Achieving sustainable growth with emphasis on environmental protection could come into conflict with poor…

Question

Achieving sustainable growth with emphasis on environmental protection could come into conflict with poor people's needs in a country like India - Comment.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Environmental protection does conflict with the needs of India's poor in the short run, through conservation evictions, coal phase-down and pollution bans, but the conflict is not inherent because the poor depend most on nature. India's per capita emissions of 2.5 to 2.8 tonnes leave room for a just transition.

**Introduction**

At Stockholm in 1972 Indira Gandhi asked whether poverty and need were not the greatest polluters. For India's poor, the "present needs" of the Brundtland definition mean fuel, land, forests and jobs that green rules can restrict.

**Where Environmental Protection Strains the Poor**

1. **Conservation versus forest dwellers**: In Wildlife First v. Union of India (2019), the Supreme Court ordered eviction of forest dwellers with rejected Forest Rights Act claims, then stayed the order after an outcry.
2. **Coal exit versus livelihoods**: The 2070 net-zero pledge implies a coal phase-down that threatens jobs and royalties in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
3. **Pollution curbs versus wages**: Construction bans under Delhi-NCR's Graded Response Action Plan halt daily-wage work, forcing ex gratia payments to workers.

**Why the Conflict Is Not Inevitable**

SKETCH: matrix | Environment and the Poor
cols: Poor gain | Poor lose
rows: Nature gains | Nature loses
tl: Forest rights, water bodies
tr: Evictions, coal exit
bl: Cheap coal, firewood
br: Degraded commons

1. **The poor depend on nature**: N.S. Jodha showed common property resources supply much of poor households' fuel, fodder and income, and Chipko (1973) was the environmentalism of the poor.
2. **Fair carbon space**: The Economic Survey 2023-24 puts India's per capita emissions at 2.5 to 2.8 tonnes against about 8 for the EU27, leaving room to grow while decarbonising.

**Way Forward**

1. **Just transition**: Reskill coal districts through District Mineral Foundation funds, and secure gram sabha consent, as upheld in the Niyamgiri case (2013), before any eviction.
2. **Reward conservation**: Compensate green-rule costs and use CAMPA funds and the Green Credit Programme (2023) to pay communities that restore ecosystems.

**Conclusion**

The conflict is real in the short run but not inherent, since the poor lose most from ecological decline. A just transition guided by Mission LiFE can make sustainability the route to poverty reduction.

Achieving sustainable growth with emphasis on environmental protection could come into conflict with poor people's needs in a country like India - Comment.

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