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ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2014-2015)

M.E.D.-8
Globalization and Environment
Disclaimer/Special Note: These are just the sample of the Answers/Solutions to some of the Questions given in the
Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Private Teacher/Tutors/Auhtors for the help and Guidance
of the student to get an idea of how he/she can answer the Questions of the Assignments. We do not claim 100% Accuracy
of these sample Answers as these are based on the knowledge and cabability of Private Teacher/Tutor. Sample answers
may be seen as the Guide/Help Book for the reference to prepare the answers of the Question given in the assignment. As
these solutions and answers are prepared by the private teacher/tutor so the chances of error or mistake cannot be denied.
Any Omission or Error is highly regretted though every care has been taken while preparing these Sample Answers/
Solutions. Please consult your own Teacher/Tutor before you prepare a Particular Answer & for uptodate and exact
information, data and solution. Student should must read and refer the official study material provided by the university.
SECTION I
Q. 1. Explain the changing nature of globalization and its effects on environment.
Ans. Changing Nature of the Globalization
Globalization has changed the definition of trade, technology and financial system of economy. Globalization can be
defined as a policy that leads to the opening up of economy to ensure unrestricted flow of goods and services, capital,
technology, natural and human resources while transcending the boundaries. The economic phase of globalization has
begun in 1980, and it removes all the barriers and rapidly increases the flow of trade, investment, services and real estate
across the borders. There is a great impact of technology, trade and financial capital on globalization today.
Role of Technology: Technological changes are the principal drivers of globalization. Before, globalization, the
trade and technology were surrounding in limited area and thus, the price of goods and services were very high. On the
contrary, the technology has resulted in facilitating structural changes in industry. It brings transformation of nature of
goods and services provided to the customer. For example, in 1930 the cost of three minute telephone call was costed 245
dollar from New York to London, whereas it fell up to 3 dollar in 1990s.
Role of Trade: Since 1980s the world trade had accelerated in many folds. The growth of capital and funds flows
has been faster than the growth of world trade. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy featured the growth of
investment which was substantial in big bulk of investment flows among the developed countries; the developing countries
are increasingly becoming the receipts of FDI. China recorded more than 12 times higher FDI than India in 2004. India
is receiving the FDI from USA, Mauritius, Germany, Japan, South Korea and others.
Role of Financial Capital: The globalization is characterized by the rapid growth and development in financial
market. Many developed countries like USA, UK etc. are keen to invest in developing countries like India, and China.
Therefore, in 1991, the Indian FDI policy was liberalized and since 1980, the foreign collaboration and investment is
constantly increasing.
Global Climatic Change: It is essential to understand the relationship between economic globalization with
environment. The global change is a long-term change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods of
time that range from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in the average weather conditions or a change in the
distribution of weather events with respect to an average, for example, greater or fewer extreme weather events. Various
gases affect the weather and climate of earth and create changes in the atmosphere which create stress mortality and
diseases could increase as the tropical habitat.
Globalization And Environment: Globalization brought about inter-nationalization of economic activities, especially
with US and UK taking to greater interest in market coordination during 1980s. Globalization has increased the demand
and supply of products across the globe which resulted fast production and using intensive techniques to meet the demand.
They perceive globalization as harmful to the environment in many ways. In fact it kills the natural resources and
neglects the environment in the same way.
Free Trade and Environment: Globalization emphasis on free trade across the globe and hence, with increasing
pressure from world monetary and trade organizations many countries succumbed to the pressure to liberalize their
economies. But there are many factors which directly or indirectly perceive harmful effect on the environment. The

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investment and globalization of production has been emphasizing on fast growing technology which leads to reduce the
environment-friendly technologies in many countries.
