Article 21 of the Indian Constitution gives us the right to live in a safe and non-polluted environment as the welfare of each element of climate is the welfare of each member of the society because the survival of us depends upon the survival of earth.

India is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change because about half of India’s population is dependent upon agriculture and other climate-sensitive sectors because about 12% of India is flood-prone whereas 16% is drought-prone. The underlying causes of environmental degradation in India depend on various social economic and institutional factors. Such social factors include excessive population, poverty, and unchecked urbanization and the economic factors include market failures or the non-existent or poorly functioning markets for environmental goods and services, and the unprecedented growth in all sectors of the economy which includes transport, industries, port and harbor activities, etc. without any corresponding measures to check the resultant environmental degradation.

Indian constitution also provides various provisions on the environment like in Virendra Gaur v. the State of Haryana, the Supreme Court includes the right to a healthy environment under the scope of Article 21. Article 48A also states that “the State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.” In Ganesh Wood Products v. State of Himachal Pradesh, the court expands the definition of forest and imposes the ban on all non-forest activities on forest land without any prior approval of the central government and the court also gives direction to form an expert committee in each state to track movement and disposal of timber and in Article 51A which states that t “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.” In M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India, AIR 1988 SCR (2) 538, the Supreme Court ordered the closure of tanneries near Kanpur s they are polluting the Ganga river by the hazardous disposal on the bank of Gang River. In MC Mehta v. Kamal Nath, there was an attempt to divert the flow of the river for the motel. The Supreme Court recognized the Public Trust Doctrine and held that this is the duty of the state to protect and preserve natural resources.

Most of the principles In India of environmental law working today were assembled over the last three decades through judicial law-making of the Supreme Court and the High Courts. In this process, the Supreme Court has actually come up with the new pattern of “judge-driven implementation” of environmental administration in India.
In Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. UOI, The Supreme Court adopted Precautionary Principal in order to check the pollution of underground water caused by leather industries in Tamil Nadu.
In the Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action v. Union of India (CRZ Notification case), The Supreme Court held that the Principle of Sustainable Development will be violated if the industry will cause substantial adverse ecological effects.
In the Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action v. UOI, AIR 1996 SC 1446, The Supreme Court applied the principle to restore the environment of a village whose ecology had been destroyed because of the sludge waste left out by the trial run of the industries producing the ‘H’ acid.

Despite all the laws, there is much that can be done in order to protect the environment such as we could work together to aware other citizens about the drastic effects of climate change and how it is going to affect our life. If every person knows how their life is depending on the environment change then every person will be there in order to protect the environment as his primary duty.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.

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We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.

We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge