Union minister for environment Jairam Ramesh, just back from the Cancun summit, tells FE?s Nistula Hebbar about his job, his talent for making enemies and why he thinks his funeral will be thinly attended.

In the case of Lavasa, it is being said your ministry?s attitude is dictated by the shadow boxing between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)?

That is completely false. I don?t know anything about the political connections of Lavasa. The only thing that I am aware about is that my good friend Arun Shourie lives there. A final decision on Lavasa will be in by January 10. Let me put this straight, this is not a development versus growth debate. Indians love passing laws and then bypassing them. If you follow the laws of the land, you have nothing to fear, but if you don?t then expect the axe to fall.

India is not the only country to follow a development path but we seem to have more of a problem with industrial projects.

We are re-looking at some of the laws which we think have worn out their rationale, like we are coming out with a new Coastal Regulational Zone, 2010. It isn?t that the environment ministry is blocking everything. In 95% of the cases, you will find that we have granted clearances within the stipulated 105 days. That of course does not grab headlines. Who said I am anti big business?

You say that you have made many enemies here, but Rahul Gandhi has described you as one of the most hard working ministers.

Rahul Gandhi is one of my three bosses. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being the other two. I haven?t heard him say that, I?ve only heard it reported.

Have you recommended a gas guzzler tax for the next Budget and what about green budgeting provision?

I would certainly like to ask for a levy on gas guzzlers. I think there should be a tax which penalises bad environmental behaviour and rewards good behaviour. The Planning Commission is coming up with a plan on that and the 13th Finance Commission has recommended Rs 5,000 crore to kick start it. This has to be institutionalised. We cannot pollute our way to prosperity.

You have also spoken out against compensatory afforestation, whereas in other countries, it’s perfectly acceptable.

See, there are extreme limitations on compensatory afforestation, the way I see it, we are just assuaging our guilt conscience by this. We cannot replace centuries old forests with monoculture vegetation. There is no purpose served by this.

Coming to the congress party, in an earlier interview, before the 2009 elections, you had said the ?big Mo? or momentum of politics was with the party. That has slackened in the last few months.

I admit that our ?Big Mo? may have slackened in the last few months but the other guys don?t have a ?Mo? to begin with. The Left is soon to be reduced to being a Tripura based party, and the BJP is a TV channel ?Mo? party. I don?t see this as a grand mobilisation of the opposition.