Governance, Risk, and Compliance Handbook: Technology, Finance, Environmental, and International Guidance and Best Practices

CHAPTER 29

ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE IN INDIA

Aparna Sawhney

29.1 INTRODUCTION

29.2 CURRENT STATE OF REGULATORY COMPLIANCE AND INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES

29.3 CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE: COMPLIANCE AND BEYOND

29.4 CONCLUSION

NOTES

29.1 INTRODUCTION

The institutional structure for environmental management in India began to be built systematically in the early 1970s1 during the preparation for the 1972 Stockholm Conference on Human Development. The first pollution control legislation was enacted in 1974, and regulatory bodies were established at the center and some states. In 1976 the Constitution of India was amended to explicitly delineate the responsibility of environmental protection on the state and the citizens. In particular, the protection and improvement of forests and wildlife were made a directive principle of state policy and a fundamental duty of all citizens.2

Following the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 (due to a leak from the Union Carbide plant) a new apex body for enforcing environmental quality standards in the country, namely the Ministry of Environment and Forests, was formed in 1985. One of the most important environmental laws was enacted soon after, in 1986: the Environmental Protection Act, an umbrella legislation under which several laws and notifications have been passed since.

Today India has an elaborate set of environmental protection legislation and an intricate network of pollution control boards across the country administering these laws. More ...