricity infrastructure; (h) to supply sufficient and uninterrupted electricity to every level of consumers; and (i) to create adequate capacity, reserves in the production, transmission, and distribution that is sufficient for the reliability of supply of power to customers [ 64 ].

Training and educational initiatives

The MHRD has developed strong renewable energy education and training systems. The National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) develops course modules, and a Modular Employable Skilling program (MES) in its regular 2-year syllabus to include SPV lighting systems, solar thermal systems, SHP, and provides the certificate for seven trades after the completion of a 2-year course. The seven trades are plumber, fitter, carpenter, welder, machinist, and electrician. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) worked out a national skill development policy in 2015. They provide regular training programs to create various job roles in renewable energy along with the MNRE support through a skill council for green jobs (SCGJ), the National Occupational Standards (NOS), and the Qualification Pack (QP). The SCGJ is promoted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the MNRE. The industry partner for the SCGJ is ReNew Power [ 65 , 66 ].

The global status of India in renewable energy

Table 25 shows the RECAI (Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index) report of 40 countries. This report is based on the attractiveness of renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities. RECAI is based on macro vitals such as economic stability, investment climate, energy imperatives such as security and supply, clean energy gap, and affordability. It also includes policy enablement such as political stability and support for renewables. Its emphasis lies on project delivery parameters such as energy market access, infrastructure, and distributed generation, finance, cost and availability, and transaction liquidity. Technology potentials such as natural resources, power take-off attractiveness, potential support, technology maturity, and forecast growth are taken into consideration for ranking. India has moved to the fourth position of the RECAI-2018. Indian solar installations (new large-scale and rooftop solar capacities) in the calendar year 2017 increased exponentially with the addition of 9629 MW, whereas in 2016 it was 4313 MW. The warning of solar import tariffs and conflicts between developers and distribution firms are growing investor concerns [ 67 ]. Figure 6 shows the details of the installed capacity of global renewable energy in 2016 and 2017. Globally, 2017 GW renewable energy was installed in 2016, and in 2017, it increased to 2195 GW. Table 26 shows the total capacity addition of top countries until 2017. The country ranked fifth in renewable power capacity (including hydro energy), renewable power capacity (not including hydro energy) in fourth position, concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) and wind power were also in fourth position [ 68 ].

Globally installed capacity of renewable energy in 2017—Global 2018 status report with regard to renewables [ 68 ]

The investment opportunities in renewable energy in India

The investments into renewable energy in India increased by 22% in the first half of 2018 compared to 2017, while the investments in China dropped by 15% during the same period, according to a statement by the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), which is shown in Table 27 [ 69 , 70 ]. At this rate, India is expected to overtake China and become the most significant growth market for renewable energy by the end of 2020. The country is eyeing pole position for transformation in renewable energy by reaching 175 GW by 2020. To achieve this target, it is quickly ramping up investments in this sector. The country added more renewable capacity than conventional capacity in 2018 when compared to 2017. India hosted the ISA first official summit on the 11.03.2018 for 121 countries. This will provide a standard platform to work toward the ambitious targets for renewable energy. The summit will emphasize India’s dedication to meet global engagements in a time-bound method. The country is also constructing many sizeable solar power parks comparable to, but larger than, those in China. Half of the earth’s ten biggest solar parks under development are in India.

In 2014, the world largest solar park was the Topaz solar farm in California with a 550 MW facility. In 2015, another operator in California, Solar Star, edged its capacity up to 579 MW. By 2016, India’s Kamuthi Solar Power Project in Tamil Nadu was on top with 648 MW of capacity (set up by the Adani Green Energy, part of the Adani Group, in Tamil Nadu). As of February 2017, the Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in China was the new leader, with 850 MW of capacity [ 71 ]. Currently, there are 600 MW operating units and 1400 MW units under construction. The Shakti Sthala solar park was inaugurated on 01.03.2018 in Pavagada (Karnataka, India) which is expected to become the globe’s most significant solar park when it accomplishes its full potential of 2 GW. Another large solar park with 1.5 GW is scheduled to be built in the Kadappa region [ 72 ]. The progress in solar power is remarkable and demonstrates real clean energy development on the ground.

The Kurnool ultra-mega solar park generated 800 million units (MU) of energy in October 2018 and saved over 700,000 tons of CO 2 . Rainwater was harvested using a reservoir that helps in cleaning solar panels and supplying water. The country is making remarkable progress in solar energy. The Kamuthi solar farm is cleaned each day by a robotic system. As the Indian economy expands, electricity consumption is forecasted to reach 15,280 TWh in 2040. With the government’s intent, green energy objectives, i.e., the renewable sector, grow considerably in an attractive manner with both foreign and domestic investors. It is anticipated to attract investments of up to USD 80 billion in the subsequent 4 years. The government of India has raised its 175 GW target to 225 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022. The competitive benefit is that the country has sun exposure possible throughout the year and has an enormous hydropower potential. India was also listed fourth in the EY renewable energy country attractive index 2018. Sixty solar cities will be built in India as a section of MNRE’s “Solar cities” program.

In a regular auction, reduction in tariffs cost of the projects are the competitive benefits in the country. India accounts for about 4% of the total global electricity generation capacity and has the fourth highest installed capacity of wind energy and the third highest installed capacity of CSP. The solar installation in India erected during 2015–2016, 2016–2017, 2017–2018, and 2018–2019 was 3.01 GW, 5.52 GW, 9.36 GW, and 6.53 GW, respectively. The country aims to add 8.5 GW during 2019–2020. Due to its advantageous location in the solar belt (400 South to 400 North), the country is one of the largest beneficiaries of solar energy with relatively ample availability. An increase in the installed capacity of solar power is anticipated to exceed the installed capacity of wind energy, approaching 100 GW by 2022 from its current levels of 25.21226 GW as of December 2018. Fast falling prices have made Solar PV the biggest market for new investments. Under the Union Budget 2018–2019, a zero import tax on parts used in manufacturing solar panels was launched to provide an advantage to domestic solar panel companies [ 73 ].

Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the renewable energy sector of India between April 2000 and June 2018 amounted to USD 6.84 billion according to the report of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP). The DIPP was renamed (gazette notification 27.01.2019) the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). It is responsible for the development of domestic trade, retail trade, trader’s welfare including their employees as well as concerns associated with activities in facilitating and supporting business and startups. Since 2014, more than 42 billion USD have been invested in India’s renewable power sector. India reached US$ 7.4 billion in investments in the first half of 2018. Between April 2015 and June 2018, the country received USD 3.2 billion FDI in the renewable sector. The year-wise inflows expanded from USD 776 million in 2015–2016 to USD 783 million in 2016–2017 and USD 1204 million in 2017–2018. Between January to March of 2018, the INR 452 crore (4520 Million INR, 63.3389 million USD) of the FDI had already come in. The country is contributing with financial and promotional incentives that include a capital subsidy, accelerated depreciation (AD), waiver of inter-state transmission charges and losses, viability gap funding (VGF), and FDI up to 100% under the automated track.

The DIPP/DPIIT compiles and manages the data of the FDI equity inflow received in India [ 74 ]. The FDI equity inflow between April 2015 and June 2018 in the renewable sector is illustrated in Fig. 7 . It shows that the 2018–2019 3 months’ FDI equity inflow is half of that of the entire one of 2017–2018. It is evident from the figure that India has well-established FDI equity inflows. The significant FDI investments in the renewable energy sectors are shown in Table 28 . The collaboration between the Asian development bank and Renew Power Ventures private limited with 44.69 million USD ranked first followed by AIRRO Singapore with Diligent power with FDI equity inflow of 44.69 USD million.

The FDI equity inflow received between April 2015 and June 2018 in the renewable energy sector [ 73 ]

Strategies to promote investments

Strategies to promote investments (including FDI) by investors in the renewable sector:

Decrease constraints on FDI; provide open, transparent, and dependable conditions for foreign and domestic firms; and include ease of doing business, access to imports, comparatively flexible labor markets, and safeguard of intellectual property rights.

Establish an investment promotion agency (IPA) that targets suitable foreign investors and connects them as a catalyst with the domestic economy. Assist the IPA to present top-notch infrastructure and immediate access to skilled workers, technicians, engineers, and managers that might be needed to attract such investors. Furthermore, it should involve an after-investment care, recognizing the demonstration effects from satisfied investors, the potential for reinvestments, and the potential for cluster-development due to follow-up investments.

