|
India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. It has reached a growth of 5.4% during the third quarter of 2021-22 as compared to China’s 4.9% (NSO, 2022; EFE, 2021). This comes after a worldwide slowdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The worst seems over, and the economy is recovering fast. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast a 9.0% growth for the full fiscal (Business Standard, 2022). It is the sixth largest economy in the world with an estimated GDP of 3.25 trillion USD (nominal) going by the IMF’s 2022 estimates. Projections by the Center for International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School show that India will continue to sustain its economic growth over the next couple of decades keeping the 7% mark (Dani and Subramanian, 2004). This is contrary to the continued slowdown of China pegged at 4.3%. According to PwC’s ‘The World in 2050’ report, by 2050, India will be the second largest economy in the world after China, overtaking even the USA (PwC, n.d.). Thus, India has the greatest potential of becoming the emerging market to the leading economies of the world. This sustenance of growth will be mainly due to the emerging youth population of India. All of them will not be employed, but some will engage in self-employment through creation of small and micro enterprises. Their employment will ensure greater share of revenues to the government in the form of taxes and other social exchanges, building the blocks of the country’s growth. Most of the economic growth in India will be in the services and manufacturing sectors. The other sectors of importance will be the mining and quarrying, electricity, gas and water supply, construction, and transport. Importantly, the growth of the agriculture sector (the largest contributor to the Indian economy) will be stagnant with no sign of rapid acceleration. This will be sustained due to the government policies such as the Make-in-India campaign to promote India as the most important and emerging hub for manufacturing. Whereas the economic growth signs are positive riding on the manufacturing sector, questions arise on the issue of raw material availability for driving the growth. The major and critical raw materials to cater to the manufacturing sector and infrastructure growth are steel, coal, cement, sand, and aggregates, to name a few. To fuel the growth of the country, one of the major raw materials is coal. This is used as a basic raw material for power generation and also for producing steel, cement, and other processed goods. Reports have predicted that India has enough coal to last for centuries. However, as per a report by Planning Commission, if all inferred reserves also materialise then coal and lignite can last for over 140 years at the current rate of extraction (GoI, 2006). But, if the country has to sustain the projected economic growth rate, then the total extractable coal reserves will last only 45 years. With the total resources of over 33.276 billion tonnes of haematite (Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4), India is one of the leading producers of iron ore in the world (GoI, 2020). The future, however, looks quite bleak with the estimated life of the total reserve at 20–25 years (considering the increased rate of economic growth). This might be extended in the future with emphasis on import of high-grade ore from neighbouring countries. Limestone is one of the major raw materials for producing cement, quicklime, and other building materials. It is one of the most abundant minerals in earth across countries and geographies. However, it is also one of the most abundantly mined minerals. Majority of the limestone is used in cement manufacturing. Although India has quite a substantial reserve of limestone which is estimated to be 2,03,224 million tonnes, the processing of limestone into cement raises issues of direct CO2 emissions (GoI, 2021). Thus, to sustain the growth of the country in a sustainable manner, the following two issues become important:
This requires a paradigm shift from the usual nature of doing business or production using standard processes and techniques. Whereas the business profits and goals need to be kept in mind, the issues of environmental degradation and resource availability are of prime concern. This is applicable for any businesses looking at the long-term goals, profitability, and sustainability. Development Alternatives has been working for the last three decades on developing technologies that minimise the use of virgin natural resources and are also less polluting, reducing the use of energy. This has been made possible through the use of industrial and process waste materials and their value addition to realise improved profits through reuse and recycling. The four recently developed technologies worth mentioning here to provide an example to large, medium, and small enterprises in defining new ways of doing business without degrading the environment and increasing the life of the natural materials we have are as follows:
Use of foundry waste slag for building
materials
Use of marble sludge waste in handmade
paper and construction
Recycling of construction and demolition
waste as a replacement of natural aggregates
Development of low-carbon cement Moreover, consumption is set to rise dramatically in coming decades as developing and emerging countries follow their development paths. This creates two main challenges for the future, which are:
The majority (60%) of CO2 emissions associated with classical cement production come from the decarbonation of limestone (“chemical” CO2) during the production of clinker – the main ingredient of cement. The most effective strategies to reduce environmental impact lie in reducing the clinker content of cement. The limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) being developed looks at the synergetic effect of clinker substitution by a combination of calcined clays and limestone (which is the LC3 technology). It allows a reduction of up to 60% clinker to obtain cement with similar properties of ordinary portland cement. The calcined clay used is of non-ceramic/refractory grade unfeasible for use by the conventional ceramic industries and thus does not have a resource conflict. With the current clinker production facilities, the amount of cement can be increased by a factor of 2 – with only marginally increased investments. At the same time, LC3 is cheaper than ordinary portland cement. The LC3, thus, in fact is a low-carbon cement and is a very attractive and feasible strategy to satisfy both development and environmental objectives. References:
Dr. Soumen Maity |
