Hello,
When I first read the lede of the story that landed with me for editing, it sounded Orwellian.
Like the Ministry of Truth and many other ministries in ‘1984’, I thought this too, had to be a misnomer. But a Parliamentary Committee on Assurances actually exists, and it is an accountability watchdog that holds ministers to their words! I had never heard of it and was always led to believe that ministers could fib and still get away.
I was surprised to learn that this 15-member committee scrutinises ministerial promises, assurances and undertakings in Parliament and reports to the Lok Sabha on their implementation within the stipulated time. Nitin Sethi, my colleague and one of the reporters of today’s story that spotlights this committee, calls it the official custodian of the “roster of things the government promised but hasn’t done”.
The Reporters’ Collective’s first story of a three-part series begins with one such promise the environment ministry broke and faced the committee’s grilling, which is never publicised but helps to keep the heat on the ministry.
In July 2017, then Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Dr. Harsh Vardhan assured Parliament a new forest policy was being drafted and would be ready soon. Twice, in 2016 and 2018, the Modi government had to roll back forest policy drafts after it came under fire for ignoring the rights of tribal people and forest dwellers and facilitating corporate entry into forests.
Records reviewed by The Reporters’ Collective reveal the Parliamentary Committee on Assurances reprimanded the ministry for repeatedly trying to backtrack on the assurance made in Parliament. The government tried multiple times to wriggle out of the commitment but the committee wouldn’t allow it. But even the assurance committee can't make politicians fulfill their promises. To date, the Modi government has yet to deliver on the promise of a forest policy.
The story only gets juicier. The Collectives’ Tapasya and Nitin Sethi looked for the devil in the details and found that over the years the Centre began deconstructing the contentious elements of the policy draft and patching them onto the fabric of existing laws through amendments and changes in regulations – without a policy in place to be held accountable to. One such latest amendment to the Forest Conservation Act exposes forests to commercial interests and undermines the rights of tribespeople on forests.
Read the full story published on our website.