Environmental Scenario in India: Successes and Predicaments

by Mukherjee; Sacchidananda

• ISBN13: 9780415666558
• ISBN10: 0415666554
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-01-06
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The literature on environment focus on two major routes through which growth process in a country influence its environment. First, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis focuses on the non-linear relationship between income level of a country and its environmental sustainability, indicating that growing income level beyond a threshold might be associated with the demand for better environment and consequent adoption of superior governance mechanism. It can also be interpreted in terms of environmental degradation with increasing importance of secondary sector in the initial growth stage, and environmental betterment with emergence of tertiary sector with continued growth. Second, the Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) looks into the possibility of environmental degradation in a country owing to trade-investment nexus, i.e., whether the FDI flow in a country or its export-import pattern is directed more towards the pollution-intensive sectors and influencing the production pattern adversely. This present volume intends to capture the economy-wide impacts of various activities on environment. The environmental impacts on water, air, soil quality and human health are captured through case studies from different parts of India. Analyzing separately the concern areas within agriculture (cultivation, aquaculture), manufacturing (industrial pollution, power generation, small scale industries), services (waste management, bio-medical waste, e-waste recycling) and external sector (agricultural trade, FDI inflow, trade in waste products) performance of India, the present volume attempts to find an answer to that crucial question. The methodology adopted to capture the environmental impacts of various economic activities is derived from the relevant branches like environmental economics, agricultural economics, and water resources economics. The papers in the volume, focusing on particular sectors, indicate the concern areas and indicate possible ways for enhancing environmental governance.