Author: Our Bureau
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: November 6, 2014

Kamal Nath, cabinet minister in the UPA government which allowed a significant say to civil society on government policy through the National Advisory Council led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, slammed some non-government organisations or NGOs and said they were just business outfits posing as civil society.

Nath, who has also served as the environment and forest minister in the past and cleared big-ticket projects like the Narmada and Tehri dams, also took on green activists and said environmentalism is the biggest threat to the environment.

“There have been several cases where civil society has been used by one company to block another company's projects in the name of environment, by filing a public interest litigation or PIL,“ said Nath, speaking at a panel discussion in the WEF's India Economic Summit. Nath said he knew of at least three cases personally where after such a PIL was filed, there was a `settlement' between the NGO and the project proponent.

“That's not civil society, that's business. You have good civil society and bad civil society. Let's not brand them all in one category,“ he said, adding that NGOs don't face the sort of scrutiny that private firms and government face on whether their spending delivers intended outcomes.

Recalling the criticism and grave warnings he faced as environment minister clearing new dams and port projects, Nath said a port cannot be built in the capital's Connaught Place.