#economic progress

We drive into a wall of smog. Pollution is the price of progress. One of the prices, anyway. Some drivers pull over. Jets scream overhead. We cannot see them. The New Delhi airport is nearby. We cannot see it either. Soon we can't even see the car directly in front of us. Two disembodied red lights float in the chemical haze. The driver slows. He finds the turn at the last minute and screeches to the terminal. I'm dreading the usual chaos of an Indian airport. But once inside, I am transported. Is this the future? The place is new and serene. The floors are shiny. A fancy coffee kiosk teems with under-caffeinated commuters. The food court has a Subway, a Baskin-Robbins, a McDonald's, a Yo!China. There's a bookstore. A bronze elephant towers in the lobby. That's when I see it. There's a restaurant named Dilli Streat. It's a take on Delhi's famous street-food scene. It has slightly dressed-up versions of blue-collar classics. The concept is an ironic mixture of old and new, with a winking nod to a past seen as quaint yet valuable. Cynicism and irony, on back-to-back days. India is changing at lightning speed.

The Norwegian oil business is trying. Offshore drilling activities have been subject to a carbon tax since 1991, and by 2018, around 80% of greenhouse gas emissions were taxed. Norway is one of the world leaders in carbon capture, utilisation and storage. "Norwegian oil is the greenest oil in the world - the best of the worst - and we invest the profits in the environment," Hilde-Marit Rysst says. "We can't get flak for that!" She argues that as long as there is the demand for more energy, Norway is fulfilling a valuable role. Future generations will want cars and mobile phones too, she says. "In a post-oil Norway, we may not have the same economic progress, but it is much more important to me that I can breathe, have children with a clear conscience, than Norway being the richest country in the world," says Emma Bugge Gjerdevik. "If not even the richest country in the world can start rebuilding, who will?" Thor points out that Norway's neighbours have succeeded in creating flourishing societies without the economic benefits of "black gold". "Sweden and Finland have managed to build a welfare state without oil," he says. "Still, we'll have to remove a little of our most luxurious and extravagant habits if we remove the oil; hold back a little."

जी. डी. नायडू: कोइम्बतूरचे संपत्ती निर्माते !

बिम्सटेक शिखर सम्मेलन 2025: पीएम मोदी थाईलैंड पहुंचे, रामकियेन के प्रदर्शन ने बांधा समां

On progress.