EDITORIALS FROM 4th Oct 2025
EDITORIAL 01
India’s clean energy rise needs climate finance expansion
Issue: India’s clean energy transition is gaining momentum, with 24.5 GW of solar capacity added in 2024, making it the third largest global contributor after China and the US.
Recognised by the UN Secretary-General’s 2025 Climate Report, India, alongside Brazil and China, leads among developing countries in scaling solar and wind energy.
The renewable energy sector employs over 1 million people, contributing 5% to GDP growth, with off-grid solar alone employing 80,000 in 2021.
India’s leadership in establishing the International Solar Alliance (ISA) underscores its global role.
What are the Critical Gaps?
- Despite impressive growth, a financial scaffolding gap threatens sustainability.
- Estimates suggest India requires $1.5–2.5 trillion by 2030 to meet climate targets, including
- expanding renewables,
- grid upgrades,
- battery storage,
- green hydrogen, and
- sustainable transport and agriculture.
- By Dec 2024, green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked (GSS+) debt issuance reached $55.9 billion, with green bonds at 83%, and total investment crossing $45 billion in 2025, targeting $100 billion by 2030.
- Yet, access for MSMEs, agri-tech innovators, and local infrastructure developers remains limited.
- Initiatives like Solar Park Scheme auctions, sovereign green bonds, and SEBI-regulated social bonds are bridging the gap.
What needs to be done?
To address financing gaps, India must:
- Leverage public finance: Budget allocations and fiscal incentives to attract private capital.
- Adopt blended finance models: Concessional loans, risk-sharing, credit enhancements, and performance guarantees for mid-sized projects, especially in Tier II and III cities.
- Mobilise institutional capital: Pension funds, insurers, and sovereign wealth funds; regulatory reforms to enable ESG-aligned allocations.
- Harness carbon markets: Transparent, regulated, and equitable carbon credit trading.
- Innovate in finance: Blockchain-based tracking, AI-driven risk assessment, and tailored blended finance reflecting India’s social, economic, and environmental context.
India’s clean energy leadership hinges not only on technology deployment but also on innovative, inclusive, and scalable climate finance solutions.
Closing the financing gap is critical to achieving 1.5°C-aligned pathways, unlocking economic growth, and sustaining its global clean energy ambitions.
EDITORIAL 02
Domestic vitality: On investment announcements, policy implications
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EDITORIAL 03
In India, why teachers are walking away from the classroom
Issue: In recent years, the teaching profession in India is experiencing a silent crisis marked by resignations even from permanent positions, reflecting widespread disillusionment among educators.
A key factor is the denial of professional autonomy, evident both in government schools and corporatised private institutions.
Teachers report that bureaucratic and managerial pressures often overshadow pedagogical priorities.
What are the Factors that Driving Discontent?
- Overemphasis on technology and digital compliance:
- Teachers are compelled to adopt digital tools and AI-based resources, sometimes conflicting with subject-specific pedagogical methods.
- For instance, a senior history teacher resigned from a reputed school to avoid using digital resources that she felt undermined analytical engagement with historical debates.
- Administrative overload:
- Teachers increasingly perform roles of event managers, compiling digital records to demonstrate compliance with administrative directives.
- Frequent testing and monitoring have intensified digital record-keeping, reducing time for lesson planning and student engagement.
- Classroom stress and safety concerns:
- Rising aggression, bullying, and violence in classrooms exacerbate stress, linked to early smartphone use, social media exposure, and the portrayal of violence online.
- Teachers report helplessness in managing classroom behaviour, affecting their professional satisfaction.
- Resource constraints in rural schools:
- Thousands of primary schools function with minimal staff (2–3 teachers), who must handle both teaching and extensive administrative reporting, spanning admissions, attendance, scholarships, mid-day meals, and infrastructure monitoring.
- This emphasis on outcome-based data collection prioritises transparency over student well-being.
What are its Implications?
- The erosion of teaching autonomy and the shift from pedagogy to compliance threatens the quality of education.
- There is a growing disconnect between official metrics of efficiency and the lived realities of classrooms, undermining teacher motivation and learning outcomes.
- Policymakers need to balance accountability with professional discretion, reduce administrative burdens, and address classroom safety and resource shortages, especially in rural and underfunded schools.
The teaching profession in India faces a complex interplay of administrative, technological, and social challenges, which, if unaddressed, could further exacerbate teacher attrition, impact student learning, and undermine educational outcomes.
Reform measures must prioritise teacher autonomy, well-being, and support systems alongside accountability.
EDITORIAL 04
Will Trump’s latest Gaza plan succeed when everything else has failed?