03-31-2006, 06:04 PM
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14174044
Columns Free Press Journal
<b>West gives flawed advice to India, China</b>
By Dr Bharat Jhunjhunwala |
High growth rates of India and China have become a problem for the Western countries. Till recently the developing countries were voluntarily selling their resources at low prices to them. For example, India was packing her water in Basmati rice, tea and rubber and exporting to Western countries at declining prices. Thus 20 percent people in the Western countries were consuming 80 percent of the world's resources. This distribution was stable because India was herself willing to give away her resources at a cheap price in her pursuit of export-led growth.
The high growth of India and China has put a spanner in this happy situation for the Western countries. These two have started consuming resources in a big way. Christopher Flavin, president of Washington-based WorldWatch Institute tells China consumed 26 percent of global production of steel, 32 percent rice, 37 percent cotton and 47 percent cement. China is importing food grains in a big way. If domestic food grain production of India or China declines for some reason, it could drive global prices up and "the entire global community could be affected," says Flavin.
The problem is compounded by increasing consumption by developed countries, especially the United States. That country is home to only 4.5 percent of the global population but contributes 25 percent of the global pollution, which continues to increase. Resources of the world face double pressure today - from increasing consumption by the Western countries as well as India and China.
Available resources cannot possibly meet the demands of 'developed' India and China. There are two paths open to India and China to meet this situation. Soft approach is to let the Western countries consume bulk of the global resources and they can redefine 'growth' in a way that consumes fewer resources-like Assamese tribal can be asked to let the people of Kolkata consume bulk of wood produced in his state and he should focus more on the development of tribal dances. <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Or the bonded labour can be asked to let the Zamindar consume bulk of fruit produced in the village and he should focus more on the use of smokeless stove to improve his standard of living. The hard approach is for India and China to increase their consumption, let the prices of resources increase like that of oil presently and will force a crisis on the global economy and environment.
Global warming will lead to more typhoons and tsunamis. This will be harmful for all. The consumption by the West will reduce due to high prices and the global economy may go into a recession. The global community will then be forced to develop a new definition of development and reduce consumption of resources. This new definition of growth will be applicable to all-including the Western countries. That would re-establish balance in the global economy.
Consumption by the Western countries will be reduced while that of India and China will increase. Global equality will be established with stabilisation of environment. It is expected that Western scholars would advise India and China to adopt the soft approach because that would allow them to dominate the global economy and pollute the environment as presently. Thus World Bank-funded NGOs like WorldWatch suggest that India and China should not follow the growth model of the West and instead 'leapfrog' to secure better life for their people without requiring huge consumption of resources.
Flavin reports that selected lanes have been dedicated for buses in Kunming, capital of Yunnan. The control of stoplights has been given to bus drivers leading to increase of speed during peak hours from 9.6 kilometers per hour to 15.2 kilometers. There has been a fivefold increase in the bus passengers. Similarly China has emerged as the global leader in energy saving bulbs and solar water heaters. Seventy thousand buildings in Chennai have been fitted with water harvesting structures.
Flavin suggests that India and China can secure better life for their people by such leapfrogging and prevent harm to the global environment. However, wise men like Flavin do not tell how the high consumption and pollution by the Western countries be controlled in this soft approach. They do shed crocodile tears and call for "wholesale change in policies" in the United States. But they see no role of India and China in forcing the United States to make such a change. Rather they tell India and China not to create pressure on the global resources.
Basing himself on a review of development plans of these countries, Flavin says these countries show "little recognition of the ecological realities now facing them-or the world." The truth is that Flavin does not want India and China to encroach on the consumption of resources by the Western countries thus he teaches the lesson of 'leapfrogging' to them. That is like government officials telling the poor not to demand greater share of canal waters and instead adopt improved dry land agriculture. Institutions like World Watch are justified in professing such advice to India and China because their objective is to make sustainable the western control of global economy. It is tragic that Indian environmentalists parrot their talk.
In a Foreword to State of the World, 2006 report published by World Watch, Sunita Narain, director of Delhi-based Centre of Science and Environment endorses Flavin's call for India to leapfrog into a new model of development. She gives the example of introduction of CNG buses in Delhi as having reduced pollution greatly by leapfrogging from fitting after-treatment devices to the use of clean fuel. Thus, she says, the south "has no choice but the reinvent the development trajectory."
The implication is that the West may continue merrily with its high consumption of global resources while India and China leapfrog and reinvent. Narain assumes India and China have no role in containing the consumption by the Western countries and forcing them to redefine development. In other words, the people of Delhi must be satisfied with CNG buses while those of New York travel in air-conditioned ones.
