Analysing Command and Control Mechanism and Market Based Instruments for Implementation of Polluter Pays Principle in India

Abstract

India is facing unprecedented environmental issues as we find that various Indian cities find place in the list of most polluted cities. It is the dire need to deal with the issue of environmental pollution and government has also proposed various policies of environment protection.
The paper argues that the traditional Command and Control (CAC) mechanism needs to be supplemented by modern tools of environmental regulation. One of the most important developments in this field has occurred in the discipline of economics. Various Market Based Instruments (MBI) have been proposed by economists for environmental regulation.
The first section highlights various environmental services which have to be taken into account in policy formation of environmental regulation. The second section discusses major features of CAC mechanism and fourth section explains the meaning and types of Market Based Instruments (MBI) for environmental regulation. The fifth section of the paper makes a brief analysis of Indian environmental policy and law to understand whether the same has the scope of adopting the MBIs and what MBIs are currently prevalent in Indian environmental law. Last section gives a comparative analysis of environmental regulation with the help of MBI and CAC and conclusion follows.