Lec 33 Evolution of Environmental Policy In India

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Hello, learners. We have, in the previous lecture, discussed about the various criterias which can be used to evaluate environmental policy. As we started the course, we had said that environmental economics is a multidisciplinary subject. Now, we will be moving towards the legal aspects which are associated with environment. But before that, we will be having a look at how the environmental policy in India has evolved. So, in this lecture, we will first understand the evolution of environment policy in India. And therefore, we will understand that what are the challenges for environmental policy. Let us just once more define environmental policy. We say environmental policy is a set of law, regulations and initiatives aimed at managing human activities with the goal of preventing, mitigating and managing their impact on the environment. So, all the laws, regulations and initiatives which are taken for managing the human activities so that their impact on the environment gets reduced, gets prevented or if it is there, if it can be managed, we call it as environmental policies. Now, these environmental policies are designed to protect natural resources and ensure sustainable development and promote environmental health. So, this means that environmental policy is not only talking about a static situation of what is happening today. It is talking about this protection of the rights of the future generation as well by way of ensuring sustainable development. And also, it intends to promote the environmental health. Therefore, the environmental policy encompasses broad range of issues which may include air and water quality, natural resource and biodiversity protection, climate change mitigation and pollution control. Now, if we see the historical context, environmental protection has been an integral part of Indian value system and lifestyle. We have seen that how still today we worship trees. Many of the god and goddesses have their own favorite trees. They have their own favorite plants and many times they have their own favorite animals also. So, this means that Indian culture has always talked about man being surrounded by nature. Many elements of the natural world such as rivers, forests, mountains and animals were associated with deities and worshipped in religious practices. Today also, we worship rivers because they are considered to be the elixir of life. Sacred groves known as devarai were patches of forest which were dedicated to deities and protected by local communities. Kautilya's Arthi Shastra also provides a detailed account of the duties of the ruler relating to forest protection. So, that has been the, we can say the historical context or the culture of India. However, the colonial rule in India considered forest as a source of revenue and therefore, they were subject to state of ownership. Forests which were earlier part of community were taken by the colonial government because they were considered to be a source of revenue. Natural resources were heavily exploited to benefit British industries and their economy. Not only this, the introduction of land revenue system like zamidari, roitwari, mahalwari system changed traditional land ownership and usage patterns. Why? [00:04:47] Speaker ?: Why? Why? [00:04:47] Speaker 1: Because Britishers looked at these farmers for the source of tax revenue. So, they installed this zamidari system, roitwari and mahalwari system where the traditional land holdings, their usage patch and change. Rather, rather there was a lot of fragmentation of land holdings, it also led to deforestation and environmental degradation because more and more area was needed to be brought under the cultivation. Not only this, with respect to environmental laws, the Britishers changed a lot of laws or rather brought in a lot of laws. Amongst the first was the Indian Forest Act of 1865 which was the first concerted attempt to legislate forest as a subject matter of governance by Britishers. That is, through this act, what Britishers tried to do, say that the forests were the property of the state of the British. It established the state's monopoly over forest resources. The forest resources which were the part of the traditional communities, they were taken away and these rights were given to the British rulers. It hence delineated forest and tribal communities from accessing forest resources, particularly the tribal communities of India, which were dependent on forest. They were delineated from using these forests for the forest resources. The Indian Forest Act of 1878 and 1927 further consolidated state's control over forest. Why? Because forests were the greatest source of timber and this timber or wood logging was required by the Britishers to increase their railway network. So, they took hold of the Indian Forest by way of these acts 1878 and 1927. Now, this happened pre-independence. Let us now look at what happened post-independence era, particularly from 1947 to 1970s. So, in this lecture, we will be dividing the evolution of India's environmental policy in various phases. So, one phase we have seen is the pre-independence period where the colonial rule changed the access to the forest and took it in their hands. Now, let us see what happened to the environmental policy post-independence in the era from 1947 to 1970s. Now, we all know when India got independence, this era was marked by strong emphasis on industrialization and economic development. We all know that the first and second five-year plan, they focused on heavy industrialization. The first and second five-year plans laid heavy emphasis on heavy industries and not only that, this 1970s particularly was the time when green revolution took place where high yielding varieties were introduced which required a lot of water as well as fertilizers. So, while industrialization brought economic growth, it also had severe environmental consequences like air and water pollution, deforestation and soil degradation. Now, it was in the 1970s that environmental awakening started and it did not only happen in India, it started at the global level. The scientific findings of the literary writings like silent spring for this we talked about I think in the first of the second lecture by Rachel Carson, where she talked about that how DDT, the spraying of the pesticide had not only on the impact on the pest, but it also had an impact on the whole ecosystem and how sparrows were dying because of this spraying of DDT. So, Rachel Carson's silent spring and the limits to growth by Meadows and Meadows led to the foundation of the first UN Conference on Environment, which was held in Stockholm in 1972. In pursuance of the Stockholm Conference, India also established a committee and the name of this committee was National Committee on Environmental Planning and Coordination. Mrs. Indira Gandhi, who was the Prime Minister at that time, addressed this Stockholm Conference and she took not only the cause of environment, but she tried to relate that how poverty and environment are very closely related to each other. So, this was the awakening period. The NCEPC, that is the National Committee on Environmental Planning and Coordination, later in 1985, was converted into the Ministry of Environment and Forest. So, learners, you can understand that environment to which we are talking about today in India, in 1985, the Ministry of Environment and Forest was established. Now, let us have a look at the environmental policy post Stockholm period that is after 