CONSTITUTION - PROTECTION OF WILDLIFE 

Source: Conservation India

Background

• The framers had not excepted the importance of environmental preservation.
• This aspect did receive attention later and, in 1976, the 42nd amendment incorporated the protection of wildlife and forests in the Directive Principles.
• It also included forests and protection of wild animals in the Concurrent List – Seventh Schedule (Article 256) of the Constitution.

Article 51 A (g) of the Constitution says that it shall be the fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment including forests and Wildlife.

Article 48 A, The Directive Principles of State policy mandates that the State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.

Supreme Court verdict

• The Supreme Court in its decisions has relied on the directive principles to enlarge the scope and content of the fundamental rights, thereby bringing them within the ambit of justiciable rights.
• The preservation of ecology and environment, based on the principle of sustainable development to reconcile the conflicting interest of development with the preservation of a healthy environment, has been recognized as a facet of the right to life.
• The principle adopted is that ecology and environment are not objects of ownership but are nature’s gifts intended to be preserved in trust for future generations.

Article 21 protects the right to life as a fundamental right.

• Enjoyment of life and its attainment including their right to life with human dignity encompasses within its ambit, the protection and preservation the  of environment, ecological balance free from pollution of air, water, and sanitation without which life cannot be enjoyed
• These specific Constitutional provisions and landmark judgments of the Apex Court form the bedrock on which protection and conservation of wildlife rest.
• They also empower civil society institutions/citizens to constructively participate in the process of protecting forests and wildlife.