Terms of trade and Environment: From environmental perspective, trade liberalization can have a negative or a
positive effect on the environment. But the direct effects of trade on the environment are very harmful, it is very harmful
for trade. In 1987, the Brundtland Report, formally the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED),
alerted the world to the urgency of making progress toward economic development without depleting natural resources or
harming the environment. The commission was created to address growing concern about the accelerating deterioration
of the human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration for economic and social
development. The Brundtland Report was primarily concerned with securing a global equity, redistributing resources
towards poorer nations while encouraging their economic growth. The report also suggested that equity, growth and
environmental maintenance are simultaneously possible and that each country is capable of achieving its full economic
potential while at the same time enhancing its resource base. There are instances of extensive environmental destruction
unleashed by the corporate culture.
Environmental Standards: The WTO (world trade organization) provides the platform on which trade relations,
among members, evolve through collective debate, negotiation and adjudication. The principal focus of the WTOs work
on trade and environment is contained in the Uruguay Round Final Act, under which ministers adopted a decision on
trade and environment that called for the establishment of the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) and outlined
its work programme. There is a need to review both international trade and global environmental laws and agreements in
the interests of both developing countries and advanced countries.
Q. 2. Discuss the impact on environmental calamities and its impact on society.
Ans. Natural Calamities
Natural environmental calamities are the result of preceding human activities. Natural calamities can be of different
kinds, but the similarity in all, is their massive destruction in the area of their occurrence. Devastating fire accidents,
eruptions and explosions, mining accidents, pollution of global commons, nuclear and industrial accidents, wars and civil
conflicts are some of the examples of natural calamities.
The natural calamity may be classified into three types i.e. sudden calamity, insidious and wars. The damage to the
environment is through emission of pollutants and release of effluents, industrial accidents, accidents in the transportation
of toxic wastes for disposal, radiation leakages from nuclear facilities have become increasingly common.
The release of green house gases would result in climatic changes that can alter fertile green lands into arid lands.
Ozone depletion that results in the penetration of ultraviolet rays into the Earths atmosphere has been the result of escape
of inert gases like halons and CFCs into the atmosphere. The most common disaster of environment includes earthquakes,
droughts, floods, high winds, land slides and volcanic eruptions. There have been several conventions, agreements and
protocols between countries on several issues that cause environmental disasters as a result of human actions.
Water is the main source of livelihood, but the scarcity and excess of water has been resulted as natural disaster. For
example, cyclones, resulting in torrential rain, exceptionally high winds and enormous storm surge, are among the most
destructive disasters. Whereas, drought involves a scarcity of rain to the extent that it interferes with some sector of
economy such as agriculture, water supply or other water related activities. In short, disasters have always been mankinds
constant companion. Natural disasters like earthquakes, cyclones, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, wildfires, floods, landslides
and droughts continue to strike on this earth.
Earthquakes: Earthquakes are caused by vibration of energy released by geological adjustments deep in the earth.
These may also result from tectonic drift or local geomorphology shifts or volcanic activity. Earth- quakes have multiple
effects. It can cause landslides, rock falls and dam failure leading to floods and can cause enormous loss to the settlements
in the vicinity. The earthquake severity is recokened by the magnitutue on the Richter Scale, which indicates the amount
of energy released at the focus. Higher the magnitude, more is the damange and larger is the area affected.
There could also be flooding and fires in urban areas due to broken water mains, gas leak or electric short-circuiting.
In high seismic zones, the elements which are most at risk are: (a) Weak foundation buildings, (b) Multi-story buildings,
(c) Buildings constructed by earth, rubble, stone and unreinforced masonry, (d) Old structures, and building weakened by
subsequent modifications etc. In an Earthquake 90% of the casualties are caused by house collapse. Hence, saving the
lives in earthquake means focusing on prevention of building collapse.
Floods: Water is the main source of livelihood. But the scarcity and excess of water has been resulted as natural
disaster. For example, cyclones, resulting in torrential rain, exceptionally high winds and enormous storm surge, are
among the most destructive disasters. Whereas, drought involves a scarcity of rain to the extent that it interferes with
some sector of economy such as agriculture, water supply or other water related activities. In short, disasters have always
been mankinds constant companion. Natural disasters like earthquakes, cyclones, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, wildfires,
floods, landslides and droughts continue to strike on this earth.

