this hindu news story sums up the sorry state of focus on crucial environment sector of india.

the forest department sends its proposal to forest minister for clearance of the proposal to declare the silent valley national park buffer zone as a protected area.

the forest minister approves it 10 months ago. the proposal reaches the electricity minister of kerala, mr.a.k.balan, who does nothing for past 10 months. the proposal, if i can take a liberty, has been sent to all cabinet ministers so that they can approve it for final cabinet approval.

the electricity minister is sitting on the file and does not care a damn on the proposal. the reason is obvious. he wants to bulldoze the unsustainable, ill fated pathrakadavu hydel project in the name of 'development'.

if it had been a factory proposal or a dam proposal, the electricity minister would have cleared it in 10 days even without taking into considerations basic human and environmental laws.

silent valley has withstood several brutal attempts to build foolish dams. hopefully the story will remain the same.