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It would be hard to find out such dawn to earth description of nature.

"Nature hates monopolies and knows no exception. It has always some levelling agency that puts the overbearing, the strong, the rich, the fortunate substantially on the same ground with all others" said Zarathustra. Environment is polycentric and multi-facet problem affecting the human existence. The Stockholm Declaration of United Nations on Human Environment, 1972, reads its Principle No.3, inter-alia, thus:
"Man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality, and adequate conditions of life. In an environment of equality that permits a life of dignity and well being and bears a solemn responsibility to protect and improve the environment for present and future generations."

Environmental law is an instrument to protect and improve the environment and to control or prevent any act or omission polluting or likely to pollute the environment. In view of the enormous challenges thrown by the industrial revolution, the legislatures throughout the world are busy in this exercise. Many have enacted laws long back and they are busy in remodeling the environmental law. The others have moved their law making machineries in this direction except the under-developed States who have yet to come in this wave length. India was one of those few countries which paid attention right from the ancient time down to the present age and till date, the tailoring of the existing law to suit the changing conditions is going on. The problem of law-making and amending is a difficult task in this area. There are a variety of colours of this problem. For example, the industrial revolution and the evolution of certain cultural and moral values of the humanity and the rural and urban area developments in agricultural technology, waste, barren or industrial belts; developed, developing and under-developed parts of the lands; the rich and poor Indians; the population explosion and the industrial implosion; the people's increasing awareness and the decreasing State Exchequer; the promises in the political manifestos and the State's development action. In this whole gamut of the problems the Tiwari Committee came out with the date that we have in India "nearly five hundred environmental laws" and the Committee pointed out that no systematic study had been undertaken to evaluate those legislative developments. Some legal controls and techniques have been adopted by the legislatures in the field of Indian Environmental Laws. Different legislative controls right from the ancient time, down to the modern period make interesting reading. Attention has to be paid to identify the areas of great concern to the legislature; the techniques adopted to solve those problems; the pollutants which required continuous exercises; the role of legislature and people's participation outside. These are some of many areas which attract the attention in the study of history of the Indian Environmental Law. Since time immemorial, natural objects like rivers enjoyed a high position in the life of the society. They were considered as Goddesses having not only the purifying capacity but also self-purifying ability. Fouling of the water of a river was considered a sin and it attracted punishments of different grades which included, penance, outcasting, fine, etc. The earth or soil also equally had the same importance, and the ancient literature provided the means to purify the polluted soil. The above are some of the many illustrations to support the view that environmental pollution was controlled rigidly in the ancient time. It was not an affair limited to an individual or individuals but the society as a whole accepted its duty to protect the environment. The 'dharma' of environment was to sustain and ensure progress and welfare of all. The inner urge of the individuals to follow the set norms of the society, motivated them to allow the natural objects to remain in the natural state. Apart from this motivation, there was the fear of punishment. There were efforts not just to punish the culprit but to balance the eco-systems. The noteworthy development in this period was that each individual knew his duty to protect the environment and he tried to act accordingly. Those aspects have been highlighted by a learned author C.M. Jariwala in his article "Changing Dimensions of the Indian Environmental Law" in the book "Law and Environment" by P. Leelakrishnan.

The protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue which affects the well being of people and economic development throughout the world, it is the urgent desire of the peoples of the whole world and the duty of all Governments."

When the necessity to promote the environment turned grave, doubt was expressed by some commentators whether the issue of the environment would last. They have been proved wrong, since it is clearly one of the big issues, perhaps the biggest issue of the 1990s. It is a big issue in political terms, since protection of the environment is high on most people's priorities for the 1990s. As a result political parties and Governments are falling over each other in their eagerness to appear green, even if as yet their actions rarely match their rhetoric. It is big in terms of the size of the problem faced and the solutions required; global warning, the destruction of the ozone layer, acid rain, deforestation, overpopulation and toxic waste are all global issue which require an appropriately global response. It is big in terms of the range of problems and issues air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, waste disposal radioactivity, pesticides, countryside protection, conservation of wildlife the list is virtually endless. As observed by Simon Bell and Stuart Bell in 'Environmental Law' :

The Academy Law Review at pages 137-138 says that a recent survey reveals that every day millions of gallons of trade wastes and effluents are discharged into the rivers, steams, lake and sea etc. Indiscriminate water pollution is a problem all over the world but is now acute in densely populated industrial cities. Our country is no exception to this. Air pollution has further added to the intensity and extent of the problem. Every year millions of tons of gaseous and particulate pollutants are injected into the atmosphere, both through natural processes and as a direct result of human activity. Scientists have pointed out that earth's atmosphere cannot absorb such unlimited amount of pollutant materials without undergoing changes which may be of an adverse nature with respect to human welfare. Man in order to survive in his planetary home will have to strike the harmonious balance with nature. There may be boundless progress scientifically which may ultimate lead to destruction of man's valued position in life. The Constitution has laid the foundation of Articles 48-A and 51-A for a jurisprudence of environmental protection. Today, the State and the citizen are under a fundamental obligation to protect and improve the environment, including forests, lakes, rivers, wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.