It is essential to consider the targeted sector (wind, solar, SPH or biomass, respectively) for which investments are required.

Establish the infrastructure needed for a quality investor, including adequate close-by transport facilities (airport, ports), a sufficient and steady supply of energy, a provision of a sufficiently skilled workforce, the facilities for the vocational training of specialized operators, ideally designed in collaboration with the investor.

Policy and other support mechanisms such as Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) play an influential role in underpinning returns and restricting uncertainties for project developers, indirectly supporting the availability of investment. Investors in renewable energy projects have historically relied on government policies to give them confidence about the costs necessary for electricity produced—and therefore for project revenues. Reassurance of future power costs for project developers is secured by signing a PPA with either a utility or an essential corporate buyer of electricity.

FiT have been the most conventional approach around the globe over the last decade to stimulate investments in renewable power projects. Set by the government concerned, they lay down an electricity tariff that developers of qualifying new projects might anticipate to receive for the resulting electricity over a long interval (15–20 years). These present investors in the tax equity of renewable power projects with a credit that they can manage to offset the tax burden outside in their businesses.

Table 29 presents the 2018 renewable energy investment report, source-wise, by the significant players in renewables according to the report of the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Report 2018. As per this report, global investment in renewable energy was USD of 279.8 billion in 2017. The top ten in the total global investments are China (126.1 $BN), the USA (40.5 $BN), Japan (13.4 $BN), India (10.9 $BN), Germany (10.4 $BN), Australia (8.5 $BN), UK (7.6 $BN), Brazil (6.0 $BN), Mexico (6.0 $BN), and Sweden (3.7 $BN) [ 75 ]. This achievement was possible since those countries have well-established strategies for promoting investments [ 76 , 77 ].

The appropriate objectives for renewable power expansion and investments are closely related to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) objectives, the implementation of the NDC, on the road to achieving Paris promises, policy competence, policy reliability, market absorption capacity, and nationwide investment circumstances that are the real purposes for renewable power expansion, which is a significant factor for the investment strategies, as is shown in Table 30 .

The demand for investments for building a Paris-compatible and climate-resilient energy support remains high, particularly in emerging nations. Future investments in energy grids and energy flexibility are of particular significance. The strategies and the comparison chart between China, India, and the USA are presented in Table 31 .

Table 32 shows France in the first place due to overall favorable conditions for renewables, heading the G20 in investment attractiveness of renewables. Germany drops back one spot due to a decline in the quality of the global policy environment for renewables and some insufficiencies in the policy design, as does the UK. Overall, with four European countries on top of the list, Europe, however, directs the way in providing attractive conditions for investing in renewables. Despite high scores for various nations, no single government is yet close to growing a role model. All countries still have significant room for increasing investment demands to deploy renewables at the scale required to reach the Paris objectives. The table shown is based on the Paris compatible long-term vision, the policy environment for renewable energy, the conditions for system integration, the market absorption capacity, and general investment conditions. India moved from the 11th position to the 9th position in overall investments between 2017 and 2018.

A Paris compatible long-term vision includes a de-carbonization plan for the power system, the renewable power ambition, the coal and oil decrease, and the reliability of renewables policies. Direct support policies include medium-term certainty of policy signals, streamlined administrative procedures, ensuring project realization, facilitating the use of produced electricity. Conditions for system integration include system integration-grid codes, system integration-storage promotion, and demand-side management policies. A market absorption capacity includes a prior experience with renewable technologies, a current activity with renewable installations, and a presence of major renewable energy companies. General investment conditions include non-financial determinants, depth of the financial sector as well, as an inflation forecast.

Employment opportunities for citizens in renewable energy in India

Global employment scenario.

According to the 2018 Annual review of the IRENA [ 78 ], global renewable energy employment touched 10.3 million jobs in 2017, an improvement of 5.3% compared with the quantity published in 2016. Many socio-economic advantages derive from renewable power, but employment continues to be exceptionally centralized in a handful of countries, with China, Brazil, the USA, India, Germany, and Japan in the lead. In solar PV employment (3.4 million jobs), China is the leader (65% of PV Jobs) which is followed by Japan, USA, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Germany, Philippines, and Turkey. In biofuels employment (1.9 million jobs), Brazil is the leader (41% of PV Jobs) followed by the USA, Colombia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, China, and India. In wind employment (1.1 million jobs), China is the leader (44% of PV Jobs) followed by Germany, USA, India, UK, Brazil, Denmark, Netherlands, France, and Spain.

Table 33 shows global renewable energy employment in the corresponding technology branches. As in past years, China maintained the most notable number of people employed (3880 million jobs) estimating for 43% of the globe’s total which is shown in Fig. 8 . In India, new solar installations touched a record of 9.6 GW in 2017, efficiently increasing the total installed capacity. The employment in solar PV improved by 36% and reached 164,400 jobs, of which 92,400 represented on-grid use. IRENA determines that the building and installation covered 46% of these jobs, with operations and maintenance (O&M) representing 35% and 19%, individually. India does not produce solar PV because it could be imported from China, which is inexpensive. The market share of domestic companies (Indian supplier to renewable projects) declined from 13% in 2014–2015 to 7% in 2017–2018. If India starts the manufacturing base, more citizens will get jobs in the manufacturing field. India had the world’s fifth most significant additions of 4.1 GW to wind capacity in 2017 and the fourth largest cumulative capacity in 2018. IRENA predicts that jobs in the wind sector stood at 60,500.

Renewable energy employment in selected countries [ 79 ]

The jobs in renewables are categorized into technological development, installation/de-installation, operation, and maintenance. Tables 34 , 35 , 36 , and 37 show the wind industry, solar energy, biomass, and small hydro-related jobs in project development, component manufacturing, construction, operations, and education, training, and research. As technology quickly evolves, workers in all areas need to update their skills through continuing training/education or job training, and in several cases could benefit from professional certification. The advantages of moving to renewable energy are evident, and for this reason, the governments are responding positively toward the transformation to clean energy. Renewable energy can be described as the country’s next employment boom. Renewable energy job opportunities can transform rural economy [ 79 , 80 ]. The renewable energy sector might help to reduce poverty by creating better employment. For example, wind power is looking for specialists in manufacturing, project development, and construction and turbine installation as well as financial services, transportation and logistics, and maintenance and operations.

The government is building more renewable energy power plants that will require a workforce. The increasing investments in the renewable energy sector have the potential to provide more jobs than any other fossil fuel industry. Local businesses and renewable sectors will benefit from this change, as income will increase significantly. Many jobs in this sector will contribute to fixed salaries, healthcare benefits, and skill-building opportunities for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. A range of skilled and unskilled jobs are included in all renewable energy technologies, even though most of the positions in the renewable energy industry demand a skilled workforce. The renewable sector employs semi-skilled and unskilled labor in the construction, operations, and maintenance after proper training. Unskilled labor is employed as truck drivers, guards, cleaning, and maintenance. Semi-skilled labor is used to take regular readings from displays. A lack of consistent data on the potential employment impact of renewables expansion makes it particularly hard to assess the quantity of skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled personnel that might be needed.

Key findings in renewable energy employment

The findings comprise (a) that the majority of employment in the renewable sector is contract based, and that employees do not benefit from permanent jobs or security. (b) Continuous work in the industry has the potential to decrease poverty. (c) Most poor citizens encounter obstacles to entry-level training and the employment market due to lack of awareness about the jobs and the requirements. (d) Few renewable programs incorporate developing ownership opportunities for the citizens and the incorporation of women in the sector. (e) The inadequacy of data makes it challenging to build relationships between employment in renewable energy and poverty mitigation.

Recommendations for renewable energy employment

When building the capacity, focus on poor people and individuals to empower them with training in operation and maintenance.

Develop and offer training programs for citizens with minimal education and training, who do not fit current programs, which restrict them from working in renewable areas.

Include women in the renewable workforce by providing localized training.

Establish connections between training institutes and renewable power companies to guarantee that (a) trained workers are placed in appropriate positions during and after the completion of the training program and (b) training programs match the requirements of the renewable sector.

Poverty impact assessments might be embedded in program design to know how programs motivate poverty reduction, whether and how they influence the community.

