Stewardship today: regeneration, circular economy and Mission LiFE

Detail

1. From global warnings to everyday stewardship

• The long road to "careful use":
• Club of Rome (1968): a group of thinkers who first warned, at the global level, that resources could run out.
• Brundtland Report (1987): it defined sustainable development (development that meets today's needs without hurting the ability of future generations to meet their own needs).
• Rio Earth Summit (1992) adopted Agenda 21 (a global action plan for sustainable development in the 21st century, to be carried out down to the local level).

• SDGs (2015): 17 global goals. SDG 12 ("responsible consumption and production") is the goal closest to the circular economy and Mission LiFE.

• Stewardship means caring for resources the way a trustee cares for property held for others (Class 8, NCERT):

• use renewable resources (resources that nature refills, such as water, forests and soil) slowly enough for nature to restore and regenerate them;

• use non-renewable resources (resources with a fixed stock, such as coal, petroleum and minerals) judiciously (carefully, without waste) until substitutes are found.

• Restoration and regeneration: these go beyond "using less". They mean actively helping damaged land, water and soil to recover.

2. Caselet: Punjab's groundwater (a warning)

• Cause:
• High-yielding varieties (HYV) of wheat and paddy came in the 1960s (Green Revolution). They need much more water than traditional crops.

• Free farm electricity made pumping cheap, so farmers pumped more groundwater than the rain could refill.

• Process: tube wells pulled water out faster than recharge (water soaking back into the ground). Year after year, the water table (the top level of underground water) went down.

• Result:
• Almost 80% of Punjab's area is classed as "overexploited", meaning more groundwater is taken out each year than is recharged (NCERT, Class 8).
• In large parts the water table is below about 30 m (Fig. 1.17, June 2022).

• Agrochemicals (chemical fertilisers and pesticides) have polluted the groundwater.

• Lesson: food security in the short term came at a long-term cost to the resource. (Detail in water-resources-india.)

• Soil degradation: misused fertilisers and pesticides harm soil health. Traditional methods kept soil healthy:
• cow-dung manure (organic nutrients);
• mulching (covering soil with leaves or straw to keep moisture in and stop erosion);
• multi-cropping (growing more than one crop on the same land, which balances how nutrients are used).

3. Caselet: Sikkim's organic farming (a success)

• Sikkim (an eastern Himalayan state) became India's first 100% organic state in 2016. Organic means farming with no chemical fertilisers or pesticides.
• Results (NCERT, Class 8):
• biodiversity (the variety of plant and animal life) increased;
• tourism grew;

• farm incomes rose about 20%.

• Punjab vs Sikkim:

Feature	Punjab	Sikkim
Farming model	HYV, chemical-heavy, water-heavy	100% organic (2016)
Main resource stress	Groundwater overexploited (~80% of area)	Low chemical load
Outcome	Falling water table (<30 m), polluted aquifers	Biodiversity up, tourism up, incomes ~+20%
Lesson	Short-term gain, long-term cost	Stewardship can also pay farmers

(Detail in land-use-farming-systems.)

4. Materials: the case of cement

• Cement is one of the most polluting industries.
• Its dust harms human lungs. It also settles on leaves (blocking sunlight and photosynthesis), soil and water.

• The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has set pollution-control guidelines for cement plants.

• Alternatives:

• stone;
• mud buildings, for example the Auroville Earth Institute (Auroville, near Puducherry, on the Tamil Nadu coast), which works with compressed earth;
• plant-based materials;
• recycled-plastic materials.

5. Energy transition: International Solar Alliance (ISA)

• ISA is a group of sunny countries that work together to spread solar power.
• It was launched by India and France in 2015 at COP21, Paris. COP is the "Conference of the Parties", the yearly UN climate meeting.

• Its headquarters is in Gurugram, Haryana. It is the first treaty-based international organisation with its headquarters in India.

• Legal status: the ISA Framework Agreement came into force on 6 December 2017, after 15 countries ratified it (formally approved it). From then, ISA became a treaty-based intergovernmental organisation [9].

• Targets: over 1,000 GW of solar capacity worldwide, and over US$ 1,000 billion of investment in solar energy by 2030 [9].
• Membership: the USA became the 101st member country (2021) [10].
• Bhadla Solar Park is in Rajasthan, in the sunny, dry Thar Desert. It is one of the world's largest solar parks. (Detail in energy-resources-india.)

6. Equity: who loses when resources are misused

• In cities, access to clean water and clean air is unequal. The poor suffer the most.
• They live near polluted drains, industries and busy roads.

• They cannot buy water purifiers, bottled water or air purifiers.

• So stewardship is also about fairness: sharing resources justly within this generation and between generations.

7. Circular economy

• Linear economy: "take → make → dispose". We dig resources out, make a product, use it, and throw it away.
• Circular economy: keep materials in use for as long as possible:
• design out waste, so products are made from the start to be repaired and recycled;
• reuse → repair → remanufacture (rebuild used products to "as new") → recycle;

• waste from one process becomes the raw material of another.

• 3R and 6R hierarchy (the most preferred step comes first):

• 3R = Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
• 6R adds steps such as Refuse (do not buy what you do not need), Repair/Refurbish and Recover (get energy or materials back from what is left). Recycling and disposal are the last choices.

India's instruments

• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): the company that makes, imports or sells a product (the "producer") must also collect and recycle it after use. The duty does not stop at the point of sale.

