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Introduction
Environment Degradation
- One of the biggest problem, the world is
facing today. The problem of environment pollution is as old as
the
evolution of Homo sapiens on this planet. Man's ambition for
limitless
enjoyment and comfort has led him towards the exploitation of
nature's
wealth so indiscriminately and so shamelessly as to reduce
nature's
capacity for self-stabilization. Man's voracious appetite for
resources
and his desires to conquer nature has put him in collision course
with
the environment. The demand for his explosive technological
society
imposes intense stress on the state of equilibrium with the
environment.
The relationship between human beings and his environment has
varied
from time to time. It has also been varying from place to place at
a
given point of time. This statement is quite legitimate as far as
India
and its environment protection policy is concerned. It was a
statement
of one of the great personality in the field of law Prof. Upendra
Baxi
that ?In India, Environment protection and management started only
after
1972 i.e. after the Stockholm Conference. In my view this
statement is
wrong, as the Environment protection in India started long before
from
the time of Ancient India. In the early stages of human history in
India, human beings considered the environment as very dominant
and that
was why, they worshipped different aspects like trees, forest,
animals,
mountains, rivers etc. All of these held a special place of
reverence in
Hindu theology. The Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, and other
scriptures of
the Hindu religion gave a detailed description of Trees, plants
and
wildlife and their importance to the people. The Rig Veda
highlighted
the potentialities of nature in controlling the climate,
increasing
fertility and improvement of human life emphasizing on intimate
kinship
with nature. Atharva Veda considered trees as abode of various
gods and
goddesses. Yajur Veda Emphasized that the relationship with nature
and
the animals should not be that of dominion and subjugation but of
mutual
respect and kindness. Many animals and plants were associated with
Gods
and Goddesses so that they were preserved for the future
generations. As
they were associated with supernatural powers, no one dared to
misuse
the resources and therefore there was a check on the excess
utilization
of resources. King Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire did as much as he
could
to protect environment. He made several laws for the preservation
of the
ecology of India. Same trend continued even at the time of
medieval
India when Mughals ruled India though not at the same pace which
was
expected from them. However, the strongest steps for the same came
only
from British. They contributed a lot for the conservation of the
ecological system of India by enacting several laws, which really
were
missing in the ancient era. Therefore this project of mine is to
give
you a glimpse of all the environment protection laws, which were
made by
the Britishers along with the other steps taken by them.
Arrival of the British and the formation of Environmental Laws
in India
British arrived in India at 1600 with the mission of
trading goods from India in the form of East India Company. But,
after
seeing the immense amount of natural resources and plunders of
opportunity to exploit the resources present here, they changed
their
game plan and started applying coercion so as to complete their
aim of
exploiting natural resources in India. At the time when British
arrived
in India, India was divided into several princely states ruled by
different rulers. It was quite an easy task for the British to
establish
itself gradually and astutely. They very cleverly implemented the
policy
of Divide and Rule in India and took benefit of the diversity as
on the
basis of different rulers as well as due to multiplicity of
religion in
the country. The early days of British rule in India were days of
plunder of natural resources. They started exploiting the rich
resources
present India by employing the policy of imperialism . By around
1860,
Britain had emerged as the world leader in deforestation,
devastation
its own woods and the forests in Ireland, South Africa and
northeastern
United States to draw timber for shipbuilding, iron-smelting and
farming. Upon occasion, the destruction of forests was used by the
British to symbolize political victory. Thus, the early nineteenth
century, and following its defeat of the Marathas, the East India
Company razed to the ground teak plantation in Ratnagiri nurtured
and
grown by the legendary Maratha Admiral Kanhoji Angre. There was a
total indifference to the needs of the forest conservancy. They
caused a
fierce onslaught
on Indian Forests. The onslaught on the forests was primarily
because of the increasing demand for military purposes, for
British navy, for local construction (such as roads and railways),
supply of teak and sandalwood for export trade an extension of
agriculture in order to supplement revenue.
The British government started control over forest in the
year 1806 when a commission was appointed to enquire into the
availability of teak in Malabar and Travancore by way of
appointment of
Conservator of Forest. This moved failed to conserve forest as the
appointed conservator plundered the forest wealth instead of
conserving
it. Consequently, the post of conservator of forest was abolished
in the
year 1823.
Their early treatment of the Indian forest also reinforces the
claim that
destructive energy of the British race all over
the
world
was rapidly converting forest into desert. Until the later
decades of nineteenth century, the British Raj carried out a
immense
onslaught on the subcontinent's forest. With the Oaks forest
vanishing
in England, a permanent supply of durable timber was required for
the
British Navy because the safety and defense of the British Empire
depended primarily on its navy. In the period of fierce
competition
between the colonial powers, Indian teak, the most durable of
shipbuilding, saved British during a war with Napoleon and the
later
maritime expansion. To tap the likely sources supply, search
parties
were sent to teak forests of India's west coast. Ships were built
in the
dockyards in the Surat and the Malabar Coast, as well as in
England by
importing teak from India.
The revenue orientation of colonial land policy also
worked towards the denudation of forests. As their removal added
to the
class of land assessed for revenue, forests were considered as an
obstruction to agriculture and consequently a bar to the
prosperity of
the British Empire. The dominant thrust of agrarian policy was to
extend
cultivation and the watchword of the time was to destroy the
forest with
this end in view.
This process greatly intensified in the early years of the
building of the railways network after about 1853. While great
chunks of
forests were destroyed to meet the demand for railway sleepers, no
supervision was exercised over the felling operation in which a
large
number of trees was felled and lay rotting on the road. The
sub-Himalayan forests of Garhwal and Kumaon, for example were all
felled
in even to desolation and thousands of trees were felled which
were
never removed, nor was their removal possible.
As early as 1805, the British government requested the
British East India Company, which already controlled large parts
of the
coastal regions, to investigate the feasibility of harvesting
Malabar
teak in Madras to meet the needs of British shipbuilding during
the
Napoleonic war. Although the East India Company was a private
trading
company commissioned in 1600, in India it functioned as a state
entity,
enjoying a monopoly of trade in the areas it ruled. Acting at the
direction of the British parliament, it shared authority in India
with
government officials. The company appointed a former police
officer,
Captain Watson, as India's first conservator of forests in 1806.
Watson's two-pronged plan involved placing a tax on teak in order
to
simultaneously slow its harvest by private interests and raise
money for
the government, and then purchasing the teak from the private
dealers.
Together, these measures would guard against over-exploitation and
ensure a steady supply of teak.
On 3 August 1855, Lord Dalhousie, the governor general of India,
reversed previous laissez-faire policy to establish the India
Forest
Department and annex large areas of sparsely populated lands in
India.
These lands were declared protected areas and staffed by
foresters,
fireguards, rangers, and administrators. Over the next decades,
forestry
in India became an international profession with global
specialists
ruling an empire of trees and grasslands.
The new environmental policies served in turn to
support British imperialism in India. Unlike the conservative
French and
English royal forests reserved for hunting by the privileged
elite, or
the later American concept of total protection in national parks,
the
new colonial environmentalism was intended to generate income for
the
imperial British state through strict control of India's natural
resources. Lord Dalhousie's new forest policies greatly expanded
British
authority over the land and people of India, a colonial empire
that the
British had procured piecemeal over the course of several
centuries of
mercantile and military exploitation. Thus, environmentalism and
imperialism have a shared past, and the newly protected forests
marked a
symbiotic alliance of environmental concern with expansion of
state
power in India.
After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815, however,
the navy had less need of teak, and a new governor of Madras,
Thomas
Munro, felt that the timber royalty unnecessarily raised the
opposition
of Indian princes who objected to the tax placed on forests under
their
authority. Munro also felt pressure from Indian merchants who
objected
strenuously to a tax that cut severely into their profits and from
peasants who saw traditional access to the forest sharply
curtailed. The
new governor rescinded the teak regulations, abolished Captain
Watson's
position, and allowed the free market to operate as it had before
Lord Dalhousie's tenure as governor-general from 1848 to 1856 saw
the
acquisition of territory and implementation of administrative
reforms
for which posterity dubbed Dalhousie "the great Proconsul."
Dalhousie's support for conservation was unapologetically
imperialist. Upon reaching the capital at Calcutta for his
inauguration in 1848, he proclaimed, "we
are Lords Paramount of India, and our policy is to acquire as
direct a dominion over the territories in possession of the native
princes, as we already hold over the other half of India."
The British government in India made it clear that "all
the forests are the property of Government, and no general
permission to cut timber therein will be granted to anyone.
"
The second half of the 19th century marked the beginning of an
organized forest management in India with some administrative
steps
taken to conserve forest; the formulation of forest policy and the
legislations to implement the policy decision. The systematic
management of forest resources began with the appointment of the
First
Inspector General of Forest in 1964. Dietrich Brandis was the
first
Inspector General of India. Lord Canning appointed Dietrich
Brandis as
the first inspector general of the India-wide Indian Forest
Department,
a post he held from 1864 to 1883. The immediate task of the forest
department was under the supervision of Inspector General was that
of
exploration of resources, demarcation of reserves, protection of
the
forest from fire and assessment of the growing stock in valuable
reserve
by sample enumeration and prescription of yields which could be
sustained. The objective of management of forest thus changed from
obtaining of timber for various purposes to protecting and
improving
forests and treating them as a biological growing entity. Forest
conservators had already been appointed in Bombay (1847), Madras
(1856),
and the United Burma Provinces (1857); Brandis in turn appointed
forest
conservators to the Northwestern Provinces and Central Provinces
in
1860, Oudh in 1861, Punjab in 1864, Coorg and Bengal in 1864,
Assam in
1868, and Berar in 1868. By the end of 1868, the Forest Department
had
administrators in every province of the subcontinent. In 1871, the
Forest Department was placed under the newly established
Department of
Revenue and Agriculture, itself under the umbrella of the Home
Department. Brandis was followed by Wilhelm Schlich (1883-88),
Berthold
Ribbentrop (1888-1900), and E. P. Stebbings (1900-17) .
The first step of the British Government to assess state
monopoly right over the forest was the enactment the Forest Act,
1865.
the act was revised after about thirteen years later in 1878 and
extended to most of the territories under the British rule. It
also
expanded the powers of the state by providing for reserved forest,
which
were closed to the people and by empowering the forest
administration to
impose penalties for any transgression of the provision of the
Act. Yet
the latter act was passed only after a prolonged and biter debate
within
the protagonist of the earlier debate put forth arguments
strikingly
similar to those advanced by participants in the contemporary
debate about the environment of India.
Hurriedly drafted, the 1865 act was passed to facilitate the
acquisition of those forest areas that were earmarked for railway
supplies. It merely sought to establish the claims of the state to
the
forests in immediately required, subject to the proviso that
existing
rights would not be abridged. Almost immediately, the search
commenced
for a more stringent and inclusive piece of legislation. A
preliminary
draft, prepared by Brandis in 1969, was circulated among the
various
presidencies. A conference of forest officers, convened in 1874,
then
went into defects of the 1865 act and the details of the new one.
The British Government declared its first Forest Policy by a
resolution on the 19th October 1884. The policy statement had the
following objectives:
1. Promoting the general well being of the people in the country;
2. Preserving climatic and physical condition in the country; and
3. Fulfilling the need of the people
The policy also suggested a rough functional classification of
forest
into the following four categories:
1. Forests, the preservation of which was essential for climatic
and
physical grounds;
2. Forests which offered a supply a valuable timber for commercial
purposes;
3. Minor forest which produced only the inferior sort of timber;
and
4. Pastures, which were forest only in name.
To implement the Forest policy of 1884, the Forest act of 1927 was
enacted. Till 1935, the government of India enacted the Forest
Act. In
1935, the British Parliament through the Government of India
created
provincial legislature and the subject of the forest as included
in the
provincial legislature list. Thereafter, several provinces made
their
own laws to regulate forest. Most of these laws were within the
framework laid down in the 1927 Act . The British all along their
reign
in India formed many other Acts from time to time.
Main Acts in the field of Environment in the British Era Acts
controlling Water Pollution
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The Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolaba) Act, 1853
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The Orient Gas Company Act, 1857
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Indian Penal Code, 1860
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The Serais Act, 1867
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The North India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873
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The Obstruction in Fairways Act, 1881
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The Indian Easement Act, 1882
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The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897
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The Indian Ports Act, 1908
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The Indian Steam Vessels Act, 1917
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The Poison Act, 1919
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The Indian Forest Act, 1927
The Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolaba) Act, 1853
This is the earliest Act on the statue book concerning control of
water
pollution in India. It was the first act in the field of
Environment
protection in India, which was enacted by the British for the
British
India. This act was passed so as to regulate the waste materials
discharged in the coastal area of Bombay (Now Mumbai) and Colaba
area,
from various industries functioning in these areas.
Oriental Gas Company Act, 1857
This law imposed restrictions on fouling of water by the Oriental
Gas
Company. The Oriental Gas Company provided fine of Rs. 1000, for
fouling
water and for the subsequent continuation of the offence, Rs. 500
per
day. Oriental Gas Company (OGC) Act was among the first act in the
field
of water pollution.
Indian Penal Code, 1860
As regards to water pollution, Indian Penal Code says that whoever
voluntarily corrupts or fouls the water of any public spring or
reservoir, so as to make it less fit for the purpose for which it
is
ordinarily used, shall be punished with simple or rigorous
imprisonment
for a term exceeding to three months or fine of five hundred
rupees or
both. The definition is confined to a voluntary act and acts
committed
without any knowledge or accidentally would not be covered under
the
present law. Moreover, it has limited operation to the water of
public
spring or reservoir. Further, looking to the gravity of the
offence it
attracts only minor punishment. It is surprising to know that in
spite
of the fact that this provision was incorporated to protect the
public
health, the cast ridden society wanted to enforce this provision
against
the lower cast person taking water from a public cistern but the
Bombay
High Court did not allow the above interpretation (R v Bhagi 2 Bom
LR
1078) . Chapter 14th of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is for Public
Nuisance from section 268 to 291.
The Serais Act, 1867
The Act enjoined upon a keeper of Serai or an inn to keep a
certain
quality of water fit for consumption by "persons and use of it by
the
animals" to the satisfaction of the District magistrate or his
nominees.
Failure for maintaining the standard entailed a liability of
rupees
twenty. It is to be understood that the amount twenty rupees was a
very
big amount at that time and therefore should not be compared to
the
value of twenty rupees prevailing now in the country.
The North India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873
Certain offences have been listed under the Act contained in
Section 70.
It was to regulate the way canals for the purpose of irrigation as
well
as to discharge the effluents from various industries as well as
drainage system is to be controlled.
Obstruction in Fairways Act, 1881
Section 8 of the Act empowered the Central Government to make
Rules to
regulate or prohibit the throwing of rubbish in any fairway
leading to a
port causing or likely to give rise to a bank or shoal.
Indian Easements Act, 1882
It protected riparian owners against
unreasonable
pollution by upstream officer. Illustrations (f), (h) and (j) of
Section 7 of the
Act deal with pollution of waters. Section 28(d) of the Easement
Act, 1882 on the one hand allowed a prescriptive right to pollute
the water but it was not an absolute right. The illustrations (f),
(g), and (j) of this Section, limited this prescriptive right not
to
unreasonably pollute
or cause
material injury to other.
The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897
The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897 contains seven sections. This act
penalized the killing of fish by poisoning water and by using
explosive.
Section 5 of the Act prohibits destruction of fish by poisoning
waters.
Indian Ports Act, 1908
The Indian Ports Act, 1908, has regulated water pollution caused
by the
use of oil or discharging of oil in the port waters.
The Indian Forest Act, 1927
This act was very comprehensive and contained all the major
provisions
of the earlier act and amendments made thereto including those
relating
to the duty on timber. The Act of 1927 also embodied land-using
policy
whereby the British could acquire all forestland, village forest
and
other Common Property Resources. Section 26(i) of the Act makes it
punishable if any person, who, in contravention of the rules made
by the
State Government, poisons water of a forest area. The State
Government
has been empowered under Section 32(f) to make rules relating to
poisoning of water in forests. This act is still in force,
together with
several amendments made by the State Governments.
ACTS FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE INDIAN ENVIRONMENT
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The Orient Gas Company Act, 1857
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The Serais Act, 1857
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The Northern India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873
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The Obstruction in Airways Act, 1881
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The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897
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The Indian Ports Act, 1901
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The Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act, 1905
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The Explosives Act, 1908
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The Bombay Smoke Nuisance Act, 1912
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The Inland Stream Vessel Act, 1917
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The Mysore Destructive Insects & Pests Act, 1917
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The Poison Act, 1919
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The Andhra Pradesh Agricultural, Pest & Diseases Act, 1919
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The Indian Boilers Act, 1923
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The Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923
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The Indian Forest Act, 1927
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The Motor Vehicles Act, 1939
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The Bihar Wastelands (Reclamation, Cultivation & Improvement)
Act,
1946.
Air Pollution Acts
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Indian Penal Code, 1860
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The Indian Boilers Act, 1923
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Motor Vehicle Act, 1939 (Repealed by Act No.59 of 1988)
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The Poison Act, 1919
Municipality Laws
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Uttar Pradesh Municipality Laws, 1916
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Bihar and Orissa Municipality Laws, 1922
Both of these laws were amongst the earliest laws for regulating
the
environment conditions in the cities by the help of municipality
laws.
Wildlife Protection Act
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Forest act of Madras 1873
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Elephant Preservation Act, 1879
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World Birds Protection Act, 1887
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World Birds and Animal Protection Act, 1912
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Hailey National Park Act,1936 (Now Called Corbett National Park)
In the field of wildlife protection, the first wildlife
statute was enacted in Madras (Chennai) for the protection of wild
elephants. The law introduced a general prohibition on destruction
of
wild elephants and imposed penalty on those who violated the
embargo.
The first effort by the Central Government came after six years
later by
the passing of the Elephant Preservation Act in 1879. In 1887,
central
government enacted the Wild Birds Protection Act prohibiting the
possession or sale of wild birds recently killed or taken during
the
notified breeding season. In 1912, the Central Government enacted
a
broader Wild Life and Animal Protection Act. Extending to most of
the
British India, this law specified a closed hunting season and
regulated
the hunting of designated species through licenses. Indeed, all
the
statutes related primarily to the regulation of hunting and did
not
regulate trade in wildlife and wildlife products- both major
factors in
the decline of Indian Wildlife. As a consequence, wildlife
depredation
continued and many species became extinct.
The first comprehensive law for the protection of wildlife
and its habitat was perhaps the Hailey National Park Act of 1936,
which
established the Hailey (now Corbett) National park in Uttar
Pradesh.
Miscellaneous
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The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897
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The Indian Forest Act, 1927
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Criminal Procedure Code, 1893
Criminal Procedure Code, 1893.
Criminal Procedure Code, 1893 was one of the major acts, which
provided some of the very strict punishments for the environmental
offences under the criminal law. Sections 133 to 144 in the
Chapter XII of the Criminal Procedure under the heading
Public Nuisance
provided for the
punishment under criminal procedure for the commission of any
nuisance,
which affected the public at large. The environmental degradation
was
also included in it as any degradation of the environment is
automatically supposed to be affecting the public at large.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be held hereby that some of the very strong steps
were
taken by the British in order to protect environment from
degrading and
to preserve it for the future generations. But, some of these laws
showed their capability on paper and not on the practical grounds.
Many
laws and acts enacted by the British in our country proved out to
be
more useful for them (British) as compared to us. They made
several laws
so as to make their task easy as by that they were able to make
use of
the resources and degrade environment comfortably and lawfully.
Some of
the laws were so as to protect the resources from the natives
itself, so
that the British can utilize them for their own needs which were
to gain
as much capital from India as possible. Introduction of Railways
in
India is thought to be major reward for the Indians by the British
and
there is no doubt that it is one of the very valuable gift of the
British for India. But, the British never brought rail to India
with the
thought of benefiting us but for their own benefit. They
introduced rail
in India so that the resources present in India, especially
environmental resources that they were harnessing, can reach
easily and
quickly to their destination. They made laws for conserving the
forest
and in the process marked much of the area as the property of the
government so that no one could object as to he use of these
forest by
the British. Even if some laws were present which were beneficial
for
the environment conservation, then they were not implemented
properly
for them. The punishments prescribed under the laws were not very
strict
and so the offender was very easily allowed to escape. Moreover,
most of
the time, the British themselves depleted the resources. The
theories
like Sovereign Immunity always saved the government from being
sued
under public offence. The maxims like ?King can do no wrong? were
applied to its full extent. But still to say that the British
always
thought of their own benefit would be a wrong statement. The laws
like
Indian Penal Code 1860, and Criminal Procedure Code 1893, were
very
effective. Moreover, the laws made by the British paved a way for
the
Indian to think and implement new laws in this field itself. These
laws
were one of the first lessons for the Indians to make laws for the
protection of the environment in a more polished fashion in the
future.
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Environment Protection Laws in the British Era
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The author can be reached at:
bharat_hnlu@legalserviceindia.com
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