Thanks to a two-year study that identified the gaps and anomalies in environmental education in India, 800 schools now have a new and improved syllabus that promotes an understanding of environmental issues
More than 100 schools in the state of Maharashtra, and 700 more around India, now have a syllabus that aims to improve children's understanding and knowledge of the environment.
This change stems from a World Bank-aided study, undertaken by the Indian government since 1999, with the objectives of strengthening environment education in the formal school system. Apart from Maharashtra, seven other states -- Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Punjab and Uttaranchal -- were selected for the pilot implementation of this project.
The project was designed in two phases. In the first phase, a critical content analysis was undertaken in order to find out the status of environmental content in the textbooks currently being used in the schools. On the basis of the findings, the second phase of pilot implementation was designed, to ensure that environmental education is covered through infusion in existing subjects and not as a separate subject. Practical, hands-on activities, field experiences, work experiences etc are important components of environmental learning. These need to be planned and operationalised with inputs from NGOs and learning centres like museums, zoos etc.
The eight states were selected for the project on the basis of their geographical spread, existing environmental content in textbooks and willingness of the state to participate in the exercise. Eight hundred schools in these states (100 schools in each state) were selected for the initiative.
The Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research (BVIEER), Pune, did a two-year content analysis of more than 1,800 textbooks from all over the country, studying their handling of environmental subjects. Textbooks in General Science, Geography and Languages were analysed to assess the environment education inputs.
The BVIEER content analysis identified 99 environmental concepts including Natural Resources, Biodiversity, Pollution, People and Environment, Energy etc. Each concept was assessed for accuracy, relevance to the text, appropriateness to the age-group, consistency, bias etc. Once the matrix was complete it was easy to identify the lacunae or 'gaps' in the curriculum.
While most of the Geography textbooks did discuss the importance of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere in detail, and focused on the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion etc, the researchers found that there is little effort to interlink environmental concepts and real life experiences. This means that most students learn the subject by rote and do not identify or believe in the cause of environmental protection. There is a serious absence of locale-specific information and several gaps in the appreciation of ecosystems, their structure, functions, uses, degradation and conservation. There is hardly any information on sustainable lifestyles and what individuals can and should do for environmental preservation as a part of personal day-to-day activity.
Several simple environmental topics such as the variety of plant and animal species in the world, in India and in each state, do not find appropriate representation in the curriculum. Very often, information provided is dated. For instance, DDT in most books is mentioned as a common pesticide, even though commercial production and use of DDT is banned in India.While solar energy is frequently focused on, other sources of non-conventional energy are not dealt with adequately. In most instances it is observed that the complexity and frequency of each concept does not progress over the years.
Comprehension and the will to teach these topics seemed dismal amongst most teachers. Most put this down to lack of time, lack of sufficiently locale-specific environmentally relevant educational material, lack of institutional and parental support and a host of such explanations.
The researchers subsequently suggested changes in the textbooks. Dr E K Bharucha, director of BVIEER says, "Based on the analysis we made of the textbooks, the textbooks of standards 6, 7 and 8 have been redrafted in eight states of the country." In Maharashtra, BVIEER actually sat with the textbook writers to bring about changes in the curriculum.
For the pilot implementation of Phase II, textbooks of science, social sciences and languages at middle school level (standards VI to VIII) were targeted. The concerned textbooks in these states have been modified to strengthen the infusion of environmental concepts and have been introduced in the selected project schools in six states. The remaining two states are in the process of introducing these modified textbooks. The project also involved orientation for all the major stakeholders. This was done through workshops for the Educational Administrators, concerned officials of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) Textbook Bureaus and state education departments, besides school principals and parents of students. At the same time, workshops were also conducted for textbook writers and illustrators, where experts from the field of environment education provided inputs and helped the writers revise the existing textbooks.
Model textbooks have thus been created by each state for standards 6, 7 and 8. The 'good' lessons that need to be replicated across states were retained and the poor or incorrect concepts and identified gaps that need to be addressed in future textbooks were corrected. At a larger level, there is increased interaction between textbook writers, NGOs and government bureaus. "They are now more aware of what issues to handle and how," says project coordinator Shamita Kumar.
As Dr Bharucha says, "The change has been different in different states, but you cannot expect everyone to react in the same manner. The report is so complex and large that it will take some time for the changes to register properly."