Columns Free Press Journal
<b>West gives flawed advice to India, China</b>
By Dr Bharat Jhunjhunwala |
High growth rates of India and China have become a problem for the Western countries. Till recently the developing countries were voluntarily selling their resources at low prices to them. For example, India was packing her water in Basmati rice, tea and rubber and exporting to Western countries at declining prices. Thus 20 percent people in the Western countries were consuming 80 percent of the world's resources. This distribution was stable because India was herself willing to give away her resources at a cheap price in her pursuit of export-led growth.
The high growth of India and China has put a spanner in this happy situation for the Western countries. These two have started consuming resources in a big way. Christopher Flavin, president of Washington-based WorldWatch Institute tells China consumed 26 percent of global production of steel, 32 percent rice, 37 percent cotton and 47 percent cement. China is importing food grains in a big way. If domestic food grain production of India or China declines for some reason, it could drive global prices up and "the entire global community could be affected," says Flavin.
The problem is compounded by increasing consumption by developed countries, especially the United States. That country is home to only 4.5 percent of the global population but contributes 25 percent of the global pollution, which continues to increase. Resources of the world face double pressure today - from increasing consumption by the Western countries as well as India and China.
Available resources cannot possibly meet the demands of 'developed' India and China. There are two paths open to India and China to meet this situation. Soft approach is to let the Western countries consume bulk of the global resources and they can redefine 'growth' in a way that consumes fewer resources-like Assamese tribal can be asked to let the people of Kolkata consume bulk of wood produced in his state and he should focus more on the development of tribal dances. <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Or the bonded labour can be asked to let the Zamindar consume bulk of fruit produced in the village and he should focus more on the use of smokeless stove to improve his standard of living. The hard approach is for India and China to increase their consumption, let the prices of resources increase like that of oil presently and will force a crisis on the global economy and environment. Global warming will lead to more typhoons and tsunamis. This will be harmful for all. The consumption by the West will reduce due to high prices and the global economy may go into a recession. The global community will then be forced to develop a new definition of development and reduce consumption of resources. This new definition of growth will be applicable to all-including the Western countries. That would re-establish balance in the global economy.
Consumption by the Western countries will be reduced while that of India and China will increase. Global equality will be established with stabilisation of environment. It is expected that Western scholars would advise India and China to adopt the soft approach because that would allow them to dominate the global economy and pollute the environment as presently. Thus World Bank-funded NGOs like WorldWatch suggest that India and China should not follow the growth model of the West and instead 'leapfrog' to secure better life for their people without requiring huge consumption of resources.
Flavin reports that selected lanes have been dedicated for buses in Kunming, capital of Yunnan. The control of stoplights has been given to bus drivers leading to increase of speed during peak hours from 9.6 kilometers per hour to 15.2 kilometers. There has been a fivefold increase in the bus passengers. Similarly China has emerged as the global leader in energy saving bulbs and solar water heaters. Seventy thousand buildings in Chennai have been fitted with water harvesting structures.
Flavin suggests that India and China can secure better life for their people by such leapfrogging and prevent harm to the global environment. However, wise men like Flavin do not tell how the high consumption and pollution by the Western countries be controlled in this soft approach. They do shed crocodile tears and call for "wholesale change in policies" in the United States. But they see no role of India and China in forcing the United States to make such a change. Rather they tell India and China not to create pressure on the global resources.
Basing himself on a review of development plans of these countries, Flavin says these countries show "little recognition of the ecological realities now facing them-or the world." The truth is that Flavin does not want India and China to encroach on the consumption of resources by the Western countries thus he teaches the lesson of 'leapfrogging' to them. That is like government officials telling the poor not to demand greater share of canal waters and instead adopt improved dry land agriculture. Institutions like World Watch are justified in professing such advice to India and China because their objective is to make sustainable the western control of global economy. It is tragic that Indian environmentalists parrot their talk.
In a Foreword to State of the World, 2006 report published by World Watch, Sunita Narain, director of Delhi-based Centre of Science and Environment endorses Flavin's call for India to leapfrog into a new model of development. She gives the example of introduction of CNG buses in Delhi as having reduced pollution greatly by leapfrogging from fitting after-treatment devices to the use of clean fuel. Thus, she says, the south "has no choice but the reinvent the development trajectory."
The implication is that the West may continue merrily with its high consumption of global resources while India and China leapfrog and reinvent. Narain assumes India and China have no role in containing the consumption by the Western countries and forcing them to redefine development. In other words, the people of Delhi must be satisfied with CNG buses while those of New York travel in air-conditioned ones.