The latest “reckless” race between the two Telugu States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for attracting industrial investment could prove to be a disaster for environment and agriculture, warns a report prepared by the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
The report by the popular public interest research and advocacy organisation, says both States may very well be on a path of self-annihilation with their aggressive offers of best packages for industries and fast tracking their clearances, putting all environmental concerns on the backburner and triggering a conflagration between industry and agriculture.
Outdoing each other
Both the States are outdoing each other to offer packages of unprecedented goodies -- assured clearance of large investment proposals, single-desk clearance, self-certification, protection from inspections, priority allocation of water, land and uninterrupted power, the report says.
While industry has hailed the policies as “imaginative and innovative”, environmentalists and activists are appalled as the two States are already witnessing rampant pollution of natural resources and a prolonged agrarian crisis.
The Telangana government has cleared 17 investment proposals on June 22, amounting to Rs.1,500 crore within 10 days of application – this was the fastest grant of approval in the country - in line with its new industrial policy. The policy titled Telangana State Industrial Project Approval and Self-Certification System (TS-iPASS), announced on June 12, states that it will make Telangana the “world’s most investment-friendly State”.
‘Astounding’ provisions
The provisions of TS-iPASS make it “astounding”, the report notes. The policy mandates that permissions and licences will be given within 15 days for big projects, and if no decision is taken during this period, it will be deemed to have been given.
The government promises to clear all proposals for projects which have an investment of over Rs.200 crore within 15 days, while other projects will have to be approved in a month.
The new State offers a land bank of nearly a million hectares and a 10 per cent water allocation from all sources for industrial use through its new policy. It promises ‘minimum inspection, maximum facilitation’, under which the State’s regulatory checks and balances have been diluted to a great extent. Minimum inspection translates into inspection every three to four years with a one-month notice, and ‘no random inspection’ without a cause. The policy encourages “self-certification” and “automatic renewals”. Having rolled out a red carpet for investors, the State expects to attract an investment of 5 lakh crore by the year 2020.
Land bank
Matching the TS-iPASS, Andhra Pradesh too, has come up with similar bounty. The State is offering a land bank of half a million hectares and is trying to attract an investment of Rs 2 lakh crore. Like Telangana, the State is offering its natural resources uninhibitedly. Privileges offered by the AP government to industrialists include reimbursing one rupee for every unit of power consumed and permission to store water in government-owned reservoirs.
Such offers are recipe for conflicts, environmental and agricultural crisis besides shrinking the natural resource base, the CSE report says.
Agrarian crisis
Telangana has been facing a severe agrarian crisis and has as many as 89 per cent of farmers’ families in debt. A farmer, quoted in the report, says that she spent Rs.40,000 on digging a bore well without finding water.
Her husband committed suicide due to debt. In Andhra Pradesh, however, agriculture pays but most farmers are unwilling to part with their land.
The report says both States will face a challenge in providing water and power to the industry – which will happen at the cost of farmers and common people. The report points out that this could lead to a conflict between industry and agriculture.
Quotes Jharkhand and
Chhattisgarh example
Analysing the impact of rapid industrialisation in States such as Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh – the report contends that such industrialisation did nothing to change the economic status of these States.
In Chhattisgarh, industrialisation led to the shrinking of forest cover while in Jharkhand, the number of households with outstanding debt increased by nearly 9 per cent in 10 years (2003-13), a period that coincides with the State’s targeted industrial growth.
Both Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh governments tabled in their Assemblies deficits of Rs.2,184.6 crore and Rs.5,761 crore respectively, for the financial year 2014-15 despite pursuing pro-industrial policies.
‘Both States will face a challenge in providing water and power to the industry, which will happen at the cost of ryots and common people’
