Pollution: air, water, soil, plastic & e-waste
India's pollution regime across air, water, soil, plastic and e-waste: the CPCB/NGT architecture, key rules, standards and PYQ-tested facts.
The Statutory Spine
Pollution control in India rests on three foundational statutes. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 created the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), and introduced the consent mechanism (Consent to Establish, Consent to Operate). The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 extended this machinery to air, was enacted under Article 253 to implement the 1972 Stockholm Conference decisions, and empowers states to declare 'air pollution control areas'. The umbrella Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (EPA), enacted post-Bhopal (December 1984), is the parent legislation under which most subsequent rules — plastic, e-waste, hazardous waste, noise, CRZ — are notified.
Air Pollution: Standards and Programmes
The CPCB notified National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in 2009, prescribing limits for 12 pollutants including PM2.5 (annual 40 µg/m³, 24-hour 60 µg/m³), PM10, SO2, NO2, ozone, lead, CO, ammonia, benzene, benzo(a)pyrene, arsenic and nickel. The National Air Quality Index (AQI), launched in 2015, collapses eight pollutants into six categories from 'Good' (0–50) to 'Severe' (401–500).
The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), launched January 2019, originally targeted a 20–30% reduction in PM2.5/PM10 by 2024 over a 2017 base, later revised to 40% reduction by 2025–26 for 131 non-attainment cities. The Commission for Air Quality Management in the NCR and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021 created a statutory CAQM, subsuming the earlier EPCA, with power to issue binding directions across Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and UP — a direct response to stubble-burning and the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).
Water Pollution and the Namami Gange Mission
Water pollution is governed by the 1974 Act plus effluent standards under the EPA. The Namami Gange programme (2014), implemented through the National Mission for Clean Ganga, was given statutory teeth by the Ganga River Basin Authority order (2016) under the EPA. The Supreme Court in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (the Ganga Pollution / Kanpur tanneries case, 1987–88) established the principle that the right to clean water flows from Article 21, and ordered closure of polluting tanneries. The National Green Tribunal (NGT), created by the NGT Act, 2010, adjudicates environmental disputes and applies the Polluter Pays and Precautionary principles, both read into Indian law in Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India (1996) as part of sustainable development.
For groundwater contamination, fluoride, arsenic (notably the Gangetic plains) and nitrate remain the dominant chemical pollutants; the Central Ground Water Authority regulates extraction. Candidates must connect these statutes to constitutional anchors: Article 48A (Directive Principle, environment protection) and Article 51A(g) (Fundamental Duty), both inserted by the 42nd Amendment, 1976.