New Delhi: Suggesting that there's no
stopping for his green crusade, Environment Minister Jairam
Ramesh today said unlike in many countries, environment in
India is not a lifestyle issue but a source of livelihood for
crores of people who are dependent on forests and rivers.
"We are not doing any obligation on anyone when we try to
save our mountains, forests and rivers. It is the issue of
daily livelihood of crores of people who are directly or
indirectly associated with the natural resources," he said at
a function here to mark the Ozone Day.
Ramesh also emphasised the need to protect the country's
fragile eco-system which, he said, is not a lifestyle issue
but is the base of the society which is culturally and
historically associated with it.
Ramesh's emphasis on protection of eco-system comes in a
bid to justify his actions to hold up various projects over
green norms, the recent one being Navi Mumbai airport and
Vedanta's mining project for which he has been drawing flak
from some of his cabinet colleagues and corporate houses.
He said that development and environment conservation
were the two faces of the same coin and there is a need to do
a balancing act to achieve both.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, September 16, 2010, 20:05