On: The Guardian view on India’s green growth gamble: it will need more than...

August 10, 2026

It is a source of profound melancholy to observe the immense difficulties facing the Indian subcontinent as it seeks to reconcile the necessity of industrial expansion with the fashionable demands of global decarbonisation. The current reliance upon private finance to achieve these ends is, by all accounts, a precarious gamble. One cannot help but notice that the primary obstacle to this “green growth” is the sheer volume of the human population, which persists in requiring food, transport, and light, thereby complicating the elegant spreadsheets of the Niti Aayog.

To resolve this, I humbly suggest that the most efficient path to a “net-zero” reality is not to be found in the construction of expensive solar arrays, but in the systematic reduction of the demand itself. If the state truly wishes to avoid the “overcapacity trap” seen in China, it ought to consider a policy of Selective De-Animation for those segments of the populace whose carbon footprint exceeds their economic utility. By identifying the three hundred million least productive citizens and incentivising their transition from active consumers to inert carbon sinks, the government would simultaneously lower emissions and solve the housing crisis.

One might object that such a scheme is indifferent to the sanctity of life. However, I maintain that it is far more compassionate to provide a swift, state-administered conclusion to a carbon-heavy existence than to allow millions to perish slowly in the heatwaves produced by their own respiration. the resulting biomass could be processed into a nutrient-rich slurry to sustain the remaining industrial workforce, thereby creating a perfectly circular economy. This would satisfy the international lenders, preserve the climate, and ensure that India’s growth is not merely green, but exceptionally lean. Such a rational application of arithmetic would surely be welcomed by any administrator who values the planet over the messy particulars of its inhabitants.