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Arctic ice shows 40 percent thinning since 2004
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A new NASA study has revealed that the Arctic Ocean's permanent blanket of ice around the North Pole has thinned by more than 40 per cent since 2004. Scientists said the rapid loss was "remarkable" and said it could force experts to reassess how quickly the Arctic ice in the summer may disappear completely. They have called for more research to pin down the causes of the change, which they say is probably down to increased melting and shifts in the way the ice moves around.
The study, based on satellite measurements, is among the first to estimate the thickness of the Arctic ice, rather than just its surface area.
Ron Kwok, senior research scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said: "Even in years when the overall extent of sea ice remains stable or grows slightly, the thickness and volume of the ice cover is continuing to decline, making the ice more vulnerable to continued shrinkage."
The study looked at measurements taken of the Arctic region by the ICESat satellite, launched in 2003. Overall, the experts found that the ice, typically up to about 3m thick, thinned by 67cm over the last four winters.
Converting to ice volume, the scientists worked out the amount of so-called multiyear ice, which persists through Arctic summers, had decreased by 1540 cubic kilometres between 2004 and 2008 – a decline of 42 per cent. The research is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.
Ron Kwok said: "Ice volume allows us to calculate annual ice production and gives us an inventory of the fresh water and total ice mass stored in Arctic sea ice. Our data will help scientists better understand how fast the volume of Arctic ice is decreasing and how soon we might see a nearly ice-free Arctic in summer."
The Arctic ice cap fluctuates with the seasons, growing in the freezing winter and shrinking over the summer. An important finding of the study is that the majority of Arctic ice no longer survives the summer. In 2003, this multiyear ice made up 62 per cent of the region's total ice volume. By 2008, this was down to 32 per cent. The remaining 68 per cent was ‘first-year’ seasonal ice, which was open water during the summer, so is thinner and more likely to melt away.
A new NASA study has revealed that the Arctic Ocean's permanent blanket of ice around the North Pole has thinned by more than 40 per cent since 2004. Scientists said the rapid loss was "remarkable" and said it could force experts to reassess how quickly the Arctic ice in the summer may disappear completely. They have called for more research to pin down the causes of the change, which they say is probably down to increased melting and shifts in the way the ice moves around.
The study, based on satellite measurements, is among the first to estimate the thickness of the Arctic ice, rather than just its surface area.
Ron Kwok, senior research scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said: "Even in years when the overall extent of sea ice remains stable or grows slightly, the thickness and volume of the ice cover is continuing to decline, making the ice more vulnerable to continued shrinkage."
The study looked at measurements taken of the Arctic region by the ICESat satellite, launched in 2003. Overall, the experts found that the ice, typically up to about 3m thick, thinned by 67cm over the last four winters.
Converting to ice volume, the scientists worked out the amount of so-called multiyear ice, which persists through Arctic summers, had decreased by 1540 cubic kilometres between 2004 and 2008 – a decline of 42 per cent. The research is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.
Ron Kwok said: "Ice volume allows us to calculate annual ice production and gives us an inventory of the fresh water and total ice mass stored in Arctic sea ice. Our data will help scientists better understand how fast the volume of Arctic ice is decreasing and how soon we might see a nearly ice-free Arctic in summer."
The Arctic ice cap fluctuates with the seasons, growing in the freezing winter and shrinking over the summer. An important finding of the study is that the majority of Arctic ice no longer survives the summer. In 2003, this multiyear ice made up 62 per cent of the region's total ice volume. By 2008, this was down to 32 per cent. The remaining 68 per cent was ‘first-year’ seasonal ice, which was open water during the summer, so is thinner and more likely to melt away.
For the study, researchers analysed the amount of five amino acids - the building blocks of protein - in the diets of participants from the US, the UK
Broccoli and cabbage are particularly high in a chemical called glutamic acid.Glutamic acid is the most common amino acid and accounts for almost a quarter of vegetable protein and nearly a fifth of animal protein.Whole grain foods like rice, breads and cereals, soy products such as tofu and durum wheat, which is used tomake pasta, are other sources. For the study, researchers analysed the amount of five amino acids - the building blocks of protein - in the diets of participants from the US, the UK, China and Japan. The study of 4,680 people, aged 40 to 59, showed that on average that the more of the protein component they consumed the more their blood pressure fell. "Glutamic acid may partly explain the link between vegetable protein and lower blood pressure," the Daily Express quoted study author Dr Ian Brown, an epidemiologist at Imperial College, London, as saying."However there is no 'magic bullet' for preventing high blood pressure, and vegetable protein and glutamic acid are individual elements of a broader healthy eating pattern," Brown added. The study has been published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.make pasta, are other common sources.
