Is India tunnelling through the Environemntal Kuznets Curve
The Environmental Kuznets'''''''' Curve (EKC) hypothesis envisages an "inverted U-shaped" relation between various indicators of environmental pollution or resource depletion and the level of economic growth. The implied inverted-U relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth came to be known as the EKC by analogy with the growth- income inequality relationship postulated by Kuznets (1965, 1966) . The occurrence of the turning point is attributed to scale of economic activity, composition of output, technological development, change in the structure of demand/ preferences, and even demand for environmental quality as incomes rise.
Whether an EKC type growth-pollution path exists, and if it does, the likely location of the turning point have important policy implications for developing countries like India. At the same time, it is argued that economic growth per se is not expected to improve environmental quality and that the economy might suffer from irreversible ecological damage before reaching the turning point in the economic growth-environmental degradation path. In this context, factors like the efficacy of environmental policy and related institutions become more important. These factors can effectively flatten the curvature of the EKC and make economic growth sustainable or reduce the environmental cost of this growth. The study of the interface of environment and economy, however, becomes extremely complex due to the influence of diverse factors such as economic liberalisation, structural changes in the economy, socio-political factors, role of market agents, availability of information and voluntary action.
Whether an EKC type growth-pollution path exists, and if it does, the likely location of the turning point have important policy implications for developing countries like India. At the same time, it is argued that economic growth per se is not expected to improve environmental quality and that the economy might suffer from irreversible ecological damage before reaching the turning point in the economic growth-environmental degradation path. In this context, factors like the efficacy of environmental policy and related institutions become more important. These factors can effectively flatten the curvature of the EKC and make economic growth sustainable or reduce the environmental cost of this growth. The study of the interface of environment and economy, however, becomes extremely complex due to the influence of diverse factors such as economic liberalisation, structural changes in the economy, socio-political factors, role of market agents, availability of information and voluntary action.