Green transformation through environmental governance

Traditional wisdom on environmental governance, captured through the Environment Kuznets curve, posits that countries grow first and clean up later.

- BHUPENDER YADAV

Traditional wisdom on environmental governance, captured through the Environment Kuznets curve, posits that countries grow first and clean up later. This empirical insight is informed by the experience of now developed countries which exploited the natural environment, at home and abroad, to feed the resource requirements of the growth process. But such luxury is not available to countries like India, which still need to grow rapidly to meet the development aspirations of their large population.

When the NDA assumed office in 2014, the challenge was to accelerate growth and development on the cardinal principles of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi which is "Reform, Perform and Transform" without compromising with the rigour of environmental safeguards, wherever required, and providing a quantum jump to ease of doing business. Today, as we stand in 2025, we have not only met this challenge but created a governance model that the world acknowledges. Prime Minister Modi's vision was clear: transform this system into one that serves both "ecology and economy".

Our first major initiative was the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014, which went beyond cleanliness to establish a comprehensive framework for waste management and environmental stewardship. This mission demonstrated our commitment to integrating environmental concerns with social development. It was launched as a mass movement involving all citizens and raising the demand for a cleaner, more resource-efficient India. The National Air Quality Index was launched soon after, providing real-time air quality monitoring across cities to the citizens in a transparent manner.