Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Dec 28, 2013, 02.42AM IST 
Many tweets said the Congress had first decided something, Deora then spoke against it and Rahul finally put his stamp on it.
NEW DELHI: It may just be a coincidence but it set Twitter abuzz. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's disapproval of the Maharashtra government rejecting the Adarsh probe panel's report came close on the heels of Union minister Milind Deora's similar remark three days ago, and several people saw a pattern in it.
It was the second time when Rahul expressed strong views on something which was first flagged by the Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai.
It happened for the first time in September when Rahul trashed an ordinance cleared by the Union Cabinet to negate a Supreme Court judgment which provided for immediate disqualification of MPs and MLAs after conviction. Deora had spoken against it one day earlier.
Though Deora called it "coincidental," Twitter was abuzz with people finding a pattern. Many tweets said the Congress had first decided something, Deora then spoke against it and Rahul finally put his stamp on it.
The remarks and jokes around it on Twitter even saw an intervention by BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. "If Milind speaks, can Rahul be far behind," she tweeted.
Deora had on December 24 tweeted, "If the Adarsh committee report raises questions, we should investigate (agnostic of party or bureaucracy), answer them and not be hush!"
As Rahul's disapproval of the Maharashtra government's decision came just three days after Deora's remark on Friday, bloggers instantly saw a pattern.
Deora, however, tweeted, "Those of you speculating that I'm Congress party's newest weatherman, flattering and coincidental but not true."
The young minister even quoted from American singer Bob Dylan's famous song in his tweet, saying, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows — Bob Dylan." ..................................................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDEzLzEyLzI4I0FyMDExMDI=&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Dec 28, 2013, 03.43AM IST
Union environment ministry's liberal approach under the new minister M Veerappa Moily has made the green groups worried.
NEW DELHI: Union environment ministry's liberal approach under the new minister M Veerappa Moily has made the green groups worried.
They also wondered whether the haste shown by the Centre is part of an orchestrated campaign to dismantle environmental regulatory control in a bid to boost economic activities.
"We are worried about the tone and tenor of the debate on green clearances. It is clear that this is an orchestrated campaign to dismantle green regulatory controls in the name of growth," said environmentalist Sunita Narain on Friday.
Seeking to highlight the problem, Narain, who has been part of various government panels for long, said, "Our assessment shows while countless projects have been given environmental clearance, they have not been implemented".
She noted that the problem lied elsewhere; hinting at the urgency shown by easing certain norms for quick green clearance is, indeed, a misplaced priority.
Her remark is in tune with the concerns expressed by other green activists. They questioned the reason of an urgency that prompted Moily not only to decide to review his ministry's recent order on ecologically fragile Western Ghats but also come out with guidelines to ease green norms for certain activities where states are supposed to have the final say.
Both the decisions were, incidentally, taken on Tuesday — the day Moily took additional charge of the environment ministry. Though the new minister promised to take quick decisions without compromising on the green norms, his ministry's move gave a different impression.
"We need to reform and strengthen green clearances to safeguard people's concerns, not destroy regulatory oversight," Narain said.
Amid such concerns expressed by green activists, a wildlife panel has even pointed out certain violations of green norms by the state-run Oil India Limited (OIL) which comes under Moily's petroleum ministry.
The panel, appointed by the standing committee on National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), came down heavily on the oil company for violating norms while laying pipeline through an ecologically sensitive area in Assam.
"We are deeply distressed that the OIL, as a leading public sector company, instead of serving as a beacon for environmental compliance to others in the industry, appears to have evaded environmental norms," said the two-member NBWL panel in its report.
The panel was formed to look into OIL's proposal for use of 114.267 ha of non-forestland falling within 10 km from the boundary of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Borjan-Bherjan-Padumani Wildlife Sanctuary. In its report, the panel found that the oil company was seeking clearances for projects on which work has already been done.
"We strongly disapprove of the current trend of presenting the SC-NBWL with fait accompli situations and seeking post-facto clearances for projects on which work has already been undertaken without the requisite prior permissions," the report added
Such trends were also noted by several green advocacy groups, including Narain's Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), in their assessments of various clearances. They found that the existing procedures had many loopholes which prevented the system from working properly.