ndian-origin researcher unveils biodegradable scaffold to fix damaged knees
A research team at Hospital for Special Surgery, including an Indian-origin scientist, have developed a biodegradable scaffold that can be used to treat patients with damaged knee cartilage.Dr Asheesh Bedi, a fellow in sports medicine and shoulder surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery, has revealed that his team's invention is a Trufit plug that has mechanical properties similar to cartilage and bone."The data has been encouraging to support further evaluation of this synthetic scaffold as a cartilage repair technique," he said.Damage to so-called articular cartilage can occur in various ways, ranging from direct trauma in a motor vehicle accident to a noncontact, pivoting event on the soccer field. The Trufit plug has two layers. The top layer has properties similar to cartilage and the lower layer has properties similar to bone. The bilayered structure has mechanical properties that approximately match the adjacent cartilage and bone. During the study, surgeons inserted the plug in the knees of 26 patients with donor lesions from OATS procedures and followed up with imaging studies (with MRI and T2-mapping) at various intervals for a period of 39 months. "Quantitative MRI, when combined with morphologic assessment, allows us to understand the natural history of these repair techniques and define those patients who are most likely to benefit from the surgery," said Hollis Potter, M.D., chief of the Division of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, director of Research in the Department of Radiology and Imaging at Hospital for Special Surgery and lead author of the study. "We gain knowledge about the biology of integration with the host tissue, as well as the repair tissue biochemistry, all by a noninvasive imaging technique," he added."What we found was that the plug demonstrated a predictable process of maturation on imaging studies that paralleled the biology of their incorporation," Bedi said. The findings were presented at annual meeting of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine.
an an individual's bitter-taste sensitivity help determine diabetes risk?
A research team at Kansas State University, including an Indian origin scientist, are studying whether an individual's bitterness sensitivity can help predict his/her risk of developing type 2 diabetes.ead researcher Kathy Nguyen, senior in public health nutrition along with colleagues Koushik Adhikari and Mark Haub, are studying the genotypes of diabetic and non-diabetic individuals to determine the possible link.For the study, Nguyen is collecting cheek cell samples from about 60 men and women between the ages of 40 and 70. The sample includes people with and without type 2 diabetes.The researchers will later genotype two variations within a DNA sequence to determine whether the individuals are supertasters, tasters or non-tasters of bitterness. Supertasters are more sensitive to bitterness than tasters, and non-tasters are not sensitive.The team hopes that by understanding whether bitterness sensitivity is linked to type 2 diabetes, there is a potential to screen individuals for bitterness sensitivity, and to use that information as a predictive marker for the disease and other chronic disease such as heart disease and obesity."This is a preliminary stage with a small sample size," Adhikari said.
The study has to be repeated with a larger population of different ethnicities to arrive at any meaningful conclusions. However, Kathy will establish the protocol for this project," he added.
The study has to be repeated with a larger population of different ethnicities to arrive at any meaningful conclusions. However, Kathy will establish the protocol for this project," he added.
River delta areas can provide clue to environmental changes in 21st century
Researchers at Texas A and M University, US, have determined that the historical information that can be gathered from sediment cores collected in and around river delta areas regions is critical for a better understanding of enhe research was carried out by Thomas Bianchi, a professor in the Department ofOceanography, Texas A and M University, and colleague Mead Allison.The researchers have examined sediments from delta areas around the world, most notably the Mississippi in the United States and the (Huanghe) Yellow and Yangtze in China. "These sediments contain information that can provide data on past changes in nitrogen application in the drainage basin from agricultural fertilizers, records of past flooding and hurricane events, to name a few," Bianchi said. "These deltaic sediments can serve as a history book of sorts on land-use change in these large drainage basins which is useful for upland and coastal management decisions as related to climate change issues," he explained.
"Although the information stored in these sediments can be altered during itstransport from the upper drainage basin to the coast, we still find very stable tracers, both organic and inorganic, that can be used to document changes induced by natural and human forces," he added. According to the researchers, such sediments are ever-present, noting that 87 percent of the Earth's land surface is connected to the ocean by river systems. Much of the sediment from rivers forms into what are called large river delta-front estuaries (LDEs), and human activity in some of these can be traced back more than 5,000 years ago to some of the first cities in Mesopotamia, along the Nile and in regions of China. The knowledge learned from these delta areas tell about the history of the region from how the land was used - or not used - through time, according to the researchers. In the US, hypoxic areas - where there is little or no oxygen - can in some cases be linked with deltaic regions that are releasing large amounts of water and nutrients, Bianchi explained.
"Low oxygen in aquatic systems is clearly not good for the organisms in those systems, but not all aquatic systems respond in the same way," he noted. "It affects marine life in some areas severely, while other areas seem unchanged. We need to find out why," he added.
"Although the information stored in these sediments can be altered during itstransport from the upper drainage basin to the coast, we still find very stable tracers, both organic and inorganic, that can be used to document changes induced by natural and human forces," he added. According to the researchers, such sediments are ever-present, noting that 87 percent of the Earth's land surface is connected to the ocean by river systems. Much of the sediment from rivers forms into what are called large river delta-front estuaries (LDEs), and human activity in some of these can be traced back more than 5,000 years ago to some of the first cities in Mesopotamia, along the Nile and in regions of China. The knowledge learned from these delta areas tell about the history of the region from how the land was used - or not used - through time, according to the researchers. In the US, hypoxic areas - where there is little or no oxygen - can in some cases be linked with deltaic regions that are releasing large amounts of water and nutrients, Bianchi explained.
"Low oxygen in aquatic systems is clearly not good for the organisms in those systems, but not all aquatic systems respond in the same way," he noted. "It affects marine life in some areas severely, while other areas seem unchanged. We need to find out why," he added.
Expert panel giving conflicted IPR approvals
India's National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has granted over 335 approvals related to research, commercial exploitation, transfer of research results and Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). But are these all legal?
None of the approvals granted by the NBA have followed a mandatory legal provision of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (Section 41 (2)), where it is prescribed that approvals are to be granted only after consultations with the relevant village-level Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs). Official minutes of meetings have no record of this. With only about 2000 BMCs established in a country of 500,000PLUS villages, it also does not seem to be a remote possibility that such consultations were carried out!
In 2002, India enacted its Biological Diversity Act in response to its obligations to the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This legislation puts into place an institutional structure where approvals on access to India's biodiversity, its sustainable use and sharing of benefits arising out of that use are determined. The legislation also puts forth imperatives for conservation through mechanisms of protection of local knowledge, declaration of Heritage sites etc.
The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) based in Chennai that has been entrusted with most of the decisive role, with some also prescribed for State level Biodiversity Boards and village level Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs).
Over the last six and half years, foremost on the priority in the implementation of this law has been setting into place the mechanisms for grant of access to biological resources for research and commercial use, third party transfer of material and research as well as permissions for IPRs. (see here; here and here). A significant conflict of interest-issue has come to light in the grant of such permissions under the NBA. The NBA's Expert Committee for Evaluation of Applications for Access, Seeking Patent, Transfer of Research Results and Third Party Transfer of Bioresources handles approvals for access to or transfer of intellectual property rights (IPR). Many of the institutions or departments who have also sent in applications for IPR consideration are represented on the committee itself.
Examples of IPR approvals give by the expert committee:
CSIR received approval for a new product derived from the fruit of Mangroves Xylocarpus species), found in the Sundarbans, Andaman, Orissa coast, Goa, Maharashtra and Pichavaram (Tamilnadu). A former CSIR department head was on the committee when approval was given.
Syngenta received approval for transfer of imported vip3A gene from Baaccillus thuringiensis (Bt) to Cotton and these were multiplied and utilised for making various crosses. A Syngenta consultant was on the committee when approval was given.
• From biodiversity to biotech • The downward spiralWhile this committee has been reconstituted three times since October 2005, it has had several meetings since then, with the last one being in January 2009. During this period there have been various applications from government-affiliated bodies such as National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), NRC on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants etc., all of which had a representative on the committee even while the recommendation for the approval was given.
For instance, in the 23 January 2009 meeting of the committee, a collaborative research project application for the export of guava fruit cultivars from the Germplasm Exchange Division of NBPGR was considered by the committee when and a senior scientist from NBPGR, Dr Pratibha Brahmi, was part of the decision making. An earlier Expert Committee with the tenure from August 2007 to February 2008 had only one meeting. With an emeritus scientist, Dr K V P R Tilak (former Head, Microbiology, of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) on the Committee, 126 requests by CSIR for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) were considered and approved. In yet another instance, an application for third party transfer by the multi national seed giant, Syngenta Inc, was approved when a consultant of the company, Dr Dasgupta, was a member of the committee.
