Get over the growth fetish Flawed ideas The assumption that growth will magically eradicate poverty and provide jobs is fundamentally flawed. Much of the gains of growth are cornered by the already rich, mechanisation offsets new job generation, and inflation makes things worse for much of the population. And it is ecologically suicidal. Humanity is already on ‘planetary overshoot’, we are consuming 1.5 times what the earth can sustain. In India, we are already consuming much more than our natural resources can sustain, and second, the negative consequences are knocking off all the GDP growth. These are not conclusions from rabid activists, but from the very institutions that otherwise champion unbridled growth, the Confederation of Indian Industries and the World Bank, respectively. It follows that ‘green growth’ or ‘sustainable growth’ are oxymorons; growth is inevitably unsustainable. In any case in the current ‘developmentality’ mindset, if there is a conflict between growth and the environment, the former will rule. The UPA okayed almost every ‘development’ project that came to it; NDA has already signalled its intention to fast-track clearances, and remove safeguards for ecologically sensitive regions. And anything standing in its way has to be tarnished as anti-national and anti-development; witness the recent reports of the Intelligence Bureau against groups that are peacefully protesting the ecological and social damage caused by coal mining, thermal and nuclear power stations, and big dams. thehindubusinessline/opinion/get-over-the-growth-fetish/article6182959.ece
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 00:47:33 +0000
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