In the global context of State of the Environment (SoE) Reporting, India is probably unique. Over the last two decades, the Indian SoE reporting experience has ranged from grassroots initiatives like wall posters and citizens reports to media and academic documents and more formal government documents. While the quality of these outputs have been mixed, some of the processes adopted and products developed have been pioneering. Consequently, they have contributed to support policy and decision-making within the country and also for reporting to the global system. With such a vast range of expertise and experience, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India initiated the SoE reporting process with all State Governments and Union Territories (UTs) through a plan scheme in the Tenth Five Year Plan. The process was initiated in October 2002 and included streamlined data collection and collation systems, cross-sectoral consultative processes, a reporting systems using a range of static and interactive media, and linking SoE Reporting with logical follow-up decision and action. The basic aim of the scheme is to bring out an overview of the environmental scenario of the States/UTs for mainstreaming environment in policy and decision-making. It is anticipated that through the SoE Reports, State Governments and UT Administrations would be able to integrate environmental dimensions in their socio-economic planning for sustainable development. The report provides an insight on various priority issues for India related to the current status of environment and natural resources, the pressures behind environmental changes and the impacts associated with these changes. The report also assesses the Government's current and proposed policy initiatives or programmes as a response to check and monitor further degradation of environment and also suggests policy options