Articles by Kanchi Kohli

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 High-Level Committee set up by the Narendra Modi government to review the major laws relating to environment protection has, in its recommendations, worked towards two sets of objectives: one, to separate business from the messiness of governance, and, two, to redraw the line of demarcation between the judiciary and the executive.

The Biological Diversity Act was passed in 2002 and the rules to implement it came out in 2004. The main focus of implementation in the past decade has been to persuade local governments to set up biodiversity management committees, which are to compile people's biodiversity registers. The success of state biodiversity boards is measured in terms of the number of committees set up. In addition, the prospect of fi nancial gains is driving the law's implementation. The need for what a genuine dialogue on what a people-centred, biodiversity-sensitive, location-specific development model would look like has been lost sight of.

By suggesting that even coal extraction falls within provisions of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and its specifi c provision of access and benefi t-sharing, the Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board has raised important questions relating to the interpretation of the law. While the principle of profit sharing from commercial use of biological sources is justifi able, the authors argue that the principle of the conservation ethic should not be lost.

The National Green Tribunal has taken over from the National Environment Appellate Authority though the changeover has not been smooth. The tribunal has signifi cant powers and its rulings will affect the lives and livelihoods of communities as well as the future of ecologically fragile ecosystems. A look at the factors and issues it will have to consider while rendering environmental justice.