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Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi may have struck a very cordial note during his visit to India this week, but the new Narendra Modi government seems to be leaving no stone unturned to secure its border with China. So much so that environmental concerns have taken a backseat.
On June 12, minister of environment, forests and climate change, Prakash Javadekar, announced that his ministry is planning to finalise a policy which would enable states to clear defence projects falling within 100 km of Line of Actual Control (LAC) without approaching the Centre for environment clearances. This came three days after the minister announced his decision to clear the installation of a radar unit at Narcondam Island in Andaman and Nicobar islands, apparently to counter a similar move by China in the neighbouring Malaysian island.
The minister’s announcements have come after he met senior defence ministry officials on June 10. Under the new policy, the defence ministry will not have to approach the Centre for environment clearance for defence infrastructure projects, including border roads. The states will be allowed to take decisions on environment and forest clearances for such projects. “It was an effort intended to make simple, transparent & predictable process for environmental clearances,” said the environment ministry in a press release.
Environmentalists are, however, worried that fast-tracking development projects in the ecologically fragile Indo-China border without enough environmental scrutiny may compromise the environmental safeguards necessary for the region. The LAC with China is spread over 4,000 kilometre and touches four states – Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. With the presence of glaciers and pristine forests from where several rivers originate, the hundred kilometre zone from the LAC in these states is ecologically crucial.
“I understand that the national security is crucial, and a priority and this has always been respected while giving clearances. Though news reports repeatedly cite green 'hurdles' delaying, and halting projects along the border, very rarely are such projects denied permission. Equally, ecological concerns cannot be summarily dismissed and projects must go through due environment scrutiny: one basic reason being water, given that the Himalayas and the forests along the border feed and nourish our rivers, on which depend the life and livelihood of nearly half our population in the plains below. Surely that is important as well,” said Prerna Bindra, former member of the National Board of Wildlife.
Narcondam horbill’s bane
The radar station installation project of the Indian Coast Guards that Javadekar has cleared was rejected by Jayanthi Natarajan http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/moef-says-no-radar-installation-narcondam-hornbill-habitat, former environment minister in the UPA II regime when environmentalists asserted that the project will have hazardous impact on the endangered Narcondam hornbill which is endemic to the island. Only about 350 birds are left in the island and they are not found anywhere else in the world.
On June 9, Javadekar had told mediapersons that China has its presence in Malaysia’s Coco Island in the Bay of Bengal and hence the Radar station in Narcondam Island was necessary. "If China is sitting in front and is doing something and we can't even monitor, the country cannot run like that. So these kinds of projects, which are of importance to the country's security, we have started clearing on a priority basis," Javadekar was quoted saying by the media.
“As far as the Narcondam Hornbill is concerned, the project was rejected on the basis of the considered view of experts and ecologists and scientific research. The ecologically fragile Narcondam Island is the only habitat of the hornbill--and we must seriously consider alternatives. Or are we saying that we are willing to let this critically endangered creature go extinct?” asked Bindra.