Environmental Policy, Programmes and Stewardship: An Overview

Abstract

More than two decades have passed since the federal government of India initiated a national programme for environmental protection with such general goals as protecting, conserving and restoring the integrity of the environment; preventing the use and generation of pollutants that harm the health of people and damage the environment; protecting and conserving ecological and genetic diversity; identifying and protecting ecologically sensitive areas; and ensuring a better quality of life for its current and future citizens by maintaining a healthy and safe environment. These goals are based on two assumptions: that the people of India have a right to a healthy environment, as stipulated in the constitution (forty-second amendment), and that the federal, state and local governments are individually and collectively responsible for achieving those goals.