A disturbing characteristic of the present government is its almost complete neglect of the natural environment: It appears to subscribe to the universally discredited theory that developing countries cannot afford the luxury of conservation, and so ease of doing business gets priority over protecting the environment. The policy has left us stranded midstream: We still languish at the 100th rank in the Ease of Doing Business, while on the Protection of Environment Index we have slipped to an abysmal 155 out of 178 countries. Meanwhile, it is estimated that environmental degradation costs the country at least 3.5 per cent of GDP and leads to thousands of deaths every year.
The pillaging of the Western Ghats (and its consequences in Kerala) is just the latest example. Over the last four years the four pillars of the regulatory edifice—the Environment Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act, Wildlife Protection Act and Forest Rights Act—have been systematically hollowed out and diluted to permit greater exploitation of natural resources. The Expert Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) has been packed with bureaucrats at the cost of conservationists and scientists, and it has virtually become a rubber stamp of the political executive.
It has allowed highways, railways and river-linking projects to ram their way through national parks and tiger reserves like Panna in MP, where 5,803 hectares of prime tiger habitat will be diverted for non-forest use. Hydel projects continue to be sanctioned in river basins in Himachal and Arunachal without comprehensive basin level environmental impact assessments (EIA). Coal mining is being allowed in hitherto “no-go” areas, again without EIAs.
Nearly 40,000 trees will be felled for the wholly unnecessary Char Dham Highway in Uttarakhand, notwithstanding the Kedarnath tragedy in 2013. Nearly 18 lakh trees will be slaughtered for the Ken-Betwa river-linking project, which is being pushed through with no scientific study on the effects of such large water transfers from one river basin to another. Mumbai drowns in floods every year, and yet the Navi Mumbai airport is being constructed on the floodplains of a river, by artificially raising the ground level by five metres of landfill: Where on earth will the waters go? Thousands of farmers, marginalised sections and tribals continue to get displaced as a result, adding to the 60 million displaced since Independence. The Forest Rights Act has been diluted to avoid taking community consent for transfer of such lands for most projects. In a hurry to push GM crops, the GEAC (Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) of the MoEF, earlier this year, even relaxed a vital clause requiring microflora studies before release of a GM mustard variety, a condition imposed by this same committee earlier!
The only ray of hope in this dismal scenario is the judiciary: the Supreme Court, NGT and High Courts. They, at least, have realised that this way lies certain disaster and they have started to fill this vacuum, acting on PILs or even suo moto in a welcome effort to put the brakes on a rampaging executive. As the latter becomes more ruthless the judicial verdicts too are now coming with increasing rapidity. It would make interesting reading to mention a few of these, over just the last couple of years: admission of a petition challenging the Char Dham Highway (NGT), ban on use of forest rest-houses and other infrastructure for commercial activities (SC), removal of encroachments from forest lands (Himachal HC), ban on commercial activities on the Rohtang Pass and restricting the number of vehicles going there (NGT), restraining the government from further reducing the ESA (environmentally sensitive areas) of the Western Ghats as recommended by the Kasturirangan Committee (NGT) (the Karnataka government has already announced that it will oppose any ESA), disallowing night camping on alpine pastures (Uttarakhand HC), staying the felling of 16,000 trees for new residential projects in Delhi (Delhi HC), prohibiting sale of firecrackers in Delhi (SC), declaring the Ganga as a “living entity” with full natural rights (Uttarakhand HC).
In addition to these one-off orders, the higher courts have also initiated suo moto action on, and are constantly monitoring government action and compliance on, an exhaustive list of environmental issues such as damage to the Taj Mahal by atmospheric pollution, stubble burning by farmers, garbage and solid waste disposal by cities, industrial and sewage contamination of major rivers like the Ganga and the Yamuna, upgradation of fuel quality for vehicles, and so on. In what appears to reflect very poorly on the executive, the NGT recently even had to ask the DGCA to prohibit airlines from dumping human waste from the skies, and to impose a fine of Rs 50,000 on violators!
Each and every issue that has been mentioned above falls squarely in the executive’s domain, or that of the legislature, and should have been addressed by them. They all seriously impinge on the health of the natural environment and ultimately on the health and quality of life of the citizens. Governments, however, lack the vision, political will or administrative commitment to take the stringent, and sometimes unpopular, actions needed to address them. They are also hostage to business interests of various sectors: tourism, hospitality, mining, power, transport, construction, to name just a few. Short-term populism and rent-seeking also play a big role in governments abdicating their responsibility.
The tragic fact is that conservation of the environment is a long-term investment in which neither the politician nor the bureaucracy is interested. This is the age of instant gratification, of winning the next election. In this dismal scenario we need to be thankful for the “ judicial overreach” which is at least attempting, against heavy odds, to pass on a living planet to the coming generations. More strength to our higher judiciary.
Avay Shukla served in the IAS for 35 years and retired as Additional Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh
Email: avayshukla@gmail.com