In 2000, the central government declared Northeast India as India‟s hydropower hub. Over 165 large dam projects were proposed to come up in the region. However, nearly two decades on, this proposal to regulate the region‟s water resources for its development remains unimplemented.
This study is an attempt to understand the lived experience of people affected by land use change and related conflicts. Equally, if not more importantly, this research seeks to analyse what affected people do when such conflicts arise. What are the strategies they adopt and what kinds of remedies do they seek?
In a bid to fast-track environmental clearances for industrial projects, the Narendra Modi government constituted a high-level committee in 2014 under T S R Subramanian to review key environmental laws. In the context of the controversial recommendations made by the T S R Subramanian Committee to ease environmental norms and dilute people’s participation in environmental governance to stimulate economic development, the article takes a critical look at the functioning of the Environmental Impact Assessment regime in India since its inception in 1994.
The Centre for Policy Research - Namati Environmental Justice Program has recently completed a three-year-long study, the first of its kind, titled CZMAs and Coastal Environments: Two Decades of Regulating Land Use Change on India's Coastline, analysing the functioning of Coastal Zone Management Authorities (CZMA).
The manner in which the United Progressive Alliance government approved field trials of genetically engineered crops in the last few weeks of its term in office speaks poorly of its regard for the decision-making process.
The governance of forests in India has been a complex realm to unravel. Due to the multiple claims to ownership, jurisdiction and management of forests through India's modern history, forests have remained a subject of intrigue for all those trying to understand the complex legalities that have operated within a single space.
On January 31, 2011, the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) gave its final approval for the construction of a steel plant and captive port of the South Korean company, Posco. The company
Between 1998 and 2008, the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife considered 244 cases for diversion of protected areas. It approved diversion covering 2.88% of the area proposed, while rejecting a shift in a smaller area (0.87%). The rest of the area proposed for diversion still awaits a decision.
Environment impact assessment was supposed to be a critical tool in environmental decision-making. But it has been re-engineered to severely reduce its usefulness as an instrument for public participation in decision-making.
