ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN INDIA: SYMBOLISM IN ISSUES AND POLICIES

RENU KHATOR, Purdue University

Abstract

During the last two decades, the environmental protection issue has acquired political agenda status in both developing and developed countries. This is somewhat surprising because of (1) its novelty, (2) its suddenness, and (3) its universality. On the basis of various theoretical frameworks available in social science literature, several factors can be identified for emergence of environmental issue in a given political system. The factors identified in environmental policy area include: physical factors (the intensity of the problem), environmental factors (policy diffusion at international level), socioeconomic factors (subordination of policy process to elite interests), and political-bureaucratic factors (competitive political system and bureaucratic specialization). Although not mutually exclusive, these explanations taken together present a broad array of variables influencing the issue-creation process. However, this literature is based on the experience of developed countries where issue status is presumed to have genuine consequences. This study is an attempt to demonstrate that these variables are of limited power in the context of a developing country. Through an analysis of India's environmental policy, it is shown that the environmental issue is essentially symbolic rather substantive. The characteristics of an underdeveloped system--non-competitiveness, concentration of power, weak channels of communication, low level of political participation--are found to be significant in initiating an issue, on one hand, and limiting it scope on the other hand. This study argues that the politicians content themselves with symbolic outputs because more tangible outcomes offer no positive political return. An analysis of India's environmental policy, including major steps taken by the government during last two decades, documents this conclusion. Content analysis of Indian newspaper, opinion poll survey, and quantitative study of policy efforts by Indian states undertaken for this study have provided support to the thesis. In brief, this study demonstrates that all analyses of issue-creation vary with the nature of the issue: Symbolic vs. Substantive. Because developing systems have fewer controls upon elites, there is a strong likelihood that non-distributive issues will be decided on symbolic grounds leaving the political landscape essentially unchanged.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Political science|South Asian Studies

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