Environment ministry gets a rap

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Editor's note: Weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown last March to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Indians were still trying to grapple with its impact on their lives and livelihood, the environment ministry went ahead and published the draft environment impact assessment notification 2020. This was then followed by the ministry doing its utmost to hastily implement the drastic changes proposed in the draft, by reducing the legally mandated public consultations to a token exercise. Despite the all-round pandemic-induced stupor, public outrage—which found reflection in a flood of over two million emails and letters from concerned citizens to the government—resulted. As did directions from the Karnataka and Delhi high courts to the ministry to conduct wider public consultations. All this forced the environment ministry to hit the pause button on its plans. But it never fully complied with the orders of both courts to conduct public consultations in all of India’s 22 official languages. Now, a year down the line, when much of the heat around the issue has dissipated, there is something that’ll give …