Economy first, Ecology last?

By Pandurang Hegde
30 Jul 2009

Riding high on its return to power, UPA government is in a hurry to accelerate India's GDP. But the economist Prime Minister will have to ensure that his overambitious economic policies do not further erode the nation's environment but perform in tandem with it.


The return of the UPA government for the second term at the Centre has had positive impact on the economy as indicated by the unprecedented buoyancy in the stock market. The phenomenon of economic liberalization initiated in the first term is bound to gather momentum during the second term. With the decimation of Left parties, the present government does not have to face the roadblock when implementing its economic and fiscal policies. The only stumbling block would be the environmental legislations that hamper the faster GDP growth.

In order to address this challenge of environment v/s economic growth, the Prime Minster has picked the smartest person from his group of ministers, Jairam Ramesh as a Minister of State for Ministry of Environment and Forests with independent charge.

After taking charge, the minister said "Environmental issues would not be allowed to become the stumbling blocks to economic growth." He clarified that the statutes and Acts that are in place for protection of environment will not be diluted, but he will make the ministry more "business like" and transparent. He also emphasized that there are clear instructions from the Prime Minister that in order to rescue the country from the economic recession, it is essential to create a favorable atmosphere towards establishing infrastructural projects.

On another occasion, Jairam Ramesh said "Mrs Sonia Gandhi has told me that the Forest Conservation Act is sacrosanct. That's the Bible for me."

Obviously, the Minister for Environment will need to satisfy two bosses who have spelled out different policy guidelines, which are contradictory. Or is it a ploy to misguide the environmental lobby? Though, we will need time to assess the impact of how these policy guidelines of the party and the PM is going to be implemented, we have the past experience of the UPA to foresee the priorities in their second term.

The policies of unbridled economic growth initiated after 1991 has had negative impact on the natural resources, especially on our basic capital of soil, water and air.

The modern granaries of India are Punjab, Haryana and irrigated parts of UP that produce wheat and rice to feed the majority of the population. However soil and water in these regions are poisoned with excessive use of chemicals and pesticides. As a result people in Punjab are facing the threat of cancer epidemic.

The food that is produced from these regions and supplied for PDS (Public Distribution System) may definitely please the people and satisfy the political bosses. However, it fails to meet the nutritional needs of the majority as it lacks in micronutrients that are essential for the survival. The deeply entrenched chemical and pesticide lobby has already caused havoc with our soil and health of the citizens of India.

Similarly in the case of water, the scarcity is not only increasing but due to global warming, the country is facing the biggest challenge to supply pure drinking water. It is ironic that 99 per cent of the rivers in our country are polluted leading to destruction of the fresh water availability. The industrial units and sewage that are drained into the rivers with total disregard to the pollution control legislations are the main culprits.

The Prime Minister would like to accelerate the process of such industrialization along rivers and the coast to boost the economic growth. This will have to be achieved only through dilution and negation of environmental statutes that have already begun. The adverse impact on the livelihood of the common man and fisher folk is to be dealt with the "inclusive growth" welfare policies for the aam admi by the state.

The time has come to address the basic issue of development, to see how we generate employment while regenerating the natural resources, not destroying it. Pumping in Rs 35,000 crores towards NREGA, as well as farm loan waiver of Rs 25,000 crore may have won the elections for the UPA, but it has not contributed towards building the basic capitals of soil and water. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Environment that is supposed to be responsible for protecting these assets has become the main agency towards its destruction.

This has happened due to the overemphasis on false economic policies that negated the contribution of ecological security. The policies that have caused destruction are hailed as success in terms of generating higher GDP, but the loss of natural resources and its negative impact is hardly taken into account. We need to learn form our neighbor Bhutan, for having evolved the unique concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) instead of GDP. For them the ecological security is important for economic well being of its citizens. It follows the principle of "Ecology is Permanent Economy".

Unfortunately, for the UPA government led by the economist Prime Minister, the economy is the first priority. His assumption is - "once we are 'developed', the ecological concerns would be taken care of, there is no need to be cautious about the impact. We will borrow technology from developing countries to deal with the problem, and add to our GDP". That is a good strategy but unfortunately we cannot import the basic capital for our survival -- the soil and water!

Let us hope that while making addition to economy, ecology is not relegated to wilderness but gets a better deal in UPA's second innings.