Environmental Adaptability of India’s Legal System

As the impact of climate change has changed over time, so has the legal environment surrounding it. With new legislations and rules, the legal system of India is constantly trying to catch up with the changing climate, however the legal system has not reached it full potential yet. Delhi is one of the worst cities when it comes to air pollution and the water pollution of Indian rivers like the Ganges is no secret. In an attempt to mitigate the impacts of climate change, the government has taken up different initiatives like the National Air Monitoring Programme and the Green Energy Corridor Project. India has also entered the Paris Agreement to engage with the matter of climate change on an international level. However, a critical lens of analysis must be placed to see if such initiatives and international collaborations have truly brought about impactful change, or did they just assuage the fears of climate activists and environmentalists?

Indian environmental law is in its nascent stage of development. Most of these laws have been formulated in the past three decades. The judiciary has taken steps to take these environmental laws into cognizance and implement them as and when the situation arises. However, by merely increasing laws regarding environmental change and global warming does not necessarily result in tangible positive outcomes in the environmental domain. Testimonies to this fact are the recent back–to–back cyclones and flash floods in Uttarakhand. Ideally, with environmental laws and policies in place, such calamities must be rare occurrences. However, reality paints another picture that needs to be acknowledged. What needs to be understood is that climate change is not viewed as an imminent threat by most people because the melting of glaciers and rising sea levels is an alien and distant phenomenon that does not directly impact the day-to-day lives of people. The deeper issue at hand is the lack of public awareness about the issue at hand. The fundamental goal must involve change in cultural mindsets and increasing the efficiency of structures and institutions advocating for climate change. Legislative actions concerning climate change must be complemented by proactive public participation.

Our first point of reference in this article would be the Paris Agreement. Although India has ratified the Paris Agreement, it has barely been successful in mitigating emissions. In fact, the rate of emissions in the country has actually increased over time. Earlier, India had shielded itself behind the guise of being a developing country to escape the responsibility it took for past greenhouse emissions. In a recent article published by The Hindu, India even goes to the extent to question the rush by UN to declare climate change as a security issue. Evidently, the urgency and significance of the issue at hand has not been absorbed by India itself. In spite of India’s relative complacent attitude towards climate change, it has become clear that it is a key player in international negotiations and its responsibilities associated with climate change extend within and beyond the geographical territory of the Indian subcontinent.

Zooming in within the territory of India, we can look into the example of the odd/even implemented in by the government of Delhi to specifically reduce traffic and number of vehicles on roads in order to reduce greenhouse emissions. Though the extent of its positive impact is a different debate, the policy was implemented for a few months and was repealed soon after. While one might argue that the Delhi government was experimenting with climate change rules and regulation and one must cut them some slack, the lack of planning and practicality of such policy implementation cannot be overlooked. A similar example would be the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. It was initiated with a lot of fervor, however, it soon lost its momentum and looking back in retrospect, the Abhiyan carries with it a baggage of unfulfilled hopes and aspirations for the future generations.

The instances outlined above highlight two aspects of climate change India needs to tackle in a proactive manner. One, it should learn from its past mistakes and take corrective measures to reduce the impact of the after-effects of climate disasters. Therefore, disaster management policies in India need to be revisited and improved substantially. Two, it must undertake initiatives that would encourage and increase collaboration between the public and the government and other climate change advocacies. Mere rule enforcement strategies are bound to backfire if the collective conscience of the public is not steered in the right direction.

We have seen cases which have read Article 21 to include the right to a healthy environment. However, only few substantive steps have been taken by the government to ensure the same for all the citizens of the country. If one were to undertake a comparative analysis of India’s environmental degradation rate pre- and post-independence, post-independent India has and is still a victim of exponential environmental degradation despite laws for the same are in place. While factors such as industrialization, population growth, poverty, and economic growth have impacted climate change adversely, the bigger picture and overarching causes of climate change cannot be ignored.

Hence, it is clear that though Indian legal jurisprudence surrounding climate change has expanded in the past few decades, the result has not been as impressive as one would like and hope. Despite the slow progress, there is always a reason to believe that the future would surprise us as the future is supported and bolstered by the voice of the socially aware youth. Additionally, by amending and re-enforcing the pre-exist environmental laws with efficiency could have a successful outcome. Rather than implementing and introducing a lot of policies that seem to be more of a plump and show, an effort must be made to make a positive change.