PRELUDE
We need to promote development that does not destroy our environment.1
India is the world’s most populous country today, but has limited resources to sustain its population. It covers a geographical area of only 2.4% of the total world area and is home to roughly 17% of the world’s population. This reflects the fact that many of its areas are extremely densely populated. To add insult to injury, there have been cases of deforestation reported from many areas of the country, leading to changes to the local climate, extinction of plants and animals and forced migration. Development at the cost of the environment becomes a challenge for any country, especially the one that has few natural resources. In India, development as well as environment are included in Part III of the Indian Constitution, which talks about “Fundamental Rights”. Article 21 of the Indian Constitution advocates for the right to live in a clean and healthy environment, and the same has been notified by the Supreme Court of India through a precedent in the form of M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India2 , where the concept of “absolute liability” of the enterprises was brought into the picture. At the same time, development is also considered to be an important facet of life and the same was reiterated by the Supreme Court in Maneka Gandhi vs. UOI3 by stating that “Right to life doesn’t mean mere legal existence, rather it includes a good standard of living of a human being.” So, it becomes necessary to identify the meanings of both these terms and their relation with each other. In essence, it is important to understand the nature and scope of both these tights and their impact on a human being’s life. The apex court in India has more often than not, shifted its focus on environment and tried to give more emphasis to the protection of the environment in most of its judgments. Recently, it expressed displeasure and instructed the Telangana government not to destroy forest in the name of sustainable development.4 Similarly, it has given a free hand to the CAQM5 to take steps to control air pollution in Delhi knowing the fact that the body had proposed work from home and choice GRAP IV restrictions.6 So, we can say that the higher judiciary in India has taken strong steps to ensure the protection of the environment by laying down certain standards.
However, in November, 2025, the Supreme Court gave a judgment declaring that only those hills that are 100 meters above the landform will be considered to be “Aravalli” thereby exposing 90 percent of the landform for mining and construction purposes. The judgment was given after accepting the recommendations of the Union government but owing to the protects of many people across the northern states of India especially Rajasthan and Delhi, the court has stayed its order in December, 2025 for giving it another look. The protests were regarding the impact of the decision which may threaten the ecological continuity of India’s oldest mountain range and also result in poor air quality. Aravalli hills play an important role in biodiversity conservation, groundwater recharge, microclimate regulation and checking dust storms as well. Can we say that there would be ‘development’ in the area after accepting this definition of Aravalli? The answer is “no”. No development should come at the cost of the environment. The court failed to take note of the recommendations of expert institutions. The notification issued in 1992 under the Environment (Protection) Act specified the Aravalli regions by using classifications of forests and revenue categories, including Gair Mumkin Pahar, which clearly designated these lands.7 The Forest Survey of India (FSI) using slope-based criteria with a hundred metre foothill buffer and a 500 metre inter hill distance defined the term “Aravalli” while submitting its report to the Supreme Court of India back in 2010. The definition came out of the analysis over a decade understanding the functioning of the range- wildlife corridor, water recharge system, etc. This was replaced by the November, 2025 judgment of the Supreme Court where emphasis was made only on the height of the hill.8 The judgment has raised alarm bells among the population living the states like Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat and Haryana. There have been many protests demanding its roll back due to the kind of impact it will make on the environment. The protests have forced the Supreme Court to stay its own decision and put it for reconsideration. It looks like the judiciary through this judgment wants to emphasize on “development” rather “environment” but it should have taken note of the repercussions of mining activities or anything like that in these areas. Without going through the reports and the findings of the committees formed earlier on environmental issues, the apex court should have refrained from coming to a conclusion. Any validation of the recommendations suggested by the government should have been done after a perusal of all the reports given by various agencies, most of them talking about the negative impact of deforestation and illegal mining on the environment. The shift of the judiciary from “pro- environment” to “pro- development” needs to be weighed on a scale of factors like impact on the environment, objectives and the intention so that there is a better understanding of it.
REASONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN INDIA
A. Population growth – India has seen a rapid increase in its population growth which is challenging not only for the environment but also for its entire economy. A steady increase in population leads to deforestation which results in degradation of the environment. Uncontrolled population growth creates a demand of more houses, schools, hospitals, buildings, etc. which can be made possible only by cutting trees and forests. This creates a disturbance in the ecology leading to environmental disasters like flood, drought, famines, etc. Some parts of India have already witnessed the wrath of these disasters where a large number of people lost their lives due to the impact made by these disasters. No one can forget the Great Bengal famine of 1770, suicide of farmers of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra due to their crop failure in 2012 and many more unfortunate incidents. Deforestation leads to soil erosion which results in floods and Mumbai witnessed it in 2005 when 1094 people lost their lives. Similarly, last year in 2025, Uttarakhand flash flood occurred when heavy rain resulted in landslides killing at least five people. It is very important to understand here that India has limited resources and uncontrolled population growth will result in over dependence on these resources by a large section of the population which is going to be very much problematic for the country as there won’t be any proper balance between environment and development.
B. Heavy industrialisation – In modern world, the quest to become a developed country is seen in almost every country of the world, especially Asian countries and in this rat race, they are creating infrastructure rapidly for its population. Industrialisation is good as it creates job opportunities, businesses, etc. thereby playing an effective role in the economic growth of a country, but rapid and heavy industrialisation is dangerous as it compels the government to neglect ecological balance of the area in which it is done. In a democratic country like India, the governments have to engage themselves in keeping the citizens “happy” by creating job opportunities for them and this is made possible by giving rise to industrialisation. However, it should not be at the cost of environmental degradation as any kind of “development” through industrialisation by keeping the environment at risk leaves the government with very less options in case of inevitable natural disasters. In that case, it would be very difficult for the governments to convince their voters because at this point of time, no one will listen to the government, rather they would be demanding solution to their current problem. Hence, governments in India should ensure that there is no development in India at the cost of environment in any form as it will be problematic not only for the ecology but also their electoral purposes. Specially zones should be created where industrialisation can be done without harming the ecological balance of the country and no industrialisation should be permitted in any case outside these zones.
C. Waste Mismanagement – In a population of 140 crores, waste management is really a challenge. Recently, there was a lot of discussion on Delhi’s waste (garbage) mountain which is there for a long period resulting in air pollution and water contamination. More than four million tons of waste sit at the Bhalswa dump (waste mountain) in Delhi which is a major source of public hazard.9 Delhi NCR is known for air pollution and it is because of many reasons, deforestation and waste mismanagement being one of them. When this waste is dumped in rivers, it results in water pollution leading to various diseases and other problems. Inadequate waste collection and treatment infrastructure in a densely populated country like India has led to ecological problems.
D. Weak enforcement of statutory laws – The Indian Parliament has enacted some statutory laws like Environment (Protection) Act of 1986, Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980 and many others for environment management. Undoubtedly, these laws were passed with the motto of protecting the flora and fauna. However, even today no proper measures have been taken by the governments in India to ensure their effective implementation. Due to the lack of effective implementation machinery of the laws, a nexus of politicians, builders and bureaucrats take advantage and make a mockery of these laws by not abiding by the provisions mentioned in them. At the same time, lack of trained staff and personnel create a void in the system which ultimately results in the delay of implementing the government schemes, laws, judgments of the courts, etc. No proper coordination between the Central and the State governments often results in mismanagement which creates a gap in the whole implementation machinery thereby leading to wastage of time. It won’t be wrong to say that the governments in India often give less importance to matters related to environment protection and keep them in the ‘cold bags’ for an indefinite period of time. This is because it doesn’t suit their political interests and has got nothing to do with their chances of getting elected again in the next election. It is very important to maintain high standards of implementation of legislative laws in true letter and spirit because then only it will ensure that there is a correct balance of ‘Right to environment’ and ‘Right to development’ or else it will be a mere showpiece without giving any prolific results and ultimately leading to environmental problems at a later stage.
REASONS FOR POOR AND UNPLANNED CONSTRUCTION
A. Failure to identify proper areas and land – The primary reason for poor and unplanned construction in India is construction on arbitrary selected sites. This is because of rapid population growth which leads no scope for proper planning and selection of appropriate areas for construction. A report published by Asian Development Bank in 2019, the global urban population has risen dramatically to 4.2 billion in 2018 which is 55 percent of the world’s population.10 It is estimated that it will swell to 5.2 billion in 2030 which is 60 percent of the world’s population.11 Migration is also responsible for the rapid increase in population in various areas. To ‘settle’ this population, rapid industrialisation and construction is required. This is done at the cost of encroaching drainage systems, water bodies, etc. This results in heavy clogging of water in areas even during less rainfall. There have been images circulated in social media where Indian cities were found to be flooded with water making it difficult for the people to go for work and other important daily life activities.
B. Tedious process and corruption – Many builders in India tend to escape the complete and transparent procedure and formalities required for construction purposes. In this case, they don’t bother about taking approvals from authorities which may include governments or bureaucracy, and also hesitate in following the guidelines of the courts. They know that if they go through proper channel and follow the required procedure, it will expose their tricks and shortcuts which may cancel their projects or delay them. So, instead of doing that, they take the shortcut and bribe the officials to take a land which suits their requirement. Once this is done, they don’t bother about using poor and substandard material for the construction and adopt unethical practices for doing so. Unplanned construction in any form is dangerous not only for the people living in buildings so constructed, but also for the environment at large. This is not a development, rather ‘risky development’. Therefore, it can be said that not everything can be covered in the definition of ‘development’ and only those meeting the real demands of the people at large by keeping a check on the environment degradation can be said to be a kind of development. In no case, builders should be given any chance to by pass the minimum legal procedure required for construction activities and the nexus of corrupt builders, politicians and bureaucrats should be broken at any cost.
