Environment sustains life and is indispensable to human existence and growth. The state of environment not just represents the quality of life but also its sustainability — indicating how long future generations will live safely. The Environmental Performance Index — compiled by Yale Centre and Columbia's Earth Institute — has put India as the last among the laggards towards preserving the environment. So, the clear question is, are Indians deteriorating their quality of life and curtailing the chances of environmental sustainability? Indicators have been crystal clear. Leaving aside the pandemic, climate-related phenomena have emerged as the most prominent killers over the past couple of years. In 2019, more than 23 lakh people died prematurely due to pollution in India. Pollution, then again, is only a single factor. The country has been witnessing numerous floods in the plains, landslides and cloudbursts in hilly regions, cyclones along the coastal plains, heatwaves in ghats and whatnot. India's paramount geographical diversity makes it vulnerable to a plethora of climatic disasters. India's positioning in the EPI index is an indicator that the nation is not heeding to these threatening signs. There appears to be a lack of realisation that the perspective around the environment in India is still outdated. Environment, particularly in today's world, can't be accorded secondary status to the quest for development. Ironically, most of the development that humans have achieved to date has come at the cost of the environment. Central and state governments need to come out of the fabricated dilemma of choosing one over the other. We have already reached the tipping point and climate conservation is no more a choice but an imperative. The redundant approach of doing charity to the environment, by preserving it, has to be shed away sooner than later; the challenge today is to safeguard our own lives and existence. The EPI index — devised on the basis of 40 performance indicators across 11 issue categories — demonstrates that Indians are not living up to this challenge. Environment Clearance laws are argued to have been diluted to facilitate the path forward for mega projects. At a time when environment-related laws should be made more stringent, legislations related to coastal regulation, wildlife and mining in forests appear to be losing their sharpness. Industries seem to be winning the battle over the environment — and this may spell a grave defeat for the entire humankind. While industries are mere tools, the environment has been the real driver of human development all through history. In chasing the mirage of industry-led development at the cost of the environment, we may be blocking our path to growth forever! Rather than realising the threat that is so clearly visible, naysayers have chosen to find the fallacies in the Environment Performance Index. Its choice of metrics — ecosystem vitality, health and climate policy — is being criticised for being arbitrary. Further, it has been alleged that comparison between data-deficient and data-rich countries has placed certain countries lower down the ladder. Certainly, these claims have also met their counter-claims. But the moot point is that the ranking of countries should not be seen through the lens of a report card where who's trailing behind whom is important. Credible reports need to be taken seriously and in a matured way. As the report states, "EPI indicators provide a way to spot problems, set targets, track trends, understand outcomes, and identify best policy practices." It further adds that good data and fact-based analysis can help government officials refine their policy agendas, facilitate communications with key stakeholders, and maximise the return on environmental investments." Inter-country comparisons, if taken in a constructive manner, can also prove to be a great tool for environmental conservation. India needs to have a serious relook at its environment policies domestically and also incorporate some of the best practices from the rest of the world. EPI index is a wake-up call for the country.