Govt mulls economic growth vs ecology

The govt said it will soon set up an expert group to evaluate impact of economic growth on environment.

The government said it will soon set up an expert group to evaluate impact of economic growth on environment as part of its efforts to bring in institutional reforms and improve environmental governance.

“Planning Commission and Environment Ministry are very soon going to set up a high-level expert group under the chairmanship of (environmental economist) Partha Dasgupta of Cambridge University,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told

reporters.

“This expert group will provide a road map for ‘green’ National Accounts…By 2015,we would report Gross Domestic Product (GDP) after taking into account environmental costs,” he said after releasing an interim report on low carbon strategies for inclusive growth.

The panel will also include distinguished economists Nitin Desai,Vijay Kelkar and Kirit Parikh,he said.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia,who was also present on the occasion,said,”I fully endorse the view of Jairam Ramesh that growth should be sustainable and it is desirable that we should reduce emission intensity.”

Ramesh had recently questioned the country’s nine per cent growth reports,contending that if the impact on ecology had been taken into consideration,the growth would have been only around six per cent.

He had said from 2015 onwards,the impact of ecology would be part of calculations to judge the economic growth.