Govt blinks on draft EIA law translation. Has a precedent been set?

Why read this story?

Editor's note: This is the eighth edition of Thirty-six, The Morning Context's weekly newsletter on countless ecosystems in flux across India. A significant development from late last week, which is consequential for all 28 states and eight union territories, was not noticed widely enough. The central government told the Delhi High Court that, in principle, it has agreed to translate the controversial draft environment impact assessment notification 2020, or EIA 2020, into all 22 official languages of India. This implies there is now a possibility of organizing a wider and more inclusive public consultation on the controversial proposed law.  This is also a significant about-turn by the government from its earlier, stubbornly held, position that it was not legally obliged to conduct public consultations in any language other than Hindi and English. To the uninitiated, this may seem like a minor administrative and legal issue. In fact, it is very important from a wider public interest perspective. At the time of writing, the Delhi HC’s order in response to the oral submission made by the central government’s lawyers is not out. But …