More than six years after it was formed, the National Environment Policy (NEP) 2006 has not been reviewed.

Clause 5.10 in the NEP 2006, calls for the review of the Policy after every three years. “Undertake consultations every three years with groups of diverse stakeholders, i.e. researchers and experts, community based organizations, industry associations, and voluntary organizations, and update the National Environment Policy,” read the clause.

The NEP has guidelines for the government to bring about regulatory reforms, implementation of programs and projects for environmental conservation and enacting legislation.

The objectives of the policy include conservation of critical environmental resources, livelihood security for the poor, environmental governance and enhancement of resources for environmental conservation.

On September 2, Bhopal based NGO Prayatna, wrote to Minister of Environment and Forest (MoEF), Jairam Ramesh, about the NEP not being reviewed.

“It is very sad that at a time when we are facing problem like climate change and other issues related to environmental degradation, the failure on part of MoEF in reviewing in NEP 2006 is not showing them in good light,” read the letter.

The group also filed RTI application to find out if the MoEF has reviewed the NEP 2006. However, the Ministry did not respond to the query.
Nobody from the Ministry was available for comments.

“The policy review involving the stakeholders analyse that how successful was the government in implementing the policy provisions. No review of the NEP means we do not what is happening to the Policy at all,” said Chandra Shekhar, deputy director, Centre for Science and Environment.

According to Gopal Krishna, convenor, Toxicswatch Alliance, the review is a must. “The government has not complied with anything mentioned in the NEP. A transparent review of the Policy will highlight the same,” said he.