Just a year and a half into the job, Jairam Ramesh has turned a once-marginal Environment Ministry into a powerful gatekeeper on India's road to prosperity. He's been called an eco-crusader, a "Dr. No" of development and even a buffoon, angering so many investors and politicians that there are constant rumors of his impending dismissal.
But his tenacity has fuelled an environmental debate that many say is long overdue.
After two decades of unbridled development, India risks becoming a victim of its own success. It is now the world's third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, with rivers the World Bank has described as fetid sewers and cities listed among the world's most polluted.
"Many people in India, particularly the elitist classes, still think 'Grow now, clean later.' We cannot repeat the mistakes of other countries," Ramesh told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I'm no eco-evangelist, but are we serious about implementing our environmental laws or not?"
The U.S.-educated technocrat-turned-politician insisted his job, adversarial by nature, is to help correct India's development course by enforcing long-ignored environmental laws. He takes Mohandas Gandhi, the Indian independence leader and advocate of sustainable living, as his touchstone.
"A country whose father of the nation is Mahatma Gandhi cannot but be an exemplar to the world on environmental matters. I find it hypocritical for us to chant and pay obeisance to him like we do and forget the essence of what he stood for," the 56-year-old minister said. Read the full report here.
Source: Katy Daigle, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, New Delhi.
