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Environmental concerns and those who voice them are currently in the doghouse. They are seen as one of the culprits that have caused India's growth rate to fall, through cutbacks in investment in infrastructure projects that are caught in environmental regulation and setbacks to mining because of court orders.
So the system is taking corrective action. Late last year the Union Cabinet approved the proposal to set up the Cabinet Committee on Investment, which would oversee the clearance of projects valued at more than Rs 1,000 crore. Officially a move to speed up project clearance, it was in reality also a device to get projects cleared by effectively negating the processes embedded in the environment ministry. Now there is speculation that the ban on industrial expansion imposed by the Central Pollution Control Board in 2009 in 43 "critically polluted areas" will be lifted in the remaining 17 clusters by year end, after it was lifted earlier in 26 clusters.
How exactly does environment regulation work? This is what the prime minister had to say. In August 2009, he drew the attention of a gathering of state environment ministers "to the view that environmental clearances have become a new form of licence raj and a source of corruption". He added: "There are trade-offs that have to be made while balancing developmental and environmental concerns. But the procedures must be fair, transparent and hassle-free. Decisions must be taken within a specified time." On trade-offs, he underlined the "need to quickly operationalise the Compensatory Afforestation Management Authority [CAMA]". He saw the outline drawn by the then environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, for the transfer of funds from the CAMA to the states as the "forerunner" of "greater collaboration" between the Centre and the states.
The Forest (Conservation) Act lays down the framework for compensatory afforestation to allow diversion of forest land: identify non-forest land for afforestation next to a reserve forest in the same district or at least in the same state. If this is not available, then the Union environment ministry can allow diversion only if non-availability is certified by the chief secretary of the state. Funding for afforestation is to be recovered from user agencies.
In 2002, that is more than 10 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that a compensatory afforestation management fund be set up for all monies received under compensatory afforestation and also the net present value of the diverted forest land collected from user agencies of the diverted forest land. The government notified an authority for managing the fund in 2004, but it did not become operational; the Supreme Court created an ad hoc CAMA authority in 2006. The authority is yet to become operational.
A recently released report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) carefully documents what the ad hoc CAMA has done. In six years (2006-12) the afforestation fund grew from Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 23,600 crore. But only Rs 2,900 crore of the total has been released, 61 per cent of which has been utilised. This is the money part. Now look at the land part. Only 27 per cent of the receivable non-forest land of 103,000 hectares has been received. Actual compensatory afforestation has been undertaken on an "abysmal" seven per cent of the total area that ought to have been received.
In a sweeping observation, the CAG report says, "We noticed serious shortcomings in regulatory issues related to diversion of forest land, the abject failure to promote compensatory afforestation, the unauthorised diversion of forest land in the case of mining and the attendant violation of the environmental regime." One example of favouring an individual promoter, Sasan ultra mega power project led by Anil Ambani, has been highlighted. The Union environment ministry, based on an "ineligible certificate issued by the chief secretary (Madhya Pradesh), exempted SPL [Sasan Power Ltd] from providing non-forest land in violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The Union environment ministry not only did not exercise due diligence in ensuring compliance, but also inexplicably overlooked the deficiencies in the certificate pointed out by a subordinate authority while granting exemption in the case".
Which way are we headed? The government has cleared a raft of coal linkages for thermal power projects that can add 78,000 megawatts to the country's installed thermal power capacity, raising it by 57 per cent in two years! That will facilitate rapid growth powered by adequate supply of energy. What will this do to us? A global study has found that life expectancy in northern China, which relies heavily on thermal power, has gone down by 5.5 years. India has to choose the degree of environmental regulation it wants. But if regulation across sectors (drug control, civil aviation) is mired in indifference, incompetence and corruption, then the game is as good as lost.
subirkroy@gmail.com
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