i am not sure the criticism is fully merited, but statism and dirigisme are diseases endemic among left-leaning indian politicians.
It would be easy to dismiss Jairam Ramesh as a buffoon. The Indian minister for environment and forests likes to talk big, as when he recently declared that driving SUVs was "criminal" and called for "a penalty on the type of cars you don't want to see on the roads." This week he fulminated against the affluent American lifestyle and those Indians who aspire to it.
Considering the fondness of Indian politicians for cruising around in SUVs and partying in their villas, it's doubtful the government will act on these particular pronouncements anytime soon. But Mr. Ramesh continues to use his office to do serious economic damage. No industry can afford to be cavalier when the minister has them in his sights.
Mr. Ramesh's ministry, which awards and rescinds environmental clearances in an arbitrary manner reminiscent of the "license-permit raj," has held up dams in India's northeast as well as power plants and highways around the country. On Monday he finally withdrew his opposition to a new airport for Mumbai after raising objections for over a year. In the last month, panels appointed by Mr. Ramesh have recommended revoking permits for South Korean steel giant Posco's $12 billion project in the eastern state of Orissa, the largest ever overseas investment in India. This comes a full five years after the firm signed an agreement with the Orissa government to set up its plant.
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4 comments:
Rajeev,
In the midist of the Andhra Kangress tamasha, something happened that has gone unnoticed.
The AP State Police Task force office (or headquarters)is being vacated and given to the Wakhf board on a silver plate. Who decided A.Q.Khan and why because that Owasi MIM guy threatned to resign (who what a threat to succumb to ). So since 1991 this Task force headquarters has been functioning. If you know this MIM guys are saying the entire hi-tech city area including gachibowli (microsoft etc houses there along with Univ of Hyd) is all Wakhf property.
This is happening in the background and no one seems to notice. Please publisise this info.
@ Narayan :
Thanks for your post.
The Jan Sangh website has Prof. Madhok's comments on this issue: Wakf boards have no business to exist in modern India.
Regarding Jairam Ramesh:
In the UPA's previous tenure, he claimed he was "more leftist than Yechury on many matters", so we know where he was coming from.
Also, the NYT and the WSJ are great ones to talk: The EPA has been through so much controversy, corruption and turmoil over the years that the US is hardly an example for any country in this case.
Rajeev,
It is a fact that American lifestyle is unsustainable and causes havoc in the world..
I really dont think, Jairam Ramesh is wrong in asking Indians not to blindly ape the american lifestyle..
Of course Jairam Ramesh has made observations supporting CHina in the past which were weird and pathetic..
But in this case, i think WSJ is way off the mark and is patently wrong..
How many cars are in Sonia's entourage? We should all pledge to use only as much fuel as Sonia Maino. Sonia Maino's electricity bill in the past two years was just Rs. 7 lakhs. Let us all pledge to limit the use of electricity to less than that used by Ms. Maino. We should also pledge to use only as much fuel for travel as Al Gore does.
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