MoEF to Approach Cabinet Panel for Green India Mission

The New Indian Express , Saturday, December 28, 2013
Correspondent : Richa Sharma
After being stuck for over two years owing to paucity of funds, the Green India Mission to fight climate change is set to take off with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) expected to approach the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in January 2014 seeking approval to use Rs 13,000 crore during 2012-17.

The MoEF has decided to get funds from other schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Rural Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

“Our proposal to get funds for the Green India Mission is nearly ready and we will take it up with the CCEA during the first week of January 2014,” said a MoEF official.

A total of `200 crore was allocated under the plan during 2012-13 and 2013-14 could not be utilised due to lack of Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) and CCEA approvals. The EFC under the Department of Expenditure and the Ministry of Finance has already approved the mission with proposed expenditure of `13,000 crore during 12th (2012-17) plan and one year spillover in 13th Plan (2018-2023).

“We have sought for the convergence of funds with other schemes like the rural employment programme MNREGA and CAMPA meant to promote afforestation and regeneration activities as a way of compensating for forest land diverted to non-forest uses,” the official said. Earlier, the Planning Commission was tasked to generate the mission funds but it asked the MoEF to do it. The Ministry had also approached the Supreme Court for release of CAMPA funds to be utilised for the greening mission.

The ambitious plan, one of the eight under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), aims at enhancing the forest cover by 10 million at a cost of Rs 46,000 crore by 2020. It was cleared by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change in 2011 but no work could happen on the ground due to money crunch.

“In the last two years, only preparatory activities like identification of landscapes, setting up of mission organisation, awareness, micro-plan preparation, baseline survey and preparation of perspective plan of the landscape could be done,” the official added.

Nearly Rs 50 crore was released out of allocation made under the National Clean Energy Fund in 2011-12 to the 21 states for preparatory activities to be undertaken under the mission.

India currently has 23 per cent of its land mass (70 million hectares) under forest cover. The aim is to eventually raise this to 33 per cent (100 million hectares) but no timeline has been set for this. The mission also focuses on improving eco-system services, including biodiversity, hydrological services and carbon sequestration, and aims to increase forest-based livelihood income for three million forest-dependent families.

 
SOURCE : http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/MoEF-to-Approach-Cabinet-Panel-for-Green-India-Mission/2013/12/28/article1969242.ece
 


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