Green min focuses on ease of business

THE TIME FOR GRANTING ENVIRONMENT CLEARANCES HAS REDUCED FROM 600 DAYS TO 190 DAYS AND FOR FOREST CLEARANCES FROM 580 TO 180 DAYS BETWEEN 2007 AND 2017, THE MINISTRY’S LATEST PERFORMANCE REVIEW SAID

NEW DELHI: Over the past four years, the environment ministry has expanded its role from being a regulatory ministry to one that promotes “ease of business” and adds value. This approach has both its takers and detractors.

From the freeing bamboo from government regulation to the green-skills development programme, the thrust is on promoting policies and initiatives that add economic value, with the ministry’s performance review showcasing its ability to attract investment through granting of project approvals.

The time for granting environment clearances has reduced from 600 days to 190 days and for forest clearances from 580 to 180 days between 2007 and 2017, the ministry’s latest performance review said.

While the ministry officials say it points to greater efficiency, environmentalists say that it is a sign of the ministry pushing through proposals without proper oversight.

“The mandate of the environment ministry is not to ensure ease of business but environmental governance,” Himanshu Thakkar, a Delhi-based environment activist, said.

Budgetary allocations were slashed by almost a quarter to ₹1,681 crore in 2015, increased to ₹2,250 crore in 2016-17, with a substantial increase last year. The allocation remained unchanged at ₹2675.42 tion. The ministry has scored poorly on the pollution front. Of 15 most polluted cities in the world, 14 are in India, yet experts believe the government has not done enough to tackle the crisis.

The ministry is set to launch the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) on Environment Day on June 5, but activists say it lacks teeth because there are no targets for air pollution reduction and implementation relies entirely on state action plans.

Despite the US disavowing the Paris climate agreement, the goal set by Narendra Modi to build capacity of 175GW in the renewable energy sector is an ambitious commitment that will check carbon emissions and also bring down pollution because of transition away from dirty fuels like coal.

“Commitment towards movement towards solar energy is a major pathbreaking step; the challenge before India is to make the required energy transi-