Is Jayanthi Natarajan right to oppose Chidu's NIB plan?

Does Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan have a valid point in shooting off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, opposing any move to bypass the required green clearances for mega project approvals by the proposed National Investment Board (NIB)? According to the current plan, the proposed board, which is to be headed by the Prime Minister, will act as a final body for clearing big investment proposals after which no ministry will have power to raise objections. According to a report in The Hindu,  environment minister Natarajan in her letter has said that while the body would give corporates investing Rs 1,000 crore or more “a route for fast-track appeal, it does not contemplate giving a hearing to citizens, stakeholders, or NGOs, who may be aggrieved by the impact of the project.” [caption id=“attachment_485784” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Is the Minister right in her opposition? AFP[/caption] Pointing out that the creation of the body would only favour big corporates and ignore the interests of stakeholders in projects, Natrajan pointed out that the letter had not been discussed in the bureaucracy. The minister has also argued that the NIB might not have the domain knowledge of individual ministries, and said that no where in the world were projects approved before environmental clearances were obtained. The Minister also said the NIB has no constitutional authority and that the proposal would destroy the role of the Environment ministry, an NDTV report stated. “These proposed changes would have far reaching consequences on the way ministries are run, governance carries out, and responsibility to the Legislature by the Executive is discharged. For example, if any decision of the Minister for Environment is overruled by the NIB, who will answer to this in Parliament?” Natrajan was quoted as saying in her letter. The letter comes even as the Finance Minister recently proposed the NIB to accord speedy clearance to big ticket projects, particularly those related to infrastructure. Chidambaram said on 4 October that a proposal to constitute a NIB is likely to be taken by the Cabinet at its next meeting. In June, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had approved setting up of an investment tracking system to ensure speedy implementation of mega projects envisaging outlay of over Rs 1,000 crore. But the environment minister may have a valid point. It shouldn’t be the amount of investment alone that should be used to sway policy. There is nothing wrong with attracting investment, but letting through investments at the risk of damaging the environment is a valid concern, best addressed before the policy is drawn up. with inputs from PTI