Nor do the minutes of the meetings available on the NBA website do not indicate that such members on the committee abstained from being part of the decisions.
In May 2009, over 50 organisations and individuals came together and wrote to the NBA and the nodal Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) highlighting this major conflict of interest in the approvals process. The letter brings out the likely bias and lack of independent decision making with regards to this committee. The letter also raises objection to the fact that while Syngenta's consultant finds a place on the committee, there is no representation from local communities, farmers' groups, conservation organisations, political parties or civil society organizations. While concluding, the letter demands actions that range from revocation of the approvals to the reconstitution of the committee.
The composition of these committees is not prescribed in the Biological Diversity Act. The legislation only prescribes the composition of the National Biodiversity Authority, State Boards and BMCs. It allows of the NBA to set up specialised committees to achieve the legislation's objectives. It is the NBA which decides on the members. Currently, members are primarily from Government of India Departments (GoI). There are several committees set up related to specific tasks of documentation, designation of repositories, identification of endangered species and so on.
On 14 May 2009, the NBA responded, stating among other things that "the members of every committee of NBA are experts in their respective fields and are persons of high integrity and credibility. All recommendations made by these expert committees are within the parameters of law. All decisions on approvals made by the Authority are in National Interest and the same have not been compromised at any level." This is ironic as the evidence presented in the letter states a clear conflict of interest in the decisions. The letter calls the allegations as "hasty and defamatory" but does not systematically refute them.
Conflict of interest apart, the current approvals process is proceeding without other required bodies envisaged in the law for checks-and-balances. Take for example the approval granted to Kemin Industries Inc, Chennai to collect water samples from paddy fields from ten locations in Tamilnadu and Kerala. The company wanted the water samples for "screening microorganisms, particularly bacteria and fungi from paddy fields in South India having enzyme activity for fiber degradation." In January 2009, the NBA's expert committee met in Chennai and granted approval and also determined the percentage of the gross sales to be paid to the NBA to be 5 per cent. (This money goes to the NBA fund.) Kemin Industries Inc is a US-headquartered bioscience firm.
Why was it not felt necessary to wait for the BMCs to be set up, carry out the mandatory consultation process and only then grant the approval? This is where the difficulty is: The law mandates that BMCs are to be set up, but there is no clarity on who will set them up. Panchayats, for example, can set up their own BMCs. However the NBA and the state boards are of the view that setting up the BMCs is a facilitative function of the state boards, even the law itself does not explicitly say so.
In sum, it is a worrisome state of affairs. Way back in 1984-85, in an article in the State of India's Environment-1984-85: The Second Citizen's Report, by Dunu Roy had written: "Why is it that even though a host of data, statistics and experience is mustered to back arguments about the protection of the environment, those in authority pay no attention, and even when they do and policy is framed, it is never implemented in the way the policy is designed?" It is 25 years since that statement was made, and one feels the same despair while continuing to hope otherwise.
None of the approvals granted by the NBA have followed a mandatory legal provision of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (Section 41 (2)), where it is prescribed that approvals are to be granted only after consultations with the relevant village-level Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs). Official minutes of meetings have no record of this. With only about 2000 BMCs established in a country of 500,000PLUS villages, it also does not seem to be a remote possibility that such consultations were carried out!
In 2002, India enacted its Biological Diversity Act in response to its obligations to the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This legislation puts into place an institutional structure where approvals on access to India's biodiversity, its sustainable use and sharing of benefits arising out of that use are determined. The legislation also puts forth imperatives for conservation through mechanisms of protection of local knowledge, declaration of Heritage sites etc.
The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) based in Chennai that has been entrusted with most of the decisive role, with some also prescribed for State level Biodiversity Boards and village level Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs).
Over the last six and half years, foremost on the priority in the implementation of this law has been setting into place the mechanisms for grant of access to biological resources for research and commercial use, third party transfer of material and research as well as permissions for IPRs. (see here; here and here). A significant conflict of interest-issue has come to light in the grant of such permissions under the NBA. The NBA's Expert Committee for Evaluation of Applications for Access, Seeking Patent, Transfer of Research Results and Third Party Transfer of Bioresources handles approvals for access to or transfer of intellectual property rights (IPR). Many of the institutions or departments who have also sent in applications for IPR consideration are represented on the committee itself.
