In which of the following years, the Environment (Protection) Act passed by the Government of India?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, 1986. The Environment (Protection) Act was enacted by Parliament in 1986 (Act No. 29 of 1986) and came into force on 19 November 1986. It was passed in the immediate aftermath of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and was framed under Article 253 of the Constitution to give effect to the decisions of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference). It is 'umbrella' legislation that empowers the Central Government to lay down environmental standards, regulate hazardous substances and coordinate the work of pollution-control authorities.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) No major central environmental statute was enacted in 1982. The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act had already been passed in 1981; the umbrella Environment (Protection) Act came later, in 1986.  (c) 1990 is after the Act's enactment; the EPA was already in force from 1986. No new principal environmental Act was passed in 1990.  (d) 1992 is the year of the Rio Earth Summit, not of the EPA. The Indian Act predates Rio by six years, having been passed in 1986.

Concept: The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 is India's principal 'umbrella' environmental law. Unlike the earlier pollutant-specific laws — the Water Act (1974) and the Air Act (1981) — the EPA gives the Central Government wide powers to set standards, restrict industries and handle hazardous substances across all environmental media. It was the legislative response to the Bhopal disaster and the mechanism through which India implemented the commitments of the 1972 Stockholm Conference.

State PCS 2021 Q66 — Environment & Ecology PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2021 Q66 — Environment & Ecology PYQ with Answer