Last week the Supreme Court of India did a rare thing. It walked back its own order from 2019, entailing a blanket ban on overhead power cables in the habitat of the Great Indian Bustard in Rajasthan.
Citing concerns on climate change and its impact on people it allowed the use of overhead cables to evacuate solar power—a key means of mitigating climate change from upcoming projects.
In the process the apex court has introduced a new grammar in dealing with emerging trade-offs between development and growth. To help unpack this judgement StratNews Global spoke to Debadityo Sinha, Lead of the Climate & Ecosystems team at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy on Capital Calculus.
