Environmental Discourses in Ancient India: Lessons from the Vedas Giri Viswajit PhD, Centre for the Study of Law & Governance (CSLG), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, viswajitgiri@gmail.com JEL Classification: Q56, Q58 Online published on 12 August, 2019. Abstract Environmental concerns that began to evolve in the past include three core assumptions: anthropogenic acts as the core factors of environmental degradation; man has a civic duty and moral responsibility to maintain the environment, and technocentrism as a means of tackling environmental problems. Albeit technocentrism remains to be an extensively used scientific tool for addressing environmental issues, nevertheless, it is criticized on the grounds of its potential failure to produce enduring & steady results, limited & confined applicability, temporal dimensions, and volatile effects. Keeping this hypothesis in view, this study seeks to examine if the ancient Indian environmental ethics, particularly the environmental teachings of the Vedas, can be applied to address the current environmental crisis of the world, to what extent and in what ways. This study finds that ecocentrism, deep ecology & non-interference are the three fundamental environmental gospels that the Vedas have prescribed. Considering these three principles as the foundational values of environment protection, this study intends to propose a theoretical model of legal standing for nature and natural objects in the Indian environmental defense paradigm. This study argues that incorporating the model would help at least in three important ways: first, it would provide Ante-Mortem legal protection to the environment, second, it would mitigate the environmentdevelopment conflict significantly, and third, it would promote sustainable development. Top Keywords The Vedas, Environmental Discourses, Environmental Jurisprudence, India. Top |