In a scathing letter loaded with this explosive critique of the committee's functioning for the past some time, the three - Ullas Karanth, the world's foremost tiger expert; Amita Baviskar, associate professor at the Institute of Economic Growth; and Mahesh Rangarajan, director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library - just stopped short of alleging corruption by the forest bureaucracy in the clearance process.
The FAC is the mandatory body under the Forest Conservation Act which recommends projects for using forestlands to the minister. Besides the three non-official members, the panel comprises some of the senior-most forest officers in the ministry, including the Director General of Forests.
The three have written, "From the bottom up, state forest departments/governments are routinely approving even obviously damaging projects. They have abdicated their role of due diligence, mandatory under the Forest Conservation Act, and honest expression, possibly under political or other pressure." Read the full report here.
Source: Nitin Sethi, TNN, New Delhi.
