The environment is defined as the total planetary inheritance and the totality of all resources. It includes all the biotic and abiotic factors that influence each other. The environment performs four vital functions (i) it supplies resources, (ii) it assimilates waste (iii) it sustains life by providing genetic and bio diversity and (iv) it also provides aesthetic services like scenery etc. The environment is able to perform these functions without any interruption as long as the demand on these functions is within its carrying capacity. Many resources have become extinct, and the wastes generated are beyond the absorptive capacity of the environment. Absorptive capacity means the ability of the environment to absorb degradation. Land in India suffers from varying degrees and types of degradation stemming mainly from unstable use and inappropriate management practices. Some of the factors responsible for land degradation are (i) loss of vegetation occuring due to deforestation (ii) unsustainable wood and fodder extraction (iii) shifting cultivation (iv) encroachment into forest lands (v) forest fires and over grazing (vi) non-adoption of adequate soil conservation measures (vii) improper crop rotation etc. In order to address two major environmental concerns in India, viz. water and air pollution, the government set up the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 1974. The environment and economy are interdependent and need each other. Hence, development that ignores its repercussions on the environment will destroy the environment that sustains life forms. What is needed is sustainable development. The Brundtland commission defines sustainable development that will allow all future generations to have a potential average quality of life that is at least as high as that which is being enjoyed by the current generation.