The Union Cabinet’s decision to auction cancelled coal blocks was announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday with only a passing reference that the government would protect the environment while doing so. The UPA claimed to do so, too, but often cheated on its own stated regulations and policies. So far the NDA has performed worse than the UPA on this count, weakening green regulations with much greater clarity of intent, in haste and by stealth.

The opaqueness of its actions only threatens to strengthen radical green groups and polarise the debate about sustainable growth instead of helping discover a better route to growth. Integrating environmental concerns into coal block distribution is a tough call by any measure. It requires taking hard decisions about leaving some coal in the ground for good, about not touching some coal blocks till we reach certain energy demand-supply situation and permitting other blocks to be mined under strict supervision.

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