Looking Back to Change Track

In 1997, when India celebrated 50 years of its Independence, TERI’s study Growth with Resource Enhancement of Environment and Nature (GREEN) India 2047 assessed whether the country was moving on an environmentally sustainable path. The sequel to the study, Directions Innovations and Strategies for Harnessing Action (DISHA) for sustainable development, released in 2001, projected environmental and resource implications for the country by 2047 under two scenarios, that is, continuing in a business-as-usual mode and adopting a more sustainable development trajectory. The present study picks up the thread from 1997, examining environmental trends in the last decade, isolating underlying priority issues and identifying strategies that are needed to prevent or ameliorate environmental damage. The mandate of the present study, thus, is to go beyond reporting the state of India’s environment. Through an evaluation of the major factors that are responsible for the present state and the characteristics of resulting impacts, the study provides an agenda for action.