Business Outlook India has the problem of focusing too much on pollution not only as a killer of people but as a killer of growth (as I have emphasized pollution reduces wealth and health, see especially this video).
I was interviewed; here are a few:
Q. Does demographic dividend argue for the first growth?
The demographic dividend is people. If you poison people, you will reduce the dividend. A young workforce with lower cognitive scores, more respiratory diseases and shorter working lives is a smaller asset than the recommended headcount, and the damage to children today is seen as lower productivity in the coming decades.
The premise also assumes that India’s pollution is a by-product of economic growth. Many do not. Farmers burning rice stubble in Punjab and Haryana produce more smoke than GDP. Burning garbage, road dust and old coal plants running without scrubbers is not an economic engine. Families who cook with wood and dung are impure because they are poor. Cleaning up the source costs a small amount of output, and some improvements will add up.
Bad weather is a tax on talent. And not just Indian talent. Who wants to visit Delhi in November? Professionals, companies and skilled foreign tourists all have options. Clear skies are a selling point for India’s extraordinary.
See also Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at the Center for Science and the Environment, who says:
Evidence is increasingly showing that air pollution imposes significant economic and health costs in India. Several studies from reliable institutions have estimated the size of the loss.
For example, a Lancet study estimated that air pollution costs India about 9.5% of its GDP. The World Bank has put the figure at around 6% of GDP, while Dalberg [a consultancy] The study highlighted substantial losses for Indian businesses, estimating the cost at around 3% of GDP.
The economic impact is seen in several ways. When people are sick, there is a significant drop in productivity. We have also seen reports of consumer cuts during severe pollution in Delhi. There are also concerns about people changing bases and businesses, raising questions about operating in heavily polluted locations such as Delhi.
So, evidence is growing to show that less pollution is the economic activity of mining. We can talk about economic growth, but if a significant part of that growth is undermined by pollution-related health and productivity, the benefits cannot be fully realized.
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