It was the Congress that put environment on the national agenda
Why is it that no political party takes environmental problems seriously?
It was under the Congress party that the environment department was created, and then the environment ministry was formed. It was the Congress party that considered environment an issue related to the people, and it has been the Congress party that integrated environment with all developmental issues. It is the same party that made environment a part of the national agenda.
The Congress government's Ganga Action Plan has turned out to be a major failure. Why?
Yes, it is the Congress government's plan. We have had failures but I completely disagree with you that it has been a total failure. I think this is the first plan of its kind in the world. It is not something that we could emulate; it had peculiar problems of its own. It had succeeded in some areas. Being the first experiment, it also had failures.
At the Rio Summit of 1992, you had said, "I do not understand why people here are talking of forests being national and global resources. In my country it is more a community resource.' Has the government ever allowed the forests to become a community resource?
Forest is a community resource. The forest committee that started under my tenure is working well. There has been a marked difference in the past 7-8 years in making the people alive to the issue that forest is a community resource.
A recent survey of industries showed that most of them were pumping effluents into the groundwater. What do you propose to do about this if you come to power?
We want to strengthen environment by making it a local issue. Ministries or departments in Delhi cannot do it alone. The idea is to first strengthen the state, and then the state should strengthen the district, so that they have an institutional chamber even at the local level to address the issue.
There was supposed to be a penalty on polluting industries discharging effluents. But no action has been taken till date. Why?
If the Congress was still ruling, something would have been done. After 1996, there was going to be a period of tax, with environmental levies based on the polluter pays principle. I have proposed a differential road tax for polluting vehicles.
So if your party comes to power, will it take these matters into consideration?
I cannot promise anything, but generally, our party will remain concerned about environmental issues with greater resolve.