For sustainable development, review green laws
The Union Government's decisions to set up a panel to review environmental laws as well as relax rules for infrastructure development in the border areas are welcome for two reasons: First, they will help do away with archaic and obstructionist laws and second, the amended laws can then be better enforced. Together, this will serve the larger cause of sustainable development. These days, development imperatives and environmental concerns are somehow considered to be on a collision course. Infrastructure projects, necessary for economic progress, are tagged as a threat to the environment; while green laws, needed to protect the environment, are viewed as bottlenecks stunting national growth. There is a measure of truth in each of these seemingly oppositional statements. The challenge, therefore, is to strike a balance between development and environment. Indeed, without this balance, both are rendered meaningless. Green activists can be expected to balk at the idea of reviewing green laws: Most are convinced that the Modi Government's pro-development agenda has no place for environmental protections. But even the most strident of the lot must acknowledge that many of the green laws are bloated; that instead of protecting nature, they serve as an excuse for nepotism and corruption. For now, the Government is putting five main laws under the scanner: The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. Hopefully, the review process is completed, the new package will be more effective and enable greater synergy between development processes and environmental concerns.
Relaxation of green laws is particularly crucial in the border areas where the tussle between man and nature takes on the additional dimension of security and, indeed, sovereignty. The Government's decision to loosen green laws in these areas to allow for the construction pf roads and other infrastructure must be seen in this light. The new rules will specifically clear the way for about 6,000km of roads along the contested India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh and in the ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir. China claims almost all of the former as its own and has been sending its troops on provocative patrolling missions into the latter. Also, China has already built roads and railways that lead right up to the border areas and has recently announced its plans to build another 1,300 km long rail network and lay over 8,000 km of roads. In this situation, the Government of India has no choice but to respond with an equally strong infrastructure build-up. This will also lead to the generation of new economic opportunities, which in turn will be crucial for the Government's plans to re-populate abandoned border areas that are just waiting to be grabbed by aggressive neighbours.