Environmental Politics and Policy Perspectives in India

Political Challenges to EnvironmentalProtection

(Environmental Politics and Policy Perspectivesin India)

Dr Ravindra Kumar VermaP G Department of Political ScienceR N College, Hajipur (Vaishali)

Abstract

Environmental degradation has adverse impact more on the developing countries thanthose of developed ones. South Asian countries have negligibly been contributingpollutants to the environment but have been worst sufferers of the impact ofenvironmental degradation. So is the case with the poor people within the region. Themitigation of impact of the environmental degradation and bringing it on politicalagenda is prime duty of the policy framers and political actors. This situation hasindicated that now the environmental degradation is not simply a harmful scientificphenomenon rather it is a political phenomenon. It seems urgent to address thequestions – what efforts did the policy masters take to check the menace? What stepsdid they take to mitigate the impact of the degradation? How political actors addressedthe issue? The implementation of policies scenario is very bleak in India. It is more likelythat the policy formulation has political contents in it and it is the politics that drives thepolicy formulation on one hand and flout its implementation on the other.

Key Words: Environmental Politics, Environmental Degradation,Policy

IntroductionEnvironmental degradation has adverse impact more on the

developing countries than those of developed ones. South Asian

countries have negligibly been contributing pollutants to the

environment but have been worst sufferers of the impact of

environmental degradation. So is the case with the poor people

within the region. This situation has indicated that now the

environmental degradation is not simply a harmful scientific

phenomenon rather it is a political phenomenon. It seems urgent

to address the questions – what efforts did the policy masters

take to check the menace? What steps did they take to mitigate

the impact of the degradation? Who are responsible to aggravate

the impact and the problem? How political actors addressed the

issue? What are the policy measures adopted and how are they

implemented? In the backdrop of these queries the present paper

examines the extent of adverse impact on India and assesses the

policy measures in terms of its adequacy and effectiveness. The

examination of policy initiatives reflects that the policy

formulation has political contents in it and it is the politics

that drives the policy formulation and simultaneously flout its

implementation. The implementation of policies scenario is very

bleak in India and the political actors as well as the

implementing bureaucracy has also been a hurdle as they are both

politicized and insensitive to the environmental protection.

Another aspect of weak implementation lies also in the lack of

more legal teeth to the implementing mechanism. It is people who

would have to be more conscious of environmental degradation and

make it a driving factor of expression of political choices. The

political parties are always keen to gain support of the people

for the electoral prospects and they prefer those policies and

ideologies which earn immediate public support.

As such the paper has been attempted in the influence of the

following predominant assumptions

1. The environmental degradation has been caused more by

anthropogenic and human activities than the natural

phenomena.

2. The environment compensates its losses in natural way but

the degradation by human activities is not compensated

naturally.

3. The political actors are less keen to bring the issue of

environmental degradation on the political agenda as it

does not accrue political mileage to them.

Taking the above assumptions uncontested, the present paper

examines the theoretical aspects, environmental politics and the

situation of policy formulation and its implementation.

Conceptual Considerations in Brief

Treatment of an issue in conceptual framework is the

appropriate starting point. The present examination involves some

key terms like environmental degradation, green issue,

environmental politics and sustainable development which need to

be clarified in order to avoid the confusions. The environmental

literature encompasses the terms like ‘green’, ‘ecologism’ and

‘environmental protection’ invariably used by scholarship. The

word green has been used since 1950s to indicate concern for

environment and is now used in a blanket fashion by most casual

observers. It was first used in Europe in context of policies of

political parties (Garner: 1995). Ecologism is referred to

signify the inter-relationship between the human species and

nature and implies non-hierarchical order displacing man from his

dominant position (Heywood: 1992). The term ‘environmental

protection’ can be effectively incorporated within modern

industrial society without fundamentally threatening economic

growth and material prosperity. As such economic development must

be sustainable i.e. development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to

meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment and

Development: 1987). The entire views on the whole issue of

environment can be summed up in words of Robert Garner, “there is

a consensus that mere tinkering with the structures of the modern

industrial society – a few palliatives to mitigate the worst

effects of the industrial society – is not enough to forestall

environmental catastrophe. Rather, fundamental economic, social

and political change – nothing less, that is, than the creation

of a new kind of society with different institutions and values –

is required both to deal with the severity of the crisis and to

enable people to lie more satisfying and fulfilling lives”

(Garner: 1995, pp. 3-4).

