When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh allocated the environment and forests portfolio to Jairam Ramesh a little over a year ago, he hoped that the dynamic minister would end the licence raj created by a maze of environmental clearances granted or withheld at the discretion of the ministry of environment. The tangled web of the environment bureaucracy all too often ended up encouraging rent-seeking and corruption while stifling economic efficiency. Jairam Ramesh seemed to share that vision when he announced, ?I want to preside over the liquidation of my ministry?s powers to grant approvals,? soon after he took charge.
Things have turned out quite differently though, with the Jairam Ramesh-led environment ministry putting spanners in the works of several important, high-profile and, from an economic point of view, critical projects in the past one year. The minister has clashed with Kamal Nath over his ambitious road building programme, which in Ramesh?s view needs to be more environment friendly. The minister for coal, Sriprakash Jaiswal, has protested at the environment ministry?s decision to block the exploration of coal blocks, apparently in heavily forested areas. And most recently, Ramesh has once again locked horns with civil aviation minister Praful Patel over the proposed Navi Mumbai airport for which the environment minister is refusing permission.
These are not, of course, instances of the government intimidating the private sector, but rather of one arm of the government blocking the policy initiatives of other arms of the same government. The one bit of good news in this tangle is the negligible likelihood of corruption and rent-seeking being the motivating factors for denying permission as might have been the case in the old days of industrial licence raj. A higher probability could be attached to a turf war between different arms of the government. But let?s be generous in granting Jairam Ramesh and his ministry the benefit of doubt. Let us accept their claim that there are genuine environmental concerns that need to be addressed, particularly in the case of infrastructure projects and mining.
But even if one accepts that Kamal Nath?s proposed roads may be encroaching upon protected animal sanctuaries, that allowing exploration in coal blocks where Sriprakash Jaiswal wants may lead to some deforestation, and that the Navi Mumbai airport if built where Praful Patel proposes it to be will destruct hundreds of acres of environmentally precious mangroves, one can still pin blame on the manner in which Jairam Ramesh?s ministry is handling these concerns, by simply stalling the projects.
Frankly, it?s an easy option for Jairam Ramesh. There is some instant political mileage to be gained from standing up for the environment. But by taking a hardline ?no-go? position, Ramesh is sending us back two decades to a time when there was a real belief that the twin goals of environment and development were not just contradictory but also zero-sum games. The world has come a long way since then and the environment-development discussion is no longer seen as a binary?every emerging economy needs to aspire towards both the goals with equal force. One had sincerely hoped that the forward-looking Jairam Ramesh would see this rather more clearly than his policy actions suggest.
It is admittedly a difficult act balancing genuine environment concerns with India?s need to speed up infrastructure development?there is no escaping the fact that India needs more roads, more minerals, more airports if it is to achieve the kind of rapid growth that will lift hundreds of millions out of poverty. Fortunately, the ministry of environment and its minister are uniquely positioned to do the balancing act.
It is just that they need to transform from being ?granters/withholders of permission? to being ?a problem solving agency?. It should not be enough for the environment ministry to say that a certain project may damage the environment and so must be disallowed?it must suggest an alternative or find ways to minimise or neutralise the damage.
Take the example of the raging controversy over the Navi Mumbai airport. The Mumbai airport in Santa Cruz simply doesn?t have the space for the expansion required?there is no space for a second parallel runway. So a second airport is without doubt necessary. The site identified for the Navi Mumbai airport is currently occupied by 400 acres of mangroves, which will obviously be destroyed if the airport is built there. There is, however, the option of replanting and regenerating the mangroves at an alternative location, as suggested by an expert committee of IIT-Powai and 12 other consultants. The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra had earlier appointed the department of life sciences at Mumbai University and a US environmental services firm to act as consultants on the replantation and regeneration of the mangroves. The Union environment ministry has, for now, sent back the expert committee report. The ministry should ideally engage closely with the experts and instead of blocking the project it should strive for a solution, closely monitoring the plan for, and then implementation of, replantation and regeneration of the mangroves. These processes of rehabilitation and relocation are never smooth in India but with pressure from a proactive central ministry, it can be done, for airports, roads and mines.
The point is that it is feasible to reconcile the environment with infrastructure development with adequate safeguards. It is, of course, a complex challenge that will require harder work for the ministry of environment (compared to simply denying permission), but still it?s hardly something that should daunt the feisty Mr Ramesh.
?dhiraj.nayyar@expressindia.com