Case for a pollution watchdog

As we become more stringent on polluters, but do not monitor the governments' agents, the potential for corruption will increase

A spate of news stories over the last few months point to an interesting situation in India. Both the regulator and the government — whether central, state or local, have been lax on pollution since long. While this appears to be changing, it is apparent, that with greater growth and higher incomes, pollution will be a constant problem for many decades to come. The solution therefore is to ensure that there is a constant push from the masses for focusing on pollution reduction.

In democracies specially, the ability of the bottom up forces to catalyse action by the state is significant.