Green Initiatives for Sustainable Development in India

Development is essential for meeting the basic needs and all round progress of the society in developed as well as developing countries. The development merely on the basis of economic considerations without concerns for optimum use of natural resources, various socio-economic issues and environment protection cannot be sustained over a long period. The global problems such as high level of resource consumption, population growth, poverty, lack of basic amenities, conflicts, and environmental degradation has forced the society to rethink about way of development and evolve concept of sustainable development. The interdependency of peace, development and environmental protection is now well recognized. Various green initiatives are being taken to maintain and improve quality of environment while progressing at higher economic growth rate for meeting higher consumption patterns and needs of the large population all over the world. The present paper discusses some of the important green technologies and initiatives including clean technologies for production, clean/green fuels for transportation, waste-to-energy projects, national river conservation projects, national lake conservation projects, promotion of renewable energy sources, eco-labeling scheme, corporate responsibility, promotion of education as a tool, legislative measures, etc. adopted for achieving sustainable development in India. It is expected that these green initiatives shall help protect environmental quality and achieve higher sustainable economic growth rate for thousands of communities and millions of individuals.