An ecologically illiterate Budget Updated: Updated: On several significant items relating to the environment, allocations have remained stagnant or fallen Share Article On several significant items relating to the environment, allocations have remained stagnant or fallen In 1991, when the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh ushered in economic reforms that catapulted India into the global economy, I had asked him how he intended to balance rapid economic growth with environmental protection. He said that the experience of the West is that once there is enough money in the economy through growth, it can be put for ecological purposes. A dismal gap