Even a couple years back, the Environment Ministry was perceived a roadblock and bottlenecks to development. After taking charge in May 2014, Prakash Javadekar has changed the perception and has been stressing on implementation and compliance through a transparent system for green clearances. Speaking to Bloomberg TV India, the minister confided that the government was pushing for a National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to improve the regulatory regime.

You have been tasked by the Prime Minister to fix the biggest issue — environment and forest clearances. To start with the environmental legacy you inherited, I recall you were alleged of giving clearances too fast. What’s the road ahead?

We will be stressing on implementation. From this year, we are strengthening our compliance mechanism. To that, I am making an announcement here. There is a suggestion that we should have a good regulatory mechanism under the National Environment Management Authority and State Environment Management Authority (NEMA and SEMA). But many people are pursuing it politically and saying it is not tenable and other parties are not approving it. I said if you are not approving, Supreme Court is already asking us that you will have a regulator. So, I am now giving them a choice. If you want a regulator, a one person regime, or you want your participation and have an authority? That is the choice. So, we will go with compliance and we are taking in-principle decisions.

One of the reasons that environment projects used to get stuck was not just because of the ministry or policymakers but also because compensation or the rights of livelihood of forest dwellers or tribals were not taken into account, and that used to lead to litigation and delay things. Where does that stand right now?

Now, the Tribal Ministry and we are working in tandem. Tribal rights must be settled. It should not be always open ended. We must give justice to tribals as early as possible and as the new Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act mandates, funds have started flowing in. Now, we are giving a part of profit from mining operations to development of those tribal areas, which is very much important.

On climate change, you clearly said it’s a belief of the government that it has to be sustainable. You yourself in the past have expressed disappointment over the Paris draft on a negotiating tax. What is India’s position as far as that negotiation is concerned?

Actually, our negotiators are in Bonn today. So, at negotiators level, let them debate. So that is why I will not express my final opinion here. The Peruvian Minister Manuel Pulgar Vidal called me up and we had a long chat and I conveyed to him what is developing world’s disappointment with the text and how it can be improved and why it should be improved. And he agreed to it. I said we want Paris to be successful. We must create a responsible regime. As Mahatma Gandhi used to say, this earth is not inherited from ancestors, this is on loan for future generations and we must give them at least the way we inherited or little better than what we inherited. That is our duty and to that end, Paris has to succeed but it has to be equitable and just climate deal.

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