By Ruma Dubey

All of a sudden our Environment, Jayanti Natarajan seems to have developed a responsibility towards her work. She seems to have woken up and probably feels she needs to make a noise or else, no one will know about her existence.

Sounding more like a voice to get ‘her share’ or to show anyone who believes that she is serious about the environment, she has become a roadblock on the much awaited National Investment Board (NIB) proposed by the Finance Minister.  The NIB is being formed to monitor the progress of infrastructure projects worth $200 million and above and it will have the power to speed up issues related to regulatory approvals. As usual, the intention behind NIB is good but like many past plans, will this ever take off? Now, that is another story for another day….

Jayanti Natarajan is worried that her role could get further obliterated and thus decided to object. She has called the NIB unconstitutional and “completely unacceptable”. She says that when her department, the Environment department rejects a proposal, on grounds of violating environment laws, then no panel should have the power to overrule that decision. 

Oh really! Now this is some cheek; is she vying for more attention or is this a PR exercise? Maybe she wants us all to know that she too has a voice and her department does indeed do some work. But really,given her current track record, this sudden enlightenment about her responsibility reeks more of some politics at play. Her objection is perfecty right because giving NIB such authority to suprcede all departments for clearances is dnagerous but coming from her, sounds like mere words.

Does she really care about the environment? After she took over from Jayaram Ramesh, she has been quietly doing her work – clearing all projects like there is no tomorrow. So from a time when this ministry had gained the prominence which it should have, it became a ministry of mere tokenism. After all, in the battle between development and environment, it is always the former which will always win; two hoots to the forest and environment! And if the developed countries make a big deal about it? Well, they are developed and we are developing so we do not have the luxury of showing any care for the environment. That in a nutshell is the attitude.

As an Environment Minister, Ms.Natarajan would have surely visited a few national parks and tiger reserves over the past one year that she has been in tenure? Well, she was so busy clearing the backlog created by her predecessor that she simply did not have time to visit even one! And she is the environment minister.  

More damaging is the way in which she has been clearing projects, despite being advised by her own Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) to not do so.  The FAC had rejected the 300 MW Alaknanda hydro-electric project being developed by GMR. This project is coming up right at the mouth of the Ganga tributary, Alaknanda and the FAC has warned that it will be an ecological disaster as the dam will damage parts of the rich Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve which houses snow leopard, brown bear and 16 endangered plant species. Well, overruling the FAC, she has given the green signal to the project.

The FAC had also objected to the construction of the Lower Demwe hydro project in Arunachal Pradesh, which would mean cutting down 50,000 trees and submerging precious wild life. But Ms.Natarajan surely knows more and despite the FAC, has cleared the project. She cleared the project, refuting all reports and tribal protests stating that the dam is 8.5 to 9.3 kilometres from the nearest boundary of the Kamlang Wildlife Sanctuary though she remains silent about the reservoir created behind the dam will submerge forests up to 50 metres from the Sanctuary's edge. So as an Environment Minister, especially because she is responsible more for development, she prefers to submerge forests to protect an artificial reservoir. Now that’s a duty very well done!

There are serious doubts over the expertise of the site-visiting officers where most submitted poor reports. A retired forest officer, while making an evaluation report on the Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa, regarding Vedanta’s bauxite mining could not even differentiate between a tiger and a hyena. And these are the reports based on which the Ministry grants or rejects approvals?

The point which Ms.Natarajan makes this time on NIB, saying the size of the investment should not matter and but the impact it makes should be the criteria. A coal project might cost more but a smaller investment in, say a paper mill or paint factory might generate more employment. So her point about discrimination on the basis of size of investment being wrong is right. But because her past track record has been so poor, somehow her current objection sounds hollow. Yes, the environment, under any cost should be protected first. If there is no earth itself, what is the point of these projects?  A visit to Simla, Darjeeling or Uttaranchal shows how mindless and environmentally damaging most of the development has been. The story in rest of India is the same.

On talking to a wide spectrum of people, it becomes clear that no one ever expects any huge, path breaking environmental action to jeopardize the gargantuan amounts of money invested by these companies. A strong rap by Ms. Natarajan could make the companies, probably, more responsible. They might give due importance to environment issues as well as development. But as we all know, anything is 'chalta hai' in India. Remember, in our country, most of the times, is it indeed money power which always wins.

PS: After a long time, she was seen on TV; no environment issue but defending Vadra, who is not even a Corporator, forget being a minister. Obviously, one first needs to protect one’s chair….