Allow people to have a sense of ownership in renewable projects because this could contribute to the growth of the sector.

The details of the job being offered (part time, full time, contract-based), the levels of required skills for the job (skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled), the socio-economic status of the employee data need to be collected for further analysis.

Conduct investigations, assisted by field surveys, to learn about the influence of renewable energy jobs on poverty mitigation and differences in the standard of living.

Challenges faced by renewable energy in India

The MNRE has been taking dedicated measures for improving the renewable sector, and its efforts have been satisfactory in recognizing various obstacles.

Policy and regulatory obstacles

A comprehensive policy statement (regulatory framework) is not available in the renewable sector. When there is a requirement to promote the growth of particular renewable energy technologies, policies might be declared that do not match with the plans for the development of renewable energy.

The regulatory framework and procedures are different for every state because they define the respective RPOs (Renewable Purchase Obligations) and this creates a higher risk of investments in this sector. Additionally, the policies are applicable for just 5 years, and the generated risk for investments in this sector is apparent. The biomass sector does not have an established framework.

Incentive accelerated depreciation (AD) is provided to wind developers and is evident in developing India’s wind-producing capacity. Wind projects installed more than 10 years ago show that they are not optimally maintained. Many owners of the asset have built with little motivation for tax benefits only. The policy framework does not require the maintenance of the wind projects after the tax advantages have been claimed. There is no control over the equipment suppliers because they undertake all wind power plant development activities such as commissioning, operation, and maintenance. Suppliers make the buyers pay a premium and increase the equipment cost, which brings burden to the buyer.

Furthermore, ready-made projects are sold to buyers. The buyers are susceptible to this trap to save income tax. Foreign investors hesitate to invest because they are exempted from the income tax.

Every state has different regulatory policy and framework definitions of an RPO. The RPO percentage specified in the regulatory framework for various renewable sources is not precise.

RPO allows the SERCs and certain private firms to procure only a part of their power demands from renewable sources.

RPO is not imposed on open access (OA) and captive consumers in all states except three.

RPO targets and obligations are not clear, and the RPO compliance cell has just started on 22.05.2018 to collect the monthly reports on compliance and deal with non-compliance issues with appropriate authorities.

Penalty mechanisms are not specified and only two states in India (Maharashtra and Rajasthan) have some form of penalty mechanisms.

The parameter to determine the tariff is not transparent in the regulatory framework and many SRECs have established a tariff for limited periods. The FiT is valid for only 5 years, and this affects the bankability of the project.

Many SERCs have not decided on adopting the CERC tariff that is mentioned in CERCs regulations that deal with terms and conditions for tariff determinations. The SERCs have considered the plant load factor (PLF) because it varies across regions and locations as well as particular technology. The current framework does not fit to these issues.

Third party sale (TPS) is not allowed because renewable generators are not allowed to sell power to commercial consumers. They have to sell only to industrial consumers. The industrial consumers have a low tariff and commercial consumers have a high tariff, and SRCS do not allow OA. This stops the profit for the developers and investors.

Institutional obstacles

Institutes, agencies stakeholders who work under the conditions of the MNRE show poor inter-institutional coordination. The progress in renewable energy development is limited by this lack of cooperation, coordination, and delays. The delay in implementing policies due to poor coordination, decrease the interest of investors to invest in this sector.

The single window project approval and clearance system is not very useful and not stable because it delays the receiving of clearances for the projects ends in the levy of a penalty on the project developer.

Pre-feasibility reports prepared by concerned states have some deficiency, and this may affect the small developers, i.e., the local developers, who are willing to execute renewable projects.

The workforce in institutes, agencies, and ministries is not sufficient in numbers.

Proper or well-established research centers are not available for the development of renewable infrastructure.

Customer care centers to guide developers regarding renewable projects are not available.

Standards and quality control orders have been issued recently in 2018 and 2019 only, and there are insufficient institutions and laboratories to give standards/certification and validate the quality and suitability of using renewable technology.

Financial and fiscal obstacles

There are a few budgetary constraints such as fund allocation, and budgets that are not released on time to fulfill the requirement of developing the renewable sector.

The initial unit capital costs of renewable projects are very high compared to fossil fuels, and this leads to financing challenges and initial burden.

There are uncertainties related to the assessment of resources, lack of technology awareness, and high-risk perceptions which lead to financial barriers for the developers.

The subsidies and incentives are not transparent, and the ministry might reconsider subsidies for renewable energy because there was a sharp fall in tariffs in 2018.

Power purchase agreements (PPA) signed between the power purchaser and power generators on pre-determined fixed tariffs are higher than the current bids (Economic survey 2017–2018 and union budget on the 01.02.2019). For example, solar power tariff dropped to 2.44 INR (0. 04 USD) per unit in May 2017, wind power INR 3.46 per unit in February 2017, and 2.64 INR per unit in October 2017.

Investors feel that there is a risk in the renewable sector as this sector has lower gross returns even though these returns are relatively high within the market standards.

There are not many developers who are interested in renewable projects. While newly established developers (small and local developers) do not have much of an institutional track record or financial input, which are needed to develop the project (high capital cost). Even moneylenders consider it risky and are not ready to provide funding. Moneylenders look exclusively for contractors who have much experience in construction, well-established suppliers with proven equipment and operators who have more experience.

If the performance of renewable projects, which show low-performance, faces financial obstacles, they risks the lack of funding of renewable projects.

Financial institutions such as government banks or private banks do not have much understanding or expertise in renewable energy projects, and this imposes financial barriers to the projects.

Delay in payment by the SERCs to the developers imposes debt burden on the small and local developers because moneylenders always work with credit enhancement mechanisms or guarantee bonds signed between moneylenders and the developers.

Market obstacles

Subsidies are adequately provided to conventional fossil fuels, sending the wrong impression that power from conventional fuels is of a higher priority than that from renewables (unfair structure of subsidies)

There are four renewable markets in India, the government market (providing budgetary support to projects and purchase the output of the project), the government-driven market (provide budgetary support or fiscal incentives to promote renewable energy), the loan market (taking loan to finance renewable based applications), and the cash market (buying renewable-based applications to meet personal energy needs by individuals). There is an inadequacy in promoting the loan market and cash market in India.

The biomass market is facing a demand-supply gap which results in a continuous and dramatic increase in biomass prices because the biomass supply is unreliable (and, as there is no organized market for fuel), and the price fluctuations are very high. The type of biomass is not the same in all the states of India, and therefore demand and price elasticity is high for biomass.

Renewable power was calculated based on cost-plus methods (adding direct material cost, direct labor cost, and product overhead cost). This does not include environmental cost and shields the ecological benefits of clean and green energy.

There is an inadequate evacuation infrastructure and insufficient integration of the grid, which affects the renewable projects. SERCs are not able to use all generated power to meet the needs because of the non-availability of a proper evacuation infrastructure. This has an impact on the project, and the SERCs are forced to buy expensive power from neighbor states to fulfill needs.

Extending transmission lines is not possible/not economical for small size projects, and the seasonality of generation from such projects affect the market.

There are few limitations in overall transmission plans, distribution CapEx plans, and distribution licenses for renewable power. Power evacuation infrastructure for renewable energy is not included in the plans.

Even though there is an increase in capacity for the commercially deployed renewable energy technology, there is no decline in capital cost. This cost of power also remains high. The capital cost quoted by the developers and providers of equipment is too high due to exports of machinery, inadequate built up capacity, and cartelization of equipment suppliers (suppliers join together to control prices and limit competition).

There is no adequate supply of land, for wind, solar, and solar thermal power plants, which lead to poor capacity addition in many states.

Technological obstacles

Every installation of a renewable project contributes to complex risk challenges from environmental uncertainties, natural disasters, planning, equipment failure, and profit loss.

MNRE issued the standardization of renewable energy projects policy on the 11th of December 2017 (testing, standardization, and certification). They are still at an elementary level as compared to international practices. Quality assurance processes are still under starting conditions. Each success in renewable energy is based on concrete action plans for standards, testing and certification of performance.

The quality and reliability of manufactured components, imported equipment, and subsystems is essential, and hence quality infrastructure should be established. There is no clear document related to testing laboratories, referral institutes, review mechanism, inspection, and monitoring.