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Floods are almost an annual feature of the region and cause heavy losses. Floods are caused by high rainfall or more
snow melt on the higher altitude of mountains. This raises the level of rivers than its normal level leading to floods.
Deforestation of the catchment areas and sedimentation in the river beds due to soil erosion can increase the severity of
adverse effects. In floods, the most deaths are caused because of drowning in fast flowing or turbulent waters. Reducing
loss of life by floods is possible by preventing or minimizing the extent of water flow or keeping people out of the track
of potential water flow.
Droughts: A major difference between drought and other type of disasters is that droughts do not have a sudden
onset such as in case of floods or earthquakes. Drought severity depends on rainfall deficiency, duration of drought,
extend of soil moisture, loss and ultimately loss of soil cover and area affected. Drought can be classified into four
categories i.e., Meteorological drought, hydrological drought, agricultural drought and famine drought.
The drought has produced direct and indirect impact on life. The drought depends upon degree of moisture deficiency,
duration of dry spells, extent of irrigation facilities; and size of the affected area. Further the drought could have create
and impact on economic structure like loss of crop, dairy, livestock, fishery products etc. Secondly, it can also affect the
social structure like food shortage, damage to health, conflicts between water users etc. In short, drought bring economic,
environmental and social looses to the economy.
The basic responsibility for undertaking rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures in the event of natural disasters is
that of the concerned State Governments. Rehabilitation involves assisting the affected people to increase their purchasing
power through work programmes, to keep up their health, and to replace assets lost during the drought and famine
situation. These type of programmes are necessary after severe periods of temporary food insecurity and famine when
households have lost most assets, been forced to migrate and have experienced high rates of mortality. The programme
involves health care services, counselling, providing material support; like cooking utensils, making available transportation
back to previous home sites, re-establish homes and productive activities.
Under the Government of India, the main responsibility for natural disasters as well as man-made disasters, except
drought at present rests with the Ministry of Home Affairs. The responsibility of drought management is with the Ministry
of Agriculture. The Natural Disaster Management Division functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministry
of Water Resources deals with and coordinates improved irrigation coverage in the various states of India.
Cyclones: Cyclones, resulting in torrential rain, exceptionally high winds and enormous storm surge, are among the
most destructive disasters. The cyclone caused loss of lives and properties on a very large scale. Cyclone cause death and
injuries from structural collapse or flying objects, with devastating effects on houses and other buildings, agriculture,
critical facilities e.g. communication facilities and lifelines.
The basic responsibility for undertaking rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures in the event of natural disasters is that
of the concerned State Governments. The role of the Central Government is supportive, in terms of physical and financial
resources and complementary in sectors like transport, provision of warnings, inter-state movement of foodgrains and other
essential commodities. For coordinating relief activities, a separate Relief Department has been set up in many of the States
headed by a senior officer of the rank of Principal Secretary Commissioner. The actual relief operations are undertaken at the
district level by a group which is leaded by District Collector. He is assisted by the field level organizations and voluntary
organizations constituted at the block and village levels. The committees at the district level have adequate representation of
peoples representatives, concerned departments, NGOs, other members of public and local self-government bodies.
Hurricanes: The name hurricane is a common term for what is officially known as a tropical cyclone. Hurricanes are
powerful storm systems which form over the ocean and often move over portions of coastal land areas, which are then
damaged by extraordinarily strong winds, heavy rain, and increased wave activity. A hurricane has a generally circular
shape which swirls about a central area called the eye of the hurricane, inside of which it is relatively calm. Hurricanes
form out of thunderstorms, which pick up strength from the evaporation of warm, tropical waters, convergent wind
patterns, and changing air pressure. A thunderstorm becomes a hurricane once wind speed is at or above 74 miles per
hour. They are called cyclones in the Asian region, hurricanes in Central America, and typhoons in the Far East. High
moist air is lighter than low moist air, as a heavier air molecule is replaced with a lighter water molecule. Hurricanes are
enormous heat engines that generate energy on a staggering scale. They draw heat from warm, moist ocean air and release
it through condensation of water-vapour in thunderstorms.
