IYB-Chapter Enviroment

Part1

Nodal agency for implementation of following directives:
1. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
2. South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP)
3. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
4. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)

Survey and Exploration
1. Survey of Flora -Botanical Survey of India (BSI)
2. Survey of Fauna -The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)
3. Forest Survey - Forest Survey of India (FSI)


Part2-
Biodiversity Conservation

PART 3-Wildlife conservation 

Part4

Convention on Mercury

• The salient features of Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management &Transboundary Movement)

Rules, 2016 include the following:

a. Waste Management hierarchy in the sequence of priority of prevention, minimization, reuse, recycling, recovery, co-processing; and safe disposal has been incorporated.

b. All the forms under the rules for permission, import/export, filing of annual returns,transportation, etc. have been revised significantly, indicating the stringent approach for management of such hazardous and other wastes with simultaneous simplification of procedure.

c. The basic necessity of infrastructure to safeguard the health and environment from waste processing industry has been prescribed as Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs), specific to waste type, which has to be complied by the stakeholders and ensured by SPCB/PCC while

granting such authorization.

d. Procedure has been simplified to merge all the approvals as a single window clearance for setting up of hazardous waste disposal facility and import of other wastes.

e. Co-processing as preferential mechanism over disposal for use of waste as supplementary resource, or for recovery of energy has been provided.

f. The process of import/export of waste under the Rules has been streamlined by simplifying the document-based procedure and by revising the list of waste regulated for import/export.

National Green Corps (NGC)

Initiative for creating environmental awareness among children by formulating National Green Corps

(NGC) in 2001-02.

• NGC has received has made the network more than 1,00,000 eco-clubs across the country in 14 years, making it one of the largest conservation networks.

• The unique partnership between the Environment Ministry, the State Government agencies along with the dedicated NGOs, working in the field of environmental education. Children can be catalysts in promoting a mass movement about the ensemble of the environmental issues National Museum of Natural History

• The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), New Delhi is an institution devoted to environmental education and was opened to the public in 1978, on June 5, on the occasion of World Environment Day.

• Programmes Under NMNH : Temporary exhibitions, mobile exhibitions and a large number of nature camps. It also arranges many local and national level competitions leading to Young Environmentalist of the Year Award (YEYA).

Citizens’ charter

What is a Citizens’ charter?

Citizen’s Charter is a document which represents a systematic effort to focus on the commitment of the Organisation towards its Citizens in respects of Standard of Services, Information, Choice and Consultation, Non-discrimination and Accessibility, Grievance Redress, Courtesy and Value for Money. This also includes expectations of the Organisation from the Citizen for fulfilling the commitment of the Organisation.

Origin and Principles

It has been recognised the world over that good governance is essential for sustainable development, both economic and social. The three essential aspects emphasised in good governance are transparency, accountability and responsiveness of the administration. The “Citizen’s Charters initiative” is a response to the quest for solving the problems which a citizen encounters, day in and day out, while dealing with organisations providing public services.

The concept of Citizen’s Charter enshrines the trust between the service provider and its users. Theconcept was first articulated and implemented in the United Kingdom by the Conservative Government of John Major in 1991 as a national programme with a simple aim: to continuously improve the quality of public services for the people of the country so that these services respond to the needs and wishes of the users.

Indian Scenario

Over the years, in India, significant progress has been made in the field of economic development. Citizens have become more articulate and expect the administration not merely to respond to their demands but also to anticipate them.

It was in this climate that a consensus began to evolve, since 1996, in the Government on effective and responsive administration. At a Conference of Chief Ministers of various States and Union Territories held on 24 May, 1997 in New Delhi, presided over by the Prime Minister of India, an “Action Plan for Effective and Responsive Government” at the Centre and State levels was adopted.

One of the major decisions at that Conference was that the Central and State Governments would formulate Citizen’s Charters, starting with those sectors that have a large public interface (e.g., Railways, Telecom, Posts, Public Distribution Systems and the like).

These Charters were to include first, standards of service as well as the time limits that the public can reasonably expect for service delivery, avenues of grievance redressal and a provision for independent scrutiny through the involvement of citizen and consumer groups.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in Government of India (DARPG) initiated the task of coordinating, formulating and operationalising Citizen’s Charters.

The guidelines for formulating the Charters as well as a list of do’s and don’ts were communicated to various government departments/organisations to enable them to bring out focused and effective charters.

For the formulation of the Charters, the government agencies at the Centre and State levels were advised to constitute a task force with representation from users, senior management and the cutting edge staff.

Primarily an adaptation of the UK model, the Indian Citizen’s Charter has an additional component of ‘expectations from the clients’ or in other words ‘obligations of the users’.

What are the components of a Citizen’s Charter?

A good Citizen’s Charter should have the following components :-

• Vision and Mission Statement of the Organisation
• Details of Business transacted by the Organisation
• Details of ‘Citizens’ or ‘Clients’
• Statement of services including standards, quality, time frame etc. provided to each Citizen/ Client group separately and how/ where to get the services
• Details of Grievance Redress Mechanism and how to access it
• Expectations from the ‘Citizens’ or ‘Clients’
• Additional commitments such as compensation in the event of failure of service delivery.

Advantages of Citizen charter

• Citizens can get to know the services provided by the respective organisations

• Citizens can avail services in a time bound manner.
• Citizens will not have to depend on the mercy of the bