Environmental reforms in sugar industries of India: An appraisal

Abstract

Sugar industry in India has imparted significant contribution in the growth of agriculture and socio-economic status of the country. However, continuation of conventional practices owing to lack of awareness for environmentally sustainable technologies has led to the pollution in water resources resulting in degradation of environmental quality. Considering this, Central Pollution Control Board of India took initiative for minimizing the pollution load in rivers by formulating a charter and invoking environmental compensation for sugar industries. Present assessment of environment related reforms through national policy like charter implementation and environmental compensation is one of the primary baseline studies done so far. These reforms were implemented in 85 sugar industries situated along the main stem of River Ganga for validation. The analysis depicted that the implementation of charter and environmental compensation resulted in significant reduction in freshwater consumption (56.4%), effluent generation (13.8%), and biochemical oxygen demand load (34.6%). Thus, similar reforms may be adopted in other sugar industries as well in order to improve the environmental quality and sustained growth of the economy.

Keywords

• Environmental compensation
• Policy
• River Ganga
• Sugar charter
• Sugar industry