Clash of economy and ecology in global politics

These 30 years have also taught us that we cannot ensure sustainable growth unless it is affordable and inclusive

Some 30 years ago, when India ushered in economic reforms, it did so knowing fully well that an increased pace of economic growth would have adverse impacts on the environment. Growth would intensify the use of natural resources and add to the pollution of our waterbodies and air. This fact was known because the already rich world, which had initiated the idea of economic growth through liberalisation and free markets, had understood that the only way it could prosper was by exporting the most polluting and labour-intensive industries to the emerging world. The first shock came around the mid-1990s, when