Not enough questions on climate change in Indian Parliament, says study

Researchers found that 895 unique questions related to climate change were raised by 1,019 ministers, forming only a fraction of the total questions asked in Parliament between 1999 and 2019

Climate change is here, but are we talking enough about it? More importantly, are our lawmakers? “Climate change: the missing discourse in the Indian Parliament,” a study over a 20-year period from 1999 to 2019, found the answer, and it is not good news.

The study, by Seema Mundoli, Zubin Jacob, Ranjini Murali and Harini Nagendra Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, and The Snow Leopard Trust, Seattle, USA, was published in Environmental Research – Climate. It looked at Parliamentary questions (PQs) as a “crucial oversight tool” available to parliamentarians in all democracies.

“In a well-functioning democracy, parliamentary oversight can play an important role in climate change policy, ensuring that climate concerns are represented in national agendas. India is the largest democracy in the world and one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change,” says the study.

The researchers asked four questions for the two-decade period: How often are PQs raised about climate change? Are vulnerable constituency interests being represented in the Parliament? What kinds of questions do parliamentarians ask? Where do parliamentarians get their information on climate change from?

What they found was 895 unique PQs related to climate change were raised by 1,019 Ministers, forming only a fraction of the total PQs asked in Parliament during this period. “PQs were not raised by the states most vulnerable to climate change, nor did they represent the concerns of socially vulnerable groups. The PQs were mostly concerned about the impacts (27.6%) and mitigation (23.4%) of climate change. Impacts on agriculture (38.3%), coastal changes (28.6%), and health (13.4%) were of main interest, along with mitigation issues related to energy (43.6%), agriculture (21.8%), and aviation (9.1%),” said the study.

Despite the significant and growing vulnerability of India to climate change, PQs related to climate change were largely missing, it points out.

“Although they have increased over time, we still find there is substantial room for growth, especially in critical areas of climate justice and adaptation relevant to the Indian context. Raising the level of parliamentary debate on climate change is critical and needs to be foregrounded,” said the researchers, adding, “We find that the number of PQs on climate issues have increased over time, but there is substantial scope for future growth, especially in critical areas of climate justice, and climate adaptation. Media can potentially play a major influential role in this regard, and this aspect needs to be further explored in future climate policy research.”