Don't blame Jayanthi Natarajan for all the green tape: Rahul Gandhi had a hand in it

Editor’s note: In lieu of Jayanthi Natarajan quitting the Congress party and her letter to party president Sonia Gandhi, blaming Rahul Gandhi’s officers for planting stories against her in the media, we are republishing this story.

This story was first published on 24 December, 2013

India Inc celebrated quietly when Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan was co-opted for party work last weekend. The Economic Times claimed that over Rs 10 lakh crore worth of projects were stuck due to her ministry’s green tape.

But will her exit alone clear a path through the forests for new projects to take off? Probably not.

It is worth recalling that in 2011, when her predecessor Jairam Ramesh was shunted out to the Rural Development Ministry, the same sigh of relief was heard from businessmen. But nothing changed.

The question is why: and the answer may lie in the political smoke signals emanating from the top of the Congress party. The slowdown in project clearances can be traced to 2011 - and that was the year in which Rahul Gandhi announced his green inclinations by stopping mining in Odisha’s tribal belt by proclaiming to his tribal supporters: “I am your soldier in Delhi.”

Today’s Indian Express gives us the numbers to show how project clearances slowed down after 2011. According to the newspaper, the number of projects that received clearances in 2009 and 2010 add up to 1,474, but dropped to 839 in the next two years - a fall of 43 percent.

Clearly, political signals from the top of the Congress party could have a lot to do with delays in project clearances, suggesting that the policy paralysis had a lot to do with Rahul Gandhi’s priorities.

This is why even though green “activist” Jairam Ramesh was shifted from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in 2011, his successor Jayanthi did not achieve much. She was initially hailed as someone who would endear herself to India Inc, but her two-and-a-half year stint at the MoEF did precious little to lift business sentiment and cemented the ministry’s image as a hurdle in India’s lane to growth.

Now Natarajan’s exit is being seen as the price paid for being perceived as not being fully on board with the government’s drive to revive India’s investment climate.

On Saturday, Natarajan resigned as a minister “to work in the party organisation”, as part of a major shakeup that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is enforcing to rejuvenate the party and improve coordination between government and the party ahead of the April-May general elections.

A report in The Economic Times said an internal government survey had shown to the UPA that out of major projects worth Rs 14 lakh crore in which industry majors had sought government assistance in untangling red tape and solving bottlenecks in permissions, Natarajan’s ministry was responsible for delays in projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore.

So, will Natarajan’s exit really change anything? Will it bring it more investment? The answer may be yes and no.

The exact answer depends on the new political signals coming from Rahul Gandhi, which have now changed subtly. On the same day that Natarajan resigned, Rahul Gandhi was telling industrialists and corporate bigwigs at industry chamber Ficci that the biggest problems India faced are arbitrary powers. “Many of you have expressed your frustration with environmental clearances that are delaying projects unduly. There is excessive administrative and judicial discretion. The loopholes are so big you can drive a truck through some of them,” he the said.

This statement has to be contrasted with what he said on the foothills of a tribal mountain in Odisha in 2010, which served as a lightning rod for environment activism by ministers in the UPA. “Main Dilli mein aapka sipahi hoon (I am your soldier in Delhi),” Rahul had told tribal residents in August 2010 when he visited the Niyamgiri hills where the Dongria Konds were protesting against a bauxite mining project.

Whether the green tape will now be used less to trip new projects depends on which one is the real Rahul: the one who wanted to be a soldier for tribals in Delhi, or the one who spoke to India Inc’s concerns last Saturday.