Striking a balance between growth imperatives and green concerns
is not impossible. It requires sincerity in politics, economy and science. The
key challenges before the Modi sarkar.
FirstPost, 31 May, 2014
While BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was making India dream of the Chinese rate of growth at his rallies in the four assembly poll-bound states, Reuters reported something unusual last November. Dropping the pursuit of growth-at-all-costs, the ruling Communist Party of China said it would put more emphasis on environmental protection when assessing officials, and would also hold local authorities directly responsible for pollution.
China had already launched Operation Green Fence, a campaign against the import of waste from the West. This April, as India voted Modi to power ostensibly to unleash growth, China amended its green law to make, reported Xinhua, “environmental protection the country’s basic policy”. Under the new law, officials would be judged by both growth and green targets, environmental impact of projects would be made public, NGOs would have the right to sue, and offenders would face strict penalties and jail terms.
Two decades of blinkered double-digit growth has made China an environmental disaster and necessitated such desperate efforts at recovery. Many fear it is probably too late for the Asian giant to pull back but the scale of Chinese operations are known to throw up surprises. In any case, there is an obvious lesson in the Chinese experience for India’s new government keen to emulate and overshadow the big neighbour’s growth story while facing the same environmental challenges.
In its first week, the Modi sarkar is considering green clearances for “28 standard projects” worth R 80,000 crore. In his first meeting with ministry officials on Thursday, Environment minister Prakash Javadekar was advised to open up dense forests for mining and allow new factories in heavily polluted industrial red zones. While a section of the bureaucracy is always more loyal than the king, Javadekar is yet to take a call. So far, he has been consistent before the media that his agenda is sustainable growth.
If the new government really means business, it won’t have to look far for an immediately actionable agenda. Typically, forest and wildlife clearances have been more contentious than environmental clearances because these hinge on the quality of forests and the presence of wildlife on project sites. Therefore, it is necessary to have an objective picture of the ground condition. For that, the new government must implement the excellent report of the T Chatterjee committee submitted last year.
The panel recommended a set of scientific criteria for demarcating India’s best forest areas as out of bounds for invasive projects such as mining. On the no-go list were protected areas (PA) and a one-kilometre-ring around PAs; compact patches of very dense forests; last remnants of forest types found in less than 50 sq km area across the country; areas located in direct draining catchment of important perennial streams that serve as water sources or feed hydropower projects; and areas within 250 m of perennial rivers and important wetlands.
Other forested areas, the report proposed, would be scored on a scale of 100 against six measurable parameters — forest type, biological richness, wildlife value, forest cover, landscape integrity and hydrological value — and an area with a score of 70 or above will be considered out of bounds. The government can debate and fine-tune these parameters, rate forest areas on a national grid of 1km x 1km units, and bar mining if inviolate units occupy more than half of a proposed mining area. The same national grid can also be used to speed up forest clearances for other projects.
Similarly, it is important to scientifically assess and map the cumulative project carrying capacity of each river that has potential for hydro-electricity before arbitrarily deciding on individual dams. To determine wildlife presence in an area, the taluka-level report of the National Tiger Conservation Authority and a national report on elephant corridors by the Wildlife Trust of India can provide the foundation that will have to be expanded by mapping the entire country and taking all critical species into account.
The other key reform necessary to cut unnecessary delay is to make the project proponents accountable. There should be strict punishment, ideally long-term blacklisting of companies and conviction of nodal officers, for any mala fide claim in project applications or violation of clearance conditions. To ensure that transparency, the new government can institutionalize independent audits by NGOs, academic institutions and civil society groups without requiring state sanction. Successive UPA regimes made the clearance process suitably unwieldy and undermined both green and growth interests. If the new government really wants to play fair, it can make decision-making transparent, simple and swift.
Clearances apart, the new government must take quick decisions on
a range of environmental issues. Each of these would entail a full-fledged
discussion but here’s a quick look at the key opportunities:
Surface and groundwater security
Much as Modi cherishes AB Vajpayee’s legacy, his government will do the country a big favour by scrapping the river-linking project. Enough has been argued against this ecologically and economically disastrous idea. Modi’s technocrats have the choice of heeding a former water resources secretary or the popular press.
India’s fast-depleting aquifers pose a grave and imminent water crisis. The new government must make rainwater harvesting mandatory for all buildings in cities, ban flood irrigation and promote sprinklers. It should also set out exemplary punishment for the construction mafia for extracting groundwater or encroaching upon water bodies as real estate.
