there was a news article in hindu that i would bet 100% of the 'developed' india would have not noticed.

it is from the ministry of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. as per the report, they are working with Tata Energy and Research Institute (TERI) to develop this 'voluntary' system.

and the report interestingly quotes as below:
TERI’s Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) is a voluntary scheme that will evaluate the environmental performance of a building over its entire life cycle. The mechanism is based on inputs from the upcoming mandatory voluntary building codes being developed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, the Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources, Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Bureau of Indian Standards.

the idea is a very good one. develop building standards that are sustainable in the construction of the building itself but also in the day to day operations of the building. the report adds

the report also says that it will be based on the 'mandatory voluntary' (isn't the 2 mutually exclusive!!) building code being done by moef.

let us be clear on thing. no more voluntary business. in india even mandatory laws are treat voluntary and anything voluntary will be treated with disdain.

let us stop all hog wash and come with a scalable, sustainable and urgent green building code that does NOT pamper to the builders. let us go green for india sake and not for fake development sake.

western countries, with their devil-may-care-about-global-warming attitude can care less about the fancy buildings. but a resource starved, people intensive country like india cannot afford this luxury especially a luxury that is being enjoyed by a so few at a huge cost to fragile environment from which the resources come for the luxury.
(the skyline in gurgoan, india. with massive residential apartments having zero sustainable construction concepts, that act as housing but also big energy suckers, the elite and urban india is going in the opposite direction to that of sustainable living)