GREEN LEADERS

In the first-ever effort of its kind in India, the Centre for Science and Environment conducted a survey among environmentalists and Down To Earth (dte) readers to find out how "green" the country’s chief ministers are. dte carried a readers’ survey in September 1998. There were 335 responses. In addition, 237 environmentalists rated the chief ministers of their respective states.

The environmentalists ranked Pawan Kumar Chamling of Sikkim as the best chief minister. Second in the lead in their list was Digvijay Singh of Madhya Pradesh. The readers, however, awarded the first position to Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh. Interestingly, both Chamling and Digvijay Singh were pushed down to the lower rungs in the readers’ survey, while Naidu was ranked sixth in the environmentalists’ list.

The tail-enders in the readers’ as well as the environmentalists’ survey were Rabri Devi of Bihar and E K Nayanar of Kerala. Interestingly, while the readers gave Kalyan Singh the second runners-up title, the environmentalists’ pushed him to the bottom of their list. Others who fared badly include J H Patel of Karnataka and J B Patnaik of Orissa.

Among other things, Chamling was lauded for his role in scrapping the Rathong-Chu hydel project in west Sikkim and banning the use of plastic bags in the state capital Gangtok. Digvijay Singh scored high because of his role in launching various programmes under the Rajiv Gandhi Mission. The readers praised Naidu for taking a keen interest in community forestry projects and watershed development programmes, which has been particularly successful in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Prakash Singh Badal of Punjab and Jyoti Basu of West Bengal came third and fourth respectively in the environmentalists’ survey. They have acknowledged afforestation measures by both. Basu’s policies have choked Calcutta wetlands with urban growth, but the environmentalists of Bengal forgave him on account of the highly successful implementation of Joint Forest Management programmes in the state.

Besides Digvijay Singh and Naidu, W Nipamacha Singh of Manipur and P K Dhumal of Himachal Pradesh figured in the list of cms showing an active interest in watershed development. Dhumal was also lauded for setting aside Rs 10 crore from the state budget for a radically different forestry project which includes micro-level planning, management and even handling of money.

Environmentalists have also praised Nipamacha Singh for making efforts to conserve the Loktak Lake, famous for its floating islets and the lone habitat of the endangered brown antlered antelope.

Some of the questions that were put forth to the environmentalists were:

Is the urban and rural environment improving?
In Sikkim’s case, 78 per cent of the environmentalists felt that the urban as well as the rural environment was improving. In Madhya Pradesh, more than 66 per cent felt that the rural environment was improving, though only 50 per cent felt the same about urban environment. In the case of Andhra Pradesh, the environmentalists were equally divided about the issue.

Does the chief minister take a personal interest in sustainable development?
While 89 per cent of the environmentalists felt Chamling does, only 67 per cent felt the same about Digvijay Singh and 50 per cent about Naidu.

Has the cm promoted civil society involvement in environmental management?
While 87.5 per cent of the respondents said Chamling has promoted the civil society’s role, in Digvijay Singh’s and Naidu’s case only 67 per cent felt the same.

Has the cm promoted public participation, particularly of poor people in environmental management?
In all the three cases, 67 per cent of the respondents felt that their cms promoted participation especially of the poor people.

Has the cm passed laws or started programmes to promote sustainable development in the last two years?
Only Chamling fared well on this count with 89 per cent of the respondents saying "yes". Environmentalists were equally divided about Digvijay Singh, but in Naidu’s case, only a mere 20 per cent felt he had passed laws or launched programmes.

The environmentalists gave Kalyan Singh and Patel zero marks on three counts -- personal interest in sustainable development, promotion of civil society, and public participation, especially by the poor. Kalyan Singh has generated a lot of controversy for his "anti-poor" forest policies, which marginalised forest-dwelling communities. Rabri Devi’s lack of popularity was attributed to her opting for large-scale embankment projects, while Manohar Joshi of Maharashtra and Patnaik were criticised for promoting industrialisation without adequate environmental checks.

Pollution, deforestation or land degradation. Either by choice, neglect or sheer ignorance, environmental issues have never really mattered to Indian politicians. But it is heartening to note that at least a few politicians, that have noticed the votes "hidden" beneath green policies, have taken the lead in melding economic progress with ecological equilibrium.

Note: For further information, please contact Samyabrata Ray Goswami, Centre for Science and Environment.

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