An erstwhile Chief Operating Officer of United Nations aligned Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) recently wrote an open letter to infamous climate activist Greta Thunberg. In the letter, Mr. Mohinder Gulati, expresses his disappointment with Greta’s politically charged activism vis-à-vis India. On 3rd February, Greta Thunberg accidently posted a toolkit on her Twitter profile which was deleted within minutes. This toolkit revealed the extent of the global pressure campaign against the Indian government.

"I had admired your courage, commitment, and capturing the global imagination on climate justice when you stood up at the 2018 UNCCC," Gulati said in the letter to Thunberg.

“However, I am writing to you with some disappointment that you have started using your well-earned bully pulpit to wade into political issues, such as farmers' protest in India, which may not be as simple and as straightforward as you may have been led to believe," he added.

"Walking into the thicket of local political issues, often mired in a battle with corrupt and vested political interests, would undermine your ability to keep the moral high ground to exhort world leaders into action for a sustainable future. I would urge you not to expend your political and moral capital on controversial local political issues," Gulati said in the letter.

Through his letter, the ex-UN official tried to educate her on four issues related to India’s farming sector, that are Emissions from crop residue burning, Food wastage, water crisis and Corruption-controlled agriculture markets.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri quoted Gulati's letter and said, "celebrities often require a fact & reality check! No one better to do this than an admirer who is also a domain specialist! This open letter from the former COO of a UN environment-related partnership to Greta is an eye-opener & a must read," Puri tweeted.

Gulati said in the letter that there are other strong vested interests benefiting from the status quo. The government procures large quantities of wheat and rice for the public distribution system and pays a pre-announced minimum support price (MSP). Out of about 210 Mt of wheat and rice produced in the country, the government procures about 85 Mt for sale to the poor at one-tenth of the procurement price. About 52 per cent of this procurement is made from only three states - Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh - the hub of agitating farmers, he added.

"More than 90 per cent of the farmers in the rest of India do not benefit from this system. Normally, the market price is lower than the MSP. This is what creates a great opportunity for the broker mafia. Brokers and politicians purchase wheat and rice from farmers in other states at a lower price (about 60 per cent of MSP) and pay them in cash, bring it to government procurement stations in Punjab, Haryana and UP, sell it at a higher price (MSP) and get paid by cheque. This is counted as their agriculture income which is tax-exempt," Gulati said.

“So, these brokers, often politicians or campaign financiers, not only earn the huge arbitrage but also convert the cash (generally crime money) to legitimate tax-free income. New laws would bring in transparency and make it difficult to legitimise crime money. No wonder the farmer agitation is so well-funded. I feel the innocent farmers may not even know the source of this questionable `philanthropic` funding. I wonder if you would support a system of legitimising crime and corruption money in the hands of corrupt politicians and their cronies,” Gulati said.

Gulati added that farmers in Punjab, Haryana, and a part of Uttar Pradesh have a legitimate apprehension which needs to be addressed through dialogue and not intransigence of either party. India has adequate institutions of Parliament, courts, media, and public opinion to allow peaceful protests and open dialogue to solve its myriad problems of poverty and development.

“I am sure, eventually a satisfactory solution would be found not only for the agitating farmers of a few states but also for the remaining 90 per cent farmers of India who would stand to gain from the new laws,” he added.

Gulati said that farmers demanded, and regrettably the government of India agreed, to withdraw penalties for burning crop residue. Indian farmers, mostly around Delhi in the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, burn about 100 million tons (Mt) a year of crop residue which generates 140 Mt of CO2, 12 Mt of other noxious gases and 1.2 Mt of particulate matter, choking a population of about 50 million in the area, he added.

“Smog in Delhi forces young children to skip school and stay indoors, 2.2 million children suffer irreversible lung damage. Your embassy in Delhi can inform you how they gasp for air during that period. Do you support farmers` demand to let them continue to burn crop residue and add to emissions?” Gulati asked Thunberg.

Gulati said that every year in India, about 67 million tonnes of food is wasted, which has been estimated to be around $14 billion and could feed 100 million people. Up to 40 per cent of the food produced in India is wasted, according to the United Nations Development Program, and about 21 million tons of wheat (2.5 Mt GHG) equivalent to gross annual production of Australia – is wasted annually.

FAO estimates show that two-thirds of food is wasted in post-harvest transportation, storage, processing and distribution before it reaches the consumer. If food wastage was a country, it would be the third largest emitter after the US and China, Gulati said.

Embedded carbon in the wasted food in India is about 60 Mt of CO2 equivalent. India desperately needs to modernise its agriculture, strengthen market linkages, and invest in the whole supply chain, he added.

“This cannot, and should not, be done by the governments and should be left to a competitive, efficient and well-regulated private sector. Do you support India to continue with the current archaic systems and waste food that could feed 100 million hungry every year?” Gulati asked Greta.

Gulati said that a severe water crisis is looming large in India. About 85 per cent of irrigated agriculture in India depends on groundwater. India extracts about 230 km3 of groundwater every year of which 90 per cent of groundwater is used for irrigation.

On corruption-controlled agriculture markets, Gulati said, “You may not be aware but the current system forces farmers to sell their produce through government-established market yards where they have to pay a brokerage of about 2 to 3 per cent and market tax of about 5 to 6 per cent. Market committees collect this tax supposedly for `rural development`, but they are controlled by politicians, and their accounts are not audited for years.”

“The revenue is often swindled by corrupt politicians controlling these committees. The new laws give a choice to the farmers to either continue to sell in the existing market yards or sell to anyone anywhere in the country and that too without paying any tax,” Gulati added in the letter to Greta.

Image obtained from Twitter.