Impacts of economic growth- India

• Quality of life


  The standard of health, comfort, and happiness experienced by an individual or group
• Standard of living


  The degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community
• Economic development has created positive focal change, but not for everyone
• Positives of India's economic growth

  • Created wealth (there are 236,000 millionaires in India)
  • India's literacy rate for women has risen rapidly, and overall literacy rate had grown from 52.2% in 1991 to 74.04% in 2011
  • Annual employment rate increased by 4.1% in 2016-17, due to an increase in TNCs in the country
  • There are over 350 television stations, showing a variety of points of view
• Negatives of India's economic growth

  • Over 300 million Indians still live in poverty on less than US$1.25 a day
  • Some jobs are unhealthy & unsafe due to poor health and safety laws
  • Poor working conditions in TNC sweatshops means long hours and poor pay
  • Exploitation of natural resources and pollution can lead to health issues
• There is an extremely uneven pattern to how the GDP per person is distributed over India
• There are three states (Sikkim, Haryana and Goa) which have over 140,000 rupees (about £1443) per person, but there are also a range of states with the lowest GDP per person of under 40,000 rupees (£409) per person
• Inequality in income


  Can affect standard of living, and therefore quality of life
• The environmental impact of economic growth includes the increased consumption of resources, higher levels of pollution, the potential loss of habitats and contributions to the enhanced greenhouse effect
• Water pollution in India

  • The number of rivers defined as polluted rose from 121 to 275 between 2010 and 2015
  • Less than a third of sewage from urban areas is actually treated, the rest just flows directly into the water sources and contaminates them
  • Industrial waste and agricultural runoff are other causes
• As economic development increases in emerging countries such as India, the amount of industries there also increase and this makes it extremely hard to enforce any environmental regulations around industrial and agricultural waste
• Deforestation in India


  • 14,000 sq km of forest were cleared to accommodate 23,716 industrial projects in the last 30 years
  • Deforestation causes loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, and greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global climate change
• Air pollution in India

  • Rapid economic development leads to high levels of air pollution, released from increased factories and transport
  • Ten of the most polluting cities in the world are found in India
  • Air pollution reduces life expectancy by 32 years for the 660 million Indians who live in cities and is the fifth biggest cause of death in India
  • Indoor pollution from fires fuelled by dung and paraffin stoves can kill up to 1 million people per year in rural areas
  • Air pollution affects workforce productivity due to health issues
• India is the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China and the US
• Four-fifths of electricity in India is produced from coal
• In 2015, a government minister stated that climate change was the biggest threat to India's economy
• Since then, India has become an active participant in international climate negotiations, such as the Paris Climate Agreement and COP26