GEP: New barometer to measure economic growth

With Lavasa and other big projects bringing to the fore renewed environmental concerns, Anil P Joshi, a professor-turned social activist, has floated the idea of Gross Environmental Product (GEP), a green Gross Domestic Product (GDP), to measure the overall economic growth in India.

“If we have to achieve sustainable economic growth, we must bring in gross environmental product to measure the growth rate in India,” said Joshi as he drafts the concept, which is relatively new in India.

According to experts, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had also earlier announced green GDP would replace Chinese GDP index to measure the economic performance of the communist nation.

Dwelling upon the need of GEP, Joshi said since natural resources especially forest, soil and air have observed sharp decline due to poor management and over exploitation, it becomes imperative that the country must have an appropriate mechanism for the periodic review of the economic growth in the true sense.

“The status of our natural resources and their growth must be reviewed periodically for us to understand what we have lost and what we gain every year,” he said.

Giving several examples where the trees were felled in the name of developmental projects, Joshi pointed out only a prudent approach will bring a balance between the nature and human activities.

“This will only be possible when we also measure through some indices the growth of soil, water, forest and air. Annual gross environmental product of natural resources can only serve such a purpose,” said Joshi, the head of HESCO, a Dehra Dun-based NGO.

Stating the GDP simply reflects the growth of sectors like infrastructure, industries and education, Joshi said, “We deliberately forget that such development can only offer luxury to a handful of people and not serve the purpose of fundamental needs of everybody.”