Growth not at cost of poor, Javadekar says

NEW DELHI: Stressing the growth and development priorities of the Modi government, environment minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said efforts to make the global economy sustainable must not be at the cost of the world’s poor.

“While the social and environmental pillars tend to gain prominence, it is important to underscore that the economic pillar is the foundation of sustainable development and must be adequately addressed and elaborated,” Javadekar told an UN environment assembly in Nairobi.

The political message that the minister seemed to convey is that the Modi government is not going to compromise on economic goals even as it is willing to work to introduce cleaner technologies. But the clean up must not mean a deceleration of India’s growth rate.

“While issues of peace, security and governance are obviously important enablers of development, it would be a travesty if these are placed at the centre of the agenda, to the detriment of development itself,” Javadekar said.

In its first policy speech at an international forum, the new government clearly indicated a recaliberation of India’s position on sustainable development by emphasizing that economic growth is the best guarantor of durable peace.

“Clearly, our efforts to put the global economy on a sustainable path must not be and cannot be on the backs of the poor,” the minister said while underlining that India’s climate action plan did recognize the need for sustainable development.

Javadekar said that improving energy efficiency and resource use is important but pointed out that “developed countries have to lead from the front and commit technology transfer to developing countries.”

“We support a standalone goal on SCP (sustainable consumption production) and also it’s mainstreaming across energy, food, water and agriculture,” he said.

Arguing that the developed world needs to do its bit towards sustainable development, Javadekar said, “The wide difference between average per capita consumption of energy and other resources in the developed and developing countries as also the huge wastage of food at consumer level in developed countries makes it imperative for developed countries to take lead to shift towards SCP patterns.”