Environmental politics, as a conceptual term, direct us to

address the following queries - How to create environmentally

aware society? Has politics any role in this regard? What

distinguishes the environment as political issue? Why has this

issue not come on the priority political agenda, particularly of

the political actors of national politics? These questions lead

us to a conceptual frame work that is termed here as

‘environmental politics’. The term environment is hopelessly

broad but focus on natural environment is our major concern which

must consider the human impact on natural environment and vice-

versa. As such, ‘environmental politics’ differs from scientific

study of environment to social scientific study. It refers to

explanation of impact of political decisions on natural

environment, the factors of some political decisions in place of

others political structures best able to protect the environment,

and the reasons of environment becoming a political issue.

Further the relationship between public concern and the

responsiveness of political institutions is critical to a study

of environmental politics. Widely perceived environmental

problems do not always result in positive and sustained political

action which finds place in environmental politics. This does

also intend to locate the environmental problems in governmental

responses. The character of environmental policy is the product

of political processes thus environmental politics enable us to

chart a course which recognizes the many obstacles standing in

the way of sustainable development. The present unsustainable

practices for development have long term consequences affecting

the fundamental interests of future generation which should be

incorporated in decision making arenas. International character

of environmental decision making also needs serious explanations.

Glimpses of Adverse Impact

The impact of environmental degradation has been alarmingly

fatal. In developing countries like India, the environmental

degradation in shape of global warming and climate change put

additional stress on ecological and socio-economic systems that

are already facing tremendous pressures due to rapid

urbanization, industrialization and growing population. It has

been observed that there will be an increase in frequency of

heavy rainfall events in South and Southeast Asia due to doubling

in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. The scientific studies

predict an increase in annual mean maximum and minimum surface

air temperatures of 0.70 C and 1.00C over land in the 2040s with

respect to the 1980s. Human society will face new risks and

pressures. Some regions are likely to experience food shortages

and hunger. Water resources will be affected as precipitation and

evaporation patterns change around the world. Economic

activities, human settlements and human health will experience

many direct and indirect impacts of environmental degradation

(Sharma: 2009). Indian agriculture, urban life, forest ecosystem

and water resources are most vulnerable areas of adverse impact

of global warming and climate changes caused by environmental

degradation. These are the glimpses of the adverse impact of

environmental degradation in India. It is needless to go in

details of the impacts here.

Poor: The Worst Sufferers

Global Warming and Climate Change: The global warming and

climatic changes, which are mainly caused by the anthropogenic

sources and human activities, severely affect the life of the

people in general and poor people in particular. The climate

change makes most of the areas of our country extremely

vulnerable to various kinds of disaster. For example 7500 Kms of

coastline with higher population density depend on sea resources

for livelihood but are vulnerable to frequent disasters like

cyclones, hurricanes and tsunami etc; similarly 65 per cent of

population living in river basins suffers from frequent floods

and draughts. These disasters have adverse impact on the poor

people who have no alternative than to suffer more than affluent

ones. All these do not only have impact on national economy

rather serious impact on food security, health and shelter of

those who are economically weak. In the agriculture sector the

loss of crops and land due to disaster intensification and land

degradation cannot be estimated, however, it can be judged by the

fact that 0.5 degree rise in temperature would result in

reduction of wheat yields by 10 per cent (Gosain and Tripathi:

2002). The increase in temperature can reduce crop duration;

increase crop respiration rates alter photosynthetic, affect the

survival and distributions of the pest population thus developing

new equilibrium between crops and pests which diminishes the

fertilizer use efficiencies (Watson et al: 1998). All these have

tremendous impact on agricultural production and hence food

security of any region telling upon the life of the poor. In the

cities, the disaster like floods affects the slum dwellers the

most.

Passive Sufferings: Now let us have an idea of poor people who

suffer from unsustainable consumption of the affluent section of

the people. At least nearly forty million of Indian populace (the

poor population) needs to consume more nourishing food, clean

water, power and health care. In past years, our economy has

grown and consumption has increased, but mainly among those

already well-off, and in the period of this economic growth we

also shed enormous jobs. A mere 10% to 15% of households still

consume almost 50% of the available goods and services in India,

while the poorest 30% consume just over 20%. Wealthy and middle-

class Indians form part of the global ‘consumer class’, roughly

the 20% of the world’s citizens who have direct access to a car.

The global consumer class is found not only in wealthy countries

– there are consuming elites in poorer countries too. It is these

plus-minus 20% of the world’s citizens who eat 45% of all the

meat and fish consumed, own 87% of all the cars, use 84% of all

the paper and 75% of all energy including 68% of all electricity

– in the process generating 75% of the annual global pollution.

Political Challenges to Environmental Protection

Environmental Politics: We are mainly concerned with the

political aspects of the phenomenon which go to mitigate the

adverse impact of the environmental degradation in India. The

origin of the policy on environmental protection can be dated

back to 1970s. In the early 1970s the environmental feasibility

of economic growth became an issue of governmental concern in its

own right for the first time in India. The impetus came from the

1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm.

However, it was only when the very survival of humankind was

perceived to be threatened because of ecological degradation that

environmental policies and bureaucracies began to emerge on

national and international levels. The Stockholm conference was

of lasting impact in this sense. As elsewhere, the environmental

challenge was initially seen primarily as a threat to economic

development in India. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

summed up this point of view in her address to the plenary

session of the conference on 14 June 1972, in the following

words, “On the one hand the rich look askance at our continuing

poverty, on the other they warn us against their own methods. We

do not wish to impoverish the environment any further and, yet,

we cannot for a moment forget the grim poverty of large numbers

of people. Is not poverty and need the greatest polluters?” In

this perspective, environmental protection appeared to merely

increase the costs of economic activity. It was thus considered

unaffordable for developing countries. Environmental worries were

seen as a concern mainly of the rich world–and yet another means

to keep the poor world poor. Even back in 1972, however, this was

not the only attitude. Indira Gandhi returned from Stockholm

having become something of an environmentalist herself. The

reasons behind her being interested in the issue, she saw herself

as a leader not only of her nation but of the Third World in

general and was therefore eager to pursue what she saw as a

progressive issue. More important, she used this to centralize

power as the forest, water and energy had previously fallen

exclusively under state legislation.

Pressing environmental concerns provided an opportunity for

constitutional reform, increasing the influence of the central

government. Another important political reason was the fact that

she perceived the chance of using environmental issues in order

to politically mobilize mass frustration by predominantly

symbolic means. In 1974, the Water (Prevention and Control of

Pollution) Act was passed. Since then, there has been ample

legislative activity in India. In 1976, the constitution was

amended in order to include environmental protection among the

Directive Principles of State Policy and two articles, covering

the issue, were added in the constitution of India through

amendments. Article 48A was added which provided, “The State

shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to

safeguard the forests and wildlife. In the same section of the

Constitution Article 51A (fundamental duties of citizens) was

added which included the environmental protection issue as the

fundamental duty of the Indian citizens; it said, “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”.

Political parties have been less concerned with the

environmental protection and creating opinion among the masses on

the issue as they find the issue less effective in encircling

popular support. The study of election manifestoes of the

political parties reflects that the issue comes as the secondary

considerations in the ideology. Besides, the people are not

adequately sensitized to express their political opinion for the

environmental issues. The issues like poverty, caste, community,

development etc override their choices and they give heavy

premium to these issues in selection of political

representatives. So the political parties do not put the issue on

the political agenda. They take steps having been influenced by

the international instruments created in the Earth Summits but

lose keenness in due course.

Policy Initiatives / Formulations: International environmental

politics continued to affect the Indian government, as has been

exemplified by the Montreal Protocol, the international agreement

to phase out ozone-depleting substances. While Indian diplomacy

played a role in securing funds for poor nations to pursue this

goal, the government had difficulty in developing a national

strategy. Further, after nearly two decades, the issue was

seriously pursued after Kyoto Protocol in 1997 in which the Clean

Development Mechanism was created and developed countries were

asked to use Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits from

project activities in developing countries in achieving their

sustainable development objectives.

The hopes are raised in the decisions taken in Eighth

Conference of Parties (COP 8) of the UNFCCC organized in Delhi in

Oct-Nov, 2002 that it will tremendously help in raising the

awareness level in the country regarding climate change and would

demonstrate to the world the impressive strides made in India in

various sectors in conformity with sustainable development. The

conference would also provide an opportunity to project what

India can offer to the world, particularly the developing

countries by way of its Environmental management Technology (EMT)

in various sectors like industry, transport, power, renewable

energy, agriculture and forestry (Sharma: 2009). India rectified

the Kyoto Protocol in 2002 (commonly known as Delhi Declaration)

and being a developing country it was not required to cut

emissions, but it has developed certain mechanisms to reduce

emissions. The primary legislations in India in this regard have

already been a) National Hydro Policy, 1998, b) Energy

Conservation Act 2001, and c) a national bio-diesel Policy is

also being considered to encourage the use of bio-diesel.

Besides, other voluntary provisions which tend to reduce

carbon emissions through reduction of energy use in buildings are

considered. These are 1) TERI GRIHA – green rating for integrated

habitat assessment is a rating system for green buildings and 2)

LEEDS system – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

encourages and accelerates adoption of sustainable green building

standards.

After Delhi Declaration in 2002 the following measures of

Indian government can be taken into account: -

1) Capacity building at appropriate levels for taking environment

consideration in social, economic and development planning,

2). Impact assessment including impacts on food and water

resources, eco-system and bio-diversity, human sentiments and

human health,

3). Promotion of scientific and technological research and

systematic observation with a view to furthering understanding,

4). Education, training and public awareness and

5) Enhancement of international cooperation in pursuance of

objective so United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

changes.

In view of the recent hue and cry for environmental

protection and sustainable development as Millennium Goals, the

government of India showed enthusiasm in chalking out plans and

policy measures. The Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has

released national climate action plan on June 30, 2008, which was

eight missions, the emphasis on solar energy is bound to generate

the most excitement as this sector has been lagging behind other

segments of renewable power sources. The eight national missions

are - Solar Mission, Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency,

sustainable habitat, water preservation, sustaining Himalayan

Ecosystem, Green India Mission, Sustainable Agriculture Mission

and Strategic Knowledge Mission. These missions signify the

strategies like

1) India will not budge from its position in International

commitment for climate change. The plan is only domestic

document,

2) The national action plan is to promote development

objectives while addressing climate change effectively,

3) Push to solar energy sector along with other sources of

renewable source of energy,

4) Fiscal incentives will be maintained to move industry,

manufacturers and consumers towards a low carbon path,

5) Tax benefits to industries using clean / energy efficient

technologies,

6) To cut down CO2 emission from thermal power plants,

7) The implementation of Energy Conservation Act 2001 by

domestic trading energy credits and

8) Coal thermal power plants to be closed. But the national

action plan is silent on adaptation of agriculture to

climate change, water management and inter-ministerial

coordination (TOI: 2008)

Policy Implementation: For more than three decades, there has

been a lively environmental debate along with a high degree of

legislative activity in India. Of course, this intensified as a

consequence of the Bhopal gas leak in 1984, which led to the

Environment Protection Act of 1986. However, there is vast

agreement that the results of various reforms and regulations

have been disappointing. Implementation has been poor. India’s

course of development is most likely unsustainable. According to

a World Bank analysis, the total cost of environmental damages in

1992 amounted to 9.7 billion US dollars in India. This was the

equivalent of 4.5 percent. It will not be an exaggeration that

the implementation of the various policies and enactments has

been found very poor, rather reluctant. The example of the 1974

Water Act serves as the paradigm of Indian environmental

legislation and of its failure to achieve the desired goals. The

Act established a network of State and Central Pollution Control

Boards, but their hierarchy and responsibilities remained

unclear. Neither acceptable limits of pollution nor clear time

spans for their implementation were defined. Municipalities had

been identified as the main polluters of India’s water bodies,

but they were not made liable for prosecution.

By the mid-1980s, more than fifty different items of

environmental legislation in India, thirty of which dealt with

pollution alone were marked. There were various programmes of the

central and state governments for afforestation and soil

conservation. Major policy issues such as the prevention of air

pollution and environmental protection in general became the

jurisdiction of the Pollution Control Boards. In addition to

their network, India today has a full-fledged Ministry of the

Environment. It was initially established as the Department of

the Environment in 1980 and turned into a ministry in 1985.

