By IANS,
Shimla : Vice President Hamid Ansari Thursday said there is a need for developing alternate models of development keeping in mind the public outcry to the acquisition of agricultural land for special economic zones (SEZs).
“Public opposition to specific instances of acquisition of agricultural land for SEZs continues to propel the debate about alternate models of development strategy,” Ansari said while delivering the 13th Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Memorial Lecture at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) here.
“This (opposition) has received an impetus in the wake of the global financial crisis,” he noted.
“The more recent happenings in West Bengal on land acquisition are indicative of awareness (among the public),” the vice president said, while driving home his point that the ambit of human rights has been amplified. For this, he said, the judiciary had contributed substantially.
Regarding environment, Ansari said: “Despite the good work done by environmentalists like Sunita Narain and Vandana Shiva, public awareness of environmental issues is still in its infancy.”
But he added that “there is merit in Vandana Shiva’s observation that the environmental movement can only survive if it becomes a justice movement”.
On curbing corruption in society, Ansari said that corrective movements like Parivartan have based their effort on the effective use of the Right to Information and the mechanism of social audit.
IIAS is a premier advanced research institution in the field of humanities and social sciences, and is housed in the erstwhile Viceregal Lodge, built during the viceroyship of Lord Dufferin before Independence.