3rd April 2006

To: The Prime Minister of India

Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India
Room No. 152, South Block,
New Delhi - 110 001
INDIA
Tel: +91 11 23012312 / 23013149 / 23019545
Fax: +91 11 23016857, 23019545

Subject: Postcard campaign and other communication on the National Environment Policy (NEP) and the Draft EIA Notification

Sir:

Over the last one month, more than 2600 local government representatives, farmers, trade unions, students, political leaders, dalit groups, adivasi groups, social activists, youth clubs, civil society and community based organizations as well as concerned individuals have sent you postcards, demanding that the draft National Environment Policy and EIA Notification, 2005, be scrapped, because the process of drafting and adopting them has not been transparent and has not involved them.  In a country like India with relatively limited and where mostly only urban areas have  access to Internet, it is astounding that the policy and notification were publicised only through this medium.

You may have received letters from various parts of the country such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam, Sikkim, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Delhi. Some of the mass based groups who have participated in this campaign include Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad, Beej Bachao Andolan and Jan Chetana Andolan, Uttaranchal; Navrachna, Himachal Pradesh; Parkriti Manav Kendrit Jan Andolan, Punjab; Deccan Development Society and AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity, Andhra Pradesh; Aarthik Aazadi Andolan, Itawah, Uttar Pradesh; Keonjhar Surakhsha Parishad and Bharat Jan Andolan, Orissa; Jan Chetana and Dalit Mukti Morcha Chhattisgarh. Even NRI organizations from the US have lent their solidarity to this campaign.

Over the last one year, the issues regarding the NEP and EIA notification have been brought to your notice in the form of several Open Letters, peoples’ protests and media reports. We’re yet to receive a response from either the PMO or the Ministry of Environment and Forests. We are shocked and disappointed by your silence on a matter that will affect livelihoods and very survival of crores of people.

As an effort to get the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to appreciate the extent to which the peoples of India and their representatives have been left out of the process of formulating the NEP and the proposed amendment to the EIA Notification, the Campaign for Environmental Justice - India organized on 13th  November  2005, a "MoEF Suno" Public Hearing with participation of over 300 representatives across the country deposing before an interdisciplinary panel of experts, jurists, and all-party elected representatives.  On 14th November, these representatives walked into the MoEF office to present their views and their dismay at not being consulted in the formulation of the policy and legislations that directly affect their lives, livelihoods and the ecological security of their habitats.  Unfortunately, neither the Minister nor the Secretary could spare the time to meet these people who had travelled from all over the country. Disturbed by this unresponsive attitude, those gathered felt that this Ministry is as good as dead and issued a symbolic "Death Certificate", a copy of which is attached, and which was also submitted to your office on 2nd December 2005.

We understand that the MoEF has finalized the NEP and is set to implement it in its current form. We are certain that the policy will fail because the Government has underestimated the opposition that people and communities will bring to bear if their legitimate concerns repeatedly expressed to you remain unaddressed.

The Policy and Notification propose to relax social and environmental safeguards to make India more attractive for investments at a time when the ill-effects of past investments remain unaddressed. Even as you read this, project affected people from the Sardar Sarovar project in Narmada, survivors of the Bhopal disaster, and the erstwhile mill workers of Mumbai are all on peaceful protests through satyagrahas, dharnas and marches to demand what has legally been their due since the start of the struggle more than two decades ago. These fights will not just disappear. The NEP and Notification propagate the very flaws in development planning that have led to these long-standing conflicts. If adopted, it is inevitable that it will lead to a more impoverished, tumultuous and violent India.

Since our demands have warranted absolutely no known action till date, we can only hope that the Government of India does the right thing by scrapping the policy and notification, and redraft these crucial environmental instruments with widespread public consultation befitting the largest democracy in the world.

Sincerely,

Kanchi Kohli

For Campaign for Environment Justice- India

[A network of voluntary organisations, movements, project affected communities, NGOs, research organisations and individuals who have come together over the past year in a concerted effort to attend to diverse environmental and social justice threats and challenges in India]