GUWAHATI, Nov 6?Environment policy analyst Ruchi Pant has observed that the Draft National Environment Policy (DNEP) is unwilling to give legal recognition to the traditional rights of forest dwelling tribes. She was making her observations in connection with the draft?s approach towards the environmental issues concerning the NE region.
Her observations on the DNEP came in response to the request made by The Assam Tribune for offering her comments on the draft policy document, particularly in relation to the NE region. Pant worked in this region of the country earlier as an environment activist and is well conversant with the legal aspects of environment conservation. She is now working with the environment group Ecoserve.
In her comments e-mailed to this newspaper, Pant said that the NE region of the country still used to house substantial expanses of forests, which were largely managed by families, clans or communities. But the draft policy is averse to give legal recognition to the traditional rights of forest dwelling tribes, she said.
The traditional pattern of possession of the forests in the region necessitates recognition of traditional customs and practices; the norms and customary laws governing such practices and the access these provide to different natural resources, she said.
She admitted that the customary laws and community-framed norms relating to natural resource management were gradually weakening. But she maintained that such developments did not undermine the strengths and
successes of several community initiatives witnessed across the country in resource management in the field of forestry, land, water and fisheries.
Customary law is evolving in nature and adapts to the changing situations. Application of customary laws through the local traditional institutions could serve as a good form of decentralised governance, provided efforts are made to revitalise these through proper initiatives, observed the policy analyst.
She is also critical of the proposal made by the draft policy document on the issue of process-related reforms. In this connection, she said that procedural snags should be attempted to be removed rather than diluting the requirements and conditions for clearances. Hurriedly cleared projects without due caution and proper environment mitigation plans, could have severe adverse impacts both on the people and the environment, she observed.
The policy analyst also questioned the efficacy of the provision proposed by the document for encouraging the financial institutions to adopt appraisal practices for adequately considering the environmental risks while financing the projects. She wondered as to how in a country like India, mere encouragement could lead to any enforcement and implementation of a policy stipulation.
Reasoning, she said that in India regulations and standards were simply flouted in the face of industrial pressure. The most recent decision of the Delhi Government to regularise industrial activity going on in residential areas by tampering with the Master Plan of 2002 is a case in point, she said.
However, she lauded some provisions proposed by the draft. For example, the provision related to mandatory environmental clearance for projects involving large scale diversion of prime agricultural land, whether or not the proposed activity otherwise requires this clearance, is very timely and apt and should be immediately translated into suitable legislative action, she said.
The document is an intelligently written piece. It seems to be an all-encompassing policy document that attempts to touch upon a large array of issues concerning environment. What surpasses all expectations is the provision related to conservation of man-made heritage, she said.
The language of the policy makers in this document and the intent it reflects is commendable. However, the ever-widening wedge between the policy makers and the policy implementers, cutting across several sectors, needs to be bridged for facilitating the latters? translating the policy guidelines into concise and concrete actions, she said.
But she maintained that the draft policy document did not give any time frame even for minimal actions to be taken on the issues mentioned therein. It just talks of a review of the policy at timely intervals to include new issues, observed Pant, adding, with a long shopping list, there seemed to be no effort in the draft policy document to prioritise issues.
The policy analyst also said that a concept recently introduced by a directive of the European Union (EU) called Green Public Procurement, was also worth a consideration for India. EU brought out new public procurement directives published at the end of April 2004, making it explicitly clear for the first time that public authorities may incorporate environmental considerations into their procurement procedures.
In India, public purchasers like schools and local and central governments, among others, can take into account the environment when buying goods, services and building construction works, said Pant.