There are not many R&D centers for renewables. Methods to reduce the subsidies and invest in R&D lagging; manufacturing facilities are just replicating the already available technologies. The country is dependent on international suppliers for equipment and technology. Spare parts are not manufactured locally and hence they are scarce.

Awareness, education, and training obstacles

There is an unavailability of appropriately skilled human resources in the renewable energy sector. Furthermore, it faces an acute workforce shortage.

After installation of renewable project/applications by the suppliers, there is no proper follow-up or assistance for the workers in the project to perform maintenance. Likewise, there are not enough trained and skilled persons for demonstrating, training, operation, and maintenance of the plant.

There is inadequate knowledge in renewables, and no awareness programs are available to the general public. The lack of awareness about the technologies is a significant obstacle in acquiring vast land for constructing the renewable plant. Moreover, people using agriculture lands are not prepared to give their land to construct power plants because most Indians cultivate plants.

The renewable sector depends on the climate, and this varying climate also imposes less popularity of renewables among the people.

The per capita income is low, and the people consider that the cost of renewables might be high and they might not be able to use renewables.

The storage system increases the cost of renewables, and people believe it too costly and are not ready to use them.

The environmental benefits of renewable technologies are not clearly understood by the people and negative perceptions are making renewable technologies less prevalent among them.

Environmental obstacles

A single wind turbine does not occupy much space, but many turbines are placed five to ten rotor diameters from each other, and this occupies more area, which include roads and transmission lines.

In the field of offshore wind, the turbines and blades are bigger than onshore wind turbines, and they require a substantial amount of space. Offshore installations affect ocean activities (fishing, sand extraction, gravel extraction, oil extraction, gas extraction, aquaculture, and navigation). Furthermore, they affect fish and other marine wildlife.

Wind turbines influence wildlife (birds and bats) because of the collisions with them and due to air pressure changes caused by wind turbines and habitat disruption. Making wind turbines motionless during times of low wind can protect birds and bats but is not practiced.

Sound (aerodynamic, mechanical) and visual impacts are associated with wind turbines. There is poor practice by the wind turbine developers regarding public concerns. Furthermore, there are imperfections in surfaces and sound—absorbent material which decrease the noise from turbines. The shadow flicker effect is not taken as severe environmental impact by the developers.

Sometimes wind turbine material production, transportation of materials, on-site construction, assembling, operation, maintenance, dismantlement, and decommissioning may be associated with global warming, and there is a lag in this consideration.

Large utility-scale solar plants require vast lands that increase the risk of land degradation and loss of habitat.

The PV cell manufacturing process includes hazardous chemicals such as 1-1-1 Trichloroethene, HCL, H 2 SO 4 , N 2 , NF, and acetone. Workers face risks resulting from inhaling silicon dust. The manufacturing wastes are not disposed of properly. Proper precautions during usage of thin-film PV cells, which contain cadmium—telluride, gallium arsenide, and copper-indium-gallium-diselenide are missing. These materials create severe public health threats and environmental threats.

Hydroelectric power turbine blades kill aquatic ecosystems (fish and other organisms). Moreover, algae and other aquatic weeds are not controlled through manual harvesting or by introducing fish that can eat these plants.

Discussion and recommendations based on the research

Policy and regulation advancements.

The MNRE should provide a comprehensive action plan or policy for the promotion of the renewable sector in its regulatory framework for renewables energy. The action plan can be prepared in consultation with SERCs of the country within a fixed timeframe and execution of the policy/action plan.

The central and state government should include a “Must run status” in their policy and follow it strictly to make use of renewable power.

A national merit order list for renewable electricity generation will reduce power cost for the consumers. Such a merit order list will help in ranking sources of renewable energy in an ascending order of price and will provide power at a lower cost to each distribution company (DISCOM). The MNRE should include that principle in its framework and ensure that SERCs includes it in their regulatory framework as well.

SERCs might be allowed to remove policies and regulatory uncertainty surrounding renewable energy. SERCs might be allowed to identify the thrust areas of their renewable energy development.

There should be strong initiatives from municipality (local level) approvals for renewable energy-based projects.

Higher market penetration is conceivable only if their suitable codes and standards are adopted and implemented. MNRE should guide minimum performance standards, which incorporate reliability, durability, and performance.

A well-established renewable energy certificates (REC) policy might contribute to an efficient funding mechanism for renewable energy projects. It is necessary for the government to look at developing the REC ecosystem.

The regulatory administration around the RPO needs to be upgraded with a more efficient “carrot and stick” mechanism for obligated entities. A regulatory mechanism that both remunerations compliance and penalizes for non-compliance may likely produce better results.

RECs in India should only be traded on exchange. Over-the-counter (OTC) or off-exchange trading will potentially allow greater participation in the market. A REC forward curve will provide further price determination to the market participants.

The policymakers should look at developing and building the REC market.

Most states have defined RPO targets. Still, due to the absence of implemented RPO regulations and the inadequacy of penalties when obligations are not satisfied, several of the state DISCOMs are not complying completely with their RPO targets. It is necessary that all states adhere to the RPO targets set by respective SERCs.

The government should address the issues such as DISCOM financials, must-run status, problems of transmission and evacuation, on-time payments and payment guarantees, and deemed generation benefits.

Proper incentives should be devised to support utilities to obtain power over and above the RPO mandated by the SERC.

The tariff orders/FiTs must be consistent and not restricted for a few years.

Transmission requirements

The developers are worried that transmission facilities are not keeping pace with the power generation. Bays at the nearest substations are occupied, and transmission lines are already carrying their full capacity. This is due to the lack of coordination between MNRE and the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) and CEA. Solar Corporation of India (SECI) is holding auctions for both wind and solar projects without making sure that enough evacuation facilities are available. There is an urgent need to make evacuation plans.

The solution is to develop numerous substations and transmission lines, but the process will take considerably longer time than the currently under-construction projects take to get finished.

In 2017–2018, transmission lines were installed under the green energy corridor project by the PGCIL, with 1900 circuit km targeted in 2018–2019. The implementation of the green energy corridor project explicitly meant to connect renewable energy plants to the national grid. The budget allocation of INR 6 billion for 2018–2019 should be increased to higher values.

The mismatch between MNRE and PGCIL, which are responsible for inter-state transmission, should be rectified.

State transmission units (STUs) are responsible for the transmission inside the states, and their fund requirements to cover the evacuation and transmission infrastructure for renewable energy should be fulfilled. Moreover, STUs should be penalized if they fail to fulfill their responsibilities.

The coordination and consultation between the developers (the nodal agency responsible for the development of renewable energy) and STUs should be healthy.

Financing the renewable sector

The government should provide enough budget for the clean energy sector. China’s annual budget for renewables is 128 times higher than India’s. In 2017, China spent USD 126.6 billion (INR 9 lakh crore) compared to India’s USD 10.9 billion (INR 75500 crore). In 2018, budget allocations for grid interactive wind and solar have increased but it is not sufficient to meet the renewable target.

The government should concentrate on R&D and provide a surplus fund for R&D. In 2017, the budget allotted was an INR 445 crore, which was reduced to an INR 272.85 crore in 2016. In 2017–2018, the initial allocation was an INR 144 crore that was reduced to an INR 81 crore during the revised estimates. Even the reduced amounts could not be fully used, there is an urgent demand for regular monitoring of R&D and the budget allocation.

The Goods and Service Tax (GST) that was introduced in 2017 worsened the industry performance and has led to an increase in costs and poses a threat to the viability of the ongoing projects, ultimately hampering the target achievement. These GST issues need to be addressed.

Including the renewable sector as a priority sector would increase the availability of credit and lead to a more substantial participation by commercial banks.

Mandating the provident funds and insurance companies to invest the fixed percentage of their portfolio into the renewable energy sector.

Banks should allow an interest rebate on housing loans if the owner is installing renewable applications such as solar lights, solar water heaters, and PV panels in his house. This will encourage people to use renewable energy. Furthermore, income tax rebates also can be given to individuals if they are implementing renewable energy applications.

Improvement in manufacturing/technology

The country should move to domestic manufacturing. It imports 90% of its solar cell and module requirements from Malaysia, China, and Taiwan, so it is essential to build a robust domestic manufacturing basis.

India will provide “safeguard duty” for merely 2 years, and this is not adequate to build a strong manufacturing basis that can compete with the global market. Moreover, safeguard duty would work only if India had a larger existing domestic manufacturing base.

The government should reconsider the safeguard duty. Many foreign companies desiring to set up joint ventures in India provide only a lukewarm response because the given order in its current form presents inadequate safeguards.

There are incremental developments in technology at regular periods, which need capital, and the country should discover a way to handle these factors.

To make use of the vast estimated renewable potential in India, the R&D capability should be upgraded to solve critical problems in the clean energy sector.

A comprehensive policy for manufacturing should be established. This would support capital cost reduction and be marketed on a global scale.

The country should initiate an industry-academia partnership, which might promote innovative R&D and support leading-edge clean power solutions to protect the globe for future generations.

Encourage the transfer of ideas between industry, academia, and policymakers from around the world to develop accelerated adoption of renewable power.

Awareness about renewables

Social recognition of renewable energy is still not very promising in urban India. Awareness is the crucial factor for the uniform and broad use of renewable energy. Information about renewable technology and their environmental benefits should reach society.

The government should regularly organize awareness programs throughout the country, especially in villages and remote locations such as the islands.

The government should open more educational/research organizations, which will help in spreading knowledge of renewable technology in society.

People should regularly be trained with regard to new techniques that would be beneficial for the community.

Sufficient agencies should be available to sell renewable products and serve for technical support during installation and maintenance.

Development of the capabilities of unskilled and semiskilled workers and policy interventions are required related to employment opportunities.

An increase in the number of qualified/trained personnel might immediately support the process of installations of renewables.

Renewable energy employers prefer to train employees they recruit because they understand that education institutes fail to give the needed and appropriate skills. The training institutes should rectify this issue. Severe trained human resources shortages should be eliminated.

Upgrading the ability of the existing workforce and training of new professionals is essential to achieve the renewable goal.

Hybrid utilization of renewables

The country should focus on hybrid power projects for an effective use of transmission infrastructure and land.

India should consider battery storage in hybrid projects, which support optimizing the production and the power at competitive prices as well as a decrease of variability.

Formulate mandatory standards and regulations for hybrid systems, which are lagging in the newly announced policies (wind-solar hybrid policy on 14.05.2018).

The hybridization of two or more renewable systems along with the conventional power source battery storage can increase the performance of renewable technologies.

Issues related to sizing and storage capacity should be considered because they are key to the economic viability of the system.

Fiscal and financial incentives available for hybrid projects should be increased.

The renewable sector suffers notable obstacles. Some of them are inherent in every renewable technology; others are the outcome of a skewed regulative structure and marketplace. The absence of comprehensive policies and regulation frameworks prevent the adoption of renewable technologies. The renewable energy market requires explicit policies and legal procedures to enhance the attention of investors. There is a delay in the authorization of private sector projects because of a lack of clear policies. The country should take measures to attract private investors. Inadequate technology and the absence of infrastructure required to establish renewable technologies should be overcome by R&D. The government should allow more funds to support research and innovation activities in this sector. There are insufficiently competent personnel to train, demonstrate, maintain, and operate renewable energy structures and therefore, the institutions should be proactive in preparing the workforce. Imported equipment is costly compared to that of locally manufactured; therefore, generation of renewable energy becomes expensive and even unaffordable. Hence, to decrease the cost of renewable products, the country should become involve in the manufacturing of renewable products. Another significant infrastructural obstacle to the development of renewable energy technologies is unreliable connectivity to the grid. As a consequence, many investors lose their faith in renewable energy technologies and are not ready to invest in them for fear of failing. India should work on transmission and evacuation plans.

Inadequate servicing and maintenance of facilities and low reliability in technology decreases customer trust in some renewable energy technologies and hence prevent their selection. Adequate skills to repair/service the spare parts/equipment are required to avoid equipment failures that halt the supply of energy. Awareness of renewable energy among communities should be fostered, and a significant focus on their socio-cultural practices should be considered. Governments should support investments in the expansion of renewable energy to speed up the commercialization of such technologies. The Indian government should declare a well-established fiscal assistance plan, such as the provision of credit, deduction on loans, and tariffs. The government should improve regulations making obligations under power purchase agreements (PPAs) statutorily binding to guarantee that all power DISCOMs have PPAs to cover a hundred percent of their RPO obligation. To accomplish a reliable system, it is strongly suggested that renewables must be used in a hybrid configuration of two or more resources along with conventional source and storage devices. Regulatory authorities should formulate the necessary standards and regulations for hybrid systems. Making investments economically possible with effective policies and tax incentives will result in social benefits above and beyond the economic advantages.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

Accelerated depreciation

Billion units

Central Electricity Authority of India

Central electricity regulatory commission

Central financial assistance

Expression of interest

Foreign direct investment

Feed-in-tariff

Ministry of new and renewable energy

Research and development

Renewable purchase obligations

State electricity regulatory

Small hydropower

Terawatt hours

Waste to energy

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The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the Research Consultancy Institute (RCI) and the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Effat University, Saudi Arabia.

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Kumar. J, C.R., Majid, M.A. Renewable energy for sustainable development in India: current status, future prospects, challenges, employment, and investment opportunities. Energ Sustain Soc 10 , 2 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13705-019-0232-1

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Seven unfolding stories of environment and development to shape india in 2021.

On January 30, 2020 within two weeks of the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring a pandemic worldwide, India reported its first COVID-19 infection. Subsequently, the first lockdown was announced on March 25. Close on its heels followed a mass migration of workers from parts of the country. This resulted in the displacement of nearly 10 million rural migrants and shortly after, the loss of millions of jobs. At the time of writing, India has more than 1.2 crore total reported cases and also has the world’s highest number of recoveries. Worldwide, there are over 13 crore cases, with US recording the highest caseload. Along with the raging pandemic, India witnessed extreme climate weather events. These put together made India among the countries that are most vulnerable to the fallouts of climate change.

Now as India fights a tough second wave of infections, the way forward after this unprecedented upheaval will define the course of the year ahead. With this background, it becomes essential to cast a glance at what the rest of 2021 holds. Jamshyd N. Godrej, Chairman of the Board of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited, gave openings remarks for the event. WRI India’s CEO, Dr. OP Agarwal addressed this from the lens of seven important stories worthy of our attention in 2021 in the Stories to Watch India event on April 6, 2021.

Vaccination and the Way Beyond

Vaccination in phases has been started in India, with healthcare and frontline workers, people over the age of 60 and now people over the age of 45 getting vaccinated. According to the government of India, India is fastest compared to the USA and China, which vaccinated 100 million in 89 days and 103 days, respectively. The country started nationwide COVID-19 vaccination on 16 January and so far, India has administered over 10 crore COVID-19 doses.

The recovery efforts from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic present India a chance to make systemic changes for sustainable development. The crisis has also demonstrated that governments and individuals are capable of strong action in the face of an overarching challenge. The prominent story to watch here would be if India will drive these policies further for systemic change?

In this respect, it is pertinent to note that in the Union Budget 2021, ₹350 billion was allocated for the health sector. The next big thing to look at will how India tides over the new surge in infections and then how we manage to vaccinate the poorest 30% of the population? Especially when the rural health infrastructure in India is facing major challenges including absence of the predictable, reliable power supply.

Working with Nature

While the country was battling a pandemic, a number of extreme weather events clouded India in 2020. Cyclones Amphan, Nisarga and Nivar caused immense damage; 125,000 acres of crops were destroyed by locusts; and as many as 10 states experienced floods. To avert such calamities, options like Urban Restoration are available. One prominent example of this is the conservation of the Vikhroli Mangroves in Mumbai. On these lines, it will be in the interest of all to make use of Nature Based Solutions (NBS). What will be important to note will be if these NBS will remain isolated initiatives or they will be adopted as widespread solutions.

Other solutions include restoration of wetlands and lakes and mainstreaming resilience into infrastructure planning. With emerging national narrative on urban climate action and disaster resilience, Indian cities have a window of opportunity to innovate and implement resilience solutions. However, there is a strong need to come up with a detailed roadmap to translate policy into action, scaling-up the proof of concepts, and mainstream resilience in the urban planning and management mechanisms at the national level.

This highlights the need for scaling up of these NBS . For example, it will be important in the coming years to focus on how Indian agriculture can shift from water intensive paddy and sugarcane to water prudent and sustainable crops. There is also an urgent need for a national level resilience framework, proof of concepts for evidence-based policymaking, and tools for integrating a resilience lens in the local urban planning, infrastructure development and governance processes .

Quest for a Better Life

India has one of the youngest populations in an ageing world. Around 90% of its population is under the age of 60, of which around 35% is under 19 years old. This young population ensures a potential addition to the working age group in the coming years. For such a young population, ensuring jobs is critical. India’s demographic dividend has a finite lifetime, therefore a lack of appropriate job opportunities for them can lead to social unrest.

Around 85% of the current Indian workforce is engaged in the informal sector. They lack access to drinking water, sanitation, health care, affordable transport and job security. Deep-rooted societal and economic injustices were exposed during the first few months of the pandemic, while the impact of the lockdowns itself directly fell disproportionately on the informal workers. Following this, it becomes pertinent to see if the informal workforce will benefit from Portable Social Security Systems ; if there can be jobs for them made available closer to home; how the migrant workforce and overall, could COVID-19 help rethink India’s informal sector issues?

Solarisation in India

With evolving Renewable Energy (RE) ambitions, India is aiming to attain 175 GW of renewable energy which would consist of 100 GW from solar energy, 10 GW from bio-power, 60 GW from wind power, and 5 GW from small hydropower plants by the year 2022. India has also set an ambitious target of having 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030. On his recently concluded visit to India, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry said that “ India indisputably a world leader in deployment of renewable energy ”. It is important to note that on India’s global leadership on issues like RE, along with a host of others, has been critical, including delivering COVID-19 vaccines to the world.

Going forward with these new ambitions, it will be interesting to see how putting up utility-scale solar power plants and supplying power from them to farmers could be beneficial. Energy access in rural areas became a key point of discussion during the pandemic . Additionally, it also exposed that there is increased potential for improved healthcare, education and decentralised job creation. What remains to be seen is if solar energy can empower rural India. With India’s energy demand set to increase by 165% by 2040, the story to watch is how agriculture, homes, livelihoods, micro enterprises and social infrastructure such as hospitals and schools will function better with less consumption.

Urbanisation: Growing Cities

The population residing in urban areas in India, according to the 1901 census, was 11.4%, increasing to 28.53% by the 2001 census, and is now currently 34% in 2017 according to The World Bank. According to a survey by UN, in 2030, 40.76% of country's population is expected to reside in urban areas.

There is rampant urban expansion outside primary municipal limits of cities. This begets the question if just a few efficient and connected cities can drive India’s high-growth ambition?

This also leads to other pertinent question about the preparedness of urban infrastructure and what happens when this current population doubles? With this background, it will be important to note if urban clusters can be a possibility, and how a transition to clean transport systems will help. Looking forward, will cities move towards greater decentralisation, with an emphasis on resilience? The future of clean fuels and adoption of cleaner mobility choices looks like the way ahead .

Building a new India: The Innovation story

With the current surge in innovation in India, platform governance can usher in an era of decentralised and personalised government services. These online platforms will also benefit from positive network effects, i.e., the additional value generated through robust interactions between different users and the freedom to innovate. Such low-cost solutions using local wisdom frugal innovation have helped boost innovation and quick adaptation for public service delivery.

Innovation in the space of public service delivery in India will benefit if the procurement process is focused on outcomes instead of product specifications. A bolder and prudent approach in procurement has worked extremely well for The Global Housing Technology Challenge (GTHC). This project launched with the setting of six cities, six technologies and six construction companies provide India a basket of new technologies to build cost effective houses in less time. The invitation to innovators to innovate on materials and construction processes was extremely important as 70% of the building stock in India is yet to be constructed.

Innovation will play a key role in taking India on the path of development. With 3,061 start-ups launched in 2020, what remains to be seen is if innovation will push for green jobs in 2021.

India Inc. leading climate action

India has ranked fifth among the countries surveyed for corporate commitments to Science-Based Targets (SBT), ahead of Germany and Sweden, according to a recent report. Godrej & Boyce committed to smarter energy use, pledging to double their energy productivity and implement an energy management system by 2030. India also saw various commitments to go carbon neutral by regional airports, rural panchayats, union territories and states .

India also figures in the top 10 for the second year in a row in The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2021. The CCPI analyses and compares climate protection across 57 countries (plus the EU as a whole) with the highest emissions. What then remains to be seen is how India will scale up its climate action and if 2021 see new pathways that position India as a global climate leader.

Going forward, India needs to prioritize and incorporate adaptation and mitigation measures into decision making at each level. India is one of the few countries on track to meet its Paris target, achieving 21% of its pledge to reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 33-35% by 2030. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reiterated India’s commitment to climate action ahead of the COP26 summit this year in Glasgow.

India has to recognize that a local resource-based approach to infrastructure development can be a significant contributor to assisting citizens adapt to climate change while contributing to the economy. Community-based natural resource management programmes for water and land resource management in rural areas, promoting climate-resilient agriculture, and building a climate-proof rural infrastructure will ensure livelihoods and reduce emissions. But most of all, India must protect its biodiversity fiercely and strengthen its natural systems.

The content of this blog is based on the Stories to Watch India Edition 2021 presentation designed by Garima Jain and Manasi Nandkumar and with inputs from Rama Thoopal and Nitya Kaushik.

REPORT: Climate Resilient Cities

The effects of the climate crisis are becoming increasingly clear in Indian cities. But how this crisis, and other environmental and ecological factors are experienced by different people and communities within cities varies greatly depending on a range of social, economic, political, and cultural factors. Read here.

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Contemporary Issues in Sustainable Development The Case of India

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This book analyzes different perspectives around sustainable development, risk management and managing demand across various sectors in India. Diverse theories and analytical methods from various disciplines, as well as case studies, are brought together to present an in-depth study. The book discusses the challenges of achieving sustainability, the role of quantitative research to assess current scenarios, and the role of policy making to bring improvements in the Indian context. It examines the socioeconomic ways of pursuing sustainable development in the areas of agriculture, climate change and energy; the environment and natural resources; health and society. It also analyzes important quantitative models for sustainability policy analysis and provides case studies to understand the practical implementations of the models. This book will be a great reference manual that covers a whole gamut of analytical techniques that are useful for students, research scholars and practitioners of economics, environmental studies, development studies, sociology, South Asian studies and public policy, among others.

Table of Contents

Tanika Chakraborty is Associate Professor of Economics at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta. She is also affiliated with IZA Bonn and CESifo Munich. Her research interests are in the areas of education, labor and development economics. Deep Mukherjee is Associate Professor in Department of Economic Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. His research interests are in the areas of agricultural economics and public policy. Sarani Saha is Professor in the Department of Economic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Her research interests are in the fields of labor economics and environmental economics.

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Contemporary Issues in Sustainable Development

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This book analyzes different perspectives around sustainable development, risk management and managing demand across various sectors in India. Diverse theories and analytical methods from various disciplines, as well as case studies, are brought together to present an in-depth study.

The book discusses the challenges of achieving sustainability, the role of quantitative research to assess current scenarios, and the role of policy making to bring improvements in the Indian context. It examines the socioeconomic ways of pursuing sustainable development in the areas of agriculture, climate change and energy; the environment and natural resources; health and society. It also analyzes important quantitative models for sustainability policy analysis and provides case studies to understand the practical implementations of the models.

