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by Dr. Roopa Vajpeyi junkyards. Cars sales in Indian cities are on the upward
I
swing, but there are no roads to run these cars on. Fuel
n the ancient civilization of India, sustainability and prices keep spiralling, as does the resultant pollution
moderation in consumption has always been a way from these consumption patterns. While Northern cul-
of life. This pattern has been respected and left tures embrace organic food and alternative healing,
largely undisturbed by Indian consumers who consider Indians satiate themselves with colas and burgers; while
themselves a part of the cycle of nature. An interactive the U.S. scrambles to patent India’s biodiversity,
relationship with nature and the natural environment is Indians are glued to their TV sets. Sitting in Delhi, with
a part of every Indian’s life. telephones that don’t work, PCs on the blink because
In the past half century, India has made rapid of erratic power supplies, postal strikes and polluted
strides in economic development. This, coupled with rivers, activists in consumer and environmental organi-
demographic pressures, a gigantic middle-class known zations have their task cut out for them.
to be the largest market in the world, and the free entry
SPRING 2001 ◆ 9