IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecanpo/v85y2025icp2192-2206.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

National river conservation plan and water pollutants in India

Author

Listed:
  • Sinha, Apra
  • Sedai, Ashish Kumar

Abstract

This paper examines pollution sources in major Indian rivers and assesses the effectiveness of the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) in reducing water pollution. Using an extended Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework that includes socio-economic characteristics, institutional factors and accounts for cross-sectional dependence, we find that rising income effectively reduces chemical pollutants but worsens pollution from untreated sewage and biodegradable waste in developing economies. Our analysis shows that the NRCP significantly reduced water pollution, particularly chemical effluents. Furthermore, increased newspaper circulation correlates with lower pollution levels, emphasizing the role of public awareness in enhancing water quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Sinha, Apra & Sedai, Ashish Kumar, 2025. "National river conservation plan and water pollutants in India," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 2192-2206.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:85:y:2025:i:c:p:2192-2206
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2025.02.031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S031359262500061X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eap.2025.02.031?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Apra Sinha, Ashish Kumar Sedai, Abhishek Kumar, and Rabindra Nepal, 2023. "Are Autocracies Bad for the Environment? Global Evidence from Two Centuries of Data," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    2. G. Mythili & Shibashis Mukherjee, 2011. "Examining Environmental Kuznets Curve for river effluents in India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 627-640, June.
    3. Michael Greenstone & Rema Hanna, 2014. "Environmental Regulations, Air and Water Pollution, and Infant Mortality in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3038-3072, October.
    4. Hilary Sigman, 2002. "International Spillovers and Water Quality in Rivers: Do Countries Free Ride?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1152-1159, September.
    5. Jochmans, Koen, 2020. "A Portmanteau Test For Correlation In Short Panels," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(6), pages 1159-1166, December.
    6. Alexander Chudik & Kamiar Mohaddes & M. Hashem Pesaran & Mehdi Raissi, 2017. "Is There a Debt-Threshold Effect on Output Growth?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(1), pages 135-150, March.
    7. Catalina Granda & Luis Guillermo Pérez & Juan Carlos Munoz, 2008. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve for Water Quality: An Analysis of its Appropriateness Using Unit Root and Cointegration Tests," Revista Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE.
    8. Pallab Majumder & Robert P. Berrens & Alok K. Bohara, 2006. "Is there an environmental kuznets curve for the risk of biodiversity loss?," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 39(2), pages 175-190, January-M.
    9. Muhammad Shahbaz & Smile Dube & Ilhan Ozturk & Abdul Jalil, 2015. "Testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis in Portugal," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 5(2), pages 475-481.
    10. Do, Quy-Toan & Joshi, Shareen & Stolper, Samuel, 2018. "Can environmental policy reduce infant mortality? Evidence from the Ganga Pollution Cases," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 306-325.
    11. Lv, Zhike, 2017. "The effect of democracy on CO2 emissions in emerging countries: Does the level of income matter?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 900-906.
    12. Nicola Lacetera & Devin G. Pope & Justin R. Sydnor, 2012. "Heuristic Thinking and Limited Attention in the Car Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 2206-2236, August.
    13. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    14. Krishna Paudel & Hector Zapata & Dwi Susanto, 2005. "An Empirical Test of Environmental Kuznets Curve for Water Pollution," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 31(3), pages 325-348, July.
    15. Selden Thomas M. & Song Daqing, 1994. "Environmental Quality and Development: Is There a Kuznets Curve for Air Pollution Emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 147-162, September.
    16. Apra Sinha & Ashish Kumar Sedai & Abhishek Kumar & Rabindra Nepal, 2023. "Are Autocracies Bad for the Environment? Global Evidence from Two Centuries of Data," The Energy Journal, , vol. 44(2), pages 47-78, March.
    17. Emily Oster, 2019. "Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 187-204, April.
    18. Panayotou, Theodore, 1997. "Demystifying the environmental Kuznets curve: turning a black box into a policy tool," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(4), pages 465-484, November.
    19. Al-Mulali, Usama & Saboori, Behnaz & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2015. "Investigating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Vietnam," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 123-131.
    20. Gene M. Grossman & Alan B. Krueger, 1995. "Economic Growth and the Environment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 353-377.
    21. Hauff, Michael von & Mistri, Avijit, 2015. "Economic Growth, Safe Drinking Water and Ground Water Storage: Examining Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in Indian Context," MPRA Paper 61656, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. von Hauff, Michael & Mistri, Avijit, 2015. "Economic Growth, Safe Drinking Water and Ground Water Storage: Examining Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in Indian Context," MPRA Paper 61684, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Cole, Matthew A., 2004. "Trade, the pollution haven hypothesis and the environmental Kuznets curve: examining the linkages," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 71-81, January.
    24. Per Fredriksson & Jim Wollscheid, 2007. "Democratic institutions versus autocratic regimes: The case of environmental policy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 381-393, March.
    25. Bhattacharya, Haimanti & Lueck, Dean, 2009. "The role of property rights in determining the environmental quality-income relationship," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2511-2524, August.
    26. Torras, Mariano & Boyce, James K., 1998. "Income, inequality, and pollution: a reassessment of the environmental Kuznets Curve," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 147-160, May.
    27. Bhattarai, Madhusudan & Hammig, Michael, 2004. "Governance, economic policy, and the environmental Kuznets curve for natural tropical forests," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 367-382, July.
    28. Chien-Chiang Lee & Yi-Bin Chiu & Chia-Hung Sun, 2009. "Does One Size Fit All? A Reexamination of the Environmental Kuznets Curve Using the Dynamic Panel Data Approach," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 31(4), pages 751-778.
    29. Binder, Seth & Neumayer, Eric, 2005. "Environmental pressure group strength and air pollution: An empirical analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 527-538, December.
    30. Shafik, Nemat, 1994. "Economic Development and Environmental Quality: An Econometric Analysis," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 757-773, Supplemen.
    31. Culas, Richard J., 2007. "Deforestation and the environmental Kuznets curve: An institutional perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 429-437, March.
    32. Anamika Barua & Klaus Hubacek, 2009. "An empirical analysis of the environmental Kuznets curve for water pollution in India," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 9(1/2), pages 50-68.
    33. Frees, Edward W., 1995. "Assessing cross-sectional correlation in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 393-414, October.
    34. Bhattarai, Madhusudan & Hammig, Michael, 2001. "Institutions and the Environmental Kuznets Curve for Deforestation: A Crosscountry Analysis for Latin America, Africa and Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 995-1010, June.
    35. Jason Russ & Esha Zaveri & Sebastien Desbureaux & Richard Damania & Aude Sophie Rodella, 2022. "The impact of water quality on GDP growth: Evidence from around the world," Post-Print hal-03920974, HAL.
    36. Deacon, Robert & Norman, Catherine S, 2004. "Is the environmental Kuznets curve an empirical regularity?," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series qt2m44f7kr, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.
    37. Thompson, Alexi, 2012. "Water abundance and an EKC for water pollution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 423-425.
    38. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chiu, Yi-Bin & Sun, Chia-Hung, 2010. "The environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for water pollution: Do regions matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 12-23, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Balsalobre, Daniel & Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain, 2018. "The Influencing Factors of CO2 Emissions and the Role of Biomass Energy Consumption: Statistical Experience from G-7 Countries," MPRA Paper 87456, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Jun 2018.
    2. Sabuj Kumar Mandal & Devleena Chakravarty, 2017. "Role of energy in estimating turning point of Environmental Kuznets Curve: an econometric analysis of the existing studies," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 19(2), pages 387-401, October.
    3. Dinda, Soumyananda, 2004. "Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis: A Survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 431-455, August.
    4. Bilgili, Faik & Koçak, Emrah & Bulut, Ümit, 2016. "The dynamic impact of renewable energy consumption on CO2 emissions: A revisited Environmental Kuznets Curve approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 838-845.
    5. Prathibha Joshi & Kris Aaron Beck, 2015. "Biological Oxygen Demand and Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(02), pages 1-15.
    6. Le Hoang Phong & Dang Thi Bach Van & Ho Hoang Gia Bao, 2018. "The Role of Globalization on CO2 Emission in Vietnam Incorporating Industrialization, Urbanization, GDP per Capita and Energy Use," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(6), pages 275-283.
    7. Stern, David I., 2014. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Primer," Working Papers 249424, Australian National University, Centre for Climate Economics & Policy.
    8. Danesh Miah, Md. & Farhad Hossain Masum, Md. & Koike, Masao, 2010. "Global observation of EKC hypothesis for CO2, SOx and NOx emission: A policy understanding for climate change mitigation in Bangladesh," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4643-4651, August.
    9. Priscilla Massa-Sánchez & Luis Quintana-Romero & Ronny Correa-Quezada & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama, 2020. "Empirical Evidence in Ecuador between Economic Growth and Environmental Deterioration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, January.
    10. Culas, Richard J., 2012. "REDD and forest transition: Tunneling through the environmental Kuznets curve," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 44-51.
    11. Letisha S. Fong & Alberto Salvo & David Taylor, 2020. "Evidence of the environmental Kuznets curve for atmospheric pollutant emissions in Southeast Asia and implications for sustainable development: A spatial econometric approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1441-1456, September.
    12. Iftikhar Yasin & Nawaz Ahmad & M. Aslam Chaudhary, 2020. "Catechizing the Environmental-Impression of Urbanization, Financial Development, and Political Institutions: A Circumstance of Ecological Footprints in 110 Developed and Less-Developed Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 621-649, January.
    13. Halkos, George E. & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2013. "Carbon dioxide emissions and governance: A nonparametric analysis for the G-20," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 110-118.
    14. Halkos, George & Paizanos, Epameinondas, 2015. "Environmental Macroeconomics: A critical literature review and future empirical research directions," MPRA Paper 67432, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Inekwe, John & Ivanovski, Kris & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve across Australian states and territories," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    16. Albulescu, Claudiu Tiberiu & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Yoon, Seong-Min & Kang, Sang Hoon, 2019. "FDI, income, and environmental pollution in Latin America: Replication and extension using panel quantiles regression analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    17. Kaika, Dimitra & Zervas, Efthimios, 2013. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) theory—Part A: Concept, causes and the CO2 emissions case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1392-1402.
    18. Orubu, Christopher O. & Omotor, Douglason G., 2011. "Environmental quality and economic growth: Searching for environmental Kuznets curves for air and water pollutants in Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4178-4188, July.
    19. Wen, Jun & Hao, Yu & Feng, Gen-Fu & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2016. "Does government ideology influence environmental performance? Evidence based on a new dataset," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 232-246.
    20. Jie He, 2007. "Is the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis valid for developing countries? A survey," Cahiers de recherche 07-03, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:85:y:2025:i:c:p:2192-2206. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/economic-analysis-and-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.