All that was discussed in the House through the day
An estimated 964,000 trees will be felled for the Great Nicobar Island Project in a forest area earmarked for development, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change told the Rajya Sabha.
About 15 per cent of the development area for the mega infrastructure project will remain as green and open spaces, Choubey said. Thus, the potential tree felling would be less than 964,000. Moreover, the felling will be carried out in a phased manner.
Seven out of eight cheetahs brought to India from Namibia are alive, Choubey told the Rajya Sabha. The estimated cost of the project for the first phase (five years) is Rs. 91.65 crore, according to the action plan for introduction of cheetah in India.
The national spending on research and development (R&D) measured in terms of gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) during the years 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 was Rs 1,24,740.14 crore, Rs 1,32,567.01 crore and Rs 1,27,380.96 crore, respectively, according to the latest available R&D statistics.
India’s GERD as a percentage of the gross domestic product remained at 0.64 per cent to 0.66 per cent in these years, which is much lower than those of the developed economies mainly due to inadequate private sector investment into GERD, Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Union Ministry of Science & Technology told the Rajya Sabha.
The central government has set a target to raise the share of natural gas in energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030 from about 6 per cent now, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas told the Lok Sabha.
Various steps are being taken by the government for this, the minister said. Some of these steps include the expansion of the national gas grid pipeline, expansion of the city gas distribution network, setting up of liquefied natural gas terminals, sustainable alternative towards affordable transportation initiatives, etc.
Petroleum and natural gas regulatory board (PNGRB) has authorised approximately 33,592 kilometres natural gas pipeline network across the country, out of which 23,173 km are operational and 12,206 km are under various stages of construction
Water is a state subject and therefore studies on groundwater quality and making safe water available to the public falls under states’ mandate, Bishweswar Tudu, Minister of State for Union Ministry of Jal Shakti told the Lok Sabha.
Further, Central Ground Water Board generates ground water quality data on a regional scale during various scientific studies and ground water quality monitoring throughout the country.
These studies indicate the occurrence of uranium beyond the Bureau of Indian Standards’ permissible limits in isolated pockets in certain parts of the country.
A comprehensive set of interventions have been taken up for rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries under the Namami Gange programme, Tudu told the Lok Sabha.
These are wastewater treatment, solid waste management, river front management (ghats and crematoria development), environmental flow, afforestation, biodiversity conservation and Public Participation, etc.
So far, a total of 442 projects have been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 37,395.51 crore, out of which 254 projects have been completed, the minister said.
A majority of the projects pertain to creation of sewage infrastructure as the untreated domestic / industrial wastewater is the main reason for pollution in the river.
A total 193 sewerage infrastructure projects have been taken up at a cost of Rs 30,797.24 crore for creation and rehabilitation of 6,029.75 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage treatment plant (STP) capacity and laying of around 5,250.98 km sewerage network.
Out of these, 106 sewerage projects have been completed and the rest are at various stages of implementation. With the completed projects, 2,664.05 MLD STP capacity has been created / rehabilitated and 4,436.26 km of sewer network has been laid, Tudu said.
A census, conducted by the state governments through a nodal department identified in each state / Union Territory for this purpose, has revealed that there are 24,24,540 waterbodies in the country, Tudu told the Lok Sabha.
Out of these, 20,30,040 waterbodies are ‘in use’, while the remaining 3,94,500 are not ‘in use’. Out of the total number of ‘not in use’ reported waterbodies, 93,009 waterbodies are reported to be not in use on account of being dried up, the minister said.
The data related to urban flooding events is not maintained under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, Kaushal Kishore, Minister Of State In the Ministry of Housing And Urban Affairs told the Lok Sabha.
However, the major cities most affected by floods during the last five years include Palakkad, Thrissur, Kochi and Malappuram in Kerala (2018 and 2020), Hyderabad (2020), Bengaluru (2022), Manali in Himachal Pradesh (2023), Patiala and Dera Bassi in Punjab (2023) and Yamuna riverbanks in Delhi (2023).
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