Making India a Sustainable Superpower: Leveraging Culture and Social Inclusion

Sustainable development has four pillars; culture, social inclusion, environment, and economy Any country can become a sustainable superpower by focusing on all the four pillars. Ram Ramprasad expounds if we need to build a sustainable ecosystem, then culture needs to enliven the pearls of wisdom in the ancient cultural practices of India, and unite them with the sustainable technological innovations occurring all over the world. This union can propel India to become a sustainable economic superpower. While the article focuses on India, concepts are applicable to other countries as appropriate.

Sustainability Embedded in the Ancient Culture of India

Assume a ladder with ten rungs; the top rung representing a perfect circular economy and the bottom rung representing the complete opposite. India over the years fell down from the top rung to the bottom rung by adopting an economy built on climate exacerbating products such as fossil fuels, plastics, cement, steel, etc. Unfortunately, every country in the world followed this model. Thus, the world is now paying the price of extreme climate-related disasters and loss of biodiversity.

Sustainability and a circular economy was the DNA of our culture. In India, most people eat food with their hand, they believe that each of the five fingers represent the five elements of the earth energy, and when brought together aid digestion. These cultural practices help save the planet from the use of plastic knives, spoons, and forks including the cutting down of trees to make dining tables. In ancient India, hygiene practices were also sustainable. People brushed their teeth with tree twigs of medicinal value thus saving the planet from the disposal of plastic toothbrushes. Bathing was with herbal shampoo and soap.

Dishes were scrubbed with coconut husk. Natural cleaning agents were used to wash floors, utensils or clothing.

Water systems were never polluted with chemicals. In short, sustainable development was a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach. The carbon footprint of individuals in ancient India was significantly lower compared to the modern man.

Leveraging Cultural Practices for Sustainable Growth