Need For Environment Protection And Ecological Task Force In Manipur
- Part 1 -

Rajkumar Rajendra Singh *

De-Forestation in Manipur

Supreme Court of India said that Fundamental Rights are the modern name for what gave been traditionally known as "Natural Rights." The expression "Human Rights" is of recent origin emerging from international conventions and charters. The expression "Human Rights are to be found in the charters of United Nations, adopted at San Francisco on 25th June 1945. Natural Rights are the offshoot of natural Law and since the rules of Natural law are of universal application." Natural Rights are inherent in every human being in all ages and in all times.

Law is really a dynamic instrument and with the passage of time, human rights came to be interpreted having regard to international Bill of Rights which refer to :-
(i) Universal Declaration of Human Right (1948).
(ii) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. (1976).
(iii) International Covenant on Economic and Socio Cultural Rights.

From the above three bills of right which actually form the touchstone for implementing Human Rights provisions, several other Covenants and Acts flowed and one such Act is "The Environment (protection) Act, 1986" which has its origin in U.N. Conference on Human Environment held at Stockholm.

Environmental Protection:

A close look at the history of origin and development of human rights will reveal in un-mistakable forms that environment law in its present condition is an attempt to bring into play the human rights concept. This has been achieved in our country by including Fundamental Rights in Chapter III and Directive Principles of State Policy in Chapter IV of the Constitution of India. Therefore, human rights have played a fundamental role in protecting the Environment.

True Source of Environmental Protection:

During the last decades the judicial trends have shown that Articles 21, 47 and 48-A of the Constitution of India have received multi-dimensional interpretation inasmuch as the whole body of case law on Environmental protection can be traced to the above important Articles. Human Rights having found its place in the Chapter on Fundamental Rights and in the Chapter on Directive principles of State Policy of our Constitution, has ultimately led to protection of environment to a great extent and our Hon'ble Supreme Court has played a parental role in ensuring that Environmental Rights flow from the Human Rights. Now we have a body of Environmental Rights covering various spheres of human activity. Most important among them are the free from pollution, protection and pro-creation of Air, Water, Sea, Flora and Fauna, Highest Attainable Standard of Health, Safe and Healthy Food and Working Environment, Adequate Housing and Living Conditions.

The Indian Penal Code, 1860 contains a detailed catalogue of public nuisance inferences in relation to air and water pollution. Section 133 of the Code of criminal Procedure, 1973 permits an individual or a group to seek conditional order for removal of public nuisance. Under Section 91 of the Civil prodecure Code, 1908 two or more persons with the leave of the Court may seek similar relief in case of public nuisance. Order 1 Rule 8 of Civil Procedure Code permits class action suits where members of a class have same interest in the suit. Article 226 of the Constitution gives power to the High Court to receive administrative action, essentially with regard to implement Environmental Standards. Several labour legislations like Factories Act ensure environmental protection.

In Francis Mullin vs Union of India ( AIR 1981 SC 746), the Supreme Court held that the right to life was not limited to the right to mere animal existence, but include a prohibition upon torture and protection of every limb and human faculty. Now interpretation of Articles 21, 32 and 226 led to the expansion of scope of fundamental rights like (1) Right to Livelihood (2) Right to Roads in Remote Areas, (3) Right to Potable water, etc. among others.

The constitution of India, 1950, did not include any specific provision relating to the environment protection or nature conservation. Presumably, the acute environmental problems being faced now in the country were not visualized by the framers of the constitution. However, the past five decades have witnessed two major developments in this connection.

The first development took place where the constitution ( forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, was adopted in the mid-seventies. Specific provisions relating to certain aspects of the environment, more specially for the protection of the forests and wild life in the country, were incorporated in part IV-Directive Principles of the State Policy and List III. The concurrent list of the Seventh Schedule of the constitution. The constitution has now the following provisions specifically relating to environment protection and nature conservation.

Part IV- Directive principles of State Policy ( Article 48A) Protection and improvement and safeguarding of Forest and Wildlife: The state shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safe guard the forest and wildlife of the country.

Part IV –A Fundamental Duties ( Article 51- A): It shall be duty of the very citizen of India-
(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forest, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.
Seventh Schedule ( Article 246)
List III concurrent List
Item No. 17 Prevention of cruelty to Animals.
Item No. 17A Forests.
Item No. 17B Protection of Wild animals and birds.

The second major development has been the jurisprudence arising from certain remarkable judicial pronouncement in recent years by the Supreme Court of India, more specially relating to Article 21 of the constitution dealing with 'the right to life' some examples as follows:-
(a) The right to life includes the right to live with human dignity.
(b) Public health and ecology have priority over unemployment and loss of revenue.
(c) A civilized society would take within its sweep the right to food , the right to clothing, the right to decent environment and a reasonable accommodation to live in.
(d) Right to life is a fundamental right under Art. 21. It includes the right to enjoyment of pollution free water and air. Citizen has recourse to Art 32 for removing the pollution of water or air which may be detrimental to life.
(e) Industries are vital for the country's development but having regard to pollution caused by the principle of "Sustainable Development" has to be adopted as the balancing concept. "Precautionary Principle and Polluter Pays Principle" has been accepted as a part of the law of the country.

Such wide interpretation of Article 21 by the Supreme Court have over the years become the bedrock of environmental jurisprudence and have served the cause of protection of India's environment. Adding to this is large number of laws relating to environment enacted over the last few decades. The followings are only few key laws and not comprehensive-

(a) The Indian Forest Act 1927
(b) The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960.
(c) The Water (prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 amended 1988.
(d) Forest (conservation ) Act, 1980 amended 1988.
(e) The Air ( Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981 amended 1987.
(f) The Environment (protection) Act, 1986 amended 1991.
(g) The Forest Policy, 1988.
(h) The Public Liability Act 1991, amended 1992.
(i) Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act 1992.
(j) National Conservation Strategy and policy Statement on Environment and Development, 1992.
(k) The National Environment Tribunal Act 1995.
(l) Panchayat ( Extention to scheduled Areas) Act 1996.
(m) The National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997.

After I had workable knowledge of the above Acts, Policies and also the practical experiences as seen, as well as familarised on the ground in various parts of India during my service in the Army I wrote number of articles and even published a book including these article in my book " Integration of Manipur vs Sixth Schedule and Other Demands." After I wrote the Article since 1996-97, few other Acts like the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002, The Biological Diversity Act, 2002, The Right to information Act 2005 and Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2005 have also been introduced.

But this last bill will be most dangerous for Manipur and should not at all be applicable in Manipur. This is to recognize and vest the forest rights and occupation is forest land in forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes who have been residing in such forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded; to provide for a framework for recording the forest rights so vested and the nature of evidence required for such recognition and vesting in respect of Forest land.

To be continued ...