India needs an environmental health regulatory agency

Context: The 2024 Conference of Parties (COP 29) ends in Baku,
Azerbaijan today. As a global voice for developing countries, India will push
for ambitious climate mitigation financing from developed nations. As a nation,
India continues to experience rapid economic growth, so the interdependencies
between climate, environment, health, and the economy are undeniable but
capacities to address these issues holistically are limited. It is time for
India to establish an environmental health regulatory agency (EHRA), which
could lead to more comprehensive and cohesive environmental governance that
focuses simultaneously on pollution control and health risk mitigation.

Key points

·      
Overview: Having such an agency in India, which it currently
lacks, would look at the interlinked issues of climate, environment, health and
the economy in a holistic way.

·      
Environmental
health regulator: An
environmental health regulator is a governmental or quasi-governmental agency
that regulates the environment, hazardous substances, or the protection of
human health and safety. These regulators can be at the federal, state, or
local level.

Responsibilities
- Enforcing environmental laws and regulations, protecting public health and
the environment, Improving degraded environments, Limiting the use of
pollutants, Setting safe tolerance levels for pollutants in food, water, and
animal feed.

·       Environmental Protection Agencies: United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) - The EPA is a federal agency that protects the environment and human
health. It was founded in 1970 by President Richard Nixon. The EPA's
responsibilities include-

Ø  Creating
and enforcing environmental laws.

Ø  Inspecting
the environment.

Ø  Providing
technical support to reduce threats.

Ø  Supporting
recovery planning.

Ø  Regulating
air quality, water resources, hazardous substances, and waste management.

·       Effectiveness
of Environment Protection Act, 1986: The Act gives the central
Government a sweeping power to conserve the environment. But today we see our
rivers turned into open sewers in many places and air is badly polluted which
shows that there are many issues with the Act. The Act provides for the
collection and dissemination of information regarding environmental pollution,
which the Government has failed to do so. In its absence, a community may not
be aware that a potentially hazardous operation is situated in its midst. Further,
the Act gives the public significant powers to enforce the Act, but only
Government officials are given the power under the Act to collect samples
needed as evidence of violation of the Act. All the issues like the comparative
late rollout of better emission control norms for fuels, failure to develop a
mass transport system, failure to control river pollution, Inefficient and
insufficient effluent treatment plants etc., among others, have led to the
present situation.

·       Present
Clause in EPA, 1986: The Environment Protection Act currently says that
violators will be punishable with imprisonment up to five years or with a fine
up to Rs 1 lakh, or with both. Were violations to continue, an additional fine
of up to Rs 5,000 would be levied for every day during which such failure or
contravention continues after the conviction. There’s also a provision to
extend jail terms up to seven years.