Perestroika at the Centre
In a decision that will make industry more accountable to the people, the Cabinet Secretariat on January 15, 1997, made public hearings mandatory before giving environmental clearance to any industry project or activity, both private and governmental.
The Union cabinet also approved the setting up of a National Environmental Appellate Authority ( neaa ) to deal with complaints against development projects that fall under the Environment Impact Assessment Act ( eia ) of 1994. The aim is to enable people directly affected by developmental and industrial projects, as well as ngo s, to present their point of view and to ensure transparency in the process of EIA.
If the resultant eia fails to mirror the public view in the report, people would have the right to go ahead and appeal against it to the neaa . Implicitly, this means that copies of the eia would be available to the people on demand. On April 9, 1997, the ministry of environment and forests established the neaa , by an extraordinary gazette notification, but the ngo sector finds no representation on the body as yet.
The Fifth Pay Commission has also given fillip to the matter by recommending scrapping of the Official Secrets Act and urging the passage of the pending Right to Information Bill.