- People in the know would agree about this perception created over the years that undertaking any business endeavors in India is fraught with not only labyrinthine official protocols but also accompanying red-tapism accentuated by widespread corruption to boot. Especially found struggling on this front are several foreign investors wishing to invest heavily to tap into the huge market potentialities but invariably get stymied by procedural delays. Huge amounts of cut/commissions at every level of approval processes would make any prospective investor wring hands in despair.
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- However, this is how we function and there is no palpable change visible despite several attempts undertaken to get rid of the bane of corruption bogging the country. Against this backdrop, the Union environment ministry’s plan to rate State Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAAs) by faster green clearances needs to be looked into with some interest. We all know how environmental projects get mired in bureaucratic wrangles for years on. Add to it the strong environmentalists and lobbyists who would want to curtail any projects from taking off citing valid and not-so-valid concerns.
- What follows as a matter of routine is concerned entities tapping on the doors of statutory authorities as well as judiciary as a final recourse for disposal/relief/clearances. It is reported that the rating is being undertaken within the ease of doing business (EoDB) framework. The moot point to ponder over is here whether adopting such standards would work. Of course, while balancing economic and environmental interests is complex and necessary work for governments to do, the specific mandate of SEIAA is to safeguard the environment. The ranking that matters here is how India’s air, water, and land quality is compared to other countries today.
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- It is pertinent to also note that as environmental regulation is far from a Formula 1 race, speed should not be the key criteria for assessing it. Trading a balanced line is advisable. To its credit, the ruling NDA has done well to rectify the UPA-era logjam as the prescribed timeline is down to 105 days, the average time taken down to 75 days. As such, speeding the process alone will not suffice either. Further, it is not as if states’ EoDB rankings are sole determinants of actual investment flows. Tamil Nadu ranks lower than both UP and Bengal but attracts some very big projects. A case in point is Ola’s e-scooter plant in Krishnagiri being set up there.
- A well-thought-out process will receive favorable rankings but a strange incentive on the other hand acts as a counterproductive measure. Any lopsided scoring patterns will defeat the purpose as well. For example, consider that SEIAA members will get the top score if they undertake site visits in less than 10% cases, but the bottom score if visits are undertaken in over 20% cases. This is no less than a strange incentive indeed given that these state authorities are supposed to be staffed by experts in local ecology to rigorously analyse the impact of a particular project. In conclusion, having in place a clearly defined deadline for environmental projects alongside a ranking system is desirable without compromising on the ecological effect.
