'There are no free lunches in economics'

'There are no free lunches in economics', goes the famous age old adage. It implies that for every benefit there is a cost even if the cost is not seen right away. Indeed. Modern day economics has got this point spot on. But we think there is a small defect here. While talking of free lunches, the economists only take the interaction between humans and human institutions into account. But what about the non human environment? What about the enormous wealth that has been generated from the finite resources of the environment? Similarly, what about the disposal of expensive wastes into the world around us? By ignoring mother nature, isn't the modern day economics availing of one free lunch after another? Certainly. Thus, it is time the record is set straight on this one. Environmental considerations will have to be built into economic decision making. Otherwise we will end up creating a huge ecological disaster.

Thus, with this background in mind, we were disturbed when recently, India's civil aviation minister slammed the environment ministry for delaying clearances to a prestigious airport project. It is believed that the new project could end up destroying around 400 acres of forest, a blow that the environment ministry is clearly not willing to take. Honestly, such issues are not only sensitive but quite subjective in nature as well. Thus, we cannot know for sure to what extent economics can override ecology. But what angered us is the outright callousness of the aviation ministry. "I do not understand their objections.....We can't be overly obsessive about environmental issues. We can't give priority to 50-100 acres of degradation over a large infrastructure project", is what the minister is believed to have said. Please do not get us wrong. We are all for growth. But we are certainly not about riding roughshod over environmental considerations. Why can't we have both.