India as an Emerging Economy and Sustainable Development

The Juxtaposition of Economy and Environment

Nimrat Kaur
Vishwendra Panwar
LLM Students, National Law School Bangalore

It is a fact well known that India is the largest democracy and worlds fastest growing economy.
In the marathon of extensive development are we transgressing our promises made in the trio-
Stockholm, Rio and Johannesburg Conferences for ensuring sustainable development? It
means that both economic growth and environment can co-exist without compromising on the
needs of future generations but has become rhetoric in the developing world owing to the
advocacy of developed countries.
Achieving the ultimate aim of sustainable development, calls for making tough policy decisions
and ensuring successful implementation of the same. Addressing the needs of stakeholders from
economic, social and environmental dimensions vis-a-vis seeking international cooperation
and integration till date remains a big challenge for emerging economies. The current paper
will analyse the domestic laws and legislations and the paradigm shift in the role of the State
into three phases. The First Phase beginning pre-liberalisation in 1991 and the advent of New
International Economic Order; the Second Phase in early 2000s when globalisation and
development were sole and only concerns for India and the Third Phase when Sustainable
development became the buzz word where our policy framers realised economic growth needs
a human rights framework owing to increasing International pressure.
Further, this paper evaluates the multi-dimensional impact of economic growth ranging from
technological advancement and better standard of living to man- made and natural disasters.
A section of the paper will deal with how the mankind has benefitted from economic growth
and how the environment has lost in the bargain. Problems of poverty, population explosion,
unemployment, rising crime rate, climate change, shortage of food, desertification,
deforestation, floods and droughts continue to plague India. A critique will reflect upon the
existing framework dealing with economic growth and environment and what are the lessons
to be drawn from them. The focal point will be capacity-building, state good practices and
employing green technology to ensure that economy and environment benefit from each other.
To achieve the same, the paper examines the various models of governance to achieve a self-
sustaining democratic model protecting both economic and environmental concerns.
It is, therefore, imperative that India should not rest on its oars until it has successfully dealt
with current challenges, mandatorily imposed Corporate Social and Environmental
Responsibility and make sustainable development a reality thereby sailing from an economy
to a green economy.