In the process, the moist air gets cooler and the moisture gets condensed, releasing the latent heat and providing
energy to build up a vortex. With the prevailing winds, this vortex of air, with diameter of several hundred kilometers,
moves westwards gathering momentum and speed as it does so. There is also a tendency of cyclone storms to turn
northwards as it approaches land, as evident in many events that took place in the past over the Bay of Bengal. Hurricane
in the United States offers a recent example of the devastation that can result from extreme weather events. That hurricane
approximately made 2,50,000 homeless, destroyed 85,000 homes and incurred costs around $ 10 billion.

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Generally, such storms originate over the oceans, and once the storm reaches the land, it results in much damage to
property and even lives. Fortunately, the movement of cyclones can be closely monitored using satellite images, and
precautionary measure taken in time. Hurricanes are enormous heat engines that generate energy on a staggering scale.
They draw heat from warm, moist ocean air and release it through condensation of water-vapour in thunderstorms.
Volcanoes: A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planets surface or crust, which allows hot magma, volcanic ash
and gases to escape from below the surface.
Volcanoes are also important sources of nitrogen. Volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging
or converging. They have been emitting small quantities of nitrogen for centuries and contribute significantly to the
nitrogen reservoir of the atmosphere. When a volcano erupts, volcanic ash, composed of SO2 and dust particles, can
reach up to the stratosphere, trap sunlight cooling the troposphere, which alters weather patterns in the region and around
the globe. Gases and dust particles lead to cooling of the earth surface by trapping much of the energy. Sulphur enters the
atmosphere from several sources like volcanic eruptions, combustion of fossil fuels, from surface of ocean and from
gases released by decomposition. Atmospheric hydrogen sulphide also gets oxidised into sulphur dioxide. Atmospheric
sulpher is carried back to the earth after being dissolved in rain water as weak sulphuric acid.
Whatever the source, sulphur in the form of sulphates. It take up by plants and incorporated through a series of
metabolic processes into sulphur bearing amino acid which is incorporated in the proteins of autotroph tissues.
The extent to which it happens is still under study. Primary succession occurs where no community exists before,
such as rocky outcropping, newly formed deltas, sand dunes, emerging volcanic islands and lava flows. An example,
which can be used as a model showing development of primary succession, is the invasion and colonization of bare rock
as on a recently created volcanic island.
There was a famous year without a summer when significant weather-related disruptions occurred in New England
and in Western Europe with killing summer frosts in the United States and Canada.
Q.7. (a) Role of the WTO and World Bank in protecting the global environment.
Ans.There has emerged a view that global trade and capital movement benefit both the developed and developing
economies. Thus, World Trade Organization (WTO) and international lending institutions such as World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and others have emphasized unrestricted global trade and capital movements. The WTO was established in 1995 with 135 member nations and it replaced the General Agreement on Tariff and
Trade (GATT).
The major objectives of the WTO are encouraging free trade through negotiations and promoting competitiveness in
production. WTO includes issues concerning trade vis--vis labour, environment, competition and investment. It follows
from the above theory that measures which restrict trade or encourage production of commodities in which a country does
not have comparative advantage lead to a fall in domestic and global welfare. It then follows that all tariffs and quotas on
imports should be scrapped. Subsidies that are given to production of exports goods should be withdrawn because they
distort the free market price. Free market price ensures that resources are efficiently allocated between alternative uses.
Extending this logic to agricultural goods, it is recommended that all Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) on the imports of
agricultural products should be abolished. The restrictions in India had earlier on import of agricultural goods were based
on a different understanding.
The import quotas sought to guarantee that Indian farmers were protected against foreign competition and dumping.
It was argued that dependence of food imports might mean poverty and famine in years when global food shortage occurs.
