Text of the Lecture

Rethinking Growth Redefining Development.pdf

The First Annual Girish Sant Memorial Lecture was held at IIT Bombay on November 7, 2012. The speaker of the occasion, Mr. Shripad Dharmadhikari spoke about his work which looks at the challenges, the solutions  and the approaches in addressing India's water and energy needs. Sustainability, equity, justice, adequate and secure access, all need to be the basic objectives of the country's development strategy. While the need for inclusion is talked about, it should not be limited to subsistence but must mean a decent standard of living for all. The Speaker put forward his understanding of what this implies in concrete terms for water and energy policies and development strategies.  Further, his experience and analysis leads him to the conclusion that meeting these goals will necessarily involve rethinking and redefining our notions of growth and development themselves. He also shared the contours of what such rethinking would imply. The presentation was a mix of theoretical and conceptual analysis and experiences and examples from real-life situations.