• S.N. Sahu

In the history of movement for environmental protection in the world in general and India in particular, the tenure of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from 1970 to 1976 would be of enduring significance for the way in which she enshrined the issue of environment in the fourth five-year plan document, the Constitution of India and looked at it at planetary level from the perspective of poverty and deprivation. Such a deep and sensitive understanding of Indira Gandhi’s monumental contributions for the cause of environment assumes critical significance in the context of the existential threat confronted by humanity due to climate change and global warming.

Indira Gandhi Incorporated Environmental Issue in Fourth Five-Year Plan Document in 1970

It is quite illuminating to note that in 1970, thirteen years before the UN’s World Commission on Environment and Development, known as the Brundtland Commission submitted its report in 1983, Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister and Chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission of India incorporated a separate chapter titled ‘Long Term Perspective’. It, among others, underlined the issue of “progressive deterioration in the quality of environment” and stated, “Most countries face in varying degrees problems of pollution of air and water, erosion of soil, waste of natural resources, derelict lands, loss of wild life, ugly landscape, urban sprawl and city slums.” While noting that “There is growing concern about the matter in India also,” it very thoughtfully referred to responsibility of each generation to sustain the productive capacity of land, air, water and wild life in a manner which leaves its successors to inherit a healthy environment and uphold it. Such observations of the Planning Commission headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1970 made her a forerunner of sustainable development.

It is worthwhile to further quote from the aforementioned chapter of the fourth five-year plan document. It stated, “The physical environment is a dynamic, complex and inter-connected system in which any action in one part affects others. There is also the inter-dependence of living things and their relationships with land, air, and water.” Weaving the above ideas to the planned objectives, it underlined that planning for development of India must be based on “A comprehensive appraisal of environmental issues, particularly economic and ecological.” “There are instances,” it observed, “in which timely specialised advice on environmental aspects could have helped in project design and in averting subsequent adverse effects on the environment, leading to loss of invested resources.” Therefore, it asserted, “It is necessary, therefore, to introduce the environmental aspect into our planning.”

Those words forming part of the fourth five-year plan document published in 1970 resonate in our endeavours for sustainable development and protect the planet from climate chaos. Those articulations of 1970 testified to Indira Gandhi’s holistic vision combining both environmental issues and developmental concerns.

Indira Gandhi’s Historic Participation in the First UN Conference on Human Environment

Her historic participation, two years later in 1972, in the first ever UN Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm and her ringing words articulated there - “Isn’t poverty the worst source of pollution” gave a new dimension to understand the issue of environmental degradation from the perspective of poor and deprived millions of the world.

When Maurice Strong, Chairman of the first UN Conference on Environment, came to India in November 1971 for inviting Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to participate in the said UN Conference in 1972 being organised in Stockholm, he sent his request through Indian External Affairs Ministry to get an appointment with her. He received a reply that the Prime Minister of India who was busy in handling the rising tension between India and Pakistan had no time to discuss “peripheral issues like environment”. Not happy with such a reply from our Foreign Office Mr. Strong approached Indira Gandhi through his friends in Delhi for an appointment. Immediately, Indira Gandhi agreed to see him for fifteen minutes. However, the meeting lasted for two hours. After the tragic assassination of Indira Gandhi, Mr. Strong wrote an article to pay tribute to her. In that piece, he glowingly acknowledged that it was because of that meeting with Indira Gandhi in 1971 in Delhi that he decided to change the agenda of the first ever UN Conference on Environment by incorporating the perspectives of developing countries on environment. It may be mentioned that Indira Gandhi was the only Head of the Government who attended that UN Conference and famously stated that poverty is the worst source of pollution. Maurice Strong stated that the formulation of Indira Gandhi that ‘Poverty is the Worst Source of Pollution’ became part of the folklore of environmental movement in the world. He went on to candidly admit that it was Indira Gandhi who changed his notion of pollution by looking at it beyond high levels of industrialization and the resultant toxic emission contaminating air and water. It is she who educated him for the first time to look at the problem of environment and pollution from the angle of poverty which she considered as worst source of pollution. Therefore, Maurice Strong credited Indira Gandhi with a vision which enabled the UN Conference on Environment to look at pollution from the perspective of poor and suffering millions in developing countries. In that brilliant article, Maurice Strong vey elaborately outlined her contributions to environment and hailed her as a Planetary Citizen of the World. When Maurice Strong was conferred with Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1996 for his seminal contributions to protect the environment, I was asked by Mr. K. R. Narayanan, then Vice President of India, to prepare inputs on Maurice Strong for his speech. It was during the research that I stumbled on his tributes to Indira Gandhi.

Indira Gandhi Enshrined the Issue of Environment in the Constitution in 1976

Later in 1976, Indira Gandhi for the first time put the issue of environmental protection in the Constitution though the 42nd Constitution Amendment Act. It added article 48A in the Directive Principles of State Policy and it stated, “The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wild life of the country.” Such obligations on the part of the State to protect and improve environment assumes greater significance for 21st century India.

It is worthwhile to mention that it was the same 42nd Amendment Act which introduced a new chapter on Fundamental Duties and in the Article 51A(g) it prescribes duty for every citizen, “to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures.”

The way in which she started the Project Tiger to save the tiger species and the manner in which she saved Silent Valley of Kerala by denying permission in 1983 for the construction of a hydro-electric project, testified her undying commitment to the cause of protecting environment and wildlife. A fortnight after her tragic assassination on 15th November 1984, a notification was issued to make Silent Valley as a national park.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s legacy to protect environment endures and gains more currency in the world, ravaged by the ever-growing crisis of climate change and global warming.

The author is Served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K.R. Narayanan