Growth at any cost new mantra

The department of environment came into existence on November 1, 1980 followed by state departments. The history of environmental governance in post-independent India started 25 years after Independence when the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, returned from the United Nations (UN) Conference on Human, Environment and Development in Stockholm in 1972…An Environment Policy and Strategy Statement was issued in the year of the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992.

Environment Impact Assessment for 32 sectors became compulsory by a notification passed in 1992. Environment approval committees were formed for each sectoral assessment and all power was vested with the Centre. In 1996, India became a nation to follow the environmental governance system with a series of further controlling notification on coastal zone management, hill development, disposal of wastes (biomedical, plastic, hazardous). PIL provided justice through the Supreme Court and high courts.

However, now, everything seems to move in a reverse direction. For the first time, there is no separate Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). A 25 per cent budget cut from the central government for MoEFCC was the next step. The Centre is shrugging off responsibilities of ensuring growth with conservation of environment. Expectations ran high when the Right to Forest, Right to Food, Right to 100 days of work and RTI Bills were passed. But now the biological process of “regressive metamorphosis” is becoming evident.

The latest one came from the draft notification to amend environmental impact assessment (2006) in 2014 and 2016. The amendments increase the power of states to grant environmental clearance to development projects, particularly aiming at the controversial sectors of mining and river valley project…

Further, it can be noted that the environment ministry is planning “to move the Supreme Court against the National Green Tribunal to exempt the real estate sector from environmental laws.” The notification on December 9, 2016 of the MoEFCC exempted real estate projects up to 1,50,00 square metres of built up area from environmental impact assessment. The said amendment notification is seen as a ploy to avoid environmental assessment.

The green bench stated that the construction industry sector emits 22 per cent of India’s total annual carbon dioxide emissions which will impact the country’s commitment to the Paris Protocol to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Further, the local municipalities and municipal corporations were asked to form environmental committees for overseeing environmental aspects of constructing buildings and realty projects (Jayanta Basu, The Telegraph, January 17, 2018). Obviously, the competence of such bodies especially to function without influencing the ruling political system will be highly questionable.

It all started with denotifying forests from within declared protected area network and how the country is gradually advancing towards one single goal — development at any cost. India is to honour 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a signatory to UN declaration. One wonders how to reconcile such aims with the real actions are seen in the country.

By: A K Ghosh