Directive Principles — Amendments

Amendment	Year	Description	Impact
42nd Amendment	1976	Added Article 48A mandating environmental protection and forest conservation, and inserted environmental protection as a fundamental duty under Article 51A(g). This amendment created the constitutional framework for environmental governance in India.	Established constitutional foundation for all environmental legislation and policy in India, enabled judicial activism in environmental protection, and created shared responsibility between state and citizens for environmental conservation
73rd Amendment	1992	Included environmental protection, ecological aspects of planning, and social forestry in the Eleventh Schedule as Panchayat functions, operationalizing environmental DPSPs at grassroots level.	Decentralized environmental governance, enabled community participation in environmental protection, and made environmental DPSPs implementable at village level
74th Amendment	1992	Assigned environmental protection, urban planning, and regulation of land use to municipalities through the Twelfth Schedule, extending environmental governance to urban areas.	Created urban environmental governance framework, enabled municipal environmental planning, and integrated environmental protection with urban development