The CSE noted that though clearances were being granted to projects with many conditions, there was no agency to monitor implementation of these conditions. Its deputy director general, Chandra Bhushan, said, "Instead of focusing on strengthening the system (of green clearances), the government seems to be hell-bent on destroying it completely"...........................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMTIvMjgjQXIwMTIwMg==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Dec 26, 2013, 09.30PM IST
NEW DELHI: Heeding to states' request for simplification of green clearance process, the Union environment ministry has come out with detailed guidelines giving more powers to states by exempting certain category of industries, constructions and mining of minor minerals - including river sand mining projects in medium size lease area - from going through cumbersome and time-consuming steps.
The move, which may spur growth in the less-hazardous sector, will exempt those activities from mandatory "public consultation process" and other lengthy appraisal processes before getting states' green nod.
Though all activities - irrespective of size or nature of projects — will have to get mandatory clearance from the State-Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), the amendments in the EIA notification will quicken the decision making process for taking call on lesser evils.
Besides the mining of 'brick earth' (mined for making brick) which was put in the fast-track category earlier, the others which will now have to go through simple green clearance process include setting up of manmade fiber manufacturing units producing fibers from granules or chips and aerial ropeway projects.
Single super phosphate chemical fertilizer plant, coal\lignite\naphtha-based thermal power plants of less than 5 MW of capacity and non-toxic secondary metallurgical processing industries among other non-hazardous or less hazardous works will also come under this category.
These activities are clubbed as B2 category under the EIA Notification, 2006 which will be appraised based on pre-feasibility report and declaration of other information relating to land, water and energy requirement, use of hazardous substances, disposal of waste and emission from production process.
The other activities come under B1 category which will require detailed EIA report for appraisal and to undergo "public consultation process" that takes lot of time before the SEIAA comes to a final decision. Earlier, both B1 and B2 categories came under a single B category where states empowered to take decision without differentiating between nature or extent of hazards.
Incidentally, the guideline of simplifying the green clearance process for states was issued on the day (Tuesday) the new environment minister M Veerappa Moily took charge of the green ministry.
It is learnt that the chief ministers of Maharashtra (Prithviraj Chavan) and Kerala (Oommen Chandy) had raised the issue when they met Moily on Tuesday. Besides these two states, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka have also been pressing the Centre for streamlining the process of environment clearance.
As far as river sand mining projects are concerned, the new guideline says that "no river sand mining project, with mine lease area less than five hectare, may be considered for granting environment clearance. The river sand mining projects with minimum lease area greater than or equal to five hectare but less than 25 hectare will be categorized as B2".
"The area equals or exceeds 25 hectare (separately or in cluster) will become category B1 project under the EIA Notification, requiring tougher rule for green nod", says the guideline.
As of now, mining projects of minor minerals with less than 50 hectare of mining lease area are categorized as Category B.
Under the 2006 notification, the category A projects - comprising big national projects - get environmental clearance from the central government whereas category B activities come before the respective state or Union Territory for final decision.
The categorization of Category B projects\activities into Category B1 and B2 will help the states in taking quick decision.
Since there was no clarity on the Category B projects, the environment ministry had in January constituted an expert committee under the chairmanship of director, NEERI, Nagpur. The categorization of B1 and B2 is the outcome of the report submitted by the Committee.............................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMTIvMjcjQXIwMTkwMQ==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
http://t.co/To3RskAGnr
Veerappa Moily agrees to review Western Ghats ban after meeting Maharashtra, Kerala CMs
Vishwa Mohan & Rajeev Deshpande,TNN | Dec 25, 2013, 03.58AM IST
The decision to prohibit polluting industries and big construction projects in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats has become a major political issue particularly in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala with business lobbies up in arms against the ban.
NEW DELHI: Among the first decisions the new environment minister Veerappa Moily took on Tuesday was to seek fresh opinions on the ban on big projects in the Western Ghats after a meeting with Maharashtra and Kerala chief ministers Prithviraj Chavan and Oomen Chandy.
Soon after Moily, who is also the petroleum minister, took charge as environment and forests, the aggrieved CMs paid a "courtesy call" that saw them urgently raising the Centre's decision to implement the Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats.
Chavan and Chandy apprised Moily of the impact of the environment ministry's nod for restrictions in the recently earmarked Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) that covers nearly 37% area (60,000 sq km) of the fragile Western Ghats across six states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The environment ministry's clarifications that agricultural and plantation activities will not be affected has failed to convince villagers who consider the decision an arbitrary infringement that could affect their livelihoods.
The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) came out with a swift assurance, saying, "After having considered the concerns raised by them, the minister of environment and forests has agreed to address letters to the chief ministers of all the six states which are likely to be affected by the implementation of the said report".
