As people's groups, NGOs, and mass movements, we are deeply concerned at the way governments over the last few years have severely undermined the importance of environmental issues in decision-making. In particular, the role of the ministry of environment and forests seems increasingly to be that of a clearing agency for unsustainable and destructive economic and commercial activities... The MoEF appears to be systematically undermining the participation of citizens in its decision-making process... Lack of transparency...is also a way to avoid serious scientific scrutiny...Is the mandate of the MoEF to help industries and 'developers' by-pass or get over environmental regulations, rather than safeguard the country's environment'

Several actions of the MoEF point to...declining emphasis on improving regulation and regulatory mechanisms, and instead pushing for 'voluntary' and 'market based' instruments. Examples of the above include:

1. The notification of the Biological Diversity Rules 2004: These...are scientifically unsound, considerably undermine the role of local communities in safeguarding biodiversity and traditional knowledge, and have completely ignored the many inputs provided by NGOs and activists when the draft Rules were first put out by MoEF. These Rules actually dilute the spirit and letter of the Act, which in any case was not fully adequate in its provisions regarding conservation, sustainable use, and equity.

2. Over the last few years MoEF has considerably reduced the scope and weakened the provisions of various notifications and rules under the Environment Protection Act 1986... The dilutions include: (in the case of the Environment Impact Assessment notification) public hearings being dropped for projects such as the widening of highways and mining leases for major minerals under 25 ha.; (in the case of Coastal Regulation Zone notification) allowing Special Economic Zones, effluent treatment plants, industrial salt pans, and the mining of atomic minerals in coastal areas...For instance, in the case of the mining projects, Indian Bureau of Mines data shows that almost 50 per cent of the mining leases for major minerals are below 25 ha...

Regulatory norms are being eased for developmental projects and industries. A MoEF press release... this year on 'good practices' to be adopted to facilitate 'expeditious decision making' stated that no application (for clearance) will be rejected on procedural grounds alone. This means applicants could get clearance even when they provide incomplete and inadequate information.

3. There are many shocking instances where MoEF has given clearance to dams, mining, roads, ports, industries, and other projects, without an adequate environmental impact assessment or without ensuring that environmental safeguards are built into the project. This is not surprising because increasingly members of various environmental clearance expert committees of MoEF, have little or no independent environmental record or credibility. Examples of this abound: Lower Subansiri hydro power project (Arunachal Pradesh), Allain Duhangan H-E project (Himachal Pradesh), Teesta Low Dam (West Bengal), Bodh Ghat project (Chhattisgarh), Raoghat Bauxite project (Chhattisgarh), Tipaimukh H-E Project (Manipur), and many others. Some of these even threaten areas that governments have themselves declared protected for wildlife.