minister of environment and forests, mr.a.raja departs to head the IT and telecom ministry.

he has been a minister for nearly 3 years as head of MoEF. in these three years, we can tell that his work in the ministry was mediocre at best.

he was bulldozed by his powerful counterparts finance minister and shipping and transport minister to push destructive projects.

the blatant dilution of EIA rules, the ruthless bulldozing of sethu project, his inability to rein in brutal private sector mining companies in orissa, the deteriorating quality of wetlands, rivers, etc, the death bed state of pollution control boards, the disappearance of tigers in sariska, his lack of leadership in tribal bill issue, etc - all are glaring examples of the poor job that raja did.

media pundits are saying that how can raja be effective in the new ministry when he was not effective in his old ministry. they are more concerned that telecom ministry is crucial than MoEF and so more able person than raja should hold the ministry and probably let raja stay in MoEF. I, for one, is saying let a new blood come in a very crucial ministry like MoEF and give it a strong push towards preservation of india's environment and forests.

because, our environment and forests is as crucial as telecom. because without pure drinking water to drink and a healthy air to breathe, the dollars and rupees we have in bank will be just papers. papers, using which the rich pillage the environment and forests and destroy the very lives and livelihood of several hundreds of millions of people.