Environmental Pollution A Socio-Legal Study

Environment is the creation of the supernatural. Though the presence of the supernatural is contradicted, but this fact cannot be negated that a conception coined as environment has been bestowed upon all the living beings as a legacy, whose origin is known to none. Environment is a mixture of both living and non-living creatures.

- Revti Rani Roy

“Environment includes water, air, land and the inter-relationship which exists among and between water, air land and human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organism and property”.

Man is supposedly the greatest creation of all the living creatures on this planet. But there always comes a moment when the most superior creature in the due course of exercising their powers and enjoying their hegemony - in order to achieve their personal ends, go on to the extent of superseding everything without thinking about the consequences of the act so performed. Humans can be best exemplified in the present scenario. They have deteriorated the nature in its fullest plausible way. Here comes the concept of environmental degradation which means the erosion of our natural environment through the direct or indirect acts of humans. Mankind has been avaricious enough to worsen the situation. But, man has never got anything in abundance for his greed. Mahatma Gandhi rightly marked:

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed”.

Concept of Environmental pollution

“Environmental pollution means the presence in the environment of any environmental pollutant; wherein the term environmental pollutant means any solid, liquid or gaseous substance present in such concentration as may be, or tend to be, injurious to environment”. Primarily, industrialization, globalization and population growth are recognized as the fundamental drivers of environmental pollution. Broadly, environmental pollution can be categorized under the following heads: