Jayanthi Natarajan's stint at environment ministry did little to the lift business sentiment

NEW DELHI: Jairam Ramesh's "activist" reputation at the helm of Ministry for Environment & Forests (MoEF) had pretty much ensured that his successor wouldn't have to create an awful lot of goodwill to get into the good books of India Inc. But Jayanthi Natarajan's 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 fast lane to growth.

Natarajan stepped down on Saturday - ostensibly to devote full-time to party work. But, according to New Delhi grapevine, she was asked to resign by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a day before, and the party work ruse was just a fig leaf.

The speculation gathered steam as just a few hours later Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi told industrialists and corporate big wigs at industry chamber FICCI that the "biggest problem is absolute arbitrary powers at all levels of the system. This is what we face. In India, there are a lot of arbitrary powers. The environment minister or the chief minister can take any decision he wants."

Natarajan maintains that the decision to quit the government was her own and was dictated by her desire to focus energies on party work. She blames "vested interests" for spreading canards about her. She said that during her tenure not a single project was wrongly denied permission. Explaining Rahul Gandhi's statement, Natarajan told a television channel, "Rahul is talking about transparency which we are already implementing. Rahul also said that environment is equally important and what he has said is absolutely right."

Whether Natarajan was removed under pressure from the industrialists or she resigned on her own to work for the party will remain a matter of speculation. What is not a matter of speculation is that under Natarajan's stewardship the environment ministry continued to be viewed as a hurdle to economic growth.

In mid-2011, when the PM appointed Natarajan as environment minister, it was in the hope that the ministry would get a business-friendly makeover. Her predecessor Ramesh had acquired a reputation for being an activist, stalling projects that failed to meet norms. Some even went on to suggest that Ramesh was responsible for the economic slowdown. Natarajan, the PM hoped, would change that anti-industry image of the environment ministry and revive animal spirits.

To her credit, Natarajan began putting out industry friendly regulation almost right off the bat. She amended rules for forest clearance, a key green sanction, making them more industry-friendly, and found ways to streamline environmental guidelines. However, she still failed to win over industry. Many complained about delays in clearances, a charge she has denied repeatedly.

Industrialists complained to the PM and more recently to Rahul Gandhi about "inordinate delays and arbitrary decision-making". There have been whispers about "rent-seeking" but these have not been backed up by evidence or formal complaints.