The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is preparing a note for the Cabinet, expressing its reservations on the proposed ‘super’ clearance agency, the National Investment Board (NIB).
“Whatever I have to say, I will say in the Cabinet. This is a matter that needs to be discussed. I have written to the Prime Minister. We will protect the interests of the environment,” Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister for Environment and Forests, said here on Monday.
The NIB, proposed by Financer Minster P. Chidambaram to fast-track clearances for large infrastructure projects, is being seen as an infringement of the MoEF’s mandate and working.
In her letter to the Prime Minister on October 9, Natarajan had said the “urgency with which such sweeping changes in the Rules of Transaction of Business are sought to be made, that too not by DoPT, which is under you, but by the Ministry of Finance, which is not the nodal Ministry in this case, is both surprising and disturbing.”
While agreeing that there was need to “greatly improve the process of clearances”, she said the MoEF had identified a “clear road-map and timeline for implementation” of the system.
She said the problem was not regulatory but regarding implementation and expressed dismay that “our efforts are being derailed because of constant attempts aimed at destroying the regulatory system”.
$30 b for biodiversity
Developing countries will get an additional $30 billion over eight years from rich countries for bio-diversity.
“To make developed countries double financial flows in times of economic slowdown is a magnificent achievement for India,” Natarajan said. She was briefing the media on the outcome of the international conference on biodiversity held in Hyderabad recently.
India had hosted the Conference of Parties (CoP) of the Convention on Biodiversity in Hyderabad recently, which saw the participation of 170 countries and around 1,500 delegates.
Natarajan said India had already set aside Rs 50 crore towards South-South co-operation on biodiversity, and added that the country would work to get the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing of natural resources ratified by 50 countries.