While according the Environmental Clearance to the Posco project, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh added that he was deeply uncomfortable with the project because the original memorandum of understanding (MoU), which has now expired, had provisions for the export of iron ore. Mr Ramesh then declared that he now expects that the revised MoU between Posco and the Orissa government will completely avoid such provisions.
That, precisely, is the question that the state government rightly posed when it asked Mr Ramesh to mind his own business! The state government is right to assert that the minister™s personal views do not constitute official policy. The MoU between the Orissa government and Posco has not violated any law or policy. Ministerial discomfort, that too expressed in the first person (with Mr Ramesh constantly saying I in his official statement rather than the ministry), cannot become the basis for government policy, however well-intentioned. Today, one minister may be discomfited by iron- ore exports for good economic and ecological reasons, tomorrow another may feel equally uncomfortable for political reasons, and the day after yet another minister could express such discomfort if he is not adequately compensated!
