The Hindu Business Line : India must not follow US economic model: Sachs

INDIA must assert itself in international forums, including the World Trade Organisation, to ensure that the western world is forced to keep its promise of transferring technology and provide resources for environment protection, according to the economist and Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Professor Jeffrey D Sachs.

"India, along with China is emerging as a global economic giant. I believe that if the country continues to grow at the present rate, the Indian economy will overtake the US economy in the next 50 years. While growth is good, the country has to ensure that it does not follow the unsustainable model of the western countries like the US," Prof Sachs said in his address at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) here.

Prof Sachs said that India must team up with other growing economies such as Brazil and South Africa to get clean technology to fuel its development and avoid the pitfalls the western world had fallen into while pursuing relentless growth.

"It is ironic that the US, with just four per cent of the global population, contributes to 25 per cent of the global emission of greenhouse gases. Clearly, that model is not sustainable. It is up to India and other developing countries to use their status and ensure they get technology to ensure cleaner growth," he said.

The Minister for External Affairs, Mr Yashwant Sinha, said that the country had already embarked on a path of sustainable development without waiting for assistance from the western world.

"Sustainable development is now an accepted term in our lexicon... There are many who think sustainable development is synonymous with environment protection. This is, of course, only a third of the truth. Equally important are the pillars of economic and social development," Mr Sinha said.

The Minister said that in India, the primacy of the need for economic and social development with a balancing of environment concerns has already been recognised.