Two dozen organisations oppose NIB proposal
The proposal of the Finance Minister has been severely criticised
The proposal of the Finance Minister for setting up the National Investment Board (NIB) has been severely criticised by as many as 24 Indian civil society and community-based organisations that are participating in the global Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) being held here from the beginning of this month.
In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, the organisations said that the NIB proposal "is alarming and highly objectionable. It is not surprising that this atrocious proposal has been opposed by his (Finance Minister) own colleagues".
According to these organisations, India's growth "fetish" is leading to a massive attack on biodiversity and people's rights and livelihoods. The attack has intensified in the last two decades of globalisation, which was initiated in 1991.
They said that the even the laws and guidelines that mandate environmental and livelihood safeguards are consistently violated. The Biological Diversity Act has been mostly reduced to a law of granting access to the country's biological resources and related knowledge, without empowering communities to safeguard the resources.
Given this scenario, the organisations demanded a comprehensive and participatory review of economic policies and planning processes to put biodiversity conservation and people's livelihood based on biodiversity as core values. They also wanted genuine decentralisation of political, financial and economic governance to gram sabhas and urban wards and strict compliance of relevant legislations.
Till these actions were undertaken, they said, there should be a moratorium on mega projects and processes, including mining, megadams, power projects, genetically modified organism and ports.
The organisations which issued the statement included, among others, Kalpavriksh, Bombay Natural History Society, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha, Deccan Development Society, Greenpeace India, Vasundhara, Delhi Forum and Awaz Foundation.