Cleaning up Ganga (and other rivers)
Going by the Sabarmati experience, Varanasi may soon have concretized facades along its riverfront. But instead of such cosmetic efforts, what India’s rivers need is a complete ban on disposal of untreated sewage and industrial effluent. To begin with, the new government can identify, say 20 cities and towns, big and small, and set up treatment plants to unburden a few rivers. Why not start with the Yamuna and Sabarmati, along with the upper stretch of the Ganga?
Pollution -- air, water and soil
India’s big metros need an immediate and steep congestion tax on cars. And use of chemical pesticide and fertilizers and discharges from polluting industries need to be curbed with much stricter regulatory laws. Maybe, a pilot project based on zero-tolerance can kick off somewhere in the Vapi-Mehasana corridor.
Forest and wildlife conservation
If he is keen on one big thing, the new Prime Minister can implement the Western Ghat report stalled by former environment minister Veerappa Moily at the behest of Manmohan Singh.
Among others, Modi can use his numerical strength to legislate a minimum width for eco-sensitive zones – a protective ring around national parks and sanctuaries under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986. In 2006, the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of 10-km-wide ESZs, unless the Centre and the state notified a different boundary based on scientific site-specific assessment. Since any project within that ring requires mandatory prior clearance from the National Board for Wildlife, states have been declaring ESZs no more than a few metres wide. Sikkim is a case in point where 25-metre-wide ESZs were notified this year to allow a string of hydel projects.
The new government should junk the policy of setting absurd targets of aforestation that usually drive forest departments to remove old root stocks in degraded forest patches to make room for planting exotic saplings. Instead, Javadekar needs to seek the Supreme Court’s nod for diverting the CAMPA funds to Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH), a scheme aimed at the recovery of 15 key species including those found mostly outside protected forests, such as the critically-endangered snow leopard, great Indian bustard and vulture.
Climate change
While fighting the unequal world order at global forums and demanding the cost of sacrificing growth to atone for the developed world, Javadekar should remember how that picture of inequality plays out at home. The poor tribal and other forest communities who have not destroyed their forests must be compensated – doubly if their land is acquired after settlement of rights for development. Such a just policy at home will earn the new government immense goodwill and bargaining power abroad.
FirstPost, 31 May, 2014
While BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was making India dream of the Chinese rate of growth at his rallies in the four assembly poll-bound states, Reuters reported something unusual last November. Dropping the pursuit of growth-at-all-costs, the ruling Communist Party of China said it would put more emphasis on environmental protection when assessing officials, and would also hold local authorities directly responsible for pollution.
China had already launched Operation Green Fence, a campaign against the import of waste from the West. This April, as India voted Modi to power ostensibly to unleash growth, China amended its green law to make, reported Xinhua, “environmental protection the country’s basic policy”. Under the new law, officials would be judged by both growth and green targets, environmental impact of projects would be made public, NGOs would have the right to sue, and offenders would face strict penalties and jail terms.
Two decades of blinkered double-digit growth has made China an environmental disaster and necessitated such desperate efforts at recovery. Many fear it is probably too late for the Asian giant to pull back but the scale of Chinese operations are known to throw up surprises. In any case, there is an obvious lesson in the Chinese experience for India’s new government keen to emulate and overshadow the big neighbour’s growth story while facing the same environmental challenges.
In its first week, the Modi sarkar is considering green clearances for “28 standard projects” worth R 80,000 crore. In his first meeting with ministry officials on Thursday, Environment minister Prakash Javadekar was advised to open up dense forests for mining and allow new factories in heavily polluted industrial red zones. While a section of the bureaucracy is always more loyal than the king, Javadekar is yet to take a call. So far, he has been consistent before the media that his agenda is sustainable growth.
If the new government really means business, it won’t have to look far for an immediately actionable agenda. Typically, forest and wildlife clearances have been more contentious than environmental clearances because these hinge on the quality of forests and the presence of wildlife on project sites. Therefore, it is necessary to have an objective picture of the ground condition. For that, the new government must implement the excellent report of the T Chatterjee committee submitted last year.
The panel recommended a set of scientific criteria for demarcating India’s best forest areas as out of bounds for invasive projects such as mining. On the no-go list were protected areas (PA) and a one-kilometre-ring around PAs; compact patches of very dense forests; last remnants of forest types found in less than 50 sq km area across the country; areas located in direct draining catchment of important perennial streams that serve as water sources or feed hydropower projects; and areas within 250 m of perennial rivers and important wetlands.
Other forested areas, the report proposed, would be scored on a scale of 100 against six measurable parameters — forest type, biological richness, wildlife value, forest cover, landscape integrity and hydrological value — and an area with a score of 70 or above will be considered out of bounds. The government can debate and fine-tune these parameters, rate forest areas on a national grid of 1km x 1km units, and bar mining if inviolate units occupy more than half of a proposed mining area. The same national grid can also be used to speed up forest clearances for other projects.
Similarly, it is important to scientifically assess and map the cumulative project carrying capacity of each river that has potential for hydro-electricity before arbitrarily deciding on individual dams. To determine wildlife presence in an area, the taluka-level report of the National Tiger Conservation Authority and a national report on elephant corridors by the Wildlife Trust of India can provide the foundation that will have to be expanded by mapping the entire country and taking all critical species into account.
The other key reform necessary to cut unnecessary delay is to make the project proponents accountable. There should be strict punishment, ideally long-term blacklisting of companies and conviction of nodal officers, for any mala fide claim in project applications or violation of clearance conditions. To ensure that transparency, the new government can institutionalize independent audits by NGOs, academic institutions and civil society groups without requiring state sanction. Successive UPA regimes made the clearance process suitably unwieldy and undermined both green and growth interests. If the new government really wants to play fair, it can make decision-making transparent, simple and swift.
Surface and groundwater security
Much as Modi cherishes AB Vajpayee’s legacy, his government will do the country a big favour by scrapping the river-linking project. Enough has been argued against this ecologically and economically disastrous idea. Modi’s technocrats have the choice of heeding a former water resources secretary or the popular press.
India’s fast-depleting aquifers pose a grave and imminent water crisis. The new government must make rainwater harvesting mandatory for all buildings in cities, ban flood irrigation and promote sprinklers. It should also set out exemplary punishment for the construction mafia for extracting groundwater or encroaching upon water bodies as real estate.
Cleaning up Ganga (and other rivers)
Going by the Sabarmati experience, Varanasi may soon have concretized facades along its riverfront. But instead of such cosmetic efforts, what India’s rivers need is a complete ban on disposal of untreated sewage and industrial effluent. To begin with, the new government can identify, say 20 cities and towns, big and small, and set up treatment plants to unburden a few rivers. Why not start with the Yamuna and Sabarmati, along with the upper stretch of the Ganga?
Pollution -- air, water and soil
India’s big metros need an immediate and steep congestion tax on cars. And use of chemical pesticide and fertilizers and discharges from polluting industries need to be curbed with much stricter regulatory laws. Maybe, a pilot project based on zero-tolerance can kick off somewhere in the Vapi-Mehasana corridor.
Forest and wildlife conservation
If he is keen on one big thing, the new Prime Minister can implement the Western Ghat report stalled by former environment minister Veerappa Moily at the behest of Manmohan Singh.
Among others, Modi can use his numerical strength to legislate a minimum width for eco-sensitive zones – a protective ring around national parks and sanctuaries under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986. In 2006, the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of 10-km-wide ESZs, unless the Centre and the state notified a different boundary based on scientific site-specific assessment. Since any project within that ring requires mandatory prior clearance from the National Board for Wildlife, states have been declaring ESZs no more than a few metres wide. Sikkim is a case in point where 25-metre-wide ESZs were notified this year to allow a string of hydel projects.
The new government should junk the policy of setting absurd targets of aforestation that usually drive forest departments to remove old root stocks in degraded forest patches to make room for planting exotic saplings. Instead, Javadekar needs to seek the Supreme Court’s nod for diverting the CAMPA funds to Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH), a scheme aimed at the recovery of 15 key species including those found mostly outside protected forests, such as the critically-endangered snow leopard, great Indian bustard and vulture.
Climate change
While fighting the unequal world order at global forums and demanding the cost of sacrificing growth to atone for the developed world, Javadekar should remember how that picture of inequality plays out at home. The poor tribal and other forest communities who have not destroyed their forests must be compensated – doubly if their land is acquired after settlement of rights for development. Such a just policy at home will earn the new government immense goodwill and bargaining power abroad.
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