THE draft National Environment Policy (NEP: http://envfor.nic.in/nep/nep.pdf) released by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has attracted much attention. It represents the first-ever attempt to draft a policy for the environment as a whole. At first glance, the document appears to be quite comprehensive and sophisticated. It endorses a broad set of concerns, including intra-generational and inter-generational equity. It identifies the major environmental problems that India faces, and outlines their proximate and ultimate causes. In addressing them, it proposes to follow several principles such as the ‘precautionary principle’, ‘polluter pays’, ‘incomparable values’, ‘public trust’, ‘decentralisation’, and ‘integration’. It then tries to outline specific strategies and actions that should be given priority in each
sector. We argue, however, that the draft is fundamentally flawed in its vision and its analysis of socio-environmental problems. Consequently, instead of mainstreaming environmental concerns into all development activities and sectors (its stated goal), it ‘mainstreams’ the current notion of unbridled development into even the limited environmental regulation we have.