This book will be a great reference manual that covers a whole gamut of analytical techniques that are useful for students, research scholars and practitioners of economics, environmental studies, development studies, sociology, South Asian studies and public policy, among others.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter | 6  pages, introduction, part i | 83  pages, agriculture, chapter 1 | 21  pages, risk and risk management in agriculture, chapter 2 | 20  pages, assessment of water footprint under wheat cultivation in uttar pradesh, chapter 3 | 22  pages, productive efficiency of agricultural sector in uttar pradesh, chapter 4 | 18  pages, agricultural productivity in bihar and its determinants, part ii | 80  pages, energy and climate change, chapter 5 | 16  pages, indian youth’s willingness to pay for climate change policies, chapter 6 | 17  pages, an advance methodology for estimating the elasticities and rebound effect, chapter 7 | 20  pages, index decomposition analysis of energy use in india, chapter 8 | 25  pages, a framework for renewable energy policy modeling, part iii | 79  pages, environment and resources, chapter 9 | 13  pages, integrating natural and human factors for sustainable development in himachal pradesh, chapter 10 | 23  pages, an input–output approach to study environmental impact, chapter 11 | 20  pages, investigating the existence of environmental kuznets curve hypothesis for the south asian region, chapter 12 | 21  pages, coping with changing climate, part iv | 76  pages, chapter 13 | 19  pages, determinants of child survival at the household level, chapter 14 | 12  pages, access to drinking water and the health outcome, chapter 15 | 17  pages, role of information in determining the willingness to pay for health insurance, chapter 16 | 26  pages, private and public dimensions to infectious disease risks, part v | 81  pages, society and policy, chapter 17 | 25  pages, analyzing the poverty situation in india, chapter 18 | 24  pages, values, perception and the quality of life, chapter 19 | 11  pages, sustainability of loan waiver programs in india, chapter 20 | 19  pages, using path analysis to build a sustainable transport service quality model.

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A Case Study On Mysore- A Sustainable City

Mysore,  a city in southern India, has been making significant efforts towards becoming a sustainable city in recent years. 

The city has implemented various initiatives to  promote green living, reduce its carbon footprint, and become more eco-friendly. 

This case study will explore the steps taken by Mysore to become a sustainable city, the challenges faced, and the results achieved.

Efforts and Steps Taken- 

Mysore has implemented several measures to promote sustainability and green living. One of the most significant initiatives was the implementation of the  Mysore City Corporation (MCC) Green City project , which aimed to transform the city into a green and sustainable city. 

The project was launched in  2010  and focused on various aspects of sustainability, including  waste management, water conservation, and renewable energy.

The city also introduced a number of eco-friendly transportation options, such as  cycle sharing programs, electric rickshaws,   and hybrid buses.  These efforts were aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the city’s transportation sector, which is a significant contributor to air pollution.

To promote  waste management and recycling , Mysore launched a  door-to-door garbage  collection program and implemented a waste segregation system. 

The city also established  composting  centers and encouraged citizens to compost their organic waste at home.

In addition, Mysore focused on promoting the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar energy. The city installed  solar panels  on government buildings and provided subsidies for citizens who wanted to install solar panels on their homes.

Challenges and Solutions

Changing people’s behavior towards sustainability. 

It was one of the biggest challenges faced by Mysore. 

Many citizens were not used to the idea of recycling or composting their waste, and it took time to educate and persuade them to adopt these practices. 

To address this challenge, the city implemented a  public awareness  campaign, which included workshops and training programs to educate citizens about sustainable living.

Lack of funding for sustainable initiatives – 

The city had to rely on external funding sources, such as government grants and international aid, to implement many of the sustainability projects. 

To address this, Mysore explored innovative funding models, such as public-private partnerships and crowdfunding, to finance its sustainability initiatives.

 Implementing the segregation of waste 

Another challenge faced was in implementing the segregation of waste at source.

While awareness campaigns were conducted to educate the citizens about the importance of waste segregation, it took some time for them to understand and adopt the practice. 

However, with continuous efforts, the city was successful in implementing the segregation of waste at source, and now the citizens segregate their waste into three categories – wet, dry, and hazardous waste.

Mysore’s efforts towards sustainability have resulted in significant improvements in the city’s environmental performance. 

The  MCC Green City  project resulted in a reduction of  50% in greenhouse gas emissions  from the city’s  transportation sector.  

The  door-to-door garbage collection program  and  waste segregation  system helped  reduce  the amount of waste going to  landfills by 30%.

The city’s focus on  renewable energy  also yielded positive results, with solar energy now accounting for  6%  of the city’s total energy consumption. 

The city’s efforts to promote  eco-friendly transportation  have also been successful, with a  30% increase  in the use of  bicycles and electric vehicles.

Key Learnings and Adaptation

Mysore’s journey towards sustainability offers several key learnings for other cities looking to become more eco-friendly. One of the most important learnings is the importance of public awareness and education in promoting sustainable living. 

Mysore’s public awareness campaign played a significant role in changing people’s behavior towards sustainability.

Another key learning is the importance of exploring innovative funding models to finance sustainability initiatives. Mysore’s use of public-private partnerships and crowdfunding helped overcome the funding challenges faced by the city.

Mysore’s sustainability journey also highlights the importance of collaboration between government, businesses, and citizens in achieving sustainability goals.

The city’s success was due to the active participation of citizens and the support of local businesses and government agencies.

In conclusion, Mysore’s efforts towards sustainability serve as an inspiring example for other cities in India and around the world. 

The city’s focus on eco-friendly transportation, waste management, renewable energy, and public awareness has helped create a more sustainable living.

One of the key learnings from this project is the importance of citizen engagement and participation in sustainable development initiatives.

The city administration actively involved citizens in the planning and implementation of sustainable practices, which led to their ownership and active participation in making Mysore a sustainable city. 

Additionally, the project highlights the importance of continuous efforts and patience in bringing about sustainable changes. Sustainable development cannot be achieved overnight, and it requires consistent efforts and perseverance.

In conclusion, Mysore’s journey towards sustainability is a remarkable example of how cities can adopt sustainable practices while  balancing economic growth and environmental protection. 

The city administration’s efforts in implementing green practices, waste management, and citizen engagement have led to positive outcomes, including a reduction in pollution levels, conservation of natural resources, and a better quality of life for citizens. 

The challenges faced during the implementation of sustainable practices were addressed with innovative solutions, which can serve as a model for other cities looking to adopt sustainable development practices. 

Mysore’s journey towards sustainability is a testament to the fact that sustainability is achievable with the right policies, strategies, and active citizen participation.

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Sustainable Development and Fuel Choice: A Case Study of India

OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol. 11, No. 05, pp. 41-50, 2018

10 Pages Posted: 12 Nov 2018

Pooja Rathore

Guru Gobind singh Indraprastha University - Department of Economics

Neha Chauhan

Ministry of Finance India

Date Written: May 30, 2018

In India, households use more than one fuel for the fulfillment of energy requirements. So, they have to decide not only how much of a particular fuel to use, but also which fuel to choose. Energy is a necessity for a household. The demand for energy for cooking and lighting is increasing rapidly in India. Presently, India faces a dual challenge of providing clean fuel for the vast majority of households and also taking measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If India adopts a carbon tax to reduce the carbon emissions so as to affect the price of fossil fuels, then this carbon tax may create considerable effect on fuel choice of households. This study examines the effect of adopting a carbon tax on fuel choice of rural households in India. It uses 2009-10 National Sample Survey data covering over 59,119 households of rural areas. The study uses regression analysis and multinomial logit model to examine the effect of carbon tax on fuel choice of rural households. We find that with increase in income of households, the expenditure on modern fuels is increased. On the other hand with increase in price of modern fuels due to imposing a carbon tax, households are less likely to choose modern fuels than traditional fuels.

Keywords: Fuel choice, Carbon tax, Household demand

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Pooja Rathore (Contact Author)

Guru gobind singh indraprastha university - department of economics ( email ).

Sector 16C Dwarka New Delhi India

Ministry of Finance India ( email )

Jeevan Deep Building Sansad Marg New Delhi India

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Green Growth Series Case Studies: India

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Impact of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals on Human Development in India and South Africa

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• Utsav Kumar Singh 4  

Part of the book series: Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences ((AGES))

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provides the opportunity to its member countries to identify their challenges, build the targets and indicators according to local needs, converge the local targets with Global Agenda-2030. The accomplishment of SDGs depends on the identification of goals with maximum synergy. Several studies have pointed out that reduction of poverty (SDG 1) is positively associated with maximum goals. Poverty is a multidimensional issue and can be resolved only through multiple approaches. The success of SDGs depends on eradication of poverty in all forms. Data shows that a significant proportion of people in India and South Africa still lives in abject poverty. This chapter explores the causality between SDGs and GDP growth as proxy for well-being in India and South Africa. It has identified the targets of human development and their respective indicators in relation to long term development vison of India and South Africa. Using multiple regression analysis to predict GDP growth of India and South Africa by quantifying the impact of selected variables, the result shows that health followed by education have significant impact on GDP growth rate. The result is significant for policy makers to identify the challenges of economy in the local preview and employ asymmetric approach to maximize the synergy, in contrast to the axiom that SDGs are indivisible. Indeed, economic growth and progress are important but other things are equally significant and deserve attention.