Another set of measures suggested by the WTO is related to patent laws and their implementation. WTO believes that a
company inventing a particular product should have the exclusive rights to benefit from it. This will ensure that people do
get necessary incentive and money to invent and research on a new product. Result of this policy is that anybody using a
patented product or producing it has to pay a royalty to the original inventor. This is called TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual
Property Rights). It has the implication that in order to use high yielding patented varieties of seeds, fertilizers and
pesticides, the users have to pay a fee to the respective patent holders. Anyone who wants to do research on a patented
seed is being forbidden to do so without permission and payment of royalty to the patent holder. The impact of such
patents is an increase in the cost of production for the farmers.
Other broad WTO recommendations which also affect Indian agriculture are as follows:
(i) Reduction in Subsidies to Farmers: The WTO believes that subsidies have two adverse effects. First, it distorts
free market prices leading to misallocation of resources. Second, it raises government fiscal deficit. High fiscal deficit
may lead to balance of payment difficulties and inflation.
(ii) Reduction in Government Spending: The international organizations such as IMF have been suggesting that
the government should cut down on expenditure so as to reduce fiscal deficit. An outcome of such efforts by many
governments including India has been a reduction in the outlay on public infrastructure such as roads, electricity,
transportation and rural banking. Investments on public irrigation facilities have also declined.

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(iii) Privatization of the Public Sector Units: The WTO believes that government should have no economic
interventions in production and resource allocation. It should play the role of a facilitator in realization of higher
growth and maintain economic stability. An implication of such a prescription has been the selling off of public sector
undertakings.
(iv) Dismantling the PDS: The PDS implies two kinds of subsidies to be paid by the government. First to the farmers
in terms of procurement price higher than market price. Second, to the consumers by selling food grains at lower than
market price. Such operations raise fiscal deficit and promotes inefficiency.
(b) Environmental Concerns in South Asia
Ans. Environmental Concerns of South Asia: The environmental concerns are the significant problem in South
Asian countries. This has been associated with rapid urbanization, poor sanitation infrastructure, unregulated industrialization, deforestation, etc. For example, the construction of large dams, hydropower schemes, diversion canals, and vast
irrigation systems has caused ecological disturbances in the river eco-systems of these countries.
Industrial effluents and agricultural runoffs poison these systems. In India, many rivers and water bodies are already
dead, massive deforestation has caused severe soil erosion problems and reduction in bio-diversity. Pollution from industries
and the transport sector is at unacceptable levels, especially in the metropolitan cities. The challenges for these countries
are to manage and protect their land, water, forest and air resources, provide a reasonable quality of life and other
environmental services to those who are now without them and at the same time accelerate the pace of development to
meet the aspirations of their peoples.
The concern about environment change results from the negative effect of excessive concentrations of green house
gases in the atmosphere. The another very crucial aspect of energy-environment interface, namely, the disparities among
the developing and developed nations in terms of energy use and production, and the consequent divide in the NorthSouth perceptions of these issues.
Q.8. (a) NGOs and Their Impact on Global Policies.
Ans. The World Bank defines NGOs as, private organizations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote
the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development.
An NGO or a non-governmental organization is a private institution and as its name suggests it is independent of the
government. NGOs essentially are non-profit-making and purely service-oriented organizations committed to the development and welfare of the community. There are other terms such as Community Based Organizations (CBO), NonProfit Organizations (NPO) or Voluntary Organizations (VO) which are frequently used to describe such organizations.
Some NGOs may be a group of volunteers helping to sustain individuals or families, while others may emphasize the
empowerment of communities to bring about societal transformation or change. NGOs will not be working for the
benefit of a single individual, family or a small group of individuals. They are normally concerned for the benefit of the
whole community.
The main role of any NGO is to lend a helping hand to the government in its fight against any social evil and in its
endeavour to work for social upliftment. The NGOs can conduct awareness programmes even in remote villages. In the
Western countries many NGOs have their advocacy programmes, counselling and, treatment centres, half-way homes,
day care centres and rehabilitation centers. NGOs are now an important part of the civil society and legitimate negotiators
on behalf of the people. The World Bank reports on development acknowledge NGOs as part of the civil society and
often negotiate with them on the implementation of various important programmes.
With the processes of globalization since 1990s, the NGOs are seen as important actors in the implementation of
structural adjustment programmes of the World Bank and IMF. NGOs have become professional, managerial bodies
with structures and organizations that do not concern themselves with power, politics, and state but with delivery
systems for structural adjustment. The very large NGOs are not accountable to either government bureaucracy or peoples
representatives. NGOs have also been accused of lack of accountability and transparency. As receivers of funds from
outside, often their accountability is to the donor agencies. Thus, government NGOs became tools for a new delivery
system. Another example of such NGOs with inspiration from donor agency is the World Bank funded Watershed
Development and Joint Forest Management Programmes.
NGOs today are a fact of the developmental, socio-political scene. Today, a number of NGOs are implementing government
projects when governments and state are fast losing their autonomy.
(b) Indian initiatives for environment and Development.
Ans. Indian Efforts Towards Clean Environment: Since independence India has made rapid progress in terms of
expanding business and participating in various commercial and non-commercial activities, we are becoming progressively industrialized and urbanized. Industrialization is considered a sign of development of a nation and India has seen
a five-fold increase in industrial production in the last 30 years. But at the same time, India has also faced environmental

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issues to chase the race of globalization. Henceforth, India has made various laws and legislations to protect the environment quality and restrict industrial operations. Various environmental management systems has also been introduced
including the Inter-national Organization for Standardization, popularly known as ISO.
Environmental Legislations: In 1986, the Environmental Act has made various laws to protect the environment. This
Act has been covered with wide range of power to measure and take necessary action for environmental protection. The
Environmental Act had introduced and updates various laws like Wildlife Licensing Rule, 1983, Wildlife Protection Act,
1972, Wildlife Transaction and Taxidermy Rules, 1973, Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1974, Air Prevention
and Control of Pollution Act, 1981, Environment Protection Act, 1986 and Hazardous Wastes Rules, 1989 etc.
Pollution: Air and Water: Air pollutant means any solid, liquid or gaseous substance which present in the
atmosphere in such concentration as may be or tend to be injurious to human beings or other living creatures or plants or
property or environment. An Act of pollution air and water is to provide for the prevention, control and abatement of air
pollution, for the establishment, with a view to carrying out the aforesaid purposes, of Boards, for conferring on and
assigning to such Boards powers and functions relating thereto and for matters connected therewith.
Hazardous and Toxic Substances: The hazardous waste rule was formed in 1989 to handle the hazardous waste
and dispos them properly. The wastes generated from industry producing products that contain mercury such as
thermometer, battery, fluorescent lamp, thermostats, etc. which is very harmful for the environment.
Forests: The Indian Forest Act, 1927 was largely based on previous Indian Forest Acts implemented under the
British. It also defines the procedure to be followed for declaring an area to be a reserved forest, a protected forest or a
village forest. It defines as what is a forest offence, what are the acts prohibited inside a reserved forest and penalties
available on violation of the provisions of the Act.
Wildlife and Biodiversity: The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 refers to a sweeping package of legislation enacted
in 1972 by the Government of India. The Act provides for the protection of wild animals, birds and plants; and for
matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto. It extends to the whole.
The Biodiversity Act 2002, an Act to provide for conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components
and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of biological resources, knowledge and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto. India is party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 1992 which
recognizes the sovereign rights of states to use their own biological resources. In order to help in realizing the objectives
of CBD, India has enacted an umbrella legislation called the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (No.18 of 2003) aimed at
conservation of biological resources and associated knowledge as well as facilitating access to them in a sustainable
manner and through a just process.
National Environment Policy: The National Environment Policy approach to conservation strategy emphasizes
giving primacy to economic instruments and facilitating economic valuation of environmental resources and services.
The dominant theme of this policy is that while conservation of environmental resources is necessary to secure livelihood
and well-being of all, the most secure basis for conservation is to ensure that people dependent on particular resources
obtain better livelihoods from the fact of conservation, than from degradation of the resources.
