GDP

Indian environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan gives hard hitting speech, receives standing ovation

Durban, December 9: Following is the text of the minister's speech:

Indaba Session:December 10, 2011 – 1800 hrs

Remarks by Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan, Hon’ble Minister for Environment & Forests

Thank you Madam Chair. I do not know how to start. I have heard people across the room carefully. I am from India and I represent 1.2 billion people. My country has a tiny per capita carbon footprint of 1.7 ton and our per capita GDP is even lower.

Roadblocks to growth

India is poised for a rapid economic growth - an 8 per cent GDP growth rate annually over the next two decades is now considered a settled matter. But there are major resource constraints to this growth story that economists talk about but have hardly taken into account in their growth projections.