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Singh, U.K. (2024). Impact of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals on Human Development in India and South Africa. In: Regional Dimensions of Human Development in India and South Africa. Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-5846-3_4

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Itaipu’s 17 Case Studies Responding to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals

End Poverty In All Its Forms Everywhere

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• DOI: 10.1080/12265934.2024.2382705
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Does inequality exist in attaining sustainable development goals within a city? A case study in Pune city, India

• Jyoti Chandiramani , Sabyasachi Tripathi , +2 authors Ashvini Shende
• Published in International Journal of… 26 July 2024
• Environmental Science, Sociology, Geography

61 References

Corporate social responsibility and green supply chain efficiency: conditioning effects based on ceo narcissism, overlooked uneven progress across sustainable development goals at the global scale: challenges and opportunities, exploring urban building space provision and inequality: a three-dimensional perspective on chinese cities toward sustainable development goals., achieving localization of sdg11:, spatial assessment on influence of land use and population density in the achievement score of sustainable development target 11.1, sustainable development green index: measuring progress towards sustainable development goals in the european union, sustainable development goals: a regional overview based on multi-criteria decision analysis, infrastructure inequality is a characteristic of urbanization, untangling the interactions among the sustainable development goals in china., localizing the sustainable development goals: a managerial perspective, related papers.

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India's National Rural Livelihood Mission to Support One Million Women Farmers

For Immediate Release

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New Delhi: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM), in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and lndustree Foundation, held a 'National Symposium on Bamboo' yesterday to promote sustainable rural livelihoods, women's empowerment and climate resilience through bamboo farming.

The symposium introduced India's first comprehensive handbook on bamboo cultivation, available in seven regional languages, to equip smallholder women farmers with essential knowledge and practices. Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development Charanjit Singh and Acting Mission Director, USAID Alexandria Huerta also launched the UGAO app, a digital tool providing real-time data support for women smallholder farmers. The app will also help build a traceable supply chain for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, boosting bamboo product demand and export potential.

On the occasion, Additional Secretary Charanjit Singh said that Bamboo cultivation offers a unique opportunity to improve livelihoods while contributing to environmental conservation. This program is a testament to our commitment to empowering rural women and promoting sustainable development, creating lasting economic opportunities while advancing climate mitigation and resilience.

Alexandria Huerta, Acting Mission Director, USAID/India,  said “Addressing gender-related inequalities and promoting locally led development are important aspects of USAID’s global strategy. I am happy that USAID’s POWER project is empowering women and has provided a successful, locally led, natural climate solution that is being scaled up through NRLM.”

Joint Secretary, Rural Livelihoods, Ministry of Rural Development Swati Sharma stated that empowering rural women through bamboo cultivation aligns with our mission of promoting sustainable livelihoods and inclusive growth. This program not only provides economic opportunities but also contributes to environmental sustainability. We believe that this initiative will serve as a model for rural development and women's empowerment across the country."

Co-founder, lndustree Foundation Neelam Chhiber said that Bamboo cultivation has immense potential to transform rural economies and improve the lives of countless women. We have created foundations for 5,500 farmers from Karnataka and Maharashtra to have sustainable income from the fourth year and for a minimum of forty years. Through our combined efforts, we aim to provide these women with the skills, resources and market access they need to succeed.

The symposium emphasized bamboo's potential as a sustainable alternative in various industries, aiming to enhance livelihoods and significantly contribute to environmental conservation and sustainable development goals.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana aims to empower 1 million rural women as 'Lakhpati Didis' (women earning over INR 100,000 annually) through bamboo farming, driving economic independence and sustainable development across India.

lndustree Foundation's partnership with DAY-NRLM builds on the success of USAID's Producer-Owned Women Enterprises (POWER) project, implemented by lndustree in three states, which has aggregated over 10,000 women into 37 women owned enterprises and farmer producer collectives. These women producers have fulfilled market orders worth over $3 million over the past five years. This successful model will be scaled nationwide in collaboration with State Rural Livelihoods Missions.

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USAID Launches Women’s Health and Livelihood Alliance (WOHLA) - Bridging Healthcare and Economic Gaps for Women in India

• March 21, 2024

Reliance Foundation, USAID Announce Winners of the WomenConnect Challenge India Round Two to Close the Gender Digital Divide

• May 24, 2023

USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia Änjali Kaur Visits India

• March 13, 2023

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Research on industry transformation models and influencing factors of hot spring villages from the perspective of sustainable development: a case study of fujian, china, 1. introduction, 2. materials and methods, 2.1. study site, 2.2. construction of industrial development index, 2.2.1. the evaluation index indicators, 2.2.2. standardization of evaluation indicators, 2.3. research methods, 2.3.1. data analysis, 2.3.2. gis spatial analysis, 2.3.3. field investigation, 2.4. data sources, 3.1. characteristics of industrial transformation in hot spring villages, 3.1.1. characteristics of enterprise types, 3.1.2. characteristics of industrial development index evolution, 3.1.3. spatial characteristics of industrial development index, 3.1.4. characteristics of industrial transformation stage, 3.2. industrial transformation models of hot spring villages, 3.2.1. hot spring aquaculture, 3.2.2. hot spring processing, 3.2.3. hot spring services, 3.3. influencing factors of the industrial transformation model of hot spring villages, 3.3.1. location factors, 3.3.2. market factors, 3.3.3. choices of local villagers, 3.3.4. policy factors, 4. conclusions and discussions, 5. limitations and future directions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Liu, L.; Chen, Y.; Li, W.; Zeng, Y.; Lin, M. Research on Industry Transformation Models and Influencing Factors of Hot Spring Villages from the Perspective of Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Fujian, China. Sustainability 2023 , 15 , 9872. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15139872

Liu L, Chen Y, Li W, Zeng Y, Lin M. Research on Industry Transformation Models and Influencing Factors of Hot Spring Villages from the Perspective of Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Fujian, China. Sustainability . 2023; 15(13):9872. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15139872

Liu, Lihua, Yuping Chen, Wei Li, Yanfang Zeng, and Mingshui Lin. 2023. "Research on Industry Transformation Models and Influencing Factors of Hot Spring Villages from the Perspective of Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Fujian, China" Sustainability 15, no. 13: 9872. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15139872

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Official development assistance (ODA)

Official development assistance (ODA) is government aid that promotes and specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries. ODA has been the main source of financing for development aid since it was adopted by the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) as the “gold standard” of foreign aid in 1969. The OECD is the only official source of reliable, comparable, and complete statistics on ODA.

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Key messages, supporting the economic development and welfare of low- and middle-income countries.

ODA is financial support from official providers to aid recipients (low- and middle-income countries) in areas such as health, sanitation, education, and infrastructure. It mainly consists of either grants or “soft” loans and it makes up over two thirds of external finance for least-developed countries.

Defining which countries and territories are eligible to receive ODA

The DAC List of ODA-eligible recipients shows all countries and territories meeting the criteria to receive ODA. These consist of all low- and middle-income countries based on gross national income (GNI) per capita as published by the World Bank, with the exception of former G8 members, EU members, and countries with a firm date for entry into the EU. The list also includes all of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as defined by the United Nations (UN). It is reviewed every three years by the OECD’s DAC.

Monitoring ODA for better targeting and results

The DAC tracks and monitors ODA so that individual donor efforts are measured alongside the broader development finance landscape. The OECD ensures that providers adhere to the primary objective of ODA (the economic development and welfare of aid recipients) and inform them about where their ODA should go relative to existing needs.

International aid rises in 2023 with increased support to Ukraine and humanitarian needs

International aid from official donors rose in 2023 to a new all-time high of USD 223.7 billion, up from USD 211 billion in 2022, as provider countries increased aid flows to Ukraine and directed more humanitarian assistance to developing countries. This aid amounted to 0.37% of DAC countries’ combined gross national income.

ODA for gender equality dropped for the first time in a decade

The share of development finance for gender equality decreased after a decade of progress—from 45% in 2019-20 to 43% in 2021-22. Less than 1% of ODA is aimed at ending violence against women and girls.

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