The National Environment Policy build on the existing policies e.g. National Forest Policy, 1988; National Population
Policy, 2000; National Water Policy, 2002 etc. But the National Environment Policy needs to be amended to proclaim
unambiguously the national commitment to conserve invaluable biodiversity and to enshrine stakeholder-based biodiversity
conservation as the principal concern of environment policy.
The policy also seeks to stimulate partnership of different stakeholders, i.e. public agencies, local communities,
academic and scientific institutions, the investment community, and international development partners, in harnessing
their respective resources and strengths for environmental management.
Environmental Ethics: Environmental ethics is the ethical relationship between human beings and the environment
in which they live. Environmental ethics is the part of environmental philosophy which considers extending the traditional
boundaries of ethics from solely including humans to including the non-human world in 1970, when environmentalists
started urging philosophers to consider the philosophical aspects of environmental problems. The academic field of
environmental ethics grew up in response to the work of scientists such as Rachel Carson. Environmental ethics seeks
to escape relativism in ethics, to discover a way past culturally based ethics. However much our world views, ethics
included, are embedded in our cultural heritage, and thereby theory-laden and value-laden, all of us know that a natural
world exists apart from human cultures. Human interact with nature. Environmental ethics is the only ethics that breaks
out of culture. It has to evaluate nature, both the nature that mixes with culture and wild nature, and to judge duty
thereby. After environmental ethics, you will no longer be the humanist you once were.
According to the dictionary, the term ethics has a variety of meanings. With the advancement of technology and
science, the meaning of environmental ethics has also adopted by various means. The business supports community

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activities, encourages employees to participate in community activities, handles the health and safety aspects of its
operations, accepts responsibility for overcoming environmental pollution, relates to regulatory bodies and employee
unions and exhibits high ethical standards. Ethics of relationship to men, to environment in which the general welfare
supersedes self-gains and conservation is preferred to abuse.
The ethical issue of misusing proprietary information has become much more prominent in the last decade as new
information technologies have increasingly turned information into a valuable asset to which employees have regular
access. As information technologies continue to develop, this issue will continue to grow in importance. Insider trading
is also unethical - not merely because it is illegal but because it is claimed, the person who trades or insider information
in effect steals this information and thereby gains as unjust or unfair advantage over the member of the general public.
The issues that business ethics covers encompass a wide variety of topics. However, business ethics briefly investigates
three kinds of issues - systemic, corporate and individual. Environmental laws are the laws which can ensure that
domestic companies operate in responsible manner that a country deems right for its people, may not be effective
constraints on a corporation that can simply move or threaten to move to a country without such laws.
Role of Judiciary: The role of Indian judiciary to protect the environment has been appreciable because, they have
contributed a huge role to improve the quality of environment, restrict areas of industrial operations. In Article 21 the
legislation has clearly stated the right to life of the constitution. Besides, the view right to life has given recognisaiton
to various other laws also, which are as follows:
Delhi Vehicular Pollution Case, 1994: Considering the rising pollution in national capital, Delhi, the Supreme Court
had released the order to the Union government as well as state government to control and measure the pollution in the
capital. In this regard, the court had ordered to use compressed natural gas in all public transports.
Taj Mahal Case, 1997: In case of Taj Mahal, the Supreme Court had given the orders to save one of the oldest
heritage of India. Taj Mahal is one of the most viewed tourist spot in India. The court had order the state and Union
Government to provide all time power supply, remove encroachment and develop green belt around the Taj Mahal.
Tarun Bhagat Singh vs. Union of India: The Supreme Court had observed that the Rajasthan state had failed to
protect environment in their state. Therefore, the court had order to stop all mining work within forest area in order to
protect environment.
Environmental Awareness Case, 1992: In 1992, the Supreme Court had order the government to state the awareness
campaign on environment. It will also be a part of school education. People at all level and ages should be aware of
environment. They also ensure that programmes on environment should be circulated on television and radio.
Stone Crushers Case, 1992: In 1992, the Supreme Court had given the order to Haryana government to stop all
stone cursing project and declared the state as No Crushing Zone. The decision was taken in order to protect the air
quality and reduce pollution in the air and water.
