ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN INDIA
Keywords:
management standards and procedures, encouraged in relatively cleanAbstract
Indian scriptures, the Indian Constitution, her environmental laws and policy all recognize the importance of impact-level local economies, livelihoods, culture, ethics, customs, bio-diversity and their inter-relationships in the design of management standards and procedures. But at present this recognition is not reflected in the implementation process. One reason could be that environmental policy has been less directional and more a listing of global best-intentions regardless of their compatibility with conditions at the impact level. This is apparent from a general reading of the National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development and the Policy Statement on Abatement of Pollution, the two early policy documents issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India in 1992. Environmental fundamentals like sustain-able development, environmental impact assessment and management planning (EIA-EMP), the polluter pays principle, citizens rights and related themes are enunciated more to prescribe than facilitate environmentally inclusive development. Though improving on the 1992 policy documents, the National Environmental Policy of the Government of India, 2006 (NEP 2006) also lacks a direction in terms of institutionalizing social monitoring, impact-level information gathering, up-dating, storage and use and natural resource-use management aspects at the receptor levels. Development is perhaps unintentionally encouraged in relatively clean areas with sufficient environmental carrying capacity, than with a legal binding on pollution sources to clean up and develop already degraded lands and water bodies receiving their pollution. The policy shift required is not in intent but in emphasis. From regulating mainly sources of pollution to an area-based management paradigm, to make global environmental good-practice understandable, compatible, applicable and acceptable at the local impact level, where pollution hurts most.References
Agarwal, Anil (1999): Poor Amartya Sen:
economists are blind to ecological poverty, even
sensitive ones. Down to Earth fortnightly. April.
II. Central Pollution Control Board (2001): Biotechnologies for Treatment of Wastes. CPCB
ordinary publication. Ministry of Environment
and Forests. New Delhi
III. Central Pollution Control Board (2008): Status of
Water Quality in India-2007.
IV. Chatterjee, Tishya (2002): Analysis of
Environment and Health Issues in the Hyderabad
Urban Agglomeration. Urban India. X
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright Notice
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. The Editors reserve the right to edit or otherwise alter all contributions, but authors will receive proofs for approval before publication.
Copyrights for articles published in World Scholars journals are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.