India needs to grow at about 10 per cent annually for the next three decades to be able to meet the ever-rising demands of its growing population, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Monday.
This order of growth however will not be achieved if the 'business-as-usual' approach to the use of scarce resources continues, he cautioned.
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He said that for reducing dependence on fossil fuels in transportation, a NITI Aayog analysis suggests that the way forward is the use of bio-fuels.
"We are giving a big push to electric vehicles in a bid to conserve exhaustible natural resources and bring about resource efficiency, Kant said at FICCI's Circular Economy Symposium-2018 here.
He also underlined the need to embed the principles of circular economy in India's school education system.
A circular economy, in contrast to the 'make-use-dispose' model of the linear economy, focuses on use of resources for longest possible time as also recovering and regenerating products and materials at the end of their life cycle.
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Noting that the government needs to enable regulatory framework for circular economy, he said: "We should incentivise use of renewable material for construction sector."
Kant also stressed that the government needs to push the limits of the circular economy and make it a mass movement.
According to FICCI-Accenture study, which was released on Monday by Kant, by adopting circular business model, India could reap a reward of between 382 to 697 billion by 2030.
The report pointed out that the circular economy through its innovative business model, offers a unique opportunity to decouple growth from resource requirements.
According to the report, five factors will be critical to accelerate circular models in India -- greater awareness, disruptive technologies, enabling policy landscape, innovative funding models and collaborations and partnerships.