RECENTLY, I made the long Journey to the National Law School of India University at Nagarbhavi, paid a sum of Rs 10,000 and enrolled myself for the brand new first-time- in-India Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Law. (P.G.D.E.L.). The person who'd inspired the move without really meaning to, was Prof. M.K. Ramesh. Now
you've got to personally know MKR, who heads the department among many
other things he does at NLS, to understand why he'd been able to impact
me. He is one of those soft-spoken, mild-mannered, rather absent-minded
geniuses...until you get him onto the subject of environmental management
in this country.
Then
there is sudden inflammation, the nostrils flare up; the eyes grow fiery
and the voice goes two pitches
higher. "In other countries, looking after environment has become a religion,"
he said. "It's only here that we are still unconcerned about what we are
doing and I don't know what it will take to make people understand what
exactly we're bordering on. People should realise that we live on a fragile
and finite planet which cannot be replaced: and no life form can exist
without this only environment known to support any kind of life- form
in any other planet:"
A
large part of the blame for public nonchalance he felt, belonged to the
media. I was up like a shot to defend my ilk: why media, what on earth
has the media done to upset the environment (besides newspapers using
paper which is gobbling up all the trees)? He gave a simple example: "Some
months ago, we organised a two-day work- shop with groups of NGOs, people
from the industry, government, law practitioners and judges, and all sections
of the media. The idea was how to explore legal avenues for better environmental
governance. All the other departments invited in full strength; from the
I from the twenty or so invited, we turned up and they too left immediately
after the presentation, saying they had not time to join the discussions."
I tried to suppress a blush of apology and asked how he felt the media could contribute to saving My Earth (on which you happen to live). He said, "The media can perhaps present environmental laws to the people in reader-friendly language; make it interactive, just like the columns you have on taxation, consumer guidance and personal problems. " Another irritant is the manner the media has of classifying stories t or cold (and the latter are discarded). "When they follow up a case, and the decision is given, I have found the media attention dies at point. I believe the reporter Id follow it up to see whether it has been implemented. Just look at Harihar Polyfibres case, alter so much of litigation and so many ,claims on part of the administration, river Tungabhadra continues to polluted nearly four years after judicial pronouncements administrative orders!" Something stirred within me. I think they call it conscience. It is a fact that we are more interested in kidnap dramas and political scandals than in the death of a planet that is in grave trouble. And so I have joined the first ever batch of students to do the PGDEL at NLS and I think you should too. It's a one year distance education programrne open to graduates of all disciplines. The course is designed to inform, educate and equip the student in the understanding and application of different aspects of this frontier area of legal knowledge. The courses in the programme are so designed as to focus on environ- mental administration; nature and extent of compliance with environmental obligations and environmental justice. On our first independence day, how exciting it must have been for tho fathers of our constitution, when they framed the work and existence rules for a new country. There is that same spirit in the first ever batch studying Environmental Law in NLS. At last instead of being ambiguous and uncertain Environmental Laws are going to take on proper shape and muscles, and it's a great feeling to work alongside those who are pioneering It's legal framework.
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