Environmental Justice In India

Modern environmental regulation and its complex intersection with international law has led many jurisdictions to develop environmental courts or tribunals. Strikingly, the list of jurisdictions that have chosen to do this include numerous developing countries, including Bangladesh, Kenya and Malawi. Indeed, it seems that developing nations have taken the task of capacity-building in environmental law more seriously than many developed nations. Environmental Justice in India explores the genesis, operation and effectiveness of the Indian National Green Tribunal (NGT). The book has four key objectives. First, to examine the importance of access to justice in environmental matters promoting sustainability and good governance Second, to provide an analytical and critical account of the judicial structures that offer access to environmental justice in India. Third, to analyse the establishment, working practice and effectiveness of the NGT in advancing a distinctively Indian green jurisprudence. Finally, to present and review the success and external challenges faced and overcome by the NGT resulting in growing usage and public respect for the NGT’s commitment to environmental protection and the welfare of the most affected people. Providing an informative analysis of a growing judicial development in India, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental justice, environmental law, development studies and sustainable development.

Conservation, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice in India highlights the environmental challenges that India faces, largely due to high population and limited natural resources, and discusses the gap between the intent of environmental policies and the actualization of those policies. Contributors posit that the protection of the environment poses a fundamental challenge to the nation’s desire to industrialize and develop more quickly, arguing that the conservation of biodiversity, protection of wetlands, prevention of environmental pollution, and promotion of ecological balance are all crucial in enabling sustainable development. This book poses the question of how large a role the judiciary system should play in the protection of the environment as a vital body that passes policies to promote conservation and sustainable development.

Within the last two decades, India has not only enacted specific legislation on environmental protection but has also virtually created a new fundamental right to a clean environment in the Constitution. The models and methods adopted in the Indian context appear, at first sight, similar to those in other common law systems. Yet there are many subtle differences which have changed the structure and content of legal development in India. Indian environmental jurisprudence brings out the unique characteristics of a new legal order which has gradually been established in India. The distinguishing nature of this jurisprudence, as this book shows in detail, has three interconnected elements. First, the nature of the new Indian constitutional law regime accords greater importance to public concerns than protecting private interests. Secondly, this jurisprudential development reflects certain aspects of Indian legal culture, through implicit and explicit reliance on autochthonous values and concepts of law, encapsulated in the Indian juristic postulate of "dharma," Thirdly, the emerging Indian environmental jurisprudence bears testimony to the activist role of the Indian judiciary which has also had a significant impact in many areas other than environmental law. In short, the development of environmental jurisprudence in India manifests neo-"dharmic" jurisprudence in postmodern public law. It accommodates ideas currently voiced by experts around the world for protecting the environment in forms modified by the Indian legal culture.

Within the last two decades, India has not only enacted specific legislation on environmental protection but has also virtually created a new fundamental right to a clean environment in the Constitution. The models and methods adopted in the Indian context appear, at first sight, similar to those in other common law systems. Yet there are many subtle differences which have changed the structure and content of legal development in India. Indian environmental jurisprudence brings out the unique characteristics of a new legal order which has gradually been established in India. The distinguishing nature of this jurisprudence, as this book shows in detail, has three interconnected elements. First, the nature of the new Indian constitutional law regime accords greater importance to public concerns than protecting private interests. Secondly, this jurisprudential development reflects certain aspects of Indian legal culture, through implicit and explicit reliance on autochthonous values and concepts of law, encapsulated in the Indian juristic postulate of dharma. Thirdly, the emerging Indian environmental jurisprudence bears testimony to the activist role of the Indian judiciary which has also had a significant impact in many areas other than environmental law. In short, the development of environmental jurisprudence in India manifests neo-dharmic jurisprudence in postmodern public law. It accommodates ideas currently voiced by experts around the world for protecting the environment in forms modified by the Indian legal culture.

This interdisciplinary collection examines social equity and environmental justice in India. It assesses the effectiveness of environmental policies and institutions in rendering justice for marginalized communities while ensuring protection of the environment. It also analyses the influence of the neoliberal state and its political economies on the development and outcomes of these policies and institutions. The book provides a unique perspective on environmental justice because of its consistent emphasis on social justice, rather than the prevailing predominant analyses from legal or environmental perspectives. It explores the themes of effectiveness and equity as they pertain to public policy instruments, such as environmental impact assessment, environmental licensing and enforcement, public hearings, and environmental activism strategies. The four interlinked dimensions of environmental justice, namely recognitional justice, procedural justice, distributive justice, and restorative justice, provide the core of the book’s conceptual framework. The contributions draw on ideas and methods from development studies, environmental geography, environmental law and policy, natural resource management, public administration, and political economy The book concludes by considering planning, policy and institutional reforms and community-based initiatives that are needed to promote and protect environmental justice in India. Offering an important reference for researchers and scholars, this book will appeal to those in law, geography, environmental studies, natural resource management, development studies, sociology, and political science. It will also be of interest to community-based researchers, environmentalists and other civil society activists, natural resource managers, and policy makers.

Modern environmental regulation and its complex intersection with international law has led many jurisdictions to develop environmental courts or tribunals. Strikingly, the list of jurisdictions that have chosen to do this include numerous developing countries, including Bangladesh, Kenya and Malawi. Indeed, it seems that developing nations have taken the task of capacity-building in environmental law more seriously than many developed nations. Environmental Justice in India explores the genesis, operation and effectiveness of the Indian National Green Tribunal (NGT). The book has four key objectives. First, to examine the importance of access to justice in environmental matters promoting sustainability and good governance Second, to provide an analytical and critical account of the judicial structures that offer access to environmental justice in India. Third, to analyse the establishment, working practice and effectiveness of the NGT in advancing a distinctively Indian green jurisprudence. Finally, to present and review the success and external challenges faced and overcome by the NGT resulting in growing usage and public respect for the NGT’s commitment to environmental protection and the welfare of the most affected people. Providing an informative analysis of a growing judicial development in India, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental justice, environmental law, development studies and sustainable development.

Contributed articles.

Climate Justice in India brings together a collective of academics, activists, and artists to paint a collage of action-oriented visions for a climate just India. This unique and agenda setting volume informs researchers and readers interested in topics of just transition, energy democracy, intersectionality of access to drinking water, agroecology and women's land rights, national and state climate plans, urban policy, caste justice, and environmental and climate social movements in India. It synthesizes the historical, social, economic, and political roots of climate vulnerability in India and articulates a research and policy agenda for collective democratic deliberations and action. This crossover volume will be of interest to academics, researchers, social activists, policymakers, politicians, and a general reader looking for a comprehensive introduction to the unprecedented challenge of building a praxis of justice in a climate-changed world. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This book analyzes how an anomalous confluence of federal environmental, administrative and Indian law exacerbates environmental injustice in Indian country, but also offers its most promising solution. The modern environmental law paradigm of federal-state partnerships falters in Indian country where state regulatory jurisdiction is constrained by federal Indian law. A resulting void of effective environmental regulation threatens the cultural survival of American Indian tribes, who face air and water contamination from a legacy of federally encouraged natural resource development. A potential solution for closing the circle of national environmental protection accords sovereign tribal governments a state-like status. The book examines comprehensively the tribal treatment-as-a-state approach first developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and later codified by Congress in amendments to most of the major environmental laws, as well as federal cases brought by states and non-Indians challenging the EPA's and tribes' authority to make binding value judgments about Indian country environmental protection.

Looks Into The Judicial Handling Of Environmental Litigations. Gives Information About The Tooks Used By Judiciary And Time Takesin Administration Of Justice. Divided Into 6 Parts-The Last Part Being An Epilogue Followed By A Subject.