It said the minister would also request the chief ministers to examine various recommendations of the report and send their suggestions/objections to the ministry in a time-bound manner. "The suggestions/objections of these states will be considered and appropriate decisions on the recommendations of the said report will be taken after due consideration of these suggestions/ objections," said the statement.
The decision to prohibit polluting industries and big construction projects in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats has become a major political issue particularly in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala with business lobbies up in arms against the ban.
The Centre recently clarified agricultural activities are outside the purview of the ban, but Congress governments in three of the four states are exerting considerable pressure for a lenient view on the Kasturirangan panel recommendations.
Sources said Chavan also took up restrictions on mining of minor minerals - this includes earth needed to make bricks - despite the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) pushing for easing of these regulations.
Chavan has earlier submitted a list of around 20 issues and there will be follow up meetings with Moily in Mumbai and Nagpur soon.
Kerala has witnessed protests against the decision on Western Ghats with the ruling Congress in the state even demanding withdrawal of the environment ministry's office memorandum. Other affected states also raised the issue, alleging that the panel did not take view of states while enlisting thousands of villages across the Western Ghats under the ESA.
Immediately after taking additional charge of the green ministry, Moily insisted that all decisions will be taken without compromising on existing green norms. "There are already set rules...we need to perform the duty of regulator. The rules of game will have to be strictly followed. As far as possible, nothing should be left for the discretion. Ultimately, we have to go by rules of games which are laid down by the ministry."
Moily also dismissed the suggestions that there will be conflict of interest as he handles the portfolio of petroleum and natural gas which need lot of green clearances from the environment ministry. He said, "There is space for everyone ... environment, wildlife and mankind. It is only our mental block which sometime thinks that there is friction and I think that friction will have to end up with fusion".
He also said, "Everything has its space. Petroleum has its space.... every ministry has a space....Ultimately, we have to go by the rules of the game which have been laid out by any ministry. We should not cross it. There should not be any fear or favour while discharging the duties"..............................................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMTIvMjUjQXIwMTkwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Dec 23, 2013, 02.58AM IST
Jayanthi Natarajan has dismissed speculation that delay in environmental clearances for many high-value projects had led to her removal.
NEW DELHI: Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jayanthi Natarajan, who resigned from the council of ministers to take up party work ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, on Sunday dismissed speculation that delay in environmental clearances for many high-value projects had led to her removal and said the majority of applications for green nod was actually processed and cleared by states.
"Only 8% projects come to the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF). Ninety-two per cent of the projects are cleared by states. Nothing came to me. There are no pending projects," Natarajan told TOI.
She said the MoEF had followed a very transparent system and put out all details concerning environmental clearances on its website.
Citing a rule where an application for environmental clearance is deemed to be cleared if it is not processed within 60 days in most cases, Natarajan said, "The allegation of delay is out of sheer ignorance. If applicants follow all the procedures and come out with required details, the ministry never sits over it knowing the implication under the existing rules."
She also pointed to a rule for forest clearance where only projects covering above 40 hectares of land come to the MoEF for clearance.
Her resignation on Saturday triggered speculation over her stepping down from the key ministerial post as hours after she put in her papers, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi acknowledged unreasonable pendency in green clearances. Rahul expressed concern while addressing industry representatives at a business meet here.
Natarajan, however, said, "No projects have been put on hold (at MoEF's end). No projects at all ... I quit the government for party work. No other reasons. The prime minister has appreciated my work... I requested the PM to relieve me in order to let me devote my energy for party work."
Asked about real green concerns when she was at the helm of affairs, Natarajan said she was actually apprehensive about big dams and hydro-electric power projects in the wake of the Uttarakhand tragedy. She said there were "legitimate environmental concerns" and such projects needed very careful appraisal.
"All aspects have to be considered carefully after the tragedy in Uttarakhand. Therefore, we have to appraise the project very carefully if it involves thousands of acres of forest land," she said........http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JS00vMjAxMy8xMi8yMyNBcjAwODAx&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Dec 20, 2013, 06.11PM IST
NEW DELHI: Amid intense pressures from states ahead of general election, the Union environment ministry on Friday withdrew its previous order on Western Ghats and issued a fresh one clarifying that the Centre's decision to treat 60,000 sq km across six states as Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) would not affect normal activities like agriculture and plantation.
The new office memorandum said that the ministry was ready to bring "modifications" in earmarking the ESA on the basis of suggestions made by states after physical verification. The clause is seen as a loophole that may delay the process of implementing recommendations of the Kasturirangan panel in the ecologically fragile zone.
