Human Impacts on the Environment in India

Dewaram A. Nagdeve, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

The rapid population growth and economic development in country are threatening the environment. Though the relationship is complex, population size and growth tend to expand and accelerate these human impacts on natural resources and the environment. The present paper is an attempt to study the population change and its impacts on natural resources, and the environment. The data have been analyzed from various secondary sources of data. Conducted an analysis of changes and trends over last fifty years. The analysis reveals that rapid population growth plays an important role in depleting natural resources. Population pressure on arable land contributes to the land degradation, thus affecting the productive resource base of the economy. The importance of population and environmental pollution control and protection of natural resources and environment has been highlighted. The paper concludes with some policy reflections and emphasizes the potential importance of natural resources.