ELAW In India

Please enjoy a recent op-ed by ELAW partner Ritwick Dutta in Delhi.  In The Hindu, Ritwick writes:

“A new jurisprudence on the environment is steadily emerging in the country and is an example for the rest of the world.  Today, nearly 50-60 Appeals and Applications are heard each working day before the various benches of the [National Green Tribunal] NGT.  At a time when Environment Impact Assessment reports are a blind “copy and paste” job, where public hearings are a “mockery” and non-compliance with environmental rules and regulations are the order of the day, the NGT serves to restore faith in the “Rule of law”.

The National Green Tribunal has transformed the way environmental decisions are made in India.  A specialized judicial and technical body, the NGT decides on all environmental disputes and issues.

This tribunal is enforcing the law to:

•  halt a proposed coal mine
• protect people living in and around the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority complex from toxic   pollution
• ban the mining of sand from within rivers and streams across India
• close an illegal waste dump near a school campus in Bareilly
• prevent the deforestation and forced relocation of communities in Jagatsinghpur to make way for a port  and steel manufacturing facility

ELAW congratulates Ritwick and his colleagues at Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment for winning big victories for people and ecosystems around the world and improving the way decisions are made about the environment.

Sincerely,

Michele Kuhnle
Donor Liaison
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide