Growth at the cost of environment?

 
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Published: Tuesday 02 September 2014

NEWS
Industry has been complaining that requirements set out under these laws have been hindering economic growth
Author: Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has constituted a high-level committee to recommend within two months amendments in the country's five key environmental laws to "bring them in line with current requirements" and "objectives".
 
Will new minister Prakash Javadekar keep perpetuating a bad system or make a real difference for real change?
Author: Sunita Narain
Environmentalists are rightly alarmed that the NDA government is busy dismantling the environmental regulatory system in the country. Over the past two months, the media has reported that clearances for projects, from mining to roads, have been fast-tracked. While the website of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has not been updated in August, in the two months till July end, forest clearance was granted to over 92 projects,
 
It has little representation from outside the government
Author: Kumar Sambhav
The Supreme Court, on Monday, questioned the legality of the constitution of a National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It has also restrained the board, which is the premier decision making body in the country on matters relating to wildlife, from taking any decisions till the next date of hearing.
 
Small coal mining projects exempted from public hearings; moratorium on expansion of industries in critically polluted areas lifted
Author: Anupam Chakravartty
The environment of coal-rich Singrauli region, a critically polluted industrial region spread over eastern Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, faces a double whammy. Small coal mines, owned mostly by India's public sector undertaking,
 
Report released by network of civil society groups expresses concern over policies damaging to the environment
Author: Jitendra
Civil society groups have come down heavily on the policies and programmes of the 100-days-old NDA government and criticised it for overlooking the promises made during elections.
 
Environment impact assessment notification amended to allow state authorities to clear more projects
Author: Srestha Banerjee
The Union environment ministry has taken another step to ease clearances for development projects. On July 31, the minister of state for environment, forests and climate change, Prakash Javadekar, in a written response to the Rajya Sabha mentioned that the ministry is working towards streamlining environmental clearance (EC) process by "delegating more powers to the State level Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAAs) for granting EC
 
Financial Inclusion
Launch of the Jan Dhan Yojana ended up mostly as a mass exercise for accepting forms
Author: Jitendra
The launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) on August 28 was touted as a big success by the government. The government had set a target of opening 10 million bank accounts on the day of launch of the revamped financial inclusion (FI) plan to provide all people in rural India access to banking and formal financial services.
 
Planning body
Indications are that the National Development Reforms Commission that will replace the Planning Commission will not have financial allocation powers
Author: Dileep Mavalankar,
The Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) at Gandhi Nagar carried out research along with Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad on heat waves and its impacts on human health. It is known that temperatures in the city during summers rise up to 47°C. It results in several health consequences, sometimes reaching extreme levels; many people lose their lives.
 
Sanitation Mission
Corporate houses will have a major role in Swacchh Bharat Abhiyan which aims at achieving total sanitation by 2019
Author: Sushmita Sengupta
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech that emphasised on creating a "clean India", the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) is all geared up to introduce its revamped sanitation programme-Swacchh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA). In this connection, the ministry has released a draft note on the new mission.
 
Smart cities
NDA government's proposal to build 100 'smart' cities will work only if it can reinvent the very idea of urban growth
Author: Sushmita Sengupta
Smart is as smart does. The NDA government's proposal to build 100 "smart" cities will work only if it can reinvent the very idea of urban growth in a country like India. Smart thinking will require the government to not only copy the model cities of the already developed Western world, but also find a new measure of liveability that will work for Indian situation, where the cost of growth is unaffordable for most.
 
Food security
Will the Shanta Kumar panel look at problems arising from centralised food procurement?
Author: Jitendra
After announcing the dismantling of Planning Commission in its present form, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government has set about restructuring another organisation-the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution has constituted a committee to restructure FCI in order to put a check on high cost and high wastage in food procurement and its distribution to consumers. The committee has to submit its report in the next three months.
 
From DTE Readers
Some suggestions on putting India on the right development track
 
Here are some crisp action items the prospective government of Bharat can add to their agenda, whatever be their manifesto:
 
Environment Day Special
Get the focus on environment and health, Mr Prime Minister
Sunita Narain , Anumita Roychowdhury, Srestha Banerjee , Nayanjyoti Goswami, Richard Mahapatra, Vibha Varshney
EVERY NEW GOVERNMENT comes with baggage and opportunity. The problem is since the government is new, it wants to undo what has been done in the past, make new schemes and start again on the learning curve. The opportunity is that there is a new drive to do more, to deliver and to push for change.
 

100 Day of Modi … Green clearance test … India
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