The document outlines the chronology of air pollution control laws in India from 1948 onwards and summarizes the key provisions of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981. It then provides details about the Central and State Pollution Control Boards constituted under the Act and their powers and functions. Finally, it presents a case study on the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, the world's worst industrial disaster, caused by a leak of methyl isocyanate from a pesticide plant.