Ancient and medieval writings, environmental jurisprudence and national environmental policy

1. Ancient Indian writings

• The Vedas. The Prithvi Sukta of the Atharva Veda addresses the earth as mother (“the earth is my mother, I am her son”) and asks that what is dug from her be quickly replenished. The Rig Veda worships the elements: Agni, Varuna, Vayu, Surya. Nature is treated as sacred, not as a resource to be exhausted.
• The Upanishads. The Isha Upanishad opens with the idea that everything in the universe belongs to the Lord and that man should enjoy it with restraint and not covet what belongs to others: an early statement of limited use.
• Smritis and Puranas. Manusmriti and Yajnavalkya Smriti prescribe penalties for cutting trees and for polluting water. The Matsya Purana compares planting one tree to having ten sons.
• Kautilya's Arthashastra. It provided for the superintendent of forests, reserved forests and elephant forests, fines for cutting trees and for throwing dirt on roads, and protection of certain animals and birds.
• Asoka. The Fifth Pillar Edict lists animals that may not be killed, forbids burning forests without purpose, and restricts killing in certain seasons. Asoka also planted trees and dug wells along roads.
• Buddhism and Jainism preach ahimsa, non-injury to all living beings, which translates into compassion for animals and plants.

2. Medieval period

• Islamic thought treats man as khalifa, a trustee of the earth who must not cause fasad (corruption or destruction) on it. The trusteeship idea is close to the modern public trust doctrine.
• The Mughals laid out gardens, planted avenues of trees and built canals and water works; hunting was regulated largely as royal privilege.
• The Bishnois of Rajasthan. Followers of Guru Jambheshwar (fifteenth century) whose 29 tenets include not cutting green trees and not killing animals. In 1730 at Khejarli, led by Amrita Devi, 363 Bishnois are recorded to have died resisting the felling of khejri trees for the Maharaja of Jodhpur. The episode is the usual answer on “religious and cultural heritage” and the forerunner of the Chipko movement (1973).
• Sacred groves (devara kadu in Karnataka, orans in Rajasthan, kavus in Kerala) were protected by custom; no tree could be cut in them.

3. Guiding principles for daily life

The January 2026 alternative asked for the general principles every person should observe to protect the environment. A good answer draws them from the sources above and from Article 51A(g), the fundamental duty to protect and improve the natural environment and to have compassion for living creatures:

• use resources with restraint: save water and energy, prefer public transport;
• reduce, reuse, recycle; segregate household waste at source, as the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 now require of every generator;
• avoid single-use plastic and the burning of waste;
• plant and protect trees and respect commons such as tanks and grazing land;
• compassion for animals: no cruelty, no trade in wildlife products;
• keep noise within limits, especially near hospitals and schools and at night;
• take part in decisions: public hearings in environmental clearance, complaints to the Pollution Control Board, and, where needed, public interest litigation.

The Government's Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), launched in 2022, is built on the same idea of individual behaviour change, and the Ecomark Rules, 2024 refer to it.

4. Environmental jurisprudence

Environmental jurisprudence is the study of the philosophical basis of environmental law: why the law protects nature, for whose benefit, and on what principles. Two schools dominate.

• Anthropocentric (human-centred). Nature is protected because it serves human needs: health, livelihood, development. Most of Indian statute law and the early Article 21 cases (pollution-free air and water as part of the human right to life) belong here. Sustainable development and intergenerational equity are anthropocentric too: they protect future people.
• Ecocentric (nature-centred). Nature has value in itself and other species have a right to exist. The Supreme Court has moved in this direction. In Centre for Environment Law, WWF-I v. Union of India, 2013 INSC 254, (2013) 8 SCC 234, ordering the translocation of Asiatic lions from Gir to Kuno to secure a second habitat, the Court said that the approach must be ecocentric and that the survival of a species is a matter of concern in itself, not only of human interest.

The principles the courts have built on these foundations (absolute liability, polluter pays, precautionary principle, public trust, intergenerational equity, sustainable development, and carrying capacity) are the substance of Unit II and Unit III.

5. National environmental policy

Policy documents are not law, but courts read statutes in their light and examiners ask for them by name.

• National Forest Policy, 1988. Replaced the 1894 and 1952 policies, which had treated forests as a source of revenue and raw material. It set a goal of one-third of the land area under forest or tree cover (two-thirds in hills), and put ecological balance and the needs of forest-dwelling communities ahead of commercial use.
• National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development, 1992, and the Policy Statement for Abatement of Pollution, 1992, which adopted prevention at source, the best available technology, the polluter pays principle and public participation.
• National Environment Policy, 2006 (NEP). The present overarching policy. Its key elements:
  • the central idea that only development that conserves environmental resources is sustainable, and that environmental degradation chiefly hurts the poor who depend on natural resources;
  • its principles: the human being at the centre of sustainable development, the right to development, environmental protection as an integral part of development, the precautionary approach, economic efficiency and polluter pays, equity, the public trust doctrine, decentralisation, integration and environmental offsets;
  • its objectives: conservation of critical resources, intra- and intergenerational equity, integration of environmental concerns in economic and social development, efficiency in resource use, good governance and enhancement of resources for conservation;
  • proposals for review of the regulatory regime, including reform of environmental clearance, and for specialised environmental courts (later realised in the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010).
• National Action Plan on Climate Change, 2008, with eight national missions (solar, enhanced energy efficiency, sustainable habitat, water, Himalayan ecosystem, Green India, sustainable agriculture and strategic knowledge).

How this is examined

January 2026 asked for an explanation of “To live in harmony with nature is a main purpose of social life” (or the guiding principles for daily life) and a short note on environmental jurisprudence. June 2025 set “religious and cultural heritage” as a 6-mark note, and February 2025 asked for the National Environment Policy and the history of environmental protection in India.

For the “harmony with nature” essay, open with the Vedic and Asokan sources, add the Bishnois and sacred groves, then show the same idea in Articles 48A and 51A(g), and close with the ecocentric turn in the WWF lion case. For the NEP note, give the year, the central idea, five or six principles and the link to the NGT.