Environmental Costs
The Indian Government has contributed a huge amount in environmental cost to address various problems related to
environment. For example, the budget related to urban air pollution problem is $2.102 millions, water pollution budget
estimated $8.3444, loss of sustainable timber supply deforestation is 244, loss of livestock carrying capacity is $244 and
so on. But, much of the funds are remain unutilized because of various reasons.
Q. 10. (a) Biodiversity protection in India.
Ans. There is a temporal component to the analysis of biodiversity. The word biodiversity is used to describe all the
species living in a particular area i.e. the structural, functional, and spatial aspects of biodiversity can vary over time.
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given eco-system, biome, or an entire plant. Biodiversity is
a measure of the health of eco-systems.
Greater biodiversity implies greater health. Biodiversity can be measured on many biological levels ranging from
genetic diversity within a species to the variety of eco-systems on Earth, but the term most commonly refers to the
number of different species in a defined area. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate.
The political boundaries of India encompass a wide range of eco zones like desert, high mountains, highlands,
tropical and temperate forests, swamplands, plains, grasslands, areas surrounding rivers, as well as island archipelago. It
hosts three biodiversity hotspots i.e. Western Ghats, the Eastern Himalayas and these hotspots have numerous endemic
species.
There are several critical issues related with biodiversity protection in India, which are still unresolved and go
beyond the various international legal frameworks. The differences between the developed and developing countries in
the World Trade Organization with regard to the question of patenting life remain unresolved. The Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD) is an international agreement established by the United Nations. The objective of CBD is to
develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. The Convention puts much

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emphasis on the exchange of information and the cooperation between countries. The Convention on Biodiversity is
based on three principles. i.e. conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and fair and equitable
sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources. Therefore, it sets principles for the fair and equitable sharing of the
benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, notably those destined for commercial use. It also covers the rapidly
expanding field of biotechnology.
The CBD asserts that the right to biological resources is a sovereign issue and at the same time CBD details how the
nation should, by national legislation, provide for access to genetic resources, which is highly contradictory. CBD does
not provide the exact mechanism of benefit sharing and the mandatory requirements of the agreement between the
parties. Whether the community has complete knowledge about the possible commercial benefit that may be derived
from the intellectual property protection of the multinationals is not clear from the text of the convention. It affirmed that
countries have sovereign rights over biological resources in their territory which should be shared internationally on
mutually agreed terms. The terms included recognition of indigenous knowledge as intellectual property.
The TRIPS Agreement does not recognize traditional knowledge while most of the biological resources are parts of
traditional knowledge. It does not require mentioning of the source of biological material and associated traditional
knowledge and any commitment for fair and equitable sharing of benefits with the country of origin or holders of
traditional knowledge.
(b) Key elements of the human development approach.
Ans. The current debate on human development since the beginning of the 1990s was the result of massive exercise
carried out by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to bring forward human development profile of
each nation in the world. Human development approach emphasizes distributive policies. It also indicates production
structures. In short, it can be summarized as a process of enlarging peoples choices. The principal concern of the
concept of human development is that the economic growth of each country, especially least developed and developing
country should be people-centric meaning people should be the central part of economic progress.
The level of human resources development attained is influenced by the level of subsidy provided. It underlines the
fact that the deprivation in literacy and life expectancy varies depending on the extent of variation in the respective
subsidies provided. The provision of subsidy depends upon both the priority accorded to the development of education
and health and the level of economic growth i.e. capacity to finance these two subsidized goods.
There are three indices for measuring human development:
(i) Gross development per capita for measuring standard of living. The first two components are semi-public goods
which are supported by subsidy by the respective government of each country.
(ii) Life expectancy for measuring health status.
(iii) Adult literacy rate for measuring education status of the people.
(iv) The level of human development attained is influenced by the level of subsidy provided.
Human development approach emphasizes distributive policies (of income) while human resource development
indicates production structures. Human development can be summarized as a process of enlarging peoples choices.

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