Should Air Pollution In India Be Declared A National Public Health Emergency
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 day ago
- 1 min read
Shiv Bhushan Singh, National Law University, Odisha
ABSTRACT
In India, the air pollution has evolved from being an environmental problem to a deadly epidemic public health issue, with some constitutional fears that are not at all hypothetical. Each year millions of lives are being lost prematurely while our life expectancy is getting reduced. This paper illustrates that the air pollution is, indeed, a national public health emergency (along with a number of other equally serious ones) and should be treated as such: with the priority it deserves and not as a problem we will deal with later on. It looks at provisions in the Constitution and their meaning as interpreted by courts as well as the statutory framework to demonstrate how unchecked pollution may impinge upon the right to live with dignity enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. The study also calls into doubt the extent to which current laws and policies are limited and, particularly, enforced, and governance is dispersed across too many desks. It then has a hard look at the Disaster Management Act as a viable legal instrument for ensuring coordinated action that can be effective. I conclude that stating air pollution as a public health emergency is not only a matter of government inclination, but it is also a constitutional requirement that is needed to protect health, to increase accountability and to assert fundamental rights.
