Loss to environment, but gain to rural development, say green activists

A loss for environment is a gain for rural development. That's how an environmental activist responded on hearing news of shifting of Mr Jairam Ramesh from the Ministry of Environment to the Ministry of Rural Development.

Hated by corporates and liked by quite a few environmental activists, Mr Jairam Ramesh's absence at the Ministry of Environment would surely be felt. It is everyone's knowledge that many of the controversial projects would have received the go-ahead long ago but for his insistence on the ‘green' rule book.

It is not as if all activists side with him. There is a good section of activists who criticise him for letting the corporates have their say after creating enough ‘noise'.

He has left his mark on several aspects of the Ministry. Of all them, GEAC (Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) would surely ‘miss' him. He had openly expressed his disapproval to the nomenclature itself. “How can it be called ‘Approval,” he wondered at the stormy public hearing held in Hyderabad on Bt Brinjal a few months ago.

“It should be called Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee,” he said and promised to change the name. Though it never happened, his stand had forced the panel to slow down on its approval spree. In fact, the number of GEAC meetings has come down of late.

When the Government called for public hearing across the country on Bt brinjal issue, the general impression among intellectuals and activists was that the GEAC would anyway give permission for field trials.

It was Mr Jairam who gave them hope. “The decision (to allow GM crop trials) is more political than technical,” he had said, leaving enough hints to the regulator that it cannot continue its free run approving trials. He was instrumental in deputing the Standing Committee on Agriculture to study the likely impact of GM crops.

It, however, doesn't mean that he is a hardcore supporter of all green activities and that he has brought in complete reason in GEAC. But it was a ‘culture shock' for many activists to see a Union Minister, asking tough questions that could even hurt business interests.

“It is quite obvious that he is shifted under pressure from business houses. But his going to rural development is also welcome, particularly in the light of corruption in livelihood programmes,” says an NGO leader who met Mr Jairam on several occasions.

It will be interesting to see how Ms Jayanthi Natarajan would lead the Ministry, which suddenly turned a high-profile Ministry under Mr Jairam Ramesh.

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