“It is our collective and individual responsibility, to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live.” – Dalai Lama

Let us begin with a question – Are you are a law-abiding citizen of India, willing to choose a healthy living for yourself and your loved ones? If your answer is yes, then what exactly are you doing to help ensure that you and your upcoming generations breathe healthy air?

For those who wish to answer yes to the first question but aren’t aware how to work in that direction, you can simply begin taking baby steps by taking care of your environment. You need to realize that if you turn a blind eye to the environmental problems, you will have to live on a planet that is contaminated and full of toxins.

To prevent the quality of the environment from deteriorating further, a couple of environmental laws and legislations have been introduced. The idea of these laws is to help the flora, fauna, and humankind to co-exist in the greater ecosystem.

However, the knowledge of environmental laws can come to actual use only when today’s youth is sensitized about the ever-rising environmental woes. Only when the youth understand the gravity of the environmental concerns would they willingly take up the responsibility towards saving the environment and would also want to educate themselves and others about the existing laws.

With this objective in sight, we, at Tribhuvan College,one of the best colleges for environmental science have designed our B.Sc (Hons) in Environmental Science course. This environmental Science course in Neemrana aims to impart the ambitious minds with in-depth knowledge of environmental law and policy framework so that they are better aware of their rights as well as responsibilities towards the environment.

So today, we, at Tribhuvan College, would like to shed light on the same subject in this article below and will discuss the various environmental laws, their significance, and why abiding by them has become the need of the hour.

Why Should the Environment be Important to Each One of Us?

Healthy living and maintaining a balance of life are very important. However, it would be only possible to reach these goals when we are in harmony with the environment.

When we care for the environment, we can rest assured about maintaining healthy ecosystems. A direct result of this is clean water, pure air, and the maintained quality of the soil. These are essential inputs, which aid in regulating the climate, recycling nutrients, and making the food resources available. It is worth mentioning here that all these elements together are necessary for helping our economies sustain. Thus, doing our bit for the environment is our unsaid moral responsibility, and respecting and abiding by the environmental laws is one of the chief ways to fulfill that.

What are Environmental Laws?

Environmental Laws are a set of laws put together to focus on achieving environmental protection. Even though each law is focused on an independent environmental aspect, they share a common objective. The universal goal is to preserve the environment, prevent depletion of natural resources, guard against climate change, and draw a line before the rising pollution and population.

Such laws are crafted by local, national, or international entities. Essentially, these laws lay down the policies, directives, regulations, and principles, which are necessary to take care of the environment.

Did you know about this another fundamental right which we enjoy? This right has to do with each of us enjoying adequate conditions of life in an environment that boasts of quality and permits a life full of dignity and wellbeing.

However, attaining this goal can only be possible if each one of us decides to take thoughtful steps in this direction.

The Pivotal Environmental Laws in India

• The Forest (Conversation) Act, 1980:

  

  An Act of the Parliament that provides for the conservation of forests and matters connected thereto is what the Forest (Conversation) Act, 1980 is all about. This act was further amended in 1988. The said enactment was carried out by the Parliament of India to control deforestation in parts of India that are dominated by forests.

  The main objective of this law is sustainability. Thus, this law has avoided restricting its coverage to only protecting forests. Equal emphasis is laid on restoring the woods in India, for which the focus is diverted towards planting more trees and increasing forest coverage.

  For a country like India, where Air Pollution is a major environmental concern, this law is much needed. Trees act as natural filters by helping generate oxygen using carbon dioxide. Thus, forests have a major role to play in filtering air and reducing air pollution. With this law in place, India is also moving closer to its goal of forest conservation.

   

  

  An act, which authorizes the Central Government to control and reduce pollution, improve environmental quality and restrict industrial facilities on environmental grounds, is what the Environment (Protection) Act is all about.

  The focus of this act is to provide safety standards for the presence of various pollutants in the environment. A section of this act prohibits the use of hazardous materials without prior permission of the Central Government.

  At Tribhuvan College, we believe that in a country like India, where certain human activities are leading to exploitation of natural resources and also causing a significant rise in air and water pollution, an act like this becomes indeed necessary.

   

  • • • The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972:

  An act of the parliament of India that revolves around the protection of plants and animal species is the Wildlife (Protection) Act. As a holistic framework of legislation, this act regulates the sanctuaries, natural parks, and zoos in India.

  The primary objective of this act is to prohibit the hunting of wild animals and other species of birds. This act also covers endangered species that require rigorous protection. Under the provisions of this act, the trading of scheduled animals is also prohibited.

   

  • • • The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974:

  An act, which aims to prevent and control water pollution, is the water (prevention and control of pollution) act. This act is equally important for maintaining and restoring the water resources in the country.

  With water pollution on the rise in India, exercising control over its rising impact would not have been possible in the absence of this act. In cases where the discharge of effluents in water bodies was unavoidable, permission by the State Board was made mandatory by this act

  By keeping the framework of this act by the side, contamination of water bodies because of mindless human activities can be prevented. By enforcing the regulations of this act, change in the physical, chemical, and biological properties of water can be prevented. This is essential to prevent detrimental consequences on all forms of living beings.

   

  • • • The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981:

  An act that focuses on the prevention and control of air pollution is the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act. This act advises the Central Government on matters related to the quality of air and air pollution. Similar advice and support are also offered to State Boards.

  This act also works around carrying out research related to air pollution. Likewise, areas of this act also focus on spreading awareness among the masses regarding different aspects related to air and air pollution by utilizing various mass media channels. Educating masses about this alarming issue has indeed become crucial, which this act rightly touches upon.

  Additionally, the purview of this act lays attention on efficient production in industries, which leads to households, businesses, and communities not having to worry much about waste management.

  We, at Tribhuvan College, ensure that our students are exposed to various elements of this law and hold a full-fledged understanding of how prevention and control over air pollution can help safeguard human health, property, and the environment as a whole.

   

  • • • The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010:

  Over the years, multiple environmental disputes have arisen, resolving which has almost always become a matter of concern. The need has always been felt to expedite these disputes. Owing to the same, The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 was put into place.

  This act aids with the creation of a special tribunal for the disposal of cases that are a result of the prevalent environmental issues. Additionally, this act deals with the conservation of forests and natural resources as well.

  It is binding on the citizens of India to comply with the orders laid down by NGT. Failure to do so will attract penalties in the form of imprisonment for three years or a fine extending to 10 crores or both.

  Overall, it would not be wrong to refer to the tribunal that operates under the realm of this act as a fast-track court for resolving environmental disputes.

   

  Why Did the Environmental Impact Assessment Draft Take India by Storm?

  On March 23, 2020, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change introduced the revised draft of the Environmental Impact Assessment law.

  This draft replaced the 2006 notification while raising doubts in the minds of the public. Experts and masses alike viewed this proposal as a move in the wrong direction as it aimed to weaken environmental policies. It was believed that the EIA draft had surpassed the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court of India and the National Green Tribunal.

  In public opinion, it was more important to strengthen the environmental regulations, improve the quality of baseline surveys, carry out full proof checks, and work towards making the processes more transparent and inclusive to the stakeholders. However, the amended law failed to capture any of these parameters, which led to the same being heavily criticized.

  This 83-page draft law limits regulation of and public hearings on large infrastructure projects, exempts quite a few projects from public consultation, and goes on to promote investor-driven, profit-friendly projects without going to the depth of the social consequences that they are likely to leave behind.

  The post-facto clearance entailed by this law permits industries to first violate the EIA norms and then seek clean chit, which is against the pre-set mandate of the highest order court in India. Yet another area where this amended law has led to dissatisfaction on the part of the public is with respect to relaxing the term of the compliance reports from twice a year to only once a year. For instance, if we talk about the Visakhapatnam gas leak, which was a result of unmindful violations, relaxing the terms further is only going to make things worse.

  It was assumed that the Government hurried with the introduction of this amended draft to cover the loopholes that were in the interest of industrialization and against the health and safety of the environment.

  For a country like India, which is caught neck-deep in environmental issues, the realization that development comes at the cost of the environment is an understanding that needs to be ruled out. What is equally or more important is to come up with innovative ways that support development without leaving a negative impact on the environment.

  The lack of stability and uniformity in the EIA draft made the citizens of India question this amendment. Moreover, this draft was released only in two languages, Hindi and English, which further agitated people. Environmental groups got into action and started collecting objection emails from the public to forward it to the Government. Collectively, over 2 million objection emails were received!

   

  Early Exposure to the Environmental Laws Could be Immensely Helpful!

  Our country, India, has laid down a series of environmental laws, some of which have also been amended at regular intervals to meet the changing circumstances. While most are in the interest of the environment, the ones like EIA fail to serve even the basic environmental concerns. However, unless we, as citizens of India, do not have complete knowledge about these laws, we are less likely to be guided in the right direction.

  Keeping this in mind, we, at Tribhuvan College, have introduced our Environment Science course in Neemrana, which is intended to provide students a detailed insight into each of these laws and aims to prepare them to carve a career in this domain. Students are hence not just imparted theoretical and practical skills to enable them to do their bit for the environment but are also groomed with the essential professional skills to help them build a thriving career.