@ JoJo
I of course can't reduce the population of India! Read it : NO AMOUNT OF ECONOMIC GROWTH CAN HELP LIVE THE WAY AMERICANS DO - there are just not sufficient resources. A classic example of a developed country with high population density, but nowhere near to the standard of living of Americans/ Canadians is Japan.
Here are the basic questions that no amount of economic growth, no amount of engineering can solve:
1) How to house 1.2 billion population ( and rising, expected to hit 1.8 billion - 2 billion by 2050! - scares the hell out of me) without cutting down trees, without harming nature, and keeping forest cover at around 30% of total area - as prescribed by UN.
2) How do you provide drinking water - there is only so much fresh water in India. FYI you cannot just purify sea water, even rich countries cannot afford the high costs.
3) How do you solve problem of pollution such as water ( more fertilizers, more pesticides - more pollution), air pollution (more cars, more industries - more smoke), and land pollution ( dumping of solid wastes).
4) There will always be more countryside, more space per capita in US, even Europe in some 10 years, in comparison to India. India would look like a giant urban landmass without any green countryside. The countryside of north Indian states is pathetic - all trees have been cut down to make way for land for growing crops.
5) How do you feed such a massive population? If average Indian were to consume as much food as an average American/European, the entire food supply of the world will be insufficient. FYI the yield per acre in developed countries has already plateaued- there is only so much sunlight that the plants can receive in their growing season.
6) Can you really house an average Indian in the size of an average American house - over 1900 sqft. Nope. even Europeans can't.
7) Can an average Indian use same amount of electricity per capita without impacting the prices of world commodities? Nope.
Now to the ground reality (these are things that can change provided Indians try to live with a sense of community, rather than, currenly, self centered bastards who care nothing about others):
1) No one is interested in doing ground breaking projects requiring billions of dollars.
2) No one in India is ready to spend on R&D and develop new technologies, new medicines- our pharma companies are just copycats ( quite similar to Chinese) and just believe in making generic drugs. The R&D money is spent on how to copy the product of their counterparts, rather than on developing new products.
3) Corruption. There is a huge requirement of money in India, and whatever the government vaporizes into thin air as a result of corruption.
4) Poor planning.
5) No real concern for country. I live in Dwarka, a new township in Delhi. When I came, I was charmed by the fact that - I was out of the congestion of normal city, dirt of the city, etc etc. However, unfortunately what I feared happened- People, the so called Pround Indians, came and made everything dirty - throwing garbage on the road, no civic sense, nothing. It seems people have become immune to dirt, garbage here. I see people sleeping next to garbage, at the same time throwing garbage there - this can happen only in India.
I was amazed by the fact that a foreigner has more civic sense in terms of not throwing garbage ( for a country that is not even theirs) - I saw a person carrying an empty bottle of Pepsi and walk 500 meters just to throw it in dustbin. When I insist that someone throw garbage in the dustbin, the first response is : Who cares? It's not my property anyway! Then who'll walk so much just to throw garbage, or if you are willing to throw my garbage in the dustbin then it's fine, but I wont go that far.
My philosophy : If you are poor, it's not your fault, but if you are dirty and make everything else dirty, then you are definitely at fault.
This is a classic example of difference between culture and economy. It's the culture that influences how people live and behave in the society, not the economy.
A single person cannot change everything above, especially in a country like India. It's absurd. Futher, do not expect others to do what you yourself cannot do. So, rather than suggesting me to do something ..., I would suggest that you tell me/other what you have done . However, even then its is impossible to live like Americans unless you are suggesting that we do something like the UK did in 1800's and 1900's- colonization.
India's nature ( in particular) and cities look war torn zones, because of the huge impact of the burgeoning population. There is no water for people to drink in cities like Delhi. There is no greenery, in areas which were once rainforests. We have cleared massive rainforests for the sake of housing India's population, which added another America in just last 10 years!
My friend you have confused confused economic development with improved environment. I can assure you that there is not relationship between the two.
I am a native of J & K state, more specifically a Kashmir, and even with no economic development like rest of India, it looks more beautiful, less congested, cleaner, pollution free, slum free, beggar free.
Now when you visit Himachal Pradesh, a vibrant fast growing/booming state in comparison to J &K , you get a complete opposite picture, especially cities such as Shimla - full of garbage, massive deforestation, slums, beggars, dirt. I vistied Shimla first in 1995/1996 - it was a beautiful place. Now, it's an eyesore. I've stopped visiting that place for this reason.