Jairam is not so green

By Gaurav Sharma
25 Apr 2010

Under attack from his colleagues for delaying development projects, Jairam Ramesh gets unprecedented support from environment activists for his green agenda. However, the facts disclose that he is not yet willing to change the environmentally destructive development philosophy of his government.

Jairam Ramesh, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests (E&F), who received bouquets and brickbats in equal measure from media, scientists, and fellow ministers for imposing moratorium on commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal in February this year, has once again come under attack for alleged slow pace of environmental clearance of development projects proposed by other ministries.

Environment activists, who are quite impressed by the recent pronouncements of the E&F minister, have responded by mobilising support in favour of Mr Ramesh. But a detailed analysis of the data of forest clearances approved by the MoEF since Mr Ramesh has taken its charge reveals figures which could silence both the pro-Ramesh and anti-Ramesh forces.

Last month, three cabinet ministers, Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Water Resource Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal complained to the Prime Minister that Ramesh’s ministry was delaying environment clearances for key infrastructure projects.

Consequently, PM had to step in and ask the Planning Commission to formulate a procedure that will help put environment clearances on a fast-track. Although Mr Ramesh may be becoming unpopular in his cabinet, he has earned accolades from environment activists for his stand on some of the environmentally sensitive projects.

His several decisions in recent months to cancel, postpone or downsize projects perceived to be harmful to environment have made him an unlikely hero of environment activists and nature lovers. So much so that many of the activists who have been severest of critics of successive governments’ environment and development policies have recently written letters to the Prime Minister and Congress Party president showering praise on Jairam Ramesh and requesting the PM to let him work freely as the custodian of India’s environment and forests.

However, his earnest approach towards protection and conservation of forests has not always been the same. Perhaps, the minister realized the widespread scepticism among enlightened citizens towards working of E&F ministry after holding public consultations on Bt brinjal which eventually led him to put moratorium on it in February 2010. The post moratorium praise heaped on him by people probably played a crucial role in re-alignment of priorities by the articulate and sensitive minister.

If we look at the MoEF figures of forest clearances for various projects in 2009, it is evident that Jairam Ramesh was quite liberal in giving permission for clearing forests for infrastructure projects in the first 6-7 months of his tenure as E&F minister. Though, his approach is more conservative now but still he continues to take pride in clearing most of infrastructure projects coming to his ministry.

In an interview to an English newspaper few days back, Mr Ramesh himself disclosed, “Before I came here I also subscribed to the general theology that environment and forest clearances can be speeded up. If you had asked me then, I would have also said, push comes to shove, projects could have been cleared faster. But having come here and seen the system and multiple stakeholders involved and the need to look at long term issues...”

After assuming office on May 22, 2009, Jairam Ramesh cleared 13642.99 hectares of forests for various projects by 31st December 2009. In addition to that, 55339.95 hectares were removed from the list of forest areas and allotted to cultivation and habitation areas in Ropar district of Punjab. In comparison, a significantly lesser forest area of 7597.52 hectares was cleared by his predecessor during January to May 2009, before Mr Ramesh was given the task to protect India’s forests.

Out of 13642.99 hectares of cleared forests between June and December 09, Kamal Nath’s ministry (Road and Transport) received the lion’s share. Mr Ramesh allowed clearing of 2202.382 hectares of forests to construct roads and highways. It is another matter that Mr Nath’s ministry has not even been able to reach the halfway mark of his ambitious projections made in 2009.

Of late, the E&F ministry has woken up to the cause of illegal mining. Jairam Ramesh, in his new avatar as anti-mining green crusader, imposed a moratorium on mining activities in Goa. Sadly, this decision came far too late to reduce the impact of mining and was taken only after the minister came under severe criticism for failing to protect Goa.

The moratorium on mining in Goa was followed by a wider study jointly conducted by the E&F and coal ministries, which found that as much as 35% of coal mines are located in ‘no go’ zones’. Though Mr Ramesh might have expressed shock over these findings but it was under his instructions the E&F ministry divested 3812.092 hectares of forests for the purpose of mining activities within a span of seven months (June to Dec 2009). What environmentalists do not know is that during the first five months of the year 2009, his predecessor gave permission for clearing only 1133 hectares forest area for mining purposes.

The E&F ministry under Mr Ramesh, during the seven month period (Jun-Dec 09), also cleared 1250.509 hectares of forest area for the purpose of generating power, even if it led to massive deforestation.

The states which incurred maximum loss in terms of forest areas due to liberal clearances by Mr Ramesh are Orissa, Gujarat and Chattisgarh.

Orissa, abundant in natural resources and one of the dream destinations of mining giants, tops the chart where 2805.563 hectares of forests were destroyed during the first few months of environment friendly minister’s tenure.

While 1102.167 hectares of forest area was cleared in Gujarat; Chhattisgarh witnessed the diversion of 910.515 hectares for the so called development projects. Out of this figure of 910.5 hectares, 883.22 hectares of forests were sacrificed only for mining. In comparison only 323 hectares of forest area was cleared in the Maoist affected Chhattisgarh from January to May 2009 before Jairam Ramesh took the charge at MoEF. Similar figures for other states also reveal that initially Mr Ramesh was more liberal in granting environment clearances than his predecessors.

But, for the past few months, since public consultations on Bt brinjal took place, in fact from January 2010, the minister has been treading the path cautiously in giving forest clearances to the infrastructure projects.

Consequently, this sudden transformation in the approach of E&F ministry under Mr Ramesh has come under attack for stalling the infrastructure projects of different ministries lately.

However, it would be naïve to conclude that an environmentally enlightened Jairam Ramesh is reversing the trend.

From January 2010 till date, road and transportation ministry has already been allocated 438.6405 hectares of forests in comparison to 2202.382 hectares cleared between June and December 2009.

Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had also complained about Ramesh’s anti-development drive. But the forest area cleared for power projects during his tenure is much higher than the area cleared from January to May 09.

Of late, mining seems to be the utmost concern of Ramesh as he put a hold on the mining activities in Goa. But the forest area cleared for mining during the first three months of this year is not negligible either. In comparison to the 3812.092 hectares cleared between June and December 2009, the favourite minister of environmentalists has given a go-ahead to clear 471.669 hectare forests till now.

But, Jairam Ramesh, the chief strategist of ruling party during the last two parliamentary elections, knows well to impress people with big words and little actions without altering the agenda set by his leaders in the party and the government. As if overcome by guilt for being blamed for stalling development projects, he exclaimed in the recent interview, “With a rate of acceptance of over 95% for environmental clearances and 85% for forest clearance how can you say we are stopping economic growth?”