Wood is an important natural resource. In a developing country like India, on the one end of the spectrum, fuel wood continues to be the primary source of energy for millions of (mostly rural) citizens, while on other end of the spectrum, a healthy GDP growth rate ensures that a bourgeoning middle class craved for the most modern of wooden utilities, from modular kitchens to the latest designs in furniture.
The farmers of Singur in West Bengal are desperate to save their land from transforming into an assembly line for cars of Tata Motors priced at one lakh rupees (US$2222). While the state’s left front government is eager to oblige with cheap land deal, the Union government is ready with more tax cuts to shorten the fuse and set off explosion in car sales. In promising unconditional support our regulators forgot to ask about the product itself, -- an unusually cheap micro car – whose impact will reverberate much beyond Singur.
India is poised for a rapid economic growth - an 8 per cent GDP growth rate annually over the next two decades is now considered a settled matter. But there are major resource constraints to this growth story that economists talk about but have hardly taken into account in their growth projections.