Various India Acts Related to Biodiversity Conservation

Important Govt. of India Central Acts and Rules having Relevance to Biodiversity Conservation:

1. Fisheries Act, 1897.
2. Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1914.
3. The Indian Forest Act, 1927.
4. Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act,1937.
5. Indian Coffee Act, 1942
6. Import and Export (Control) Act, 1947.
7. Rubber (Production and Marketing) Act, 1947.
8. Tea Act, 1953.
9. Mining and Mineral Development (Regulation) Act,1957
10. Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
11. Customs Act, 1962.
12. Cardamom Act, 1965.
13. Seeds Act, 1966.
14. The Patents Act, 1970.
15. Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
16. Marine Products Export Development Authority Act,1972.
17. Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
18. Tobacco Board Act, 1975.
19. Territorial Water, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and other Maritime Zones Act, 1976.
20. Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977.
21. Maritime Zones of India (Regulation and Fishing by Foreign Vessels) Act. 1980.
22. Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
23. Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
24. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act, 1985/1986.
25. Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
26. Spices Board Act, 1986.
27. National Dairy Development Board, 1987.
28. Rules for the manufacture, use/import/export and storage of hazardous microorganisms/ genetically engineered organisms or cells, 1989
29. Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992.
30. Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPVFR) Act, 2001
31. Biological Diversity Act, 2002
32. Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into India) Order, 2003
33. Biological Diversity Rules, 2004
34. The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
35. Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

Policies on environmental management include the National Forest Policy, the National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development, and National Policy and Macrolevel Action Strategy on Biodiversity.

Some other sectoral policies (e.g. National Agriculture Policy and National Water Policy) have also contributed towards environmental management.

As our development challenges evolved and understanding of the centrality of environmental concerns in development sharpened, the National Environment Policy was developed in 2006.