What do you understand by environment? List important environmental initiatives taken in India.

Q.  What do you understand by environment?  List important environmental initiatives taken in India.

A.  The world of human beings, the flora and the fauna, living in and around us are the natural resources, which constitute Panch Mahabhuta. These are the five elements of nature, land, water, fire, air and sky, which provide daily needs of life. As Gandhiji had observed, "Nature has enough to meet our needs but not our greed (which is always insatiable)." But unfortunately, exploitation of nature for commercial benefits has disturbed this precious balance which has held our humanity together. What passes off as "economic development" has largely been a consequence of ecological degradation which has been unequally caused all over the world. Actually, the main fuel which made industrial development possible during the last couple of centuries is fossil-based and that is also the major source of pollution of water and air. The benefits of such development, as we know, are reaped by the

rich and the industrially developed countries while the consequences of plollution are borne by the poor and the developing counties.

 To safeguard the environment , Government took several initiatives. Some of them are -

1.   42nd amendment to constitution in 1976 as Arlticle 48-A in the Chapter on Directive Principles of State Policy, which reads as below:

Protection and improvement of Environment and Safeguarding of Forests and Wildlife -

The State shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests

and wildlife of the country.

2. Apart from this provision, a new provision in the form of "Fundamental Duties' as Article

51A which was also incorporated by the 42nd Constitution Amendment, it states - "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."

3. The Wild life protection .act was followed by the water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Forest (Conservation Act, 1980 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. There is no dearth of legal enactments to protect the environment, but the implementation of legislative provisions has either been slow or a non-starter.

4.  It was the Bhopal Gas disaster of 3 December 1984 (in which over 3,500 people were killed and as many as 2 lakhs were injured and the victims are fighting till date for health care facilities and compensation) that precipitated the passage of the Environment (Protection) Act in 1986. Even this Act including other related ones) finds it difficult to provide relief to the affected people.