The issue of environment and development has occupied the centre-stage in India not only because of the failure of the global climate talks in Copenhagen last December, but also in the light of the reported fissures within the Government about the overzealousness of Mr Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment (Independent Charge), in allegedly blocking clearances to projects via his Ministry.
India has the dubious distinction of being the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) even if the volumes are relatively less compared to that of the US, Russia or China. But the key issue of balancing ecology and sustainable economic growth throws up a big challenge to the authorities even as India is all set to cruise on the high growth path.
To get a grip on the various controversial issues that bedevil this otherwise staid Ministry, which suddenly finds the spotlight on itself because of the grouse of the Ministries of Road, Coal and Minerals, Business Line spoke to Mr Jairam Ramesh.
With a stint at the Commerce Ministry before heading the Environment Ministry, Mr Ramesh also pooh-poohs attempts to link trade and environmental issues by asserting that “the US legislation has proposed border taxes on countries that do not come on to legally binding agreements. We have rejected this clearly and categorically. You cannot use climate change talks to bring in trade-related issues. In our view, it is not WTO-compatible — it is bad for trade and it is bad for climate."
With his characteristic clarity and candidness, Mr Ramesh dismisses the diatribe against him for being “intrusive and anti-growth", saying: “I am fulfilling only my dharma".
Excerpts from the interview:
How do you respond to the charge that your Ministry puts too many spokes into the wheels of development by being “too nosy and noisy and anti-growth?"
We are not intrusive. We are only implementing the laws of the land. We have the Environment Protection Act of 1986 and the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, the two major pieces of legislation, the implementation of which is our responsibility. I am not being intrusive. I am not being anti-growth. All I am saying is that environment and development have to go hand-in-hand.
Sustainable development means having a 9 per cent rate of growth that does not endanger the growth prospects of future generation. Nine per cent economic growth must not result in the weakening of the ecological security; prosperity does not equal to pollution.
And, now, if environment and development have to go hand-in-hand — all of us are agreed on that and there can't be any dispute on that — certain trade-offs have to be made. All I am doing is making that trade-off explicit and transparent. If environment and development have to be go hand-in-hand, there will be cases where I will say, ‘yes', there will be cases where I will say, ‘yes but', and there will be some cases where I will have to say, ‘no'. All the three constitute the universe of trade-offs. Read the full report in the Hindu Business Line here.
Source: G. Srinivasan, The Hindu Business LineÂ
