The economics professor argued that the command and control approach should be replaced by market-based approaches to environmental regulation in India.
India would be better off changing its mode of regulation from command and control driven to market-driven, according to Greenstone, laying emphasis on meeting goals rather than focussing on the way the industry achieves them.
This would achieve better environmental outcomes like dealing with air pollution and reduce environmental compliance costs for industries.
I have studied Indian regulations, there are opportunities to create what economists call a win-win situation; achieve better environmental outcomes and reduce the environmental compliance costs.
How can we do that through market-based regulations?
Too often right now, this is not limited to India, the standard reaction to regulation is: I want to require the installation of some equipment.The government can do that, it can be very costly.
The regulatory goal then becomes did they install the equipment, rather than whether they achieved the environmental goals.
The contention is that the data about premature mortality is extrapolated by foreign organisations and is therefore not reliable.
Is China is doing a better job than India in tackling air pollution?
There is an acceptance that air pollution affects human health, people in China are demanding that they do something about it.