Green drive pays off

CHENNAI: Himachal Pradesh, along with five northeastern states, has been rated as the most environmentally sustainable states in the country, according to Environmental Sustainable Index 2011 released on Thursday by a think tank here.

The report rates Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim in the top slots in its Environmental Sustainable Index 2011. It was released by Centre for Development Finance (CDF), affiliated to Institute for Financial Management and Research. Among the high GDP states, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal ranked low in the chart, while Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have managed to balance economic growth and environmental quality.

Despite their abundant natural resources, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar have fallen in the moderate and below moderate categories.

Commenting on the report, researcher Kadambari Anantram of CDF said, “This indicates that these states face challenges in sustainable development due to degradation, more stress on the ecosystem and/or less responsive policies and institutions.”

ESI has 41 key environmental indicators and are grouped into nine thematic sub indices from a policy perspective - air quality and pollution, water quality and availability, land use and agriculture, forests and biodiversity, waste management, energy management, health impact, population pressure and environmental budget.