The National Environment Policy (NEP) Draft Policy 2004, 
cleared by the Cabinet aft er two years, though propagated as India’s commitment towards a positive contribution to international environmental efforts, actually is a fl aw-filled and near moribund attempt.
The crux of NEP revolves around conservation, livelihood security, integration of environment and social development. But a strange Polluter-Pays-Principle (PPP) approach used extensively in this policy has been framed on the hypothesis that altering the price of the polluting commodity (through pollutant tax) would lead to a reduction in consumption of polluting commodity, thus in a reduction in their production. Sadly, studies reveal that these polluting commodities are primarily exported and are consumed by foreign firms which are relatively highly price inelastic, that is, their demand will not get affected by the proposed pollutant tax.
cleared by the Cabinet aft er two years, though propagated as India’s commitment towards a positive contribution to international environmental efforts, actually is a fl aw-filled and near moribund attempt.The crux of NEP revolves around conservation, livelihood security, integration of environment and social development. But a strange Polluter-Pays-Principle (PPP) approach used extensively in this policy has been framed on the hypothesis that altering the price of the polluting commodity (through pollutant tax) would lead to a reduction in consumption of polluting commodity, thus in a reduction in their production. Sadly, studies reveal that these polluting commodities are primarily exported and are consumed by foreign firms which are relatively highly price inelastic, that is, their demand will not get affected by the proposed pollutant tax.
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Source: IIPM Editorial, 2006
An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative
