Industrial Environmental Management. Tapas K. Das
the view to protect the environment, nature, and health in connection with gene technology and micro‐organisms, under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986. In 1991, the government further decided to institute a national label scheme for environmentally friendly products called the “ECOMARK.” The scheme attempts to provide incentives to manufactures and importers to reduce adverse environmental impacts, reward genuine initiatives by companies, and improve the quality of the environment and sustainability of available resources. Besides the above attempts, notifications pertaining to Recycled Plastics Manufacture and Usage Rules, 1999 were also incorporated under the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986.
2.13.3.2 The Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986
These rules lay down the procedures for setting standards of emission or discharge of environmental pollutants. The Rules prescribe the parameters for the Central Government, under which it can issue orders of prohibition and restrictions on the location and operation of industries in different areas. The Rules lay down the procedure for taking samples, serving notice, submitting samples for analysis and laboratory reports. The functions of the laboratories are also described under the Rules along with the qualifications of the concerned analysts.
2.13.3.3 The National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997
This Act provided for the establishment of a National Environment Appellate Authority to hear appeals with respect to restriction of areas in which any industry operation or process or class of industries, operations or processes could not carry out or would be allowed to carry out subject to certain safeguards under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
In addition to these, various acts specific to the coal sector have been enacted. The first attempts in this direction can be traced back to the Mines Act, 1952, which promoted health and safety standards in coal mines. Later the Coal Mines (Conservation and Development) Act (1974) came up for conservation of coal during mining operations. For conservation and development of oil and natural gas resources, a similar legislation was enacted in 1959.
2.13.4 Hazardous Wastes
There are several legislations that directly or indirectly deal with hazardous waste. The relevant legislations are the Factories Act, 1948, the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995, and some notifications under the Environmental Protection Act of 1986. A brief description of each of these is given in the following.
Under the USEPA 1986, the MOEF has issued several notifications to tackle the problem of hazardous waste management. These include the following:
Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989, which brought out a guide for manufacture, storage, and import of hazardous chemicals and for management of hazardous wastes.
Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998, were formulated along parallel lines, for proper disposal, segregation, transport, etc. of infectious wastes.
Municipal Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, whose aim was to enable municipalities to dispose municipal solid waste in a scientific manner.
Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Amendment Rules, 2000, a recent notification issued with the view to providing guidelines for the import and export of hazardous waste in the country.
2.13.4.1 Factories Act, 1948 and Its Amendment in 1987
The Factories Act, 1948 was a postindependence statute that explicitly showed concern for the environment. The primary aim of the 1948 Act has been to ensure the welfare of workers not only in their working conditions in the factories but also their employment benefits. While ensuring the safety and health of the workers, the Act contributes to environmental protection. The Act contains a comprehensive list of 29 categories of industries involving hazardous processes, which are defined as a process or activity where unless special care is taken, raw materials used therein or the intermediate or the finished products, by‐products, wastes, or effluents would
cause material impairment to health of the persons engaged
result in the pollution of the general environment
2.13.4.2 Public Liability Insurance Act (PLIA), 1991
The Act covers accidents involving hazardous substances and insurance coverage for these. Where death or injury results from an accident, this Act makes the owner liable to provide relief as is specified in the Schedule of the Act. The PLIA was amended in 1992, and the Central Government was authorized to establish the Environmental Relief Fund, for making relief payments.
2.13.4.3 National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995
The Act provided strict liability for damages arising out of any accident occurring while handling any hazardous substance and for the establishment of a National Environment Tribunal for effective and expeditious disposal of cases arising from such accident, with a view to give relief and compensation for damages to persons, property, and the environment and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
2.13.5 International Agreements on Environmental Issues
India is signatory to a number of multilateral environment agreements (MEA) and conventions. An overview of some of the major MEAs and India's obligations under these is presented below. This issue is discussed in the Section 2.9.4 in Chapter 2.
2.13.5.1 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), of Wild Fauna and Flora, 1973
The aim of CITES is to control or prevent international commercial trade in endangered species or products derived from them. CITES does not seek to directly protect endangered species or curtail development practices that destroy their habitats. Rather, it seeks to reduce the economic incentive to poach endangered species and destroy their habitat by closing off the international market. India became a party to the CITES in 1976. International trade in all wild flora and fauna in general and species covered under CITES is regulated jointly through the provisions of The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, the Import/Export policy of Government of India, and the Customs Act 1962 (Bajaj 1996).
2.13.5.2 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer), 1987
The Montreal Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer, came into force in 1989. The protocol set targets for reducing the consumption and production of a range of ozone depleting substances (ODS). In a major innovation, the Protocol recognized that all nations should not be treated equally. The agreement acknowledges that certain countries have contributed to ozone depletion more than others. It also recognizes that a nation's obligation to reduce current emissions should reflect its technological and financial ability to do so. Because of this, the agreement sets more stringent standards and accelerated phase‐out timetables to countries that have contributed most to ozone depletion (Divan and Rosencranz 2002).
India acceded to the Montreal Protocol along with its London Amendment in September 1992. The MOEF has established an Ozone Cell and a steering committee on the Montreal Protocol to facilitate implementation of the India Country Program, for phasing out ODS production by 2010.
To meet India's commitments under the Montreal Protocol, the Government of India has also taken certain policy decisions:
Goods required to implement ODS phase‐out projects funded by the Multilateral Fund are fully exempt from duties. This benefit has been also extended to new investments with non‐ODS technologies.
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