In a word, India must do its bit — both for itself, and also for the world: while the amounts of emissions and pollutants that it releases per capita are lower than those of the developed countries, the totals of these are large, and, were it to persist in acquiring consumption levels and adopting production processes of the developed world, they will become fatally large because of the size of its population. As Lester Brown has pointed out, the ecological footprint of the developed world is 32 times that of other countries. Were China and India to make the same draft on resources, it would be as if the population of the world had tripled; were all countries to do so, it will be as if the population of the world had increased to 72 billion. The time to correct our course is now.

Third, it is far more expensive to remedy the environment after damaging it than it is to take preventive action. The former Soviet Union is a recent and vivid example of the costs that mindless “development” entails. The fate of an Aral Sea is also a reminder that a society must change course early — the longer its gestation period, the earlier must the remedy be instituted.

Fourth, far from arresting growth, steps to preserve and restore the environment present a great economic opportunity for India. The nearest opportunity is afforded by the two-trillion dollar market in carbon trade under the Clean Development Mechanism. But this is the lesser  opportunity. Each solution that India develops for its own problems will be something that it can either market or gift to other countries as they also face the same problems. Alternate fuels; microbes that break up pollutants; processes and equipment to desalinate sea water using solar and wind energy; an efficient and hygienic composting toilet; organic and bio-fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides rather than chemical ones; technologies to recycle waste and water. Each of these alternatives would provide sustainable employment. And for many of them the very areas that are today “backward” have the greatest advantage: for organic farming, the “backward” states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, eastern UP, slow to use chemical fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides — have a head start.    

... contd.