How can India pursue economic development while conserving nature?

I perceive development as the process of change, a change required for better living and existence. However, the change should be guided by the proper direction which involves all three aspects of triple bottom line i.e. social, environmental and economical.

In the present era, economic development is the agenda of almost all countries in the world and so it is of India. All are making a blind run behind the development and ignore the large-scale destruction of the environment. However, Bhutan remains an exception. I consider Bhutan as the most developed country which knows how to live in harmony with nature. Bhutan reinvented the term ‘economic development’ in its own ways and since 1971, Bhutan has been considering Gross National Happiness (GNH) as her indicator of progress. Rest of the countries should learn from this tiny, yet carbon-negative country.

India being a land of villages, the development that trickles down to the most needed and marginalized section of the society would find the real meaning of economic development. But in the process of development, often there happens some kind of trade-off between environment and development. So, economic development and conservation of the environment need to go hand-in-hand. For example, wood industries must have plans for plantation.

It is the sad reality that nature is the silent sufferer in the process of economic development. But interestingly, recently a micro-forest is being created in the heart of the city Raipur by demolishing 70 odd government buildings. Such kind of eco-development models is the need of the hour and if replicated across major cities of India could also act as a solution for the burning problem of air pollution.

At one place we are talking about bullet trains and on the other hand, we don't have a proper waste management system in older trains. The beautiful 1,15,000 Km railways track, one of the biggest in the world, is, unfortunately, getting surrounded by plastic waste and degrading the surrounding ecosystems. I feel that we need to address the existing issues beforehand rather than taking a step ahead in the process of development. If we don't manage that generated waste then nature would backfire in the long run and hamper the achieved level of development.

Recently, I visited Kanha National Park and liked how the revenue generated from wildlife tourism is being successfully diverted towards sustainable development and management of forests thereby ensuring both economic and environmental development. Such kind of inclusive models needs to be promoted at mega levels across the country.

Some of the solutions which came to my mind while thinking about this topic are:

•   Providing tax-free benefits to industries following sustainable practices. This would act as a kind of ‘Green Insurance’ to allure corporates to invest in eco-friendly practices and attain sustainable profitable business.
• Municipal corporations can also cut down the taxes for the households with sustainable practices such as rainwater harvesting, waste segregation, solar rooftops etc.
• Incentive-based plan to conserve forests with the help of farmers.
• Promotion of sustainable technologies and a sustainable lifestyle.
• Making environment and sustainability reporting mandatory for every company to reduce its environmental footprint.

Finally, to sum up it is important to realize that “We don’t have a society if we destroy the environment”. Thus, economic development can be sustained only when the environment is kept at the core of economic development.