Dear sir,
You are still wondering what the fuss around the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020 is, aren’t you? You are agitated, I get it. Why would such a detailed draft be met with uproar from all sections of society? Can’t people focus on the derailing economy instead and just leave the country’s environment in your hands?
Looks unlikely. For starters, the draft allows projects that have resumed without an environmental clearance to continue, it says several projects don’t require the otherwise mandatory public hearings, it allows expansions to happen at whim, and so on. Some might call these rules regressive, but I agree, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change knows best.
I’m sure the #WithdrawDraftEIA2020 and #ResignPrakashJavadekar hashtags trending on social media for a while must have triggered your recent response to protestors. You called the criticism by ‘overeager’ individuals and leaders ‘premature’ and ‘unnecessary’. You say that all suggestions will be taken into account to prepare the final set of rules. I mean, you did ravage our environment in the months preceding the EIA draft’s release, but isn’t it time people followed the ‘forgive and forget’ motto and believed you?
Unfortunately, people are not willing to forget. ‘Forget what?’ you may ask. Let me break it down for you. Post-facto clearance has been a particular pain-point, given that two disasters that took place during the lockdown occurred in projects that were functioning without EIA clearances. In late May, Oil India’s well in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district had a blowout, destroying acres of cropland and contaminating surrounding rivers and wetlands. Earlier that month, 12 people lost their lives due to a gas leak at Vishakhapatnam’s LG Polymer Plant. Now, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has granted bail to the 12 accused in the LG case, including the company’s CEO. We have also learned that the plant had been running for over two decades without clearances, but I’m sure you will be taking care of this matter by granting them a clearance based on the new Draft EIA 2020.
While on the topic of taking care of matters, I am sure your intentions are only to curb ‘overeager’ voices, but people are complaining that they cannot access the websites of certain environmental advocacy groups. Fridays for Future, Let India Breathe, and There Is No Earth B were blocked in July on your orders, but how dare we believe these strong voices that have charged the government with ‘digital censorship’? Who needs voices of dissent when we have a frank Environment Ministry that, as you say, has generously extended the timeline (from 60 days to 150 days) for the public to suggest changes to the draft EIA?
As the timeline has drawn to an end yesterday (August 11), it was heartening to see you mark the day by spreading awareness about yet another issue — you released a document with best practices to mitigate human-elephant conflict. Timed to coincide with World Elephant Day, it aims to “strengthen human-elephant coexistence”. Never mind that important elephant corridors in Assam’s Dihing-Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary and other areas will soon be axed to make way for mining and development projects. I am confident you will compensate this loss with ‘capacity building and training of forest staff’, which you highlighted in your recent press conference. To quote, you said, “We do not kill animals. Animals are revered in India.” Why, of course you don’t kill animals. You just destroy their habitat, force them to move into human territory, which then leads to their death. But I am sure you know best.
My apologies for bringing up an ‘overeager’ voice again, but when a cartoonist recently posted his illustration on Instagram, someone commented, ‘What rhymes with #resignprakashjavadekar, it’s #makemyhabitatbetter’. Do let me know which hashtag you would like to respond with, and we’ll get cracking.
A fortnightly column on environmental sustainability and urban issues
