P.P. Sangal

A life lived with purpose and reflection is among a person’s greatest accomplishments.

Dr Sangal was an eminent public policy analyst and a thinker on India’s most pressing socio-economic and environmental challenges. With a distinguished career in administration and policy with Central Government, he brought a uniquely pragmatic and evidence-based perspective to complex global issues that also confronted our country. Planet and People brings together his incisive writings, many of which appeared in leading business dailies such as The Economic Times, Hindu BusinessLine, and The Financial Express, reflecting his deep commitment to informed public discourse. His work was marked by rigorous analysis, offering not only critiques of existing systems—from fragmented poverty alleviation programmes to flawed urban transport policies—but also concrete, often unconventional, solutions. Dr Sangal advocated leveraging market mechanisms and pioneered ideas in areas such as solid waste management, environmental pollution, and noise pollution, while consistently championing comprehensive strategies for sustainable and inclusive development. This was in the era of the 1990s, when India was at the cusp of economic liberalisation, making the balancing of industrial development and environmental protection a concept ahead of its time.

This compendium of some of his articles is a testament to his lifelong mission to promote robust, well-reasoned, and ethically grounded policy-making. Through his thoughtful insights on climate change, renewable energy, and poverty alleviation, Dr Sangal continues to inspire readers—policymakers, industrialists, professionals, students, and citizens—to engage with the hard choices that define development.

His vision remains relevant even today– "a world where economic progress does not come at the cost of nature, and is inclusive in providing every individual an opportunity to live with dignity and hope."