With environmental degradation and climate change being the foremost challenges confronting the society, Union Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said the Centre was all for development without destruction, even as distinguished jurist advocate Fali Nariman criticised the government for its approach towards the environment and “playing around” with wildlife of the country.
Mr. Javadekar was speaking at the inaugural session of the international conference on “Global Environment Issues”, organised by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Indian Law Institute. The conference was inaugurated by Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Chief Justice H. L. Dattu, Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi and NGT chief Swatanter Kumar.
The event was webcasted live on the NGT website and an international NGT journal was also released.
The Minister added further: “Fortunately, we have a Prime Minister who loves environment. We have the flag of environment in one hand and that of development in the other. Also, the legislative, the executive and the judiciary must work together for environment.”
Mr. Ansari said: “Human beings are the only creatures that destroy their own environment. We need to make pollution costlier for the polluter.”
Justice Dattu touched upon inefficient disposal of nuclear and electronic waste.
During a session on “Forest, Wildlife, Development and Environment”, Mr. Nariman was critical of the government’s approach in appointing an environment regulator, which he said was “toothless” as it does not have the power to penalise violators.
Lambasting the government for trying to clip the powers of courts in environment-related matters and stating that the country has had knee-jerk reactions to environment problems, he added: “The future is grim.”
Justice Kumar said the event was an attempt to provide a platform for those genuinely interested in environment to deliberate and ask questions.
Day One of the event saw sessions on “Facets of Global Warming”, “Oceans: A global Environment Concern”, “Improving Public Health by Preventing Imminent Causes of Pollution” and “Forests and Wildlife”.
Justice Dipak Misra, who chaired the session on public health, urged the participants, including judges, advocates, professors and students from various countries, to feel the environment pollution and not just see it. He added that the immune system, however strong, succumbs to environment pollution.
Justice J. S. Khehar said: “It took the Nirbhaya rape case for people to take note of rising rape cases and protest. For environment too, we need to tell stories for people to become sensitive and protest.”
