Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday once again admonished the West for living a high life and not paying for it.
In a brief statement, he told the Plenary of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) on Thursday that “current consumption levels in the industrialised world are unsustainable.”
U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel did not attend.
Dr. Singh said, “Many countries could do more if additional finance and technology were available. Unfortunately, there is little evidence of support from the industrialised countries in these areas. The ongoing economic crisis has made matters worse.”
The reference was clear — the West did not pay when it had the money, so now that it doesn’t, how will it do so?
The Prime Minister’s speech in many ways was a reiteration of the long established Indian stand — development, social inclusion and environmental sustainability are all equally critical.
“The task before us is to give practical shape and content to this architecture in a manner that allows each country to develop according to its own national priorities and circumstances.”
At the global level, he said the problem would have to be guided by equitable burden sharing. That was what the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities meant, he said. “I am happy we have reaffirmed this principle as well as the principle of equity during this Summit.”
India was doing its bit. Between 1994 and 2007, its emissions-to-GDP intensity, excluding agriculture, declined nearly 25 per cent. “Looking ahead, we have set a target to further reduce the emissions intensity of the GDP by 20-25 per cent between 2005 and 2020,” he said.
Local pollution control measures imposed costs on the economic actors, who were mostly small. They would have to be helped by targeted action via policy, he noted.
Keywords: consumption levels, industrialised world, Rio+20 summit, United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
Indian industry is so pathetic not because of the industrialized world or china. It is so because of a corrupt country with corrupt practices. Every phase of life in India is an open example of a society that is wracked by corruption and caste based calculations. Dr. Singh makes a fool of himself when he lectures western countries on their economic travails. The leading export from India is the 'body shop'. So sad that almost 60 years after industry the country cannot produce anything else except cheap labor and of course politicians who give endless sermons.
The social inclusion aspect when further explored will have a sub-component called community inclusiveness and creating a sense of pride in the neighbourhood. This should be further extended to sense of pride in using local products. If Indian policies really look for a balance between social and economic factors then a balance between open market (that leads to flooding with Chinese products) and taking a protectionist approach (a no-go zone for foreign traders) is key. But more key is to assess this balance by including communities is very important. By communities I do not mean activists or bunch of people who are happy to shout slogans but the real stakeholders who may be affected with important economic policy decisions the government is making.
I do not understand this PM ...he goes and lecture to other developed nations about limiting consumption while in his own country rampant waste in almost everything goes on to the extent of shortages and 600 million below poverty line. Yesterday there was a report in CNN that 25% of food grains in India rot to waste. These problems did not happen yesterday but has been there for decades. And he lectures other nations to reduce waste consumption !
Courageous statement! Not only consumption,it is the waste which is unexplainable.Look at workable cars in junk yard.Look at old dated computer junk.Not that look at food how wasted in restaurants,factories and shops with expiring dates when thousands die in African counties due to hunger.Where is the unity and fellowman spirit among countries especially so called developed countries.
Indian manufacturers can not compete with western manufacturers due to their brand value and quality.Look Li-Ning in China struggle with Nike,due to consumers preference of western brand.Most of the MN Cs' strategy during recession is to expand to developing countries, there by make maximum profit and overcome the slump down in the west.India may get short term benefit from it ,but in long term it will collapse our industry.Look China MNCs starting to return due to wage increase.Unfortunately India now witnesses economic slump ,so only one solution left is to open for FDI.
"...the long established Indian stand — development, social inclusion and environmental sustainability are all equally critical..."; uh, did he say that with a straight face? It seems its the opposite, in fact; despite being hugely invested in domestic consumption as major part of their national economies, many of the developed world seemed to be in a path to sustainability/equitability, at least there seems to be a populist/national desire. As to whether they would be able to immediately turn around and change the momentum they had been moving at so far remains to be seen. On the other hand what has India been doing to achieve its "long established stand", while the Indian Dream has become to consume like there's no tomorrow ? Isn't our way of joining the club?
The point is correct but wrongly direct at MMS by Arumugam hwo should know that at the meeting of UN who is bring this point forward & pointing it at west , it MMS for your information, one should not go blindly after politics of criticizing
The Industrialised West want big money to maintain their unsustainable levels of consumption forever at the cost of the developing world.That is the exact reason why the industrialised world want India to open up its retail market sector and insurance industry to them. They would dump Chinese made goods on us thereby making huge profits in order to sustain. They don't manufacture consumer goods because of the high labour cost. They buy Chinese manufactured goods, change their labels and sell to the rest of the world. They eye India because of its huge market potential. While their entry will help them and China, India's industries and manufacturing skills would be destroyed forever. If the Western insurance giants enter India, the public sector LIC and the four general insurance companies will soon lose their business to the foreigners and wind up. Soon affordability of insurance cover will be beyond the reach of the ordinary poor. MMS and the Congress Party are keen to help the West.
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