Opposition to National Investment Board

It is generally believed that the establishment of the proposed "€˜super" clearance agency, the National Investment Board (NIB), will do more harm than benefit. NIB is proposed to be established to fast-track clearances for large infrastructure projects, which is being seen as an infringement of the mandate and working of the Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF). The contention of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) that the proposed National Investment Board (NIB, will further dilute the regulations on environmental clearance. According to CSE green clearances in India were already too easy to get and seldom followed up with monitoring. Moreover, it is feared that NIB would destroy the existing environmental regulatory regime. The general consensus is that forest clearances should be enforced strictly and regularly monitored. Forest cover is shrinking and trial people are thrown out of their natural habitat due to mindless mining, both legal and illegal. Evidence of the damage to India's ecological infrastructure takes the form of collapsing fisheries, falling water tables, shrinking forests, eroding soils, drying lakes, crop-withering, heat waves, and disappearing species. Therefore, industry has to grow only after following pollution norms. There is no point allowing forest land to be diverted for industrial, agricultural or other purposes. It is interesting to note that Ministry of MoEF has expressed its reservations on the proposed super clearance agency, the National Investment Board (NIB).
Dr.C.Murukadas, The Times of India, Oct. 22, 2p12