Environmental policy of India

Environment policies of the Government of India includes legislations related to environment.

In the Directive Principles of State Policy, Article 48 says "the state shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country"; Article 51-A states that "it shall be the duty 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."[1]

India is one of the parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) treaty. Prior to the CBD, India had different laws to govern the environment. The Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972 protected the biodiversity. It was amended later multiple times. The 1988 National Forest Policy had conservation as its fundamental principle. In addition to these acts, the government passed the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act 1992 for control of biodiversity.[2]

Source: [2]
Legislation Year Domain Protected areas Use of other
natural resources
Indian Forest Act 1927 British India Developed procedures for setting up and protection of reserved forests, protected forests, and village forests Regulation of movement and transit of forest produce with duties on such produce. Special focus on timber
1st Five Year Plan 1951
2nd Five Year Plan 1956
3rd Five Year Plan 1961 Almost the same but with extra deer saving acts
4th Five Year Plan 1969
Wildlife Protection Act 1972 India except J&K Formalisation of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation reserves and community reserves. Protection to habitat and wildlife within premises of such protected areas.

Development of National Board for Wildlife and State Boards for Wildlife for identification of future protected areas.

 Penal codes for animal poaching, and trade in products derived from protected animals
National Wildlife Action Plan 1973
5th Five Year Plan 1974
6th Five Year Plan 1978
7th Five Year Plan 1980. Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (with Amendments Made in 1988) environment protection act 1986 (23 May 1986)

I it is a legislation which signifies the central governments determination to take effective steps to protect the environment.

 stating that: No State Government or other authority shall make any order directing-
  • (i) that any reserved forest shall cease to be reserved;
  • (ii) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purpose;
  • (iii) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be assigned by way of lease or otherwise to any private person or to any authority, corporation, agency or any other organisation not owned, managed or controlled by Government;
  • (iv) that any forest land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which have grown naturally in that land or portion, for the purpose of using it for reafforestation.
Environment (Protection) Act 1986
National Forest Policy 1988
Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act 1992
8th Five Year Plan 1992
9th Five Year Plan 1997
10 Five Year Plan 2002
11th Five Year Plan 2007

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Singh, Mahesh Prasad; Singh, J. K.; Mohanka, Reena (2007-01-01). Forest Environment and Biodiversity. Daya Publishing House. pp. 116–118. ISBN 9788170354215.
  2. 1 2 Ganguly, Sunayana (2015-11-06). Deliberating Environmental Policy in India: Participation and the Role of Advocacy. Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN 9781317592235.

References


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