Journal on Environmental Law Policy And Development Vol-4 (2017)

Abstract of JELPD Volume 4

 Role of Higher Education in Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development.

Prof. (Dr.) N.R. Madhava Menon

This article reflects the basic requirement of environmental law education as a critical component for environmental preservation and conservation. The concern for environment protection has led to a situation wherein it is quite pertinent to include the culture of environmentalism in an educational institution so as to ensure that the citizens of tomorrow do their part to protect the environment. Delving into ancient wisdom and culture, which promulgated environment protection, the article  conveys  the  message  as  to  how  the  concept  of  sustainable development has been enshrined in our Constitution and put into practice at various levels of governance. This article also goes on to stitch together the core ideas for conservation and environmental education and weave them into an educational curriculum, thereby stressing upon the importance that it has in current times.

 Mining Cases in India, with a Special Focus on Vedanta.

 Prof. (Dr.) Armin Rosencranz and Manan Shishodia

This  article  focuses  on  the  issue  of  Mining  in  Forest  areas,  with  special emphasis on Vedanta. Analysing a plethora of decisions of the Supreme Court of India on mining, which has become a chief revenue-generating activity, the authors aim to throw light on the rationale and the importance that the decisions have. Highlighting four major cases, in the recent past, the authors  showcase  the  active  and  energetic  steps  taken  by  the  local communities and environment protectors, alike, to protect the environment. They also look into the rationale of the courts, which arriving at such decisions and examine them as regards their feasibility and applicability.

Supreme Court Ban on Diesel Vehicles: Whether the Law on Abatement of Air Pollution in India has been Effective?

Dr. Sairam Bhat and Sharan Balakrishna

Since the 1990s, the Supreme Court of India has played an activist role towards controlling air pollution in Delhi by directing the Administration to enact stringent far-seeing measures to ensure a long term improvement in air quality. However the short terms gains from those measures have been largely neutralised by an exponential rise in motor vehicles and emissions, especially in the Delhi NCR region. Recently with the NGT Ban on diesel engines, once again, the Supreme Court is required to play an important role in ensuring the Administration implements effective measures. With air quality sharply deteriorating, especially during winter, the Court in2015,  banned  diesel  engines  larger  than  2000cc.  The  authors  intend  to critically analyse this decision, among other recent measures enforced by the Delhi Administration, and gauge whether they may have a similar long lasting effect on Delhi’s air quality. Furthermore, the article attempts to probe into other possible long terms solutions, if implemented, would be effective in NCT Delhi. In doing so, the authors has also analysed measures taken by other cities across the world, in battling air pollution.

Toxic Tort Litigants and Access to Justice in India –Challenges Faced by the Claimants

Prof. (Dr.) V.R. Dinkar

The sacrosanct adage prevailing in the justice system is still a

fallacy in the mind of some poor and downtrodden inhabitants in India. Environmental justice, categorically insists the legal system to scrutinize the claims for personal injury arising within its domain, especially the claims of poor and downtrodden class of people. In India, it is high time to change the legislative and judicial policy while considering the claims based on serious toxic tort litigations. One of the legal barriers in India is the bar of claim due to the law of limitation. The plaintiff’s burden to prove the general and specific causation also creates certain obstructions. Imposing of heavy court fee may also restraints him from filing suits since he may not be financially fit to overcome it. These issues directly erode the plaintiff’s right to access to civil justice in toxic tort cases.

 Trade in forest products and the World Trade Organization: Whether Forests are at Risk?

 Bipin Kumar

 Bipin Kumar analyses the issue on Trade in Forest Produce, especially in light of WTO. He argues that sustainable management of forest resources is far from a new concept in forestry. In this context, the relationship between trade measures and forest management is of great importance. The regulatory framework impacting trade in timber and wood products is evolving rapidly and becoming more complex for addressing issues such as tariffs, export taxes and subsidies, as well as non-tariff measures designed to tackle illegal logging and prevent the spread of pests and diseases. In this paper, the author considers the implications of trade liberalization under the WTO for one very important natural resource – forests. In the course of the paper, the author analyses the current measures at the WTO dealing with trade in forest reserves and forest products. The author also examines the impact of the same on world trade in forestry with an aim to propose a balance between the sustainable development of forest reserves and increase in world trade.

  Protecting the Environment – A Way of Life.

 Manjeri Subin Sunder Raj

In yet another contribution from the author, he emphasises the need to bring about an attitudinal shift in our way of life and in our view of environmental protection, through religion, especially Hinduism. Religion has by and large, played a great role in fostering environment protection, touching upon the duty aspect

rather than the right aspect. Following this approach, it is felt, is a bit more successful than the rights based approach, which has not been able to imbibe and ingrain, in man, the seeds of better environment protection. Hinduism, more of a way of life, than a religion, has been able to enshrine a lot of principles that augurs and augments environment protection. The author, delving into various aspects and concepts of Hinduism which promote harmony with  nature,  aims  at  internalising  these  age  old  concepts and traditions into law.

Editorial Board:

Patron-in Chief
Prof. (Dr.) R. Venkata Rao, 
Professor of Law &Vice-Chancellor,
National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
Patron

Chief Editor

Prof.(Dr.) Sairam Bhat
Professor of Law & Coordinator
Centre for Environmental Law, Education, Research and Advocacy
National Law School of India University, Bengaluru

Editor

Assistant Editors

1. Ms. Veada Noopura, Research Officer, CEERA and Commons Cell

2. Mr. Divyesh Pratap, Research Officer, CEERA and Commons Cell

Editorial Advisory Board

What to Submit?
1. Long Articles (5000-8000 words, exclusive of footnotes).
2. Short Articles (3000 -5000 words, exclusive of footnotes).
3. Case Comments, Legislative Briefs, Law Commission Report/Review (1500-2500 words, exclusive of footnotes).
4. Book Review (700-1500 words, exclusive of footnotes).

How to submit?
1. All submissions must have a concise title with a maximum of 70 characters.
2. Submissions made under the category of articles must contain an abstract of not more than 200 words along with a maximum of 5 keywords.
 
Formatting Guidelines
1. The paper should be free from all grammatical and spelling errors.
2. The submission must be word-processed and in Times New Roman. The main text should be in font size 12 and footnotes in font size 10, line spacing 1.5 and the text should be justified.
3. A one line gap must be maintained between all paragraphs and headings.
4. All hyperlinks must be in black colour and must not be underlined.
5. Heading levels should be clearly indicated.
6. Citations should appear as footnotes that are numbered consecutively. The Journal does not accept in-text citations and endnotes.
7. Tables, if included should be self-explanatory, numbered serially and accompanied by concise titles and sources.
8. Figures and images if included should be submitted in a separate file along with the manuscript in word format (.doc). Images and figures taken from external sources should be adequately captioned; sources acknowledged and should be of high resolution.
9. The manuscript must not contain the name of the author(s) or his/her institutional affiliation or any other information. A separate cover letter containing the name of the author(s), professional information, contact details, and other relevant information must be provided.
10. Only articles in English will be considered for publication.
11. Manuscripts submitted shall be understood as final versions, subject to subsequent corrections suggested by the Editor.
12.  Manuscripts should be submitted electronically, in Word format, via e-mail to ceera@nls.ac.in or submitted through our website – Submission | National Law School of India University (ceerapub.nls.ac.in).
13. Manuscripts submitted to this Journal must not have been published elsewhere previously. If during the review process, the manuscript is accepted for publication in any other Journal; Book; any other format, including electronically, the responsibility shall solely lie on the author to immediately inform the Editor and withdraw the manuscript from the review process.
14. On acceptance of any manuscript for publication, the author would be required to sign a ‘Consent to Publish and Grant of Exclusive Licence’ form.
15. For further information on style, see the CEERA Style Guide here.
16. Non-conformity with the submission guidelines will be a ground for rejection.
 
Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Confidentiality
Editor, Editorial Board and the Advisory Board shall ensure that the manuscript submitted for review shall remain confidential while under review. Unpublished manuscripts undergoing review and the ones rejected would not be used by the Editor, Editorial Board, Reviewers or the Advisory Board in any way for the personal advantage of the Editorial Team without the written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review would be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Duties of Editor and Reviewers
1. It shall be the responsibility of the Editor to ensure that the peer review process is fair, unbiased, and timely.
2. The editor shall select reviewers for the manuscripts submitted based on their expertise in the relevant field, keeping in mind the need for diverse and inclusive representation. 
3. Any submission made by the Editor or members of the Editorial Board shall be subject to the usual review processes of the Journal independent of the involvement of the relevant author or editor in question. The editor shall not be involved in decisions about papers which s/he has written him/herself or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. A statement of this effect shall be clearly mentioned in any such submission that is published.
4. Reviewers shall bring to the notice of the Editor any suspicion of any breach of research ethics or misconduct, if any.
5. Reviewers shall bring to the notice of the Editor any potential conflicts of interest resulting from any relationship, professional or personal with any of the authors or institutions connected to the manuscripts submitted and recues himself or herself from reviewing the manuscripts in question.

Breach of Ethics
1. All cases of alleged misconduct and breach of research ethics shall be dealt with in an unbiased and objective manner.
2. The Editor and the Editorial Board would not out rightly reject submissions that raise concerns about possible misconduct. All alleged cases of misconduct shall be dealt with ethically and an opportunity of being heard and to file justifications and clarifications would be given to the author against whom allegation of misconduct has been raised and other affected parties.
3. Any allegation of plagiarism or publication misconduct raised by a third party would be dealt with after seeking clarifications from the original authors. The Editor reserves the right to not proceed against such allegations if deemed appropriate.
4. The Editor would be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.
Duties of Authors

Authorship
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the manuscript submitted.

Originality, acknowledgement of sources and plagiarism
1. Manuscripts submitted should be original work of the author(s). Any work or words of others including tables, images and figures used in the manuscript must be appropriately cited or quoted, acknowledged and captioned with permission, where necessary.
2. All citations, references and quotations must be verified before submission of the manuscript. All references should be carefully checked for completeness, accuracy and consistency. The accuracy of references is the responsibility of the author. Incorrect references and citations may be a ground for rejection of the manuscript.
3. Verbatim copying, paraphrasing without attribution, self plagiarism of the author’s previous work without due acknowledgement would be deemed as misconduct and dealt with accordingly

Notification of errors and competing interests –
1. All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work or that may be construed to influence the interpretation of their submissions. Authors must disclose any interests in the title page file of the manuscript. If there are no interests to declare then the authors must state: “Declarations of interest: None”.
2. All sources of financial support, received if any in the conception, design or conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article should be disclosed.
3. Authors shall be obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes or any significant inaccuracy in their published work or manuscript under review, in case of detection as soon as they come to their notice or are informed of the same. Such corrections shall be promptly notified to the journal Editor.
 
Copyright
Publication in the journal would be subject to authors signing a ‘Consent to Publish and Grant of Exclusive Licence form. By signing the Form, authors would have to warrant and represent that their manuscripts submitted to the journal have not be published elsewhere in whole or in part; that it is the original work of the author(s) and all the material taken from other sources have been duly cited and acknowledged by the author(s); that NLSIU shall be indemnified in case of any copyright violations; and that the views contained in the manuscripts are solely the views of the author(s) and shall in no way be construed as the views of the Editors, CEERA, and NLSIU, either jointly or severally.

                                            CODE OF RESEARCH ETHICS, INTEGRITY AND SUBMISSION POLICY (CRISP)
                           FOR THE JOURNAL ON ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT (JELPD) ISSN: 2438-7046
 
CEERA, NLSIU follows strict ethical standards for publication to ensure integrity, quality and standard in all its research publications. All submissions made to the journal shall be governed by the following policy 

Editorial and Review Process

Each manuscript would go through a double blind peer review process by the Editor and Editorial Board. After review, the manuscripts may be sent to the authors for necessary additions or corrections with respect to the style or content, which must be carried out by the authors within the timeline stipulated. Authors would be provided with PDF proofs of their manuscripts with instructions about additions and corrections and timely information about the ongoing review process.

Editorial Decisions

Editors’ decisions to accept or reject a manuscript for publication would be solely based on the manuscript’s intellectual content, originality, quality, clarity of thought and expression, and adherence to the specific theme identified for a volume, if any.  The Editorial Team reserves the right to ask authors to carry out changes to the manuscript (multiple times if required); accept the submission for review and reject the submission. The editor shall ensure that the peer review process is fair, unbiased, and timely.  Research articles would be reviewed by at least two expert reviewers, and where necessary the Editor may seek additional opinions from the Advisory Board. Decision of the Editor regarding acceptance or rejection of a manuscript shall be final and binding.