This document is part of the reference guide to laws, created and published to help unpack the vast and complicated landscape of laws useful for the protection of India’s coasts. Information contained in this document is collated from various sources.  Treat this as a beginner’s reference guide, useful for people on the ground, who are committed to protecting India’s coastal commons. Visit …. to take a look at the other sections of the reference guide. 

This document briefly provides a framework to think about how civil society can engage with the law, either in our individual capacities or as  collectives, and within specified avenues provided by the law, such as ‘public consultations’ or ‘representation’.

In the landscape of laws that make up coastal governance, we identify two key ways in which civil society can engage (as individuals and as collectives). The first depends on the roles we occupy and the second depends on the other available avenues of engagement. 

ROLES WITHIN LAW 

Within environmental legislation, certain spaces are provided for the participation of civil society, in the following capacities –

Individuals and Family

• At the level of the individual – as a person interested or affected (by either a change in land use, or by a policy/law), as an individual representative from a specific interest group (e.g. women, SCs/STs), as an expert in certain fields (e.g. social sciences, wildlife, waste management), or as a landowner volunteering their land for conservation (conservation reserves under the WLPA). 
• At the level of the family, there is a space for mandatory consultation within the land acquisition law

Collectives

• As communities, there is greater scope (as compared to individuals and families) for participation in natural resource management (under the FRA, 2006, if claims are settled, as community forest rights (CFR) holders; under the WLPA, 1972, as representatives governing community reserves; and under the SWM Rules, 2016, in decentralised solid waste processing initiatives, and under the NDMA Guidelines for Tsunamis and Cyclones). There is somewhat limited scope for communities to engage  in policy making as outlined in law (consultations with waste pickers’ representatives for preparing state policies and SWM strategies under the SWM Rules, 2016). 
• Panchayati Raj institutions and other democratic provisions enshrined within the Constitution such as the Directive Principles also allow for  communities and broader social collectives to influence laws and policies by active participation.  
• Self-Help Groups can also be units of participation in governance, as seen in the case of SWM Rules 2016, in state policy and strategy making (in a consultative role) and their involvement in decentralised waste processing initiatives.

• As an NGO At the NGO level –Voluntary organisations or non-government organisations (however registered) working locally have some scope to participate in coastal governance, mostly through nominated members on government committees/bodies. These committees/bodies may be for management (plastic and solid waste management, under the respective Rules), monitoring (for rehabilitation schemes following land acquisition), advisory (State Level Advisory Bodies under the SWM Rules 2016), or expert committees for identification of Eco-Sensitive Zones (Under the ESZ Guidelines, 2011) and Critical Wildlife Habitats (under the FRA, 2006). There are also spaces for their contribution to the state government’s mandate for training and awareness raising for stakeholders (disaster management, solid waste management and sustainable coastal aquaculture).
• Gram Sabhas – Gram Sabhas have, on paper, been vested with wide powers of natural resource management, particularly in tribal areas (PESA, FRA and the Supreme Court’s 2011 judgement in Orissa Mining Corporation) and forest lands (FCA, 1980 read with the FC Rules, 2003). In cases of land use change in forest areas on which communities depend (either forest dwellings or in  villages), or in tribal areas, obtaining the free and informed consent of the Gram Sabha is mandatory. They are also the bodies responsible for initiating the forest rights claims process under the FRA.

AVENUES FOR ENGAGEMENT 

In the capacities mentioned above, the engagement between civil society (individuals and collectives) and the state over environmental laws can take place in various forms. 

• In its simplest form, an engagement over environmental laws refers to the civil society’s right to information. For example, public notice of land acquisition, annual reports of the Pollution Control Board etc are documents that are created with the purpose of ensuring transparency and providing the public access to information. 
• Engagement could also refer to civil society actors proactively finding ways to communicate local  communities’ needs and priorities to the government, whether mandated by the law or not. This could involve sending petitions to concerned offices or reporting on violations to authorised implementation agencies. For example, under the Environment Impact Assessment notification, the project proponent is required to publish the environmental clearance as well as the conditions based on which clearance is given; the MOEF and SEIAA are also required to place these documents on their web portals and endorsed copies of these are required to be sent to the local heads and panchayats. These documents can be accessed by the public at any time and it can be used to proactively address any issues being faced. 
• Engagement can also mean consultation processes that the government is required to undertake and include in its decision-making processes. In certain rights-based legislation, not just consultation but consent of the affected people may be required. 

For example, under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and Rules, there is a mandatory requirement that any proposal for diversion of forestland where the project activity on forest land affects quality of life of the people residing in nearby areas of the site of diversion, has to be accompanied with the opinion of the local people living in the vicinity of the proposed forestland in the form of a resolution of the ‘Aam Sabha’ of Gram Panchayat/Local Body, endorsing that the project is in the interest of people living in and around the proposed forest land

Under the Right to Transparency and Fair Compensation in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2014 The Act has specific requirements of consent – 

• consent is required of 70% of the landowners in the case of acquisition for PPPs; of 80% of the landowners in the case of acquisition for private companies; and 
• Gram Sabha consent in case of acquisition in scheduled areas 
• A special meeting of landowners (and Gram Sabha in case of SAs) is required to be called for consent by the SIA team

• Representation in decision-making spaces created by specific laws are instances of engagement with law. As mentioned earlier, this might be either through individual or collective modes, either as ‘expert’ representation, or through elected representation through Panchayat bodies and other specialised  bodies created at the local level.