Environmental laws being reviewed to give more teeth: Minister

The Centre is reviewing all environmental laws with an aim to give them more teeth and hand severe punishment in cases of encroachment and violation, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said today.
Speaking to PTI here, Javadekar said two Forest Acts, and one each in environment protection, air, water and bio-diversity govern the whole environmental regime.
"We are reviewing all these laws to make people participatory in it... Make them more meaningful and give more teeth. Instances of violations and encroachments will be severely punished," he said.
The minister said the government will come out with draft laws after completing the review work, he said.

Earlier, interacting with joggers at KBR Park here, Javadekar said India is currently faced with the problem of shrinking space and limited resources.
"We (India) are just 2.5 per cent of the world's land mass, and we are 17 per cent of the (global) human population and 70 per cent of cattle population. It's a huge pressure on land resources," he added.