Tough being criticised all the time, says Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi: There is a trade off between environment and growth, says India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. Speaking to NDTV's Sidharth Pandey, the minister said he did not need a certificate from anyone on his commitment to liberalisation and growth. The remarks came on a day the PM said protecting the environment did not mean a return to the licence raj of the eighties.

Here is the full transcript of the interview:

Sidharth Pandey: Well he has put the environment on the national agenda and he is very much in news almost on a daily basis. We are joined by the country's environment minister. Sir, thank you very much for being on the show. I wanted to ask you straight away that some projects are stopped, some are cleared but have we now found a balance of sorts?

Jairam Ramesh: In the process of finding the balance many will get green signal but some projects may get the red signal also. I cannot have a general rule. You know, but as I said there are projects in the 'yes' category, there are projects in the 'yes but' category and there are projects in the 'no' category. You know, POSCO is 'yes but' category. Navi Mumbai airport is a 'yes but' category but you know coal mine next to Tarova reserve is a 'no' category. So balance, we will find the balance. It's not that we cannot find the balance. We will try to see how we can marry economic growth and conservation objectives. But, if in the process sometimes there is no to a project. So be it.

Sidharth Pandey: There is a worry that the pace of development may be getting slightly reduced because of bottlenecks and be it environmental clearances or other things. Is that a genuine concern?

Jairam Ramesh: There is a trade off between environment and growth. There is a trade off between conservation and faster GDP growth. We have to find that balance. We are finding that balance. So far we have taken environment for granted. Everything was being approved, everything was being given the green signal.

Sidharth Pandey: Including other ministries who often push projects soon...
Jairam Ramesh: You know most industries, private industries, public sector companies, ministries, thought of environment as a something that could be managed, that could be navigated, it's to be called an ATM ministry, you know. Now I call it as an ATM ministry. But ATM stands for Accountable and Transparent Ministry. We have to be accountable and we have to be transparent.

Sidharth Pandey: But how tough is it to manage relationship with your own cabinet ministers?

Jairam Ramesh: It's part of my job. It is not easy to be criticized all the time but you know as I just said I have to develop my thick skin. This is not something that I fight. There is not a personal struggle against the power minister or the coal minister. You know, we are fighting over issues, we are fighting over principles, we are fighting over laws. I don't need certificates of my commitment to economic growth and liberalization from anybody because I go back to early 80s long before these great pundits discovered the virtues of liberalization and globalization.

Sidharth Pandey: Is there pressure on you now that you have written to the speaker of the house saying that even politicians...

Jairam Ramesh: You know...I mean there is a lot of conflict of interest, people do call me up, you know project that they own, projects of their son. I find it difficult to accept. I am trying to run a clean system. A system that is above board. I want people to criticize me for the quality of my decisions, but I don't want people to say that I am doing decisions based on extraneous rent seeking considerations. I do not believe in that. People may not like what we decide and I should be open for scrutiny. My office is an open book, my life is an open book, my decisions are an open book. I have nothing to hide. My conscience is clear. But I can easily lob many of these decisions back. Take BT Brinjals, for example. I decided to take the bull by its horn or in this case the brinjal by its horn so to speak, have public consultations and took a decision. I could have very easily tossed it back to the government and have said, now, you guys decide. But that's not I am here for. I have been put here to take decisions. Whether I stay in this job or not is entirely the prerogative of the congress president, the chairperson of the UPA and the PM. Both of them will decide whether I will stay or go. But as long as I am here, I will do things to the best of my abilities. Conservation is just coming in the public domain. It's part of the political discourse. We have a very, very long way to go. I hope in the last 20 months inspite of all the controversies I seem to have created at least public awareness and public sensitivities and public concerns on this issue has been heightened.