Is growth hurting environment? Govt to assess

Amid a debate over growth versus environment, the government has decided to conduct an assessment of the impact of gross domestic product growth on ecology using Green Accounting System and the process will be completed by 2015.

The government will soon set up of an expert group headed by environmental economist Partha Dasgupta to provide a road map for Green National Accounting system to evaluate impact of economic  growth on environment by 2015, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporter in New Delhi on Monday.

The expert group would be set up jointly by the Planning Commission and Enviroment Ministry.

The GNA would help government bringing out gross domestic product growth data co-relating it with impact on the environment.

"This expert group will provide a road map for 'green' National Accounts. . . .By 2015, we would report gross domestic produc after taking into account environmental costs," he said after releasing an interim report on low carbon strategies for inclusive growth.

The panel will also include distinguished economists --

Nitin Desai, Vijay Kelkar and Kirit Parikh, he said.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was also present on the occasion, said, "I fully endorse the view of Jairam Ramesh that growth should be sustainable and it is desirable that we should reduce emission intensity."

The decision to conduct the assemment study comes in the backdrop of questions whether fast economic growth was coming the cost of enviroment.

Ramesh had recently questioned the country's nine per cent growth reports, contending that if the impact on ecology had been taken into consideration, the growth would have been only around six per cent.

He had said from 2015 onwards, the impact of ecology would be part of calculations to judge the economic growth.