Viability of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in India: Study of Chanju CDM project in Chamba district,Himachal Pradesh

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is introduced by US government as flexibility mechanisms under Kyoto Protocol and allows developed countries to meet their emission reduction commitments by promoting clean development in developing countries. As a policy mandate, it aims to design project-based mechanisms to reduce emissions. These reductions are produced and then subtracted against a hypothetical baseline of emissions which are predicted to occur in the absence of a particular CDM project. India as a signatory of this protocol have been registered 2313 projects up to August 2010, out of these, 64 projects are of hydro power generation and Chanju power project of 36 MW is one of the CDM project in India. Dr Mohinder Kumar Slariya in this article showcases the primary data research based view point, which he presented in the "International Scientific Conference" at Hohenheim University, Germany.

The present paper is an attempt of the researcher to make a comparative analysis between the expected benefits received by the executing agency under CDM and the actual benefits people are expected to receive from Chanju-I Hydro Electric Project. Based on primary data based research project concentrating on 8 administrative wards, 50 villages and 200 respondents, by using interview schedule and psycho-metric scale and using exploratory and observation research methods collecting from two sub-basins, will highlight the perception of the poor people and analyze viability issue in CDM led projects in Himalayan region.

The results revealed that at the initial stage of project, people were happy because of their illiteracy and not knowing the facts, but when respondents have been told about the factual situation they are expected to face, and then their response was altogether different. Because in the stretch of 25 km there are 7 power projects expected to produce some 56 MW power, putting lives, livelihood and age-old profession of water milling, and putting environment of this virgin area at stake, are some areas of the concerns of present paper.

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