Dec 19 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)
Why this Inertia Over the Environment?
Some rules are plain absurd; scrap them
The Modi government had promised to ease the problems with environmental clearance. Dishearteningly , the environment ministry continues to dither on scrapping two absurd rules, dashing investors' hope that the Centre would address their concerns with dispatch. One rule requires environmental clearance for building a factory larger than 20,000 sq m. The other asks investors to acquire nearly all the land required for a project before vetting it for environmental impact. The rule is even more absurd than it initially looks, because if there is any discrepancy between proposal and execution as regards the precise plots of land acquired, environmental clearance would be nixed. How these pieces of idiocy came to be instituted in the first place is a mystery. What is even more intriguing is the failure to remove them, even after the new government spotted them.Why should and how can land be acquired prior to assessment of a project's environmental impact? How would the impact change if the land that is acquired is, in its characteristics, the same as the one proposed in the project? Environmental clearances have become a new licence raj and source of corruption. Why should it take 18 months for an industrialist to secure an environmental nod, that too in the best-case scenario? States are also to blame for making onerous extra requirements. It will force many investors to review their decisions. Ideally , the Centre should transfer the task of according environment clearances to an independent expert authority , and let the environment ministry make policy and prescribe rules that the regulator would use to give or deny clearances.
However, policymaking should be done with a sense of urgency , while balancing development and the environment. Sure, every project must be assessed, and the need is to have an efficient environment impact assessment (EIA) process in place. Time limits for granting clearances, and better coordination between the states and the Centre, will help. The government should get cracking to remove hurdles to spur growth.
However, policymaking should be done with a sense of urgency , while balancing development and the environment. Sure, every project must be assessed, and the need is to have an efficient environment impact assessment (EIA) process in place. Time limits for granting clearances, and better coordination between the states and the Centre, will help. The government should get cracking to remove hurdles to spur growth.
