Jayanthi Natarajan Questions Setting Up National Investment Board

Going by the reports published in the Hindu, one of the most respected newspapers around, Ms.Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, has taken a spirited stand against the proposed National Investment Board (NIB) in her letter to the Prime Minister. She is said to have hit the nail on the head saying that the proposal “is unacceptable”.

The National Investment Board is the idea of the Department of Economic Affairs. According to the proposal, the PM chairs the board and key functionaries like the Minister for Finance and Minister for Law and Justice comprise the rest of the board. The board is meant for fast-track clearance for large-scale projects worth Rs.1000 crores or more held up because of environmental road blocks.

Mr.Kishore Chandra Deo, the minister looking after tribal affairs, is also expected to speak against the proposal in the meeting scheduled for next week to look into the proposal but his concerns may differ from the sweeping issues raised by Ms.Natarajan.

Ms.Natarajan is said to have stated that the proposed NIB “does not contemplate giving a hearing to citizens, stakeholders, or NGOs, who may be aggrieved by the impact of the project” while providing fast-track clearance to projects worth Rs.1000 crores or more.

She is further reported to have stated that NIB will be useful only to “large investors, but not ordinary people, local citizens and stakeholders dedicated to preserving environmental integrity.”

Ms.Natarajan is said to have stated that the Ministry of Environment and Forests is meant to “protect the integrity of the environment, to ensure that our forests and wildlife, and by extension, forest dwellers are protected” and that “it would be utterly against the spirit of the Environment Protection Act to allow an investment Board, or the Finance Ministry to overrule, or decide upon environmental concerns.”

Ms.Jayanthi Natarajan is also reported have expressed her reservations about the haste with which the Ministry’s reply had been sought regarding the proposal to create NIB. According to Ms.Natarajan the proposal “has never been discussed at the bureaucratic level, by a Committee of Secretaries” and that the proposal  is being brought directly to the Cabinet. She is further reported to have said that the “proposed changes would have far-reaching consequences on the way Ministries are run, governance carried out, and responsibilities to the Legislature by the Executive discharged.”

She is also said to have questioned the technical competence of the proposed board in matters relating to environment. She is said to have averred “When the Minister of a Ministry, acting upon the expert advice of officers, takes a decision, there is absolutely no justification for the NIB to assume his/her authority, nor will the NIB, have the competence to do so.”

Ms.Natarajan is said to have stated that “no entity anywhere in the world has the right to set up a project or an industry anywhere he wants just because of the possibility of large investments. Project location the world over is finalised ‘after’ and NOT ‘before’ looking at key considerations like environmental, and forest aspects, and even national security.”

Ms.Natarajan is also said to have taken head on the contention of the Department of Economic Affairs that projects are being held up because of delays in environmental clearances.

Ms.Natarjan is said to have pointed out that the Supreme Court has laid down its directions on the statutory clearance procedures to be followed by the Environment Ministry, and that NIB cannot legally overrule the orders of the Supreme Court in the matter.

She is also said to have raised the issue of accountability to Parliament and asked who would be accountable to the Parliament – the Minister for Environment or the NIB – if the NIB overruled the Minister in any given case.

Ms.Natarajan, we wish to add, has spoken with admirable insight, foresight and integrity and has raised substantive issues of governance.

She may soon have to pay the price for her principled stand and go the way of Jairam Ramesh

It would certainly be a sad day for the future of the common man if that were to happen.

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