Question

'Let the polluters pay'. Support this statement with any two suitable arguments.

Answer 1

‘Let polluters pay’ or Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) means that the polluter is liable to pay compensation to those affected due to the pollution created by them. It aims to determine how the costs of pollution prevention and control can be allocated and how resources can be used efficiently. Its objectives are

1. Promotes economic efficiency

2. Promotes social justice

3. Promotes harmonisation of international environmental policies

4. Includes accidental pollution, clean up costs and methods

For instance, thermal power plants lead to air pollution due to fly ash content, water pollution due to dissolved heavy metals, toxic waste disposal and heating, and soil pollution due to dumping of toxic waste. This leads to retarded mental growth in children, less productive water bodies and soil for which the thermal plant should be liable to pay.

The government has also passed various acts such as the Water Act, the Air Act, the Environment Act, the Wildlife Protection Act and the Forest Conservation Act to prevent any further damage to nature which can indirectly create various kinds of problems for human beings.