Environment and Development in Independent India

In principle, economic development can be environmentally sustainable and compatible with the rights of the poor to the commons – forests, water and land. In practice, however, the economic transformation of India since independence – rapid increase in agricultural productivity, industrialization, urbanization and the building of much-needed infrastructure, has come at the expense of environmental degradation and the rights of the poor to common property resources. Indian economic policy has for the most part favoured ‘development’ over environmental concerns. But India is a democracy in which civil society and the people can protest and exert pressure to prevent environmental degradation and defend their rights to the commons. The Indian judiciary, the Supreme Court in particular, has also been proactive in intervening to protect the environment. As of now, the impetus toward natural-resource-intensive and polluting growth is winning the day, but the struggle to find a better balance continues. Climate change is making the task much harder.