As India celebrates its 66th Independence Day on 15th August, it reinforces belief in the principles of democracy as one of the best forms of governance. Being the largest democracy in the world, India is a true example of unity in diversity that binds a multi-cultural, multi-religious and a multi-lingual population – a unique achievement in itself.
India has the potential to play a dominant role in the global arena. Over six decades, India has shown remarkable progress and is now considered as an emerging economy with growth rates better than most of the developed countries. But are we heading in the right direction?
For a country that languished under colonial rule for nearly two centuries, the fundamental issues have revolved around poverty, unemployment, industrial development and disparaging social inequity. Such has been the dominance of these pressing needs that the focus on development has often been tied to economic goals at the cost of larger social and environmental goals.
But what is more worrying is the inability of institutional mechanisms to check rising corruption in safeguarding natural wealth. Freedom does not mean that we must exploit Nature. Cases of illegal mining, construction of projects in ecologically sensitive zones, flouting of environmental norms and violation of human rights have raised questions about the credibility of our governance mechanisms. These aberrations when un-checked take a heavy toll on society and environment.
Today, India is in an advantageous position and has excellent opportunities to deploy innovative low carbon technologies in order to grow in a sustainable fashion, but are we able to think about them?
We get strongly prejudiced by economic growth models followed by developed countries. They have consistently ignored environmental dimensions and have “polluted their way to development”. These economies are now struggling hard to reverse their paths and are searching for innovative strategies to transit to low carbon economies. International pressure on these countries to reduce their ecological footprint is also mounting, which has placed them in a complex situation.
As a free country, we have the option to make right choices, but are we anywhere close to them? Why do we need to follow a path that would certainly diminish the ability of our future generations to live sustainably?
Freedom does not convey economic independence alone; it also entails responsibility to choose the right way when the wrong ways are also present. What good would be our ‘freedom’ when our cities are polluted and there is no clean air to breathe; our rivers are filled with toxic wastes and there is no clean water to drink?
The western line of thought has sprung two unwanted outcomes – Capitalism and Consumerism.
Capitalistic approach has led to the concentration of wealth in few hands leading to social and economic inequities. This has invited public wrath in the form of Occupy Wall Street protests all across Europe and U.S. that simply snubbed governments by the slogans – “We are the 99%” – pointing out that concentration of wealth is in the hands of very few people. Critics also argue that capitalism is responsible for the housing bubble that led to global financial meltdown in 2008.
Consumerism, on the other hand, has bred unsustainable habits in our society. We are ok with excess salt, sugar and fat – the key sources for major health issues that more than half our global population is suffering from, and in blindly following fast-paced, ‘material possession-centric’ lifestyles – always wanting, acquiring and consuming more, and more and yet more. As a global community, we have gobbled up more resources than we actually need to live life comfortably. So much has been our obsession that we are ready to adopt environment unfriendly practices, destroy forests and water bodies, and even the Arctic for oil and gas.
The true essence of freedom can be experienced when we are able to respect Nature, and live sustainably.
We know how Mahatma Gandhi, who lived up to his ideals of a sustainable lifestyle. His examples of weaving his own cloth, rearing goats for milk, and living in harmony with nature exemplify his message that India needs to grow in a sustainable manner. It was in the 1940s when this great man, revered as the ‘Father of the Nation’, spoke of environmental issues that would plague the world after a few decades. It was then that he remarked “the Earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed.”
We need to ask ourselves once again, what this hard fought independence means to our future generations. Are we making the right choices?
The author is currently Editor at ThinktoSustain.com – a market space for ideas…© 2012 ThinktoSustain.com. All Rights Reserved.
