By Krittivas Mukherjee
NEW DELHI, Nov 5 (Reuters) - To some, he is an environmental crusader, and to others he is the "Dr. No" of development.
But everyone agrees India's environment minister Jairam Ramesh is setting new standards in compliance that often bring him in conflict with industry.
He has scrapped or delayed clearance for hundreds of projects, including by UK-based miner Vedanta, feeding a raging national debate about a global challenge -- finding the balance between growth and environmental protection. Next week, an experts' panel will give its view on whether a $12 billion steel mill by South Korea's POSCO can be given green clearance.
That will set the stage for Ramesh to make a final decision on India's biggest foreign direct investment proposal that is being seen as a reflection of the country's investment climate.
POSCO, the world's third-largest steelmaker, wants to build the mill in India's eastern Orissa state but has faced delays over environmental clearance and from protests by local residents who stand to be affected by the plant. Whether or not he ultimately clears POSCO's plans, Ramesh is setting an agenda of compliance unseen in a hitherto rubber-stamping ministry, sometimes putting him on a collision course with cabinet colleagues backing mines, roads and industry.
Underlying all this is a realisation in India that enforcing environmental rules does not have to hurt growth, can boost the idea of rule of law and make government policies transparent.
The challenge is not unique to India -- developing economy Brazil and old hand Australia are also facing these issues.
"Let us all accept the reality that there is undoubtedly a trade-off between growth and environment," Ramesh wrote in an article for the Economic and Political Weekly magazine.
"In arriving at decisions to untangle the trade-off, three options present themselves - 'yes', 'yes, but' and 'no'".
Given the antipathy between the growth and environment lobbies, Ramesh wrote, maximise the 'yes, but' where possible.
GREEN FUNDAMENTALIST?
Like many of his decisions, a touch of drama permeates everything about this U.S.-educated technocrat-turned-politician, mostly seen in a flowing Indian white shirt rolled up at the sleeves. Outdoors, he is rarely seen without his dark glasses.
Once he discarded a convocation gown at a school calling the practice of wearing it a "barbaric colonial relic". Another time he picked up old toxic waste from an industrial accident site to drive home the point the remains were not dangerous any more.
In most of what he does, Ramesh has the backing of his ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, a left-leaning centrist who can ill afford to antagonise millions of rural voters most affected by huge mining and manufacturing projects. Apart from being a political issue, disaffection in the countryside risks fanning support for Maoist rebels who want to overthrow the Indian state - a concern Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has termed as India's biggest internal security challenge.
But Ramesh's stand in a country focused on development and raring to move to the global high table has meant he is also scoffed at by some as an inflexible green fundamentalist.
Apart from hundreds of industry projects, he has held up construction of a second airport in the commercial hub of Mumbai and dozens of road and dam projects await clearance.
Ramesh, 56, is one of a handful of political leaders seen able to push an agenda of modernising India against conservative figures in the Congress who focus more on political expediency.
When Singh appointed him environment minister last year, months ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference, Ramesh created a flutter by suggesting that India could be more flexible in its negotiating stance at the summit.
He soon backed down, and even seemed contrite.
"In our country, you are not accepted if you start thinking out of the box," Ramesh, a U.S.-educated former civil servant, said after the controversy.
"You have to be inside the box. You can go out of the box occasionally but be sure you return quickly." (Editing by Jo Winterbottom and Miral Fahmy)