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DAM-L LS: President writes to PM on Narmada (fwd)
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subject: LS: President writes to PM on Narmada
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From The Telegraph, Thursday, December 14
PRESIDENT LETTER LIFELINE TO NARMADA
FROM SUJAN DUTTA
New Delhi, Dec. 13:
The President has written to the Prime Minister seeking the
government's advice on the Narmada issue. The move has
rejuvenated the country's best known environment movement
after the October 18 verdict of the Supreme Court had it tottering.
The President's move followed fervent pleas by the Narmada
Bachao Andolan leader, Medha Patkar, and supporters of the
movement.
President K.R. Narayanan's empathy for the Narmada
movement and all that it stands for was apparent earlier this
month when he presented the B.R. Ambedkar Award for Social
Change to Baba Amte. 'The nation must take every possible care
to see that the impact of dams we build is not ruinous to the lives
of our tribal brothers and sisters,' Narayanan said while
felicitating Baba Amte.
It now transpires that the President actually wrote to the Prime
Minister seeking the opinion of the council of ministers before
December 6, the day Baba Amte was presented with the award.
But the issue was nearly lost in the din in Parliament over the
Prime Minister's statement on building a Ram temple at the site of
the Babri masjid in Ayodhya.
'The President told me that he has written to Vajpayeeji seeking
the advice of the Council of Ministers. The contents of the letter
were not disclosed but it probably has to do with Schedule V (five)
of the Constitution,' Baba Amte told The Telegraph today.
(Baba Amte is now in New Delhi awaiting a visa for a trip to
Pakistan).
'I invited the President to visit the valley. He appeared to be very
keen but he did not make any commitment,' said Baba Amte.
Last month, Medha Patkar, too, had met the President. She
returned with the impression that the President was 'very
concerned'. There were some indications to the NBA then, too,
that the President might intervene.
However, it is not yet clear what exactly the President has asked
of the Prime Minister. Informed sources said the suggestion was
made to the President that the possibility of stopping the
displacement of tribals in the Narmada Valley be explored by
invoking provisions under the fifth schedule of the Constitution.
The schedule details provisions on the administrative control of
scheduled areas and scheduled tribes. In the estimates of the
NBA, 33 villages in Maharashtra (5,000 families) are almost
entirely tribal. In Madhya Pradesh, 50 villages with a tribal content
of 29 per cent of the total population (apart from Dalits and OBCs)
and 4,500 families in Gujarat (19 villages of whom 97 per cent are
tribal) could be washed out by the Sardar Sarovar.
It is possible the President has sought the advice of the council of
ministers on whether or not Rashtrapati Bhavan has authority to
decide on scheduled areas. It is not clear, however, why the
President should seek the opinion of the council of ministers on
this and not that of his own legal advisers.
Though Medha Patkar is personally known to be pitting her hopes
on Presidential intervention, there are others who are not quite so
optimistic. Prashant Bhushan, lawyer for the NBA, said he was
not sure if the President could actually exercise any authority
because the fifth Schedule will be read along with Article 74 of the
Constitution which states clearly that the President shall act on
the advice of the council of ministers in all matters (except if the
government has been reduced to a minority).
However, the possibility that Medha Patkar has found empathy in
the Rashtrapati Bhavan raises the credibility of the NBA.
The eulogy of the Narmada movement by the President during the
awarding of the prize to Baba Amte was only the latest public
show of empathy by K.R. Narayanan. In January this year, while
presenting another award to Baba Amte - the Gandhi Peace
Prize for 1999 - the President said during his speech: "Describing
the Narmada satyagraha as a new battle front for youth action, he
(Baba Amte) said that it was an 'outburst of Gandhian courage
and concern for antyodaya'. He (Baba Amte) stated poignantly
'Now that the sun of life is about to set, I have set out to catch the
rising sun of environmental consciousness'. In our developmental
efforts, India and the world have to, willy nilly, come to terms with
the ideas of Baba Amte."
(About 200 supporters of the NBA led by Medha Patkar were
rounded up by the police today after a day-long dharna in front of
the Supreme Court. They were demanding that the review
petition filed against the Court's October 18 judgement be heard
quickly).
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