Accountability for thee, but not for me – Issue #50
India's environment ministry will stop uploading critical information like proposed projects, minutes of meetings, and details of impacts on ecology onto its Parivesh website
News of the Week
The week gone by saw more attacks by government agencies on defenders of the environment in the country. On the one hand, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case against environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta saying he had taken “foreign funds” to “stall” coal projects in India. This makes him the latest in a long series of people hauled up for opposing coal projects in the country. Also emerged news that the country’s environment ministry had decided to stop uploading critical information like proposed projects; minutes of meetings to discuss these; details about probable impacts on forests, biodiversity and ecology; etc, onto its Parivesh website. According to an environment ministry official quoted by the Hindustan Times, the “rationale behind this decision was to protect the interests of project developers”. The official, said the daily, cited the sensitivity and confidentiality of some of the information. For such information, said the ministry, people will have to file RTIs.
Both decisions reflect shrinking accountability on the part of the environment ministry. Dutta is one of the most trenchant environmental lawyers in the country. As for Parivesh, it didn’t just offer users information on specific projects. It provided an overview to all the ecologically-consequential projects being considered by the ministry. People might file RTIs for specific projects – and hope for answers – but the granular overview provided by Parivesh to the public might be lost for good.
As this newsletter gets written, the ministry has clarified to the Hindustan Times that an updated version of Parivesh – the timelines are yet unclear – will continue to provide the minutes of meetings of expert appraisal and forest advisory committees, information on environment and forest clearances, coastal regulation zone proposal details and clearances, and minutes of the regional empowered committee. “It, however, did not say whether information related to projects such as draft and final environment impact assessments (EIAs), terms of reference (ToRs), pre-feasibility reports and public hearing documents will be made public, as has been the norm till now,” noted the paper.
A second cheetah has died at Kuno. This one, say news reports, died because of captivity-induced stress. The fallouts are striking. According to the Hindu, MP’s forest department has asked the centre for an “alternative” site for the cheetahs saying it “doesn’t have enough logistical support for the upkeep of the cheetahs”. This is an extraordinary assertion – and makes one wonder why Kuno was chosen for the so-called reintroduction. From the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), however, comes the most eye-popping statement of all. “Even if 50% of the animal population survives, (reintroduction) should be considered a success,” said SP Yadav, the head of Project Cheetah and a senior official at NTCA.
Better news came from Kerala. It became the first state to adopt a water budget -- as a solution to water scarcity during summer months to ensure equitable water distribution. “The first phase of the project would cover 94 Gram Panchayats and 15 Block Panchayats, where water shortage has been noted, reported Down To Earth. “The budget gives data about water availability in a particular place and consumption based on the population in the region,” it said.
Elsewhere, however, business continues more or less as usual. Last week, Tamil Nadu made headlines after amending – like Karnataka – its factories act to allow factories to run 12-hour long shifts. On the face of it, the move – since revoked after protests -- is an attempt by both states to lure mobile phone manufacturers to their states. And yet, things are not that simple. A long list of reasons explains why India’s not globally competitive. Monopoly pricing is one reason. Poor infrastructure is another. There is also, as we know, political rent-extraction. What we have now is an attempt to offset those systemic biases by forcing workers to work longer.
Take a closer look at such decisions, and what you see is policymakers’ unwillingness to engage with details.
Last week didn’t lack for illustrations. A Rs 5,000 crore electric bus tender floated for state transport companies found zero bidders. The bid document, which wants bus-makers to lease buses to state transport companies, has been felled by the “rickety finances” of state transport companies. Bus-makers are not sure state transporters can pay them on time. “Most state-run undertakings are ailing,” an executive told ET. “Unless there is a payment security mechanism in place, who would want to take such a risk?”
Last week also saw the release of two important reports on labour. The first found that the percentage of marginal farmers engaged in non-farm work to make ends meet now stands at 70. “The most popular is daily wage labour activities – especially road construction, house construction, MGNREGS work – in which 78% surveyed farmers are engaged,” reported The Wire. “Farmers who doubled as daily wage labourers in the last one year earned an average revenue of Rs 100,275.” A second report, based on fieldwork in Jharkhand, found that one in every three coal workers in the state wants to return to farming.
In tandem, reported HT, as many as 49% of Indian workers are employed outdoors. The heatwave is intensifying. The costs of not preparing, as we saw in Kharghar last week, can be high. Bengal, for one, has closed all educational institutions for a week. More worryingly, the first reports about heat stressed animals in Indian forests have begun coming as well.
Moving to industrial decarbonisation, Union Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia this past week indicated that steelmakers in the country may soon be required to ensure that a portion of their outputs become "green". The government has expressed interest in mandating the production of green steel in the past and drawn on connections with its National Hydrogen Mission. While India is the second-largest producer of steel in the world, almost half of its steel comes from small and medium enterprises, which raises the question how smooth such a mandated transition can be without enormous financial guarantees on the part of the government.
Other news. Honda is entering the electric two-wheeler market. Arunachal is about to sign new Hydel MoUs. Tamil Nadu wants to denotify private forests in the Nilgiris. And then, there is the Adani Group. It has put its Air Works purchase on hold, faced fresh allegations of government patronage, and said it will focus on prepaying its loans. The group, however, bidded for Future Retail and announced an entry into the coal washery business.
Climate Long-Reads
80 years since the Bengal famine of 1943: Indian history's debt to photojournalist Sunil Janah (Moneycontrol)
The Gigantic Austerity Drive Underway (Phenomenal World)
The Long, Slow Death of Global Development (American Affairs Journal)
Mortgage Terms Doubling to 60 Years Rattle Indian Homeowners (Bloomberg)
Behind TN Governor's Thoothukudi Protest Claims, the Story of BJP's Ties With Vedanta (Wire)