Proposal for making one change in Environmental Law Background I am from Bangalore, one of the prominent cities in India. Bangalore is also called the Silicon Valley of India and has seen unprecedented growth in the last 2 decades. Planned development has not been able to keep up with the growth. With growth the corruption has increased manifold. The country is embedded with corruption where law favours predominantly the rich and policies are for the most part only on paper. Environmental degradation is not of concern to many of the officials. They are in denial of environmental issues, or even if they are aware, choose to ignore the issues. For example many of the regulatory officials are hand and gloves in approving new developments knowing that the development would bring about environmental harm . In Bangalore which was a city with interconnected thousand lakes has lost many of the lakes to developments that have knowingly been sanctioned on lake beds. Today, Bangalore as per the breathelife 2030.org website has particulate matter which is 6.3x the safe level as prescribed by WHO. Health and Safety of citizens are both in peril and the citizens see no reprieve to the situation. India, though a developing country has Environmental laws that are commendable. The preamble of our constitution also explicitly talks about citizens being legally liable to safeguard the environment. -
Article 48A – ‘Protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding of forests and wild life. The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wild life of the country’
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Article 51A (g) – ‘It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures. ‘
National Environment Tribunal was also introduced in 1995 to provide strict liability for damages arising out of handling hazardous substances. National Environmental Appellate Authority Act was introduced to hear appeals to development of industries in a given area and types of processes. It is said that National Environmental Tribunal never got implemented and National Appellate Authority Act is not functional. In general it is not rules or policies that we are short of, but it is overseeing and implementation which is a challenge. The current population of India is 1.2 billion. It is economically not feasible to have a task force that can check and regulate every industry or development. For example in Bangalore, even as of today the Nelamangala Industrial Area has an enforcing authority, make a visit to the industries only once a year, which is to collect the bribe. The effluents from the industries, many a times are seen flowing into the lake near by and the residents of the area are aware of the same. The ground is so contaminated that no fruits or vegetables grown from the tress in and around the area can be consumed. Making a change in the environmental law Any introduction or change in the environmental law in India should keep in mind that it should be economically viable and benefit the commerce of the state. As without financial incentives, the law will be not followed and underhand dealings will be done and mandatory disclosure will be far from the actual. If there are incentives or high taxation of products (that are environmentally unsafe) at source there will be voluntary participation which will enable the policy to be a success. India though one of the largest democracies in the world can be pursued as a pseudo democracy. The law and the money is in the hands of a few. Corporates fund the
governments and Governments are elected through their power of buying votes. They in turn frame policies that benefit the corporate. With the complex relationships of law, power and corruption listed below are few policies that can be introduced -
High taxation on fertilizers and chemicals at source.
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Law for Zero Discharge of water from Industries with incentives provided to them
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Law for Zero Discharge of water for all developments except Single Family Houses
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Mandatory construction of Metro/ Mass Rapid Transportation in all cities where the no. of automobiles and the road system is not in balance.
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Single office responsible for development and maintenance of urban infrastructure
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Emergency Action Plans for periods of drought
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Water Efficiency in Coal Fired Plants
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Minimum Particulate Matter Standards for all cities
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Protection of lakes and rivers from being contaminated from both effluents and religious practices
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Public Disclosure of hazardous substances of every industry (similar to US Law)
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Industries supplying to Developed Countries to follow the same stringent regulations of the country it is exporting to. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is still in every Indians mind and yet not much has changed in India, with regards to adherence to stringent regulations.
Proposal for One change in Environmental Law Compliance of Zero Discharge of water for all Industries and large developments “Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink�
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ‘The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere’, written in 1797–98 and published in 1798 , first edition of Lyrical Ballads. India is facing drought in many parts of the country, and suicide of farmers due to lack of water is on the rise. Several lakes have been contaminated with effluents from industries, and over the years with garbage and effluents the lakes have completely become unusable. As per the Environmental Law in India, there is a regulation on the discharge of effluents as per the Indian Standard Codes. However due to the volume of industries, and corrupt officials, regulation is only on paper. Effluents without treatment are let into the drains on the road or flow into the ground and contaminate the ground water. In addition for several years due to ‘Toxic Colonialism’, India was one of the countries which was the dumping ground for toxic wastes from developed countries. With regulations of handling of waste not as stringent as Developed Countries, this also has added to the contamination of ground water and thus reduction in safe drinking water. How does introduction of Zero Discharge mandatory compliance for industries and large developments which are over 1 lakh sqft Built Up Area help in water issues? Mandatory compliance will ensure that each industry has a Sewage Treatment Plant and no connection to the drainage system. This ensures water is treated and reused for the industrial and other processes. This enables water treatment at source and reduces the effluent being let into the drain without treatment. Currently in Bangalore only 30% of the water reaches the treatment plants as per former Additional Chief Secretary of Karnataka and Chairman, Centre for Policies and Practices. The construction of drain network has not been able to keep up with the development of the city. By 2050 it is said that the water requirement for Industries will almost double due to the increase in demand due to population increase and more people moving into the urban areas. The stress on providing drinking water to all will reduce as treated water is used for all other purposes. The Law
The law should state mandatory compliance of secondary treatment of treatment of water at the minimum and where required tertiary treatment. The law will require to analyse the water usage and cess paid as per the existing Water Act for Industrial Usage and see the reduction in water usage after installation of sewage treatment plant. The law will also comprise of differential pricing of water supply, with high pricing beyond what is the minimum required after usage of treated water. Similar to supply of electricity with a cap, water supply should also come with a cap for each industry. The law should also take into consideration of emergency situations, where the water supply is restricted during times of drought, so that water supply for food crops (not cash crops) agricultural production is ensured. The law should list out the incentives that will be provided as a result of the percentage of Water savings. In addition the law should ensure making public the Water Usage and Savings to the public. Public participation should be mandatory along with the enforcement authorities. Implementation Capping of water supply and differential pricing will force the industries and developments to be innovative in water saving measures. This law will bring about voluntary participation rather than enforced regulation. This has financial benefits for the end user in the long run. On seeing the financial benefits, more innovations in water measures will be implemented. On successful implementation of water saving measures in Industries and Development, we can hope to see Right to Water for the poor and underprivileged citizens of the country. Conclusion The Water Mafia is very powerful in India, and to curb dependence on the Water Mafia drastic measures which forces one to voluntarily participate in water saving measures is the only alternative before wars break out. Last month we saw the city of Bangalore, come to a stand still for almost 2 weeks due to riots in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over water and a Rs 25,000 crore (37,000,000 USD) loss of revenue to Karnataka alone (Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka). For India to survive and have resources for the next generations, Water
Saving Measures have to be taken at a war footing, with nothing but strict liability for non compliance of the law.