"The entire exercise will certainly take time. The panel's recommendation cannot be implemented unless there is clarity on the ESA boundary," said a senior environment ministry official.
The ministry had last month accepted "in principle" the recommendations of the panel which prohibited activities like mining, quarrying and setting up thermal power plants and other high polluting industries in the 60,000 sq km area spanning across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
"The earlier office memorandum of November 16 regarding 'in principle' acceptance of the high-level working group (Kasturirangan panel) report on Western Ghats stands withdrawn," said an order issued by the ministry on Friday.
This order will, however, not affect the ministry's decision to go ahead with the panel's recommendations as far as polluting industries and big constructions are concerned.
Friday's order incorporated three additional points that are merely clarifications. It said, "The recommendations given by the high level working group neither put any fresh restrictions on land use in the ESA nor do they in any way impact the continued occupation of land in possession of the local people and affect their day to day activities or normal livelihood."
It clarified that the recommendations also did not prohibit or restrict any normal activities relating to plantations, agriculture or any other activity except the high polluting ones, identified by the panel.
The move comes after a series of protests by villagers against the Centre's decision in the affected states in the past one month. The Kerala government as well as the Opposition had been vocal against the decision, saying it will affect the livelihood of locals.
The ministry, which came out with a list of villages in six states that were included in the ESA prohibiting certain activities, has now decided to "fine tune" the boundary of the prohibited zone after taking inputs from state governments.
The pressure from Kerala government had started building up more after Congress's poor show in recent assembly polls. Although the ministry officials had verbally clarified that the decision would not affect the farmers or other local inhabitants in the ESA, the clarification did not pacify the agitators in the state.
November's order had prohibited activities like mining, quarrying and setting up thermal power plants and other high polluting industries "with immediate effect".
Building and construction projects of 20,000 sq meters and above and township and area development projects with an area of 50 hectares and above or with built up area of 1,50,000 sq meters and above were also prohibited in these areas. The order had, however, made it clear that it would not affect the hydro power and wind energy projects in those areas. These activities will be allowed subject to "stringent conditions" and "applicable regulations".......http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JUFUvMjAxMy8xMi8yMSNBcjAwOTAw&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Pollution takes a toll on aquatic life in 150 river stretches
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Dec 13, 2013, 08.21AM IST
NEW DELHI: Discharge of untreated water into various rivers has left 150 river stretches across the country completely polluted. The level of contamination in these stretches is so high that it cannot support any aquatic life.
These stretches are located in almost all parts of the country except Jammu & Kashmir and couple of Union Territories and northeastern states, including Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.
However, rivers flowing through Maharashtra and Gujarat account for around one-third of all the identified stretches.
The stretches are identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) through constant monitoring of water quality of 293 rivers. It is based on the BOD (bio-chemical oxygen demand) levels in water that shows the extent of organic and bacterial contamination.
Details of the CPCB findings — shared by the Union environment ministry in response to a Parliament Question in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday — show that the maximum number of such polluted river stretches (28) are located in Maharashtra, followed by Gujarat (19), Uttar Pradesh (12), Karnataka (11) and Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh (nine each).
The Central pollution watchdog had first compiled its report on polluted river stretches in December, 2009, after testing water samples taken between 1995 and 2008. These stretches are being monitored constantly since then through a network of 1,429 water quality monitoring stations in states and UTs.
The findings of these monitoring stations are updated and shared with states\UTs that are responsible for abatement of pollution in those identified stretches.
Giving details of the findings, the minister of environment and forests Jayanthi Natarajan, said, "The ministry is supplementing the efforts of the state governments in abatement of pollution in identified stretches of various rivers in the country under the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) and National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) programme, for implementation of projects on a cost sharing basis between the Central and state governments".
Statistics show that the states and UTs had collectively spent over Rs 1,756 crore to implement those river water-control projects in the past three years. The Centre had contributed Rs 1,113 crore towards the states' expenditure during the period.
Various schemes are being implemented by states to minimize the pollution level. It includes interception and diversion of raw sewage, setting up of sewage treatment plants, creation of low cost sanitation facilities, setting up of electric crematorium and development of river front.
Natarajan, in her written response in the Upper House, said, "The NRCP including NGRBA programme, presently covers 42 rivers in 195 towns spread over 20 states at a sanctioned cost of Rs 9336.87 crore".
"Till date, sewage treatment capacity of 4814.80 million litres per day has been created under the plan," she added..............................................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMTIvMTMjQXIwMTkwMw==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
