Asian Insider Podcast

What cues India can take from China to fix its foul air and water

In this episode, we talk about how China can help India fix its foul air and water.

ST GRAPHIC: FA'IZAH SANI

While China significantly improved air quality, India now faces severe pollution, driving investment away and damaging its economy more than US tariffs.
Experts discuss India's challenge: despite scientific brainpower, political will is needed for solutions like appropriate water pricing to curb overuse.
Chandran Nair suggests India learn from China's environmental efforts, critiquing the consumption-based growth model for causing irreparable ecological damage.

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Synopsis: The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests.

There was a time when China was thought to have the world’s most polluted cities. However, Beijing’s sustained efforts have overturned that situation. Instead, when the question of polluted cities comes up, eyes turn to India now.

According to the noted Harvard economist Gita Gopinath, a former top IMF official, poor air quality is driving investment away from India and is causing more damage to its economy than US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

There is enough policy experience, and scientific knowledge, to mitigate the situation. Indeed, India has within itself some of the world’s best scientific brains. The question is whether it has the political will to take the right measures, including pricing essential services such as water appropriately to curb overuse and wastage.

In this wide-ranging conversation, host Ravi Velloor speaks with Chandran Nair, the Malaysian-born, founder and chief executive of Hongkong-based Global Institute for Tomorrow, on how India could take cues from China to fix its foul air and water.

Mr Nair, a biochemical engineer who in 1994, set up the first foreign environment consultancy in China. He is also a frequent traveller to China and India. He is also a sceptic of the consumption-based growth model that he says is causing irreparable damage to the environment.

Highlights (click/tap above)

3:42 China’s journey from ‘most polluted’ nation

10:52 India’s dismal environmental situation

14:26 Faulty growth models

17:37 Democratic non-dividend: India cannot do a China

22:42 Why utilities like water need to be priced right

Read Ravi’s columns: https://str.sg/3xRP

Follow Ravi on X: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor

Host: Ravi Velloor (velloor@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

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