The ability of a state to put in place policies to ensure that long-term public interest keeps pace with the strides made by its economy is a key indicator of mature governance. On this count, India falls short on critical issues. The most telling example is its out-of-sync laws on disposal of e-waste, not to mention the tardy implementation of the outdated statutes that are in place.
Having missed the agricultural, industrial and electronic hardware revolutions that propelled developed nations to higher orbits of economic growth, the India of the mid-1980s drove itself into a frenzy to make up for the lost time through rapid computerisation. Soon came the 1990s when the economy changed track. Innovative options for personal finance and higher wages, coupled with the plurality of consumer products and aggressive marketing that followed, meant affordable and quick access to consumer goods. This created an India that stepped up white goods consumption, and became more wired than what it was in the previous decades of Independence.
Full article can be read at The Hindu 's Survey of the Environment 2010. The publication is now on stands. Copies can be obtained by Registered Post (not V.P.P.) for Rs.80 (Rupees Eighty) by drawing a cheque in favour of "Kasturi and Sons Ltd." (Add Rs.10 for non-Chennai cheques) and sending it to the Circulation Department, The Hindu, 859-860, Anna Salai, Chennai 600002 Email: subs@thehindu.co.in
V.S. Sambandan is Senior Assistant Editor, The Hindu
