The Group of Ministers constituted to tackle the controversy arising out of the Environment and Forests Ministry’s policy to prevent coal mining in forested areas will need to do a delicate balancing act between environmental protection and extraction of the fossil fuel that is crucial to meet the rising demand for electricity. The desire to find a middle ground became imperative after the Coal Ministry strongly objected to Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh’s no-go policy that prohibits coal mining in regions having 30 per cent gross forest cover or 10 per cent or more in weighted forest cover. Since this effectively bars mining in most areas rich in coal, it has caused outrage. There is no argument with the fact that natural resources are an asset that needs to be tapped to power economic growth; conversely, not doing so is tantamount to criminal waste. The problem, however, has been that mining activities across the country have often flouted environmental guidelines and left the people of the area out of the development loop. All of these have led to rising opposition at the grassroots level that we now witness in mineral rich States. Mr Jairam Ramesh has been sincerely trying to enforce the rule book — and create new rules to block backdoor manipulations. His activism has brought gravity and a sense of purpose to the Ministry he heads. So, it is not surprising that he has ruffled several feathers along the way. It is not just the Coal Minister who is upset with him; others like Surface Transport Minister Kamal Nath, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh are also put off by what they believe are obstacles raised by Mr Jairam Ramesh in the execution of their schemes. The GoM will have to address this perception as well, because there cannot be progress on the environmental front if the Environment Ministry is seen as an obstructionist agency.
The good thing is that the ministerial panel will help foster better communication and understanding among the key players, leading to some kind of middle ground approach. Hopefully, it will also end the public, and often bitter, battle between Mr Jairam Ramesh and his colleagues. Such tussles tend to divert attention from the core issues and degenerate into political point-scoring games. It is not that Mr Jairam Ramesh has always been dogmatic; he has been flexible whenever it has been possible, such as on the new airport project for Mumbai or the Jaitapur nuclear power plant. Significantly, the first was cleared after the Prime Minister’s intervention and the second keeping in mind the thrust that the Union Government seems to be giving to nuclear power generation as a clean energy source. But nuclear power generation of any significance is still some years away in the country, and there are niggling doubts on its economic efficacy. For the moment, we have to generate power with coal.
The good thing is that the ministerial panel will help foster better communication and understanding among the key players, leading to some kind of middle ground approach. Hopefully, it will also end the public, and often bitter, battle between Mr Jairam Ramesh and his colleagues. Such tussles tend to divert attention from the core issues and degenerate into political point-scoring games. It is not that Mr Jairam Ramesh has always been dogmatic; he has been flexible whenever it has been possible, such as on the new airport project for Mumbai or the Jaitapur nuclear power plant. Significantly, the first was cleared after the Prime Minister’s intervention and the second keeping in mind the thrust that the Union Government seems to be giving to nuclear power generation as a clean energy source. But nuclear power generation of any significance is still some years away in the country, and there are niggling doubts on its economic efficacy. For the moment, we have to generate power with coal.
