Federalism in India’s Effect on 

Climate Change Policy

by Abigail Anger


India’s efforts to pursue industrialization and lessen dependency on agriculture will result in higher greenhouse gas emissions that pose a threat not only to India itself but to the larger global community. Modern India still faces the consequences of limited infrastructure development during the British imperial rule—mainly an economic dependency on agriculture. The two-thirds of agriculturally dependent Indians are reliant on groundwater based irrigation systems, which are filled by rain from the monsoon cycle. The monsoon cycle will continue to be highly impacted by greater greenhouse gas emissions from industrialization, resulting in a shortened and intensified monsoon cycle that will overwhelm these rudimentary irrigation systems. The Indian government’s efforts to industrially modernize the country have faced resistance due to Indians’ loyalties to regional rather than national governance. To address these regional loyalties, the Indian government has channeled their efforts into creating a unified national market through constitutional modifications, central planning and urbanization incentive programs. While these efforts have successfully shifted India further from agricultural dependence and towards urban-centered industrialization, the country’s greenhouse gas emissions are now consistently increasing, causing outcry from the global community. This paper studies the regionalist and federal dynamics of India as they relate to the national government’s policy on industrial modernization in the face of high levels of greenhouse gas emissions.