Strengthen environmental clearances

First, we need to accept that the system has become unnecessarily convoluted and must be streamlined

I wrote in my previous column last fortnight that the bogey of green clearances feeds the false narrative of environment versus development, whereas the reality is these clearances are meant to put a check on mindless and senseless development. Let me explain.

A few years ago I was member of a high-level committee, set up to examine the environmental clearances given to hydroelectric projects on the upper course of the Ganga. You could argue that the projects were held up because of forest and environmental clearances, and thus the clearances were an impediment to development. But soon it became apparent that