By M.C. Linthoingambee
India is one of the few countries in the world under which environmental protection is mentioned among its top priority measures within the Constitution of India in its 42nd amendments thereby contributing to the idea of enacting well-developed environmental laws. Owing to the United Nations Conference on Human Environment it is imperative to make laws on several areas in relation to air, water, forests, etc. But all these did not help during the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984 that impacted lives of many, till today.
Several lacunas were discovered in the above mentioned legislation. The man behind the crime vanished while many at home suffered gravely. The pain was unimaginable and such occurrences continue till today although in a lesser extent. Has the past taught us nothing? Even then, the people of Bhopal were happy to be given a job at the Union Carbide Factory and today for the very same reason people risk their health further to earn a living. At the end of the day, it all comes down to economic susceptibility and inability to cope up with the needs of the present day.
Days, Months and years have passed and we find ourselves ending up at square one. The Environment Protection Act 1988 was one such act that came in the wake of the aforementioned tragedy. But in spite of that it was on the part of the judges to make the final call. The system of filing Public Interest Litigations came as an aid in time of needs. It was used as a great tool in racking no good doers from their misdeeds so that the judges can offer their fair share of serving for justice on environmental protection. There were many principles and doctrines developing in the track for example: conserving the environment for the future generations, protecting the natural ecology and conserving natural wildlife, etc.
At present stage there are no enough laws that govern India on climate change. It is well noted that India is also among the largest producers of Green House Gases, and hence we need to resort to other means than are environmental friendly. The recent advances in the climate change jurisprudence at the global level poses greater challenges at the national level. The recent approach in dealing with climate change has been from the human rights perspective. This was a welcome shift, changing the focus from states to individuals. Climate change negotiations, according to this perspective, can no longer be a forum for state trade-offs and climate change is no longer a mere issue squarely belonging to science and politics but an essentially human process with demonstrable human cause and effect.
There are many resourceful NGOs, private individuals, researchers, that have taken a keen interest on dealing with the environment. It is observed that pollution has taken a toll in spite of several impositions and restrictions in view of strict and absolute liability. It is about time we clean up the rivers that have so righteously given us water to drink and bring it back to the scenery that were once so adored and loved by poets and writers. The Pollution Control Board should be made more efficient with increase of resources and workers in order to keep a check on any companies that does not deal with precautionary safety standards.
Today, there is more pollution all around us more so ever than yesterday. We all need to do our part for protecting the environment. Men and his greed have allowed him to cut down trees without the thought of planting another in the same spot. The result of which was also seen during the flood that happened in Uttrakhand that destroyed more than a hundred homes with many severely injured or killed. The weather is often unpredictable; scientists around the world have alarmingly tried at their level best to ascertain climatic conditions and its changes.
Although men can now gain excess to weather reports now. But we cannot claim that the system for early detection of natural disaster is the time perfect. It is observed that there has been snowfalls in some parts of India even though winter comes at its best usually in the month of January. These are some of the strange climatic phenomena that have been occurring because of our negligence towards environment. The phenomenon only proves that we are also vulnerable to climate change and its impact. Besides, we are already dealing with problem like water scarcity, which has had impacted on our agriculture and other related issues.