Rule	Year	Key feature
Plastic Waste Management Rules: EPR Guidelines	2022	Producers, importers and brand-owners must collect and recycle plastic packaging
E-Waste (Management) Rules	2022	EPR for electrical and electronic goods
Battery Waste Management Rules	Published 24 August 2022 [7]	All waste batteries must be collected and sent for recycling or refurbishment. Landfill and incineration (burning) of them are banned [7]
EPR for waste tyres	21 July 2022 [6]	Tyre producers must handle tyres at the end of their life
Vehicle Scrappage Policy	2021	Old, unfit vehicles are scrapped, and their metal goes back into use

• NITI Aayog:
• A Circular Economy Cell was set up in NITI Aayog in September 2022 [6].
• 10 sectoral circular-economy action plans were finalised. Ministries and departments carry them out, for sectors such as e-waste, plastics, metal scrap and tyres [6]. (NCERT-based summary: "NITI Aayog-led action plans".)
• On 22 January 2026, in Jaipur, NITI Aayog released three reports on the circular economy in end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), waste tyres, and e-waste and lithium-ion batteries [8].

8. Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment)

• Origin: the Prime Minister first proposed it at COP26, Glasgow (2021) [2].
• Launch: on 20 October 2022, at the Statue of Unity, Ekta Nagar (Kevadia), Gujarat, together with UN Secretary-General António Guterres [2].
• Idea: "Pro-Planet People" (P3 model). Ordinary people make small lifestyle choices. When millions make them together, the total impact is large. Its motto is "Lifestyle of the planet, for the planet and by the planet" [2][3].
• Target: to mobilise at least one billion Indians and other global citizens to take pro-planet action during 2022–2027 [2][3].
• Actions it asks for:
• save energy (switch off unused lights and fans, use public transport);
• save water;
• avoid single-use plastic;
• follow sustainable food systems (for example, millets and less food waste);

• reduce e-waste and waste in general.

• Links:

• G20 New Delhi Leaders' Declaration (2023), adopted under India's G20 presidency, included principles on lifestyles for sustainable development.
• Green Credit Programme: notification issued in October 2023 under the LiFE initiative, together with the Ecomark scheme [4].
  • The Green Credit Rules, 2023 were notified on 12 October 2023 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 [5].
  • They reward voluntary green actions (such as restoring degraded forest land) with tradable "green credits" [5].
  • Administrator: the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun [5].
  • Condition: credits can be claimed only after at least 5 years of restoration work and a canopy density of at least 40% (canopy density = the share of ground covered by tree crowns when seen from above) [5].

9. Synthesis: the regenerative economy

• Class 8 NCERT quotes Christiana Figueres (former UN climate chief) on moving to a regenerative economy: an economy that heals nature instead of only "doing less harm".
• Regenerative economy = circular economy (materials) + sustainable lifestyles (Mission LiFE, people) + restored commons (shared resources such as groundwater, forests and soil, revived through programmes like Green Credits).

Prelims Hooks

• Mission LiFE was proposed at COP26 Glasgow (2021) and launched on 20 Oct 2022 at Ekta Nagar (Kevadia), Gujarat, with UN Secretary-General Guterres. Its target is 1 billion people during 2022–27.
• Green Credit Rules, 2023: notified on 12 Oct 2023 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Administrator: ICFRE, Dehradun. Credits need 5 years of work and ≥40% canopy density.
• ISA: India + France, COP21 Paris, 2015. HQ Gurugram. The Framework Agreement came into force on 6 Dec 2017 after 15 ratifications. The USA was the 101st member.
• Bhadla Solar Park: Rajasthan (Thar Desert). Do not confuse it with Pavagada (Karnataka).
• Sikkim: first 100% organic state (2016).
• Punjab: about 80% of its area is "overexploited" for groundwater. The water table is below ~30 m in large parts (June 2022).
• Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022: EPR-based, with no landfill or incineration of waste batteries. EPR for waste tyres: July 2022.
• NITI Aayog's Circular Economy Cell: Sept 2022, with 10 sectoral action plans.
• Auroville Earth Institute (mud and earth architecture) is near Puducherry. It is an alternative to cement, one of the most polluting industries.
• Trap: EPR puts the duty on the producer/importer/brand-owner, not on the consumer or the municipality.

Mains Points

• Green Revolution's hidden cost (GS-I/III): HYV wheat and paddy plus free power → over-pumping → about 80% of Punjab overexploited and agrochemicals in the groundwater. Remedies: crop diversification (pulses, millets, maize), metering power, micro-irrigation, and stewardship models like Sikkim's organic farming (incomes ~+20%).
• Linear vs circular economy (GS-III): India's EPR regime (plastic, e-waste, batteries and tyres, 2022), the Vehicle Scrappage Policy (2021) and NITI Aayog's 10 sectoral plans move India from take-make-dispose to reuse and recycle. Challenges: a large informal recycling sector, weak collection, and the need to design products for repair.
• Behaviour-led climate action (GS-III): Mission LiFE shifts the focus from supply-side policy to consumer demand ("Pro-Planet People"). It got global reach through the G20 New Delhi Declaration (2023) and was linked to market tools like the Green Credit Programme (2023). Risk: weak monitoring and "greenwashing" (false claims of being green) of credits.
• Equity and energy transition (GS-I/III): the urban poor get the least clean water and air. Leadership in solar power (ISA, Bhadla) and cleaner materials (alternatives to cement, CPCB norms) must go together with fair access to make development truly sustainable.