Examples of IPR approvals give by the expert committee:
CSIR received approval for a new product derived from the fruit of Mangroves Xylocarpus species), found in the Sundarbans, Andaman, Orissa coast, Goa, Maharashtra and Pichavaram (Tamilnadu). A former CSIR department head was on the committee when approval was given.
Syngenta received approval for transfer of imported vip3A gene from Baaccillus thuringiensis (Bt) to Cotton and these were multiplied and utilised for making various crosses. A Syngenta consultant was on the committee when approval was given.
• From biodiversity to biotech • The downward spiralWhile this committee has been reconstituted three times since October 2005, it has had several meetings since then, with the last one being in January 2009. During this period there have been various applications from government-affiliated bodies such as National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), NRC on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants etc., all of which had a representative on the committee even while the recommendation for the approval was given.
For instance, in the 23 January 2009 meeting of the committee, a collaborative research project application for the export of guava fruit cultivars from the Germplasm Exchange Division of NBPGR was considered by the committee when and a senior scientist from NBPGR, Dr Pratibha Brahmi, was part of the decision making. An earlier Expert Committee with the tenure from August 2007 to February 2008 had only one meeting. With an emeritus scientist, Dr K V P R Tilak (former Head, Microbiology, of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) on the Committee, 126 requests by CSIR for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) were considered and approved. In yet another instance, an application for third party transfer by the multi national seed giant, Syngenta Inc, was approved when a consultant of the company, Dr Dasgupta, was a member of the committee.
Nor do the minutes of the meetings available on the NBA website do not indicate that such members on the committee abstained from being part of the decisions.
In May 2009, over 50 organisations and individuals came together and wrote to the NBA and the nodal Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) highlighting this major conflict of interest in the approvals process. The letter brings out the likely bias and lack of independent decision making with regards to this committee. The letter also raises objection to the fact that while Syngenta's consultant finds a place on the committee, there is no representation from local communities, farmers' groups, conservation organisations, political parties or civil society organizations. While concluding, the letter demands actions that range from revocation of the approvals to the reconstitution of the committee.
The composition of these committees is not prescribed in the Biological Diversity Act. The legislation only prescribes the composition of the National Biodiversity Authority, State Boards and BMCs. It allows of the NBA to set up specialised committees to achieve the legislation's objectives. It is the NBA which decides on the members. Currently, members are primarily from Government of India Departments (GoI). There are several committees set up related to specific tasks of documentation, designation of repositories, identification of endangered species and so on.
On 14 May 2009, the NBA responded, stating among other things that "the members of every committee of NBA are experts in their respective fields and are persons of high integrity and credibility. All recommendations made by these expert committees are within the parameters of law. All decisions on approvals made by the Authority are in National Interest and the same have not been compromised at any level." This is ironic as the evidence presented in the letter states a clear conflict of interest in the decisions. The letter calls the allegations as "hasty and defamatory" but does not systematically refute them.
Conflict of interest apart, the current approvals process is proceeding without other required bodies envisaged in the law for checks-and-balances. Take for example the approval granted to Kemin Industries Inc, Chennai to collect water samples from paddy fields from ten locations in Tamilnadu and Kerala. The company wanted the water samples for "screening microorganisms, particularly bacteria and fungi from paddy fields in South India having enzyme activity for fiber degradation." In January 2009, the NBA's expert committee met in Chennai and granted approval and also determined the percentage of the gross sales to be paid to the NBA to be 5 per cent. (This money goes to the NBA fund.) Kemin Industries Inc is a US-headquartered bioscience firm.
Why was it not felt necessary to wait for the BMCs to be set up, carry out the mandatory consultation process and only then grant the approval? This is where the difficulty is: The law mandates that BMCs are to be set up, but there is no clarity on who will set them up. Panchayats, for example, can set up their own BMCs. However the NBA and the state boards are of the view that setting up the BMCs is a facilitative function of the state boards, even the law itself does not explicitly say so.
In sum, it is a worrisome state of affairs. Way back in 1984-85, in an article in the State of India's Environment-1984-85: The Second Citizen's Report, by Dunu Roy had written: "Why is it that even though a host of data, statistics and experience is mustered to back arguments about the protection of the environment, those in authority pay no attention, and even when they do and policy is framed, it is never implemented in the way the policy is designed?" It is 25 years since that statement was made, and one feels the same despair while continuing to hope otherwise.
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