India’s Green Agenda: How to take it forward – 25 June 2012, The Economic Times

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the current consumption patterns of the industrialised countries are unsustainable and asked for equitable burden sharing, with common but differentiated responsibilities in tackling problems of global environmental damage of which climate change is but one element. He was speaking at the Rio+20 UN conference on sustainable development. What he said is obviously right. But the point is, this applies not just to the rich-poor divide across nations but also to the social divide within nations. With rising incomes and growing inequality, a section of India’s own population enjoys lifestyles comparable to those that are commonplace in the industrialised countries, precisely the ones the PM termed unsustainable.