The Hindu Business Line : ‘Huge public investment must in basic needs’

Hyderabad, Aug. 9 Huge public investment in basic needs is needed to fill the ‘huge gaps’ in India’s economic progress, according to Prof Jeffrey Sachs, Director of Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University.

In his lecture on ‘Challenges of climate change and sustainable development in India’ at the Indian School of Business here on Wednesday, he said, “While India could make rapid economic progress with 8-10 per cent GDP growth, two huge gaps in public needs and environmental issues need to be addressed immediately to achieve sustainable development.”

The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model alone would not help in increasing the reach of the basic need to poor people in the country and a public investment-led approach is the only solution, he felt.

“For instance, the investment in public health was less than 1 per cent of GDP till two years ago. It translates to about $10 per person. In the US, it is over $350 per person,” he explained.

For sustainable development, India should “finish the transformation of universal access to basic needs and this is very much possible”, he said.

On the environmental front, India should make efforts in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, he said, adding that “Your power sector is largely dependent on coal. Methods such as deployment of carbon sequestration techniques should be adopted. India can be a role model to other third world countries such as Africa in this regard,” he observed.

An incentive-based approach can convince the private sector to adopt eco-friendly technologies, he said.

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