India Inc has appealed to Mr. Modi to ease "obstacles" for application of enviromental statutory provision on industrial operations in India (see attached link below)
Industry probably has a point - it could not wait for ages for the statutory processes to work, if they are expected to commit a capital. And many a times, the wait in the past made them vulnerable to corrupt practices.
However, on the other extreme, can an environmentally sensitive, sub-tropical, primarily agrarian country of 1.2 billion people, with grossly inequitable distribution of available natural wealth and opportunities, afford to loosen control on environmental regulations by its government.
Probably the age old conflict - development vs environment .. We find industries world wide are accepting and adopting regulatory framework for most stingent sustainable development norms .. however, does the red flags go up, when we hear this appeal from India Inc.
Would be good to get initiate a discussion again, keeping in view that we have a new government in place and new policy directions are still to be set in and there are huge expectations of people and the industry.
Replies
@ Mr. Gopi Kanta Ghosh .. I think it will be simplistic to assume that India Inc's demand is to freely pollute and pillage the nature .. India Inc knows very well that the days to easily get away with it are gone..
I would be keen to consider the backdrop of this demand from the industries .. obviously, investment applications of lakhs of crores in every state are awaiting clearances from statutory agencies for ages .. and entrepreneur's cannot afford to wait endlessly with a proposed development plan .. for sure, the statutory agencies - the governnment and the bureaucracy in states and the centre have failed India, atleast in the recent past .. that's the reason for seeing more and more cases of courts being compelled to assume executive authorities ..
On the other hand, we need to see a demonstrable commitment of India Inc towards "Sustainable Development" and gaining back the trust of grassroot stakeholders (people and their representatives) .. Some of India Inc has definitely been corrupt and have attempted to shortcircuit their responsbilities in the past .. there have been too many publicised incidences, which have dented their reputation and trust - Coal Gate, iron ore mining, sand mafia, Niyamgiri bauxite, etc. etc.
The relationship between development and enviroment should not be a zero sum game .. but it would be interesting if all the stakeholders - the people (and their representatives), the corporations and the government are able to align themselves into a common path of growth.
A demand for freedom to pollute and destroy environment