Great Nicobar project will displace tribal communities, threaten their survival: Jairam Ramesh
New Delhi (PTI): Flagging "core concerns" over the Great Nicobar Mega Infrastructure Project, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday claimed that it will disrupt and displace the tribal communities and threaten their survival and well-being which would go against all extant regulations, policies, and laws.
The former environment minister said the public debate on the project continues with chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party Sonia Gandhi writing on it on September 8 in a newspaper and Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav responding to it four days later.
"But his response did not address the core concerns being raised - The environmental impact assessment conducted was rushed, incomplete, and flawed," he said on X.
The fact that further impact studies have been mandated after the project has been granted clearance shows up its limitations, he argued.
It is surprising that the assessment began even before terms of reference for it were issued, Ramesh said.
"The project will, without any doubt, disrupt and displace the tribal communities of Great Nicobar and threaten their survival and well-being.This would go against all extant regulations, policies, and laws," the Congress leader said.
Video reports of experts, who have spent their entire professional lives studying the Shompen and the Nicobarese, have been completely ignored, he said.
"The idea that notifying additional areas as tribal reserves will compensate for the areas being de-notified indicates lack of understanding about the needs of the indigenous people as well as the bio-geophysical heterogeneity of Great Nicobar," Ramesh said.
He further pointed out that ecologically, planting trees in Haryana, which needs to be done anyway, will just not compensate for clear-felling of multi-species, biodiversity-rich forests in the Great Nicobar Island.
It is really a bogus equivalence, he added.
"Scientists in public institutions themselves have spoken about being asked to provide reports favourable to the project, some even having to resign due to pressure to provide a clean chit to the project," Ramesh claimed.
Ramesh on Sunday had said the project was an "ecological disaster" being "bulldozed" by the Modi government, even though environmental clearances have been challenged in courts.
Earlier, the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson slammed the project and alleged that the government has made a mockery of legal, deliberative processes under the project.
Terming the Great Nicobar infrastructure project a "planned misadventure", Gandhi had said it poses an existential danger to the island's indigenous tribal communities and is being insensitively pushed through, making a "mockery of all legal and deliberative processes".
This was countered by Environment Minister Yadav, who claimed that all clearances have been obtained, and defended the project as necessary for the country's development.
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Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38
New Delhi (PTI): The government has promulgated an ordinance to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The law ministry notified the ordinance on Saturday, which amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court.
So far, the sanctioned strength of the top court was 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Now, the number of judges has been increased by four, taking the sanctioned strength to 38.
The top court will now have 37 judges, other than the CJI.
With the apex court having two vacancies at present, and the ordinance coming into force immediately, the Supreme Court Collegium will now have to recommend six names for appointment as judges in the top court.
A bill will be brought in the Monsoon Session of Parliament to convert the ordinance – an executive order – into a law passed by Parliament.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a draft bill on May 5 to increase the number of apex court judges.
The strength of the Supreme Court was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI) in 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, as originally enacted in 1956, put the maximum number of judges (excluding the CJI) at 10.
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986, augmented the strength of judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI.
A fresh amendment in 2009 further increased the strength from 25 to 30.
Article 124(3) of the Constitution lists the qualifications required to become a Supreme Court judge.
An Indian citizen who has either served as a high court judge for at least five years, or as an advocate for 10 years, or is a distinguished jurist, can be appointed to the top court.
The strength of the Supreme Court is increased based on the recommendations of the CJI, who writes to the Union law minister. After consulting the finance ministry, the Department of Justice under the law ministry moves the Cabinet with a draft bill.