C. Inadequate regulatory oversight – Corruption at any scale is problematic for the whole society. The lust for earning money through illegal means is directly linked with inadequate regulatory oversight. When corrupt officials fail to keep a check on the working of the builders, they take them for granted and end up in constructing buildings of pathetic quality. Not only the builders, all those who are responsible for ensuring environment protection should be made liable for degrading it and this is possible only when there is a proper watchdog mechanism working in true letter and spirit. It has been observed in many cases where officials don’t pay any heed to environment protection irrespective of the orders of the Courts, National Green Tribunals, etc. and avoid minimum measures required to be undertaken by them to ensure the safety and protection of the ecology. This gives an impression that authorities give more importance to self- interests instead of environment. They should understand that they cannot live if the environment is degraded at a large scale. The governments should ensure that there is a proper scrutiny of the functions undertaken by the officials responsible for environment protection and any kind of lapse on their part should be viewed seriously. The environment ministry should also give license for projects with a clear understanding and scrutinising the need for doing so ensuring that there shouldn’t be any steps taken by those who have been given licenses to degrade the environment at any cost.
D. Rapid urbanisation – The eagerness of people to shift to cities quickly for earning purposes or making money for their families and themselves is creating problems for the environment. This population needs residence and builders go on to meet their demands by constructing buildings indiscriminately which creates an imbalance in the ecological system. If a majority of the people decide to move towards cities, it will be very problematic for the authorities to manage their living standards, needs, safety, etc. Therefore, it is desirable that there is a proper balance between the urban and the rural population. Schools and hospitals can be constructed in villages also which will stop people from migrating to cities. At the same time, small scale industries can be established on a large scale in rural areas ensuring that people living there don’t move for earning purposes to urban areas. The governments should keep a check on the migration of people and try to build infrastructure if not at a very large scale, small scale in rural areas for those who are living there, so that they cancel their plans of moving to urban areas unnecessarily, thereby helping maintain the ecological balance.
RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT AND RIGHT TO ENVIRONMENT – BALANCE
It is often understood that environment and development come at the cost of each other and there cannot be any balance between the two. If development has to happen, it will be at the cost of environment through deforestation, etc and if environment needs to be protected, development should take a back seat. However, every country wants to boost its economy by creating more job opportunities and increasing its GDP, and this becomes possible only when new companies move in. For constructing buildings, the company needs space and this plays a role in cutting trees on a large scale. India has witnessed deforestation on a large scale to build hospitals, buildings, schools, colleges, etc. It must be noted that development is possible without harming the environment as well. If the government wishes to build a hospital, it should ensure that a large number of saplings are also planted in that area at the same time ensuring their regular growth. At the same time, every government in India should create and identify “Exclusive Environment Zones” just like “Special Economic Zones” and no construction should be allowed in these areas in any case. These zones should be identified on the basis of factors like vicinity to schools, colleges, hospitals, railway stations and tracks, airports, government offices, etc. Construction should be allowed only in those areas that fall outside the city and that too not on a very large scale. This will ensure a balance between development as well as environment. Licenses to the builders or anyone else should not be given arbitrarily and the government should inquire about their motto and the extent to which it will cause damage to the environment. In December 2024, the Supreme Court of India said that any kind of construction violating the building plan approved by the local authority and constructions put up without any building planning approval cannot be allowed.12 It also said that any kind of delay on part of the authorities in directing rectification of illegalities or performing their statutory obligations cannot be used as a shield to defend action taken against the illegal or unauthorised constructions.13 This is a landmark decision because it prohibits illegal construction which is a major source of environment pollution and cannot be said to be ‘development’ in any case. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 also called as RERA mandates the developers to maintain transparency while disclosing project plans, land titles status, etc. on the RERA website. This helps in getting an idea about the ‘intent’ of the builders.
A balance between environment and development, especially in a country like India is necessary because with such a huge population and a democratic set up, there are chances of clashes. “Clashes” here refers to the demand for getting more, knowing the fact that you have the rights that can be enforced at the cost of environment. But, in any case, a balance has to be maintained because India cannot afford to lag behind today if it wishes to be in the top three economies of the world. At the same time, it has a duty to protect its environment because no economy can thrive in a polluted environment as people working in polluted areas run the risk of getting sick ultimately affecting their working capacity which is directly linked to the growth of the country. Their involvement or participation on every scale is necessary to make the GDP of the country strong and it is good if it can be done without degrading the environment. Sustainable development should be practised in true letter and spirit. If we are not going to save the environment and natural resources today, our future generations would not be able to meet up with their demands. More importantly, environment should always be given priority over any kind of development and for this, people should reduce their demands (though it cannot be finished completely) and try to align their needs with the demands of the nature and environment. Overexploitation of natural resources in any form will be disastrous for humanity as it will give invitation to natural disasters. India has already witnessed many of them where a lot of people have lost their lives. A two degree rise in global average temperature will make monsoons in India very much unpredictable.14 Climate change will not only impact the growth of crops making it difficult for the farmers to sustain their life but also effect the overall lives of a large number of people. Therefore, it is necessary to go for development keeping in mind the demands of the environment as well. Arbitrary and excessive exploitation of the environment just to meet the desires of a large section of the society will be catastrophic for everyone. No development should come at the cost of the environment and for this, the legislature, executive as well as the judiciary in India should join hands together to stop any kind of disturbance to the ecological balance. They should primarily stop the builders from constructing buildings indiscriminately without giving a second thought and if they find them doing the same, heavy penalty should be imposed on them and punishments in form of imprisonment be given as well. It won’t be wrong to say that the issue is not about definition, but the fact that who will take a call on deciding the fate of the mountain range which is considered to be the lifeline for people living in its vicinity.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
Today, India needs to strike a balance between development and environment strictly because it is the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide, the US and China being only above it. It cannot afford to neglect environment and simply focus on development without considering the repercussions. It is high time that the country starts chalking out plans to put environment at the first stage without severely hampering the scope for development. For this, it can follow the below mentioned steps:
1. The governments should allow existing legal mining under strict observation and regulations and pause new leases until scientific mapping and impact studies are completed. Indiscriminate licensing will lead to illegal construction which will result in environmental degradation at a very large scale.
2. The governments should make provisions for permanently protecting ecologically sensitive areas without leaving any scope for mining or deforestation. They should be declared as “no – mining zones”. Sensitive areas should be identified on the basis of factors like proximity to schools, colleges, hospitals, residential areas, etc.
3. The defaulters or all those who indulge in degrading the environment through illegal mining activities, deforestation or other methods should be punished severely and their examples be set for others so that they can refrain from doing anything like that in future.
4. The judiciary should play a pro-active role in ensuring that its pro-environment judgments are being implemented properly and without any hesitation on part of the authorities. At the same time, the governments should ensure that the officials responsible for environmental protection do not indulge in corrupt activities and give a “green signal” to builders whoa re ready to pay them illegal gratification or any other consideration. Any official found to be involved in these kinds of activities should be severely punished.
5. Exercising proper sustainable use of resources and technology like building cities with green roofs, rainwater harvesting ensuring that there isn’t any scarcity of water in any case.
6. More use of public transport and CNG to ensure less carbon emission will help us in many ways. It will ensure that a lot of people travel from one place to another without disturbing the ecological balance as a smaller number of private vehicles on streets will ensure no air and noise pollution. At the same time, people can do their work from their offices ensuring “overall development” without disturbing the environment.
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Footnotes
1. Words of Wangari Maathai
2. AIR 1987 SC 1086
3. AIR 1978 SC 597
4. HINDUSTANTIMES.COM, https:// www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/cant-destroy-forest-in-name-of-sustainable-development-sc-to-telangana-government-101753297651969.html (last visited Nov.29, 2025)
5. Commission for Air Quality Management.
6. THEHINDU.COM, Supreme Court allows CAQM to take ‘proactive’ measures to curb Delhi air pollution – The Hindu (last visited Dec. 20, 2025)
7. DOWNTOEARTH.ORG.IN, https:// www.downtoearth.org.in/forests/institutional-expertise-meets-judicial-confusion-in-the-aravalli-hills-definition-case (last visited Dec. 3, 2025)
8. Ibid
9. DW.COM, https:// www.dw.com/en/india-delhi-pledges-to-flatten-garbage-mountain/a-71830952 (last visited Jan. 3, 202226)
10. DOWNTOEARTH.ORG, https:// www.downtoearth.org.in/urbanisation/informal-and-unplanned-urbanisation-welcome-to-the-new-urban-india-95919 (last visited Oct. 2, 2025)
11. Ibid
12. SCCONLINE.COM, https:// www.scconline.com/blog/post/2024/12/18/unauthorised-construction-building-plans-directions-issued-sc-legal-news/ (last visited Jan. 22, 2026)
13. Ibid
14. INDIAENVIRONMENTPORTAL.ORG, http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/cc10.pdf (last visited Jan.22, 2026)