Where Growth can go wrong?

In the past decade (and still), India was one of the fastest growing economy in the world. It increased number of people in the middle class category and per capita income went up as well. This growth comes with the cost and Government should focus on mitigating them.

The growth spurred real estate boom. This real estate boom shrinks the cultivable land and lakes. This reduces the food production and eventually result in food shortage. Government should work with scientists to produce more with lesser cultivable area and it should be multi faceted approach. I do not see this happening. We are reactive rather proactive in this aspect. The shrinkage of water storage system like lakes negatively impacts ground water. The construction boom created huge demand for river sand and we are using them at much faster rate from river beds than we can replenish. This will significantly reduce Ground water as well. It is time to look for alternative construction material which are green and cost effective.

The growth spurred the usage of technologies. For example, Mobile phones, Televisions and other electronics usage grown exponentially. These waste ends up in the land fill or at smelters. Either one is not a good option. In fact Smelters engage children in the smelting process. Smelting Electronics produce many toxic gases. This pollution will create health issues among the public. Many developed nations puts limitation on amount in those products through regulation and have a Waste Management plan. (I am planning to blog in detail about this later)

We all got used to power cut. The focus so far on electricity production. No doubt we need more capacity. We can focus on consumption side as well to get quicker result. We should encourage people to use energy efficient lights (Government can subsidise and better than freebies) and electronics. I do not see any promotion in this regard from the Government.

The infrastructure plans are short sighted. We plan the capacity 5-10 years in mind, by the time the project is complete, the capacity will be reached We should spread that 25-50 years in mind. Many of the British constructions are still functional exactly because of that.

I pointed very few major issues but there are lot more. I hope someone from Government takes it seriously and work on it.