1972. Now, what happened after this that the inclusion of environmental issues was put in the five-year plans. We see the first and the second five-year plan, which were basically focusing on heavy industrialization and green revolution. The later on plans talked about the inclusion of environment. The fifth five-year plan in 1974-79 stressed the need to have a close association with NCEPC because at that time, the ministry was not there. It was only this council which was taking care of the environment and so, the fifth five-year plan said that NCEPC should closely get associated with major industrial decisions so that environmental goals are fully taken into account. So, any new industrial policy which was coming up or any new industries which were coming up, they should get closely associated with NCEPC. Sixth five-year plan included an entire chapter on environment and development. I would request all of you to at least look in the internet and find the six-five-year plan document and look into what this chapter said. And this chapter emphasized on sound environmental and ecological principles. Not only this, India was probably the first country which amended its constitution to put environment into picture. Article 48a was introduced in the constitution of India, emphasizing the need to protect forest and wildlife in India. Parliament also enacted the water prevention and control of pollution act in 1974 and air prevention and control of pollution act in 1981. In 1974, central pollution control board was also constituted under the water prevention and control of pollution act. Subsequently, different states constituted their own state pollution control boards in their respective states. So, today, pollution control boards are performing a very important role where they have their roots in 1974. Now, what are the objectives of these pollution control boards? Basically, they advise the government on any matter concerning the prevention and control of pollution. Not only advising, they are also engaged in investigating and research which is related to the problems of pollution prevention, control and abatement. They monitor the performance of polluter in comparison to what it is done. They collect, compile and publish technical and statistical data relating to pollution. Now, 1980s were an era of institutional framework. The Department of Environment was set up on the recommendation of Tiwari committee in 1980. And this department was the focal point within the government of India for subjects relating to environment and ecology. In 1984, a very big tragedy happened in India, which is the Bhopal gas tragedy. And it was a catalyst for a stronger regulation. The union carbide plant leakage took the lives of many. And it's still the generations today also are facing the problem of that poisonous gas leakage. So, 1984, when that Bhopal gas tragedy happened, it was realized that having a strong regulation is the only way out. Hence, it influenced the need to adopt a specialized environmental policy in India. So, this would, this means that in 1980s, there was no dedicated environmental policy. It was only the committee in the departments which were talking about the environment. 1990s, we know, is an era of globalization. The global integration and sustainable development was seen in 1990s. The same was seen in India as well, where India started integrating itself in the global environment movements. The participation of India in Rio Earth Summit in 1992 led to several international commitments by India with respect to environment health. The National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development in 1992 was one of the first attempt in India to develop a policy framework for environmental protection. So, 1990s was an era of formulating policies. 2000s is an era of strengthening these policies. The first national environmental policy was adopted in 2006. This policy provided a comprehensive framework for environmental management in India. Not only this, the Biodiversity Act of 2002 aimed at preserving biological diversity. It was also enacted. The Forest Rights Act of 2006, it recognized the rights of forest dwelling communities over their traditional rights. If you now compare this with the Forest Act, which was enacted in the colonial rule, where the whole rights of the forest produced were put with the state, the Forest Rights Act of 2006 tried to undo that damage and gave the right of forest dwelling communities to their traditional lands. However, there are various challenges in way of environmental policy in India. The first is a trade-off between economic development versus environmental protection. On one hand, India is still a country which is developing. It cannot sacrifice its development completely for environmental protection. Neither it can sacrifice its environment by in the name of economic development. So, one of the greatest challenge which a country like India is facing is balancing growth with sustainability. That is, we do need to have economic development. We do need to use our natural inputs. But how do we do that so that we have this growth which is sustainable? The second challenge which is implementation of environmental policy is enforcement and compliances. We have seen that even though policies are very good, the enforcement is very weak at times. Not only is the enforcement weak because of the practical issues, there are also corruption issues which exist in the implementation of environment policy. Because still in India, there is a thought that environment is something which will not go anywhere. So, nature will not be ever angry with us. So, weak enforcement and corruption issues are leading to a weak environment policy. Another challenge in environment policy is the institutional challenge that is the coordination and funding issues. As we saw in the previous lectures where we have talked about that how the SNA, that is the system of national accounts does not take into account that what is the monetary value of the physical inputs or the natural inputs that we are using and we operate in silos. Similar problem we see in the environmental policy, what we see is that the various departments do not work in coordination and this lack of coordination many a time leads to the diluted results of the policy. Not only there is a problem of lack of coordination, but many a time the problem is of funding as well. Because when the money comes and when we talk about economics and we talk about choices, many a time it is the economic development projects which take a front seat rather than the environment related projects. So, the funding gets diverted from environment improvement projects to the other environmental damage, environment economic development projects. So, what we have done in today's lecture is we have seen that now in ancient India environment was very much integrated into our value system. However, the colonization of India led to the policies that were very detrimental to the environment. It was in the 1970s that the state started re-recognizing the role of environmental policies. It was also the global movement for environment which encouraged India to adopt an environment friendly policy. However, till 2024, the challenges still remain in designing and implementation of these environmental policies. We will be discussing all these policies and laws in detail in the subsequent lectures and then you will be well aware of how India has changed with respect to environment policy. Till then, thank you very much. Thank you very much. [00:20:41] Speaker ?: Thank you.