India is ranked last among 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). To prepare the EPI, the concerned institutions have studied 40 performance indicators. These indicators are divided into 11 categories.
The Indian government may have objected, but anyone familiar with its policy might not have been surprised by this week’s news that India came in at the bottom of the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). The US-based Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network prepared this index based on their joint study. It looked at the status of environmental protection in 180 countries. India was placed at 180th position in this list. Now the supporters of the current government of India can call it another conspiracy against the country if they want. But if they always overcome the point of view of making a mistake in the eyes of others, then they too will not have much trouble to understand why such a bad image of India emerged after all. It is worth noting that for the preparation of EPI, the concerned institutions have studied 40 performance indicators. These indicators are divided into 11 categories.
These categories include climate change performance, environmental health and ecosystem vitality. These indicators show how far a country is from the policy goals set for the environment. Now it would be better to review India’s position itself on the basis of these categories and indicators. And then it should be remembered how the present Narendra Modi government after coming to power has flouted the laws related to environmental protection. There was no awareness or necessary strictness about the environment even before. During the previous UPA government, there were serious allegations of corruption in the implementation of laws. But then there was at least one thing that the laws were being tightened. Along with this, an initiative was taken to make participation of mass organizations in their implementation. But the Modi government put them all on hold. The sole emphasis in this period has been on giving unhindered freedom to capital to make profits. In such a situation, what can be the result of the exploitation of nature?
