Faith in law of land restored

Former bureaucrat and member of National Advisory Council N.C. Saxena’s report on violations in mining project for Vedanta Resources triggered the rejection of environment clearance. Excerpts of an interview with him:

Updated on: Aug 25, 2010, 24:20:50 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan

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Former bureaucrat and member of National Advisory Council N.C. Saxena’s report on violations in mining project for Vedanta Resources triggered the rejection of environment clearance. Excerpts of an interview with him:

Your reaction to Environment minister’s decision?
Minister’s decision is welcome as they acted on the report. It shows that the law of the land can be implemented in case of environment violations. The decision should prompt the government to ensure that the laws are implemented.

Message from the decision?
The decision implies that the law is not for fools. To me, it makes it clear that the laws are not for rich to earn and the poor to lose. The tribal people can now believe in law of the land. I hope that the state government enforce the Forest Rights Act (FRA) by notifying community rights.

You have been accused of behaving like an activist?
It is a compliment not a derogatory remark. Technically, I am not a government official anymore. I had always stood for development, leading to progress of local people.

Orissa govt has said that all the issued raised by you in the report had been settled by the SC in 2008. Your reaction?
The SC never said ignore the law. FRA was never discussed by the court, as it became applicable after the judgment. The provisions of FRA and other environment laws were not met which we highlighted in the report. The provisions of FRA for acquiring forestland for any project, is mandatory as per the law.

Will the decision change how environment laws are implemented ?
There is a need to discuss laws in Parliament and make them environment friendly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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