Isn’t the environment ministry competent to decide which green areas need to be conserved and where mining can be allowed? Isn’t it the environment minister’s business to decide whether any proposed economic activity can prove detrimental to the country’s environmental interests? The intervention of the prime minister’s office in the ongoing tussle between the environment ministry and the coal ministry suggests that the prime minister thinks otherwise.

In the latest spat between the environment ministry and a pro-industrialisation lobby, in this case the coal ministry, the latter has asked for an increase in the area where mining can be allowed. While the coal ministry has demanded an increase of 30 percent, the environment ministry is prepared to concede only five percent, according to a report in The Hindustan Times (first reported by The Indian Express). Even this concession would mean a loss of some area under dense forests that the environment ministry had declared as ‘no go’ areas for mining. According to the daily, at least 48 percent of mining areas fall under the ‘no go’ zone. The PMO, however, intervened on behalf of the coal ministry and said the environment ministry’s definition of ‘no go’ areas wasn’t acceptable.

The question, therefore, arises whether the PMO shouldn’t let environment minister Jairam Ramesh mind at least his business.