GOVERNMENT

INITIATIVES TO TACKLE
ENVIRONMENTAL
DEGRADATION

Submitted To : Mrs. Shikha Kler

Submitted By : Nandini

Class : B.Ed 2

Roll No. : 191089

Over the years, India has taken several
measures to control pollution, maintain
ecological balance, increase forest area and
keep its rivers clean. In this article, we take a
look at some of these initiatives.

Compensatory Afforestation
Bill, 2016

The enactment of the Compensatory

Afforestation Act, 2016 is aimed at ending
adhocism and helping the central and state
governments to utilise funds in a planned
manner. It will make available more than Rs.
6,000 crore per annum to the states and union
territories (UTs) for conservation, protection,
improvement and expansion of forest and
wildlife resources.
According to the government, availability of
these funds will not only help the states and
UTs and local communities to ensure better
management of their forest resources but will
also result in creation of more than 15 crore
man days of direct employment. A major part of
these amounts will be used to restock and
improve quality of degraded forests, which
constitutes more than 40% of the total forest
cover of the country.
The Act provides for establishment of a
permanent institutional framework to ensure
utilisation of these funds in an effective and
transparent manner. It provides for transfer of
90% of the accumulated amounts, which
presently is of the order of `49,000 crore to the
states for creation and maintenance of
compensatory afforestation and execution of
other activities for conservation, protection,
improvement and expansion of forest and
wildlife resources. The remaining 10% retained
at the national level, will be used for
monitoring and evaluation of activities
undertaken by the states and UTs.

River and Water Conservation

The Water Resources Information System

(WRIS) database developed by the Central
Water Commission along with the Indian Space
Research Organisation includes 15,615
identified rivers/streams in the country. The
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in
association with the respective state pollution
control boards is monitoring the water quality
of rivers in the country on a regular basis.
According to a report published by CPCB in
February, 2015, 302 polluted river stretches
have been identified on 275 rivers based on
Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) level in
rivers which is a key indicator of organic
pollution.
Various rivers have been identified under the
programmes of National River Conservation
Plan (NRCP) and the National Ganga River
Basin Authority (NGRBA) for implementation
of projects on cost sharing basis between
central and state governments. Currently, the
NRCP (excluding Ganga and its tributaries) has
covered polluted stretches of 31 rivers in 75
towns spread over 14 states involving a
sanctioned cost of Rs. 4,517.82 crore. As of
November 2016, an amount of Rs. 2,056.58
crore has been released to various state
governments for implementation of various
pollution abatement schemes and a treatment
capacity of 2373 million litres per day has been
created under the NRCP (excluding Ganga and
its tributaries).
The government is also looking to process
every litre of water that comes out of mines.
For thermal power plants, the government has
made it mandatory for any waste water
processing unit in the 50 km radius of the plant
to compulsorily use the waste water discharged
from the plant and the recycled water would
have to be compulsorily used by the thermal
power plant so that the clean water is available
to serve the people living around the plant.
 Forest Conservation

The National Afforestation Programme (NAP)

is the flagship scheme under the Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
According to the India State of Forest Report-
2013, the total forest cover in the country was
697,898 square kilometres, which is 21.23% of
the total geographical area of the country. India
is one of the few countries in the world, where
the forest cover is on the rise. The total forest
and tree cover of the country as per 2015
assessment in the state of Forest Report is
794,245 sq. km (79.42 million ha) which is
24.16% of the geographical area of the country.
There is an increase of 3,775 sq. km in the
forest cover of the country as compared to the
previous 2013 assessment. Increase in forest
and tree cover is significant in view of the fact
that forests continue to meet around 30% of the
total requirement of fuel wood which is the
primary source of energy and 40% of fodder
consuming livestock’s are dependent on fodder
completely or partially which comes from
forests.
In order to increase the forest and tree cover
and improve the quality of existing forest lands,
afforestation is being taken up under various
centrally sponsored schemes such as NAP,
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Integrated
Watershed Management Programme (IWMP),
National Bamboo Mission (NBM) and under
Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management
and Planning Authority (CAMPA) among
others.
The National Afforestation Programme (NAP)
of the Ministry of Environment and Forests is a
100% centrally sponsored scheme for
afforestation and tree plantation and eco-
restoration of degraded forests and adjoining
areas in the country.

National Green Tribunal

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) was

established on October 18, 2010 under the
National Green Tribunal Act 2010. It has been
set up for effective and expeditious disposal of
cases relating to environmental protection and
conservation of forests and other natural
resources including enforcement of any legal
right relating to environment and giving relief
and compensation for damages to persons and
property connected with the environment. It is a
specialised body equipped with the necessary
expertise to handle environmental disputes
involving multi-disciplinary issues.

Solar and Renewable Energy

The government has launched the LED project,

where the government is replacing the lighting
load of the country with LEDs. It will reduce
the carbon dioxide emissions by 80 million
tonnes per annum and the economically prudent
project will help the consumer save around Rs.
40,000 crore in electricity bills annually. India
is trying to move from its present status of
being a highly thermal power generation
dependent economy towards renewable energy.
The solar power programme has been scaled up
from a 20 GW target to 100 GW by 2022 and
putting together all the renewable energy
sources, including the large hydro projects,
India may have 225 GW of renewable and clean
energy sources by 2022.
Conversion of India’s vehicles to electrical
vehicles has a potential to save fossil fuels
worth about $100 billion annually, which in
turn would save the country precious foreign
exchange, prevent the dependence on imported
petroleum products and reduce the pollution in
cities by 80%-90%.
National clean air programme

Air pollution has increasingly become a serious

concern. The impact of air pollution is not
limited to health, but it gets extended to
agriculture and general well-being of human,
floral and faunal population. The government
has formulated National Clean Air Program
(NCAP) as a long-term, time bound national
level strategy to tackle the increasing air
pollution problem across the country in a
comprehensive manner at a total tentative cost of
around `637 crore. The overall objective of the
NCAP is comprehensive management plan for
prevention, control and abatement of air
pollution besides augmenting the air quality-
monitoring network across the country.
 Green Skill Development
Programme (GSDP)

The Green Skill Development Programme

(GSDP) developed by the Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change
(MoEF & CC) under the ENVIS Scheme is a
new initiative to skill youth in environment,
forest and wildlife sectors and enabling them to
be employed or be self-employed. The scope of
the programme is being extended to an all India
level covering other green skills, which include
areas such as Pollution Monitoring (Air/ Water/
Noise/ Soil), ETP Operation, Waste
Management, Forest Management, Water
Budgeting & Auditing and Conservation of
River Dolphins among many more.