(a) Is it possible to have sustainable development in India? Cite major environmental issues and suggest a few measures to…

Sustainable development in India Sustainable development in India is possible, but only if growth is redefined as capability expansion rather than mere output increase. The Brundtland Report’s idea of meeting present needs without compromising future generations, and Amartya Sen’s “Development as Freedom”, provide the normative base: development must enlarge health, education, political voice and environmental security. India’s SDG localisation framework, which maps national targets to states and districts, shows institutional intent, but feasibility is tested by acute ecological constraints. Major environmental issues include air pollution in NCAP cities, where particulate matter exceeds safe limits for much of the year; water stress highlighted by the NITI Aayog Composite Water Management Index, with many districts in severe or critical stress; land degradation from over-extraction, salinity and soil erosion; and climate vulnerability in coastal, Himalayan and drought-prone regions. These problems do not make sustainability impossible, but they require a shift from extractive expansion to regenerative planning. Measures must combine circular economy principles—reduce, reuse, recycle and design out waste—with the National Green Hydrogen Mission to decarbonise industry and transport. Agriculture needs climate-smart practices such as drip irrigation, crop diversification and soil health management. Environmental Impact Assessment reforms should make public participation meaningful and enforce post-project monitoring. Equally important is integrating traditional ecological knowledge, such as watershed management and community forest practices, into policy.

Displacement, deprivation and inequality Forced displacement of labourers in recent years has indeed deepened deprivation and inequality. Displacement has occurred through SEZs, dam projects, mining leases, urban renewal under Smart Cities, and infrastructure corridors. Cases such as Sardar Sarovar, the POSCO steel-plant project in Odisha with associated mining lease demands, and Dholera show how land acquisition severs livelihoods. The deprivation pathway is not merely loss of land. Displaced workers lose common property resources—forests, ponds, grazing land—that previously provided food, fodder and informal income. They are then absorbed into informal labour markets with irregular wages, no social security and precarious housing. Broken social networks weaken mutual aid, credit and childcare, while cultural dislocation erodes identity and community cohesion. Fernandes’s work on displacement and Dreze-Sen’s framework of capabilities show that deprivation is multidimensional: it reduces freedom, not just income. Resultant inequalities include assetlessness, where landless workers cannot accumulate capital; education disruption, as children miss schooling during relocation; blockage of intergenerational mobility, because skills and networks are not transferred; and gendered impacts, where women workers face longer care burdens, unsafe commuting, and loss of self-employment in agriculture or home-based work. Thus displacement converts temporary labour migration into permanent vulnerability.

Post-2015 poverty alleviation schemes After the 2015 SDGs, India launched several poverty-alleviation schemes and strengthened existing social protection, aligned with SDG-1 (no poverty) and SDG-2 (zero hunger). PM-KISAN provides income support to small and marginal farmers. Ayushman Bharat expands health insurance, reducing out-of-pocket expenditure. Jal Jeevan Mission targets household tap water supply, linking water access to health and productivity. SVAMITVA uses geospatial mapping to help rural households secure property rights, enabling credit. The post-2015 expansion of NSAP, though the programme itself predates 2015, has strengthened old-age, widow and disability pensions. However, critical assessment is necessary. Coverage gaps remain due to weak data, exclusion errors, and informal workers missing from formal registers. Fiscal sustainability is a concern, especially for cash transfers and insurance. Convergence with MGNREGA is uneven: wage work can coexist with asset creation, but if displacement removes local works or if labourers are away, the guarantee is weakened.

Thus, sustainable development in India is possible but conditional on ecological limits and social justice. Environmental degradation and forced displacement are not separate problems; both reduce capabilities and entrench inequality. A way forward is inclusive development that combines green industrial policy, climate-resilient agriculture, meaningful displacement rehabilitation, and robust social protection, ensuring that growth expands freedom for labourers, farmers and vulnerable communities alike.