Environmental Security of India and its Implications

The concept of security has been changing from traditional military thinking to a non-military one by including the environmental dimension in security agenda. A broadening of the security agenda that we have seen in the post-cold war era, have introduced numerous non-traditional threats to security. Among these threats we could mention: drugs, diseases (HIV/aids), and failed states. The environment was the major single theme to affect the broadening, and that got the greatest attention and produced the most intense political discussion at least during the 1990’s. Amongst a broad category of traditional and non-traditional security (NTS) in the present day, energy and environmental security falls into which encompasses ‘issues and factors that impinge on the security/stability of the state or individual and has become more noticeable after the demise of the Cold War. ’ Environmental security is a new phenomenon that has emerged in the last few decades. Understanding of the relationship between environment and security has evolved in the last quarter of 20th century. India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world and will continue its rapid urbanization and economic development in the coming decades or so. This growth also presents challenges in the form of rising consumption and demand for energy, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and constraints on critical natural resources such as land, water and biodiversity harboured by them. Indian environment has been deteriorated remarkably in the past over six decades due to rapid decline in natural resources and severe increase in pollution level. Depletion of forests, population growth, vehicular emissions, use of hazardous chemicals and various other undesirable human activities are mainly responsible for this degraded scenario of environmental health in India.