The vast active politicians / political parties or the

politicized bureaucracy did little more than create awareness and

establish a monitoring network. The rate of deforestation has not

been reduced; the level of pollution in water has not been

decreased; and the quality of air has not been improved in any

significant way….Even after ten years, the reports of the

achievements of the Central Water Pollution Control Board

emphasize activities rather than achievements. Obviously, local

power structures in India do not necessarily reflect

constitutional aspirations. It may also be cleared that the

political actors (political parties) have not given emphasis on

environmental protection on priority political agenda reflected

through their manifestoes issued from time to time during general

elections. The studies have found that no issue – whether of food

security, food distribution, poverty alleviation and

environmental protection – are taken in the agenda of political

parties which do not give a political mileage in the elections

(Mooij: 1999)

The studies have found various reasons of ignorance of

implementation mechanisms in India. While those who formulated

policies were exposed to pressures by environmentally concerned

international donor agencies, those in charge of implementation

of the policies were under the pressures of powerful local

elites, which include the usually well-connected owners of

polluting industries. Within their bureaucracies, officials were

held responsible for following procedural rules but not for the

results of their actions. As they were generally perceived to be

prone to corruption, there was no reputation to be lost. The

future careers of the mostly frustrated and alienated low-ranking

bureaucrats depended on their being perceived as not causing

trouble. This scenario meant that the individual cost of

enforcing strict environmental standards became considerably

higher than that of paying lip service to procedures and

neglecting environmental standards in practice. For the

polluters, in turn, the cost of compliance tended to be higher

than the cost of non-compliance. Corruption, litigation and

(rather unlikely and normally low) fines were cheaper than

installing anti-pollution devices. Most industries were operating

under considerable pressure to cut costs in highly competitive

markets. The polluters’ general view was that bureaucrats could

be bought. Their local power alliances with high-ranking party

and State officials were based more on suspicion than on mutual

interest. Business people did not normally get involved in policy

processes. The cost of lobbying would again have been higher than

that of simple non-compliance. This, in turn, meant that

legislation tended to be unrealistic in terms of economic

viability, thus reinforcing polluters’ general approach of non-

compliance. Institutional inefficiency was exacerbated by the

fact that state governments had to implement central government

policies. The relationship between them was often characterized

by animosity. Beyond formal recognition, there tended to be

little concern for the needs of other government levels.

Authorities at the state level were likely to see environmental

regulations primarily as the central government’s tools to delay

projects and to interfere in state interests. The chances of

successful environmental policy were further diminished by the

fact that the bureaucracy concerned was a weak player within the

rivalry of various government agencies. It had no powerful

clientele, nor even a clearly defined target group. Information

about the confusing multitude of environmental hazards was still

scarce in India, making the cost of action appear to be higher

than the costs of inaction. Finally, the environmental

bureaucrats had little legal means of enforcing their policy

objectives if other agencies proved unwilling to cooperate. The

politicization of the administrative bodies along partisan lines

further diminished motivation and efficiency. In day to day

practice, loyalty to party personnel mattered more than policy

compliance.

ConclusionsThe whole gamut of discussion boils down to the conclusion

that environmental degradation has alarming impact on all aspects

of the people’s life and their socio-economic conditions of which

poor are the most vulnerable section of adverse impacts suffering

directly or passively. The governmental policy stages have

inadequately been effective. The paper finds that there is an

urgent imperative to examine the environmental politics in

context of mitigating the impact of environmental degradation and

achieving the goal of sustainable development. The examination of

policy initiatives reflects that the policy formulation has

political contents in it and it is the politics that drives the

policy formulation and simultaneously on one hand and flout its

implementation on the other. The implementation of policies

scenario is very bleak in India and the political actors as well

as the implementing bureaucracy has also been a hurdle as they

are both politicized and insensitive to the environmental

protection. The another aspect of weak implementation lies also

in the lack of more legal teeth to the implementing mechanism as

there is lack of inter-departmental coordination. It is civil

society who would have to be more conscious of environmental

degradation and make it a driving factor of expression of

political choices. The political parties are always keen to gain

support of the people for the electoral prospects and they prefer

those policies and ideologies which earn immediate public

support.

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