India is a diverse country with 29 states and 8 Union Territories it has diverse Language, Culture, Tradition and Ethnicity. India was known as ‘Golden Bird’ due to extraordinary Wealth, Strategic Positioning , Agricultural abundance and rich Cultural Heritage throughout history.
The concerning factor for every developing country is the environment, as climate change is at peak it has become utmost important to have protective laws that safeguards the environment.
ENVIRONMENT LAWS IN INDIA
Environment laws are those laws that are enacted to Protect, Preserve and Safeguard the environment and all the natural resources from protecting Air, Water, Pollution Control, Deforestation , Conserving the Heritage and the Wildlife
The environment laws In India can be traced back to history preserving the nature was part of moral and ethical aspect of every individual’s life.
India’s environment law has gone through stages of development prior to 1972 India had restricted laws and was dependent on Tort laws and Criminal Laws to regulate the Environmental Matters.
India became part of many Conference and Declaration/Treaties that committed towards safeguarding environment such as;
- The Ramsar Convention adopted in 1972
- Bonn Convention adopted in 1983
- Montreal Protocol adopted in 1987
- Vienna Convention adopted in 1988
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC] adopted in 1992
- Rio Summit adopted in 1992
- Kyoto Protocol adopted in 1997
- Stockholm Convetion adopted In 2001
India has also been part of various international summits and convention that was adopted In 1992 during the Earth Summit in Rio De Janerio with more than 196 ratifying to implement them In their respective countries. The Conference of parties [COP] is the Supreme Decision Making Body of the UNFCCC and is made up of representatives from
All parties. The COP meets every year decide agendas and goals to achieve and compare the action taken towards achieving the set target. Among all the COPs the Paris Agreement is considered to be a historical success that lead to decarbonisation. The COPs held in the past year are as follows;
COP 15 – 2009; Copenhagen
COP 16 – 2010 ; Cancun
COP 17 – 2011; Durban
COP 18 – 2012 ;Doha
COP 19 – 2013; Warsaw
COP 20 – 2014; Lima
COP 21 – 2015; Paris
COP 22 – 2016; Marrakesh
The 25th Conference of Paris was held in Madrid, Spain and the latest one which is COP 28 was held IN The UAE [United Arab Emirates ] and tis years COP will be held in Baku.
India on being committed to international treaties has worked through various platforms and committee to sustain the environment and to protect from Climate Change. The Indian Laws that governs the environment are;
The 42nd amendment brought significant modifications to the Indian Constitution one of the significant inclusion was related to Environment the amendment made both the State and its Citizens accountable for the environment.
The DPSPs which are the Directive Principles OF State Policy incorporated article 48-A in which the State was given the responsibility to ‘’Safeguard and Improve the environment and to protect the country’s forests and Wildlife.’’
The state has the right to enact rules and guidelines for safeguarding their respective territories , in this regard the NITI Aayog which serves as the Apex Public Policy think thank of the Government of India the Sustainable Development Goals known as SDGs which lays 17 goals some of them being Affordable and Clean Water, Clean Water and Sanitation, Life Below Water and On land. The NITI Aayog monitors the National and Subnational Progress through various mechanism it overlook on how the SDGs are being implemented and are than accordingly ranked , Kerala has taken the top spot in Sustainable Development Goals Index brought out by NITI Aayog and Bihar has still a long way to go as it did not utilized the goals aimed. Among the Union Territories Chandigarh and Jammu Kashmir were the top performers.
Article 51A[g] which deals with Fundamental Duties of the citizens states: ‘’It shall be duty of every citizen of every citizen of india to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes , Rivers and Wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures’’
The constitution of India Guarantees Fundamental right to every citizen article 21 of the constitution which states, ‘’No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except procedure established by law’’. The article is perceived to be liberal and has vast interpretation, the article guarantee right to free and healthy environment. The said right was enacted due to major incidence that caused many lives and harm to the environment.
Bhopal Gas Tragedy 1984
A very Famous case, which none would ever forget due to its deadly effect it caused. On December 2nd 1984 , 42 tons of toxic chemical called methyl isocyanate was leaked from the pesticide plant owned and run by Union Carbide India Limited in Bhopal ,Madhya Pradesh.
The chemical immediately killed more than 3000 people, the disaster lead to case and compensation for the injured ones the effect of the years long incident had till date the fear and physical problem.
The company had its headquater located in the US, a long legal battle was fought as to who should be made liable for the chemical release and eventually the company accepted and paid $470 million In compensation.
The case of MC Mehta vs Union Of India 1985
MC Mehta was a distinguished Supreme Court lawyer he also had immense interest and passion for the environment he dedicated himself for pollution free and a healthy environment.The mentioned case which is also known as Oleum Gas leak, due to the incident that occurred on December 4, 1985 which took lives of many due to the release of oleum gas from the Shriram food and Fertilizers that was situated at Kirti Nagar Delhi which was a densely populated area.
The Incident caused havoc, many PIL were filed this gas was hazardous to both people and environment. It is till date considered to be one of the famous and landkmark case relating to the environment.
Since both the disaster India had been working towards making positive changes in government policy and has regulated the functioning of Industries. Both the incident caused large scale environment damage.
The
National Committee On Environmental Planning was formed in April 1981 and was authorized to prepare a annual ‘State of the environment report’ to report to arrange public hearings or conferences on significant environmental issues.
Every year the government of India has made significant policies to combat environmental problems.
HISTORICAL ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION MOVEMENT
India has witnessed unforgettable movement regards to environment protection.
Chipko Movement and Movement were such movement that caught the attention to protect the biodiversity of India.
THE CHIPKO MOVEMENT : A village in Rajasthan khejarli where the Bishnoi community is located, the name of the town was derived from Khejri trees. The chipko movement which began In 1730 lead by Amrita Devi took the charge of leading the movement along with many villagers and hugged the tress in order to protect from being cut down.
During the movement Amrita Devi’s life was Sacrificed Along with many other who protested against the cutting of the trees.
The movement till date is considered to be of utmost important it teaches the importance of nature and how one should take all care to protect it.
Many other significant movement such as the Save Silent Valley Movement,
Appiko Movement and the Narmada Bachao Andholan .
Conclusion: This year G-20 was held in India, many plans and goals were discussed.
As per the target set by India to reduce the emission intensity by 33 to 35% by 2030 from the 2005 level and to stall Solar Panels to achieve about 40% electric power from non fossil fuel based energy resources.
India’s Prepared National Action Plan On Climate Change [NAPCC] which encompasses eight core missions in specific areas of Solar Energy, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustaining Himalayan, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Habitat, Water and Green India.
India is rooting for Sustainability by 2047 an aim that can be achieved through collective responsibility.
