INTRODUCTION

The environmental law movement in India today is splintered and
disorganized, lacking many of the elements that have made public interest
environmental lawyers successful in the United States.  However, there are
encouraging signs for the future of environmental law in India.  The
Indian Parliament has enacted a number of laws to protect the environment
over the past decade.  The Supreme Court of India, in a number of
important rulings, has also supported public interest environmental
litigation.

IVFP seeks to facilitate the further development of Indian environmental law,
and to create a deeper understanding of roles and methods for public
participation in environmental decision making.  The Program invites young
environmental lawyers from India to visit and train in environmental law and
advocacy strategies in the United States.  Visiting Fellows are provided with
up to four months of intensive academic and professional training, followed
by placement with public interest advocacy organizations upon their return to
India.  The Program assists in safeguarding India's fragile environment by
building a cadre of public interest advocates working to protect and improve
India's environment.

Armin Rosencranz launched IVFP in 1992, with support from the Moriah Fund and
the Weeden Foundation.  In 1994, the Moriah Fund joined with the Ford
Foundation to renew and expand the Program.  To date, 16 environmental
lawyers from India and one from Bangladesh have served as Program Fellows.
Fifteen of the 17 Fellows have returned to South Asia and are actively
engaged in environmental and human rights law.  All of the Fellows are
actively engaged in protecting the environment. In 1995, former Fellow Kerban
Anklesaria was instrumental in winning a major environmental lawsuit against
Enron Corporation's Thermal Power Project in Maharashtra.  Anklesaria's case
was won on the strength of elaborate expert evidence--a strategy whose full
possibilities she learned during her 1993 IVFP Fellowship.  She and other
former Fellows are now working to establish an India-wide network of
environmental lawyers and environmental law centers.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Environmental Litigation

The problems of breadth, depth and quality that affect Indian
environmental statutes extend to case law as well.  Many cases that could
be litigated are never brought to the courts. Many environmentally-minded
lawyers simply do not have the expertise in a particular area to know that
an infraction has occurred, to provide alternatives to the proposed
development project, or to argue effectively why a proposed development
plan should or should not proceed.  Without experience in environmental
law, lawyers have difficulty effectively evaluating the details of
proposed development projects, and are left to argue those cases that they
do take up from what is perceived as an uninformed "anti-industry" stance.
Especially given India's intent to become a modern industrial power, such
polarized positions are unlikely to receive a sympathetic hearing.

The Lack of Trained Lawyers

Both environment legislation and litigation could be developed
considerably if there were more lawyers working for environmental causes
in India.  More participants in the field would permit broader coverage of
the various aspects that a fully-developed environmental regime requires,
as well as specialization and pursuit of quality within each aspect.
Unfortunately, considerable barriers face environmentally-minded lawyers
who want to help draft legislation or litigate environmental cases.
Lawyers are inhibited from pursuing environmental cases because of a lack
of information, a negative stigma attached to the practice of
environmental law, and a lack of financial support for environmental
litigation.

Environmentally-minded lawyers are also confronted by a lack of financial
resources.  Most plaintiffs in environmental cases in India are poor and
unable to pay for legal services. Furthermore, taking lawyers' fees from
damage awards and settlements--two major sources of revenue for U.S.
environmental lawyers--is forbidden by law in India.  Consequently, the
Indian environmental law movement is currently largely confined to a few
committed individuals who work pro bono when they can spare time from
their demanding schedules, as well as a handful of lawyers whose work is
supported by private foundations.

Considerable stigma dogs those who do take on environmental cases.
Environmentally-minded lawyers must face charges that they are
"anti-development" and are working to prevent the forward progress of the
nation.  Moreover, the lack of monetary renumeration de-legitimizes the
efforts of environmentally-minded lawyers.  People commonly believe that
if environmental law were important, there would be money behind it.

Finally, the belief that environmental legislation is inimical to industry
inhibits regulators, who--besides being under-funded, under-staffed, and
lacking evaluation and monitoring expertise--are often loath to fine the very
industries that are believed to hold the key to India's economic development
and modernization.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the Indian Visiting Fellows Program is to expand the breadth
and depth of Indian environmental law and litigation strategies to help
curb destructive development practices that threaten both India's
environment and economy. Since India's enviromental law regime will only
develop if the number of skilled environmental lawyers increases, the
objective of the IVFP is to increase the number and training of Indian
environmentally-minded lawyers.  The Program seeks to expose young Indian
lawyers to the breadth and depth of environmental law and litigation in
the United States, and to encourage Indian lawyers to participate with the
public in environmental decision-making.  The Program intends to build the
integrity and reputation of the public interest environmental law
profesion in India, and to reduce the barriers that currently discourage
young lawyers from pursuing environmental law.

METHODS

The program educates Fellows about:

     -U.S. environmental law and regulatory policies that have
       been used to protect natural resources and public
       health.  This alleviates the need for Indian environmen-
       talists to "re-invent the wheel."  Fellows examine the role
       of the courts, and study the importance of citizens
       bringing issues before the courts--a critical tool for
       protecting natural resources.

     -Practical litigation strategies employed successfully by
       U.S. lawyers at environmental law and advocacy organiza-
       tions.  Fellows also learn how to prepare for and facili-
       tate public review and comment hearings.

     -NGO and non-profit management skills, including how
       these organizations sustain themselves, communicate
       with their supporters and raise funds.

Fellows gain such understanding through the following activities:

A. Courses

To gain an appreciation of the breadth of U.S. environmental law, Fellows
formally study American environmental law and strategies.  the IVFP has
negotiated with the Boalt Hall School of Law at University of California,
Berkeley, and the Golden Gate University Law School, to host our Fellows with
no tuition fee.  At the law schools, Fellows are exposed to and trained to
use the wide range of library and on-line computer information services that
are available.  Professors at both law schools have been very receptive to
our former Fellows, and are excited to have more of our Fellows in their
classrooms.

B. Internships and Interaction with Experts

Each Fellow serves an internship with a leading Bay Area non-profit
organization involved with environmental law.  Internships provide an
opportunity for Fellows to concentrate on and develop expertise in a
single resource area.  For example, one recent Fellow learned how to
challenge environmental impact assessments while interning at the Sierra
Club Legal Defense Fund;  Another Fellow became familiar with the
hazardous waste legislation concerning oil refineries while she interned
at Citizens for a Better Environment.  In addition, internships expose
Fellows to a wide range of the practical legal issues that U.S.
environmental organizations routinely deal with, thus helping to
familiarize Fellows with the development of environmental law in this
country.  The California Coastal Commission, the Environmental Defense
Fund, The Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Natural Heritage
Institute have indicated a desire to host future interns.

In addition, Fellows are exposed to a wide range of environmental law experts
and environmental activists in order to further broaden their perspectives,
and to provide a better sense of the specialization that characterizes
environmental work in the United States.  Fellows meet with attorneys from
private environmental law firms in the Bay Area to discuss comparative legal
strategies.  Fellows attend a number of courtrooms to observe litigation
strategies in action.  Meetings with environmental policy-makers and
community activists heighten awareness among Fellows of the advocacy and
organizing strategies that can be employed along with litigation to gain
success in the environmental arena.  Fellows also provide Bay Area lawyers
and others with up-to-date information on environmental law developments in
India during these individual meetings and in more formal law school
presentations.

For the duration of their stay in the United States, the Program provides
Visiting Fellows with work and living space, staff support, weekly stipends,
local transportation and guides to the resources of the Bay Area.

FELLOW RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Qualified applicants with law degrees and backgrounds in environmental
advocacy are selected for the Fellowship.  An advisory board in India,
composed of eminent figures in Indian law and environmental advoacy,
recommends candidates who have demonstrated a facility in and commitment to
the use of public interest legal strategies to mitigate environmental
damage.  Former Fellows are also included in the selection process.

Previous Visiting Fellows have included representatives from most of the
organizations currently active in Indian environmental law, including the
Lawyers' Collective in Bombay, the Council for Enviro-Legal Action and
PILSARC in Delhi, and the Consumer Action Group in Madras. We plan to
expand the geographic diversity of the Program by developing contacts in
new areas and reaching out to regions that have heretofore not provided
IVFP candidates.  In particular, we are targetting the states of West
Begal, Kashmir, Kerala, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and
northeast India for future Fellows.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Dr. Armin Rosencranz directs the IVFP.  Dr. Rosencranz is a lawyer,
political scientist, professor of environmental law and expert on Indian
legal and environmental affairs.  In 1983, as a visiting Fulbright
scholar, Dr. Rosencranz taught one of the first environmental law courses
offered in India.  He is co-author of ENVIRONMENMTAL LAW AND POLICY IN
INDIA (second edition, Oxford 2001), India's first environmental law
casebook.  In 1992, Dr. Rosencranz returned to India for three months to
teach environmental law at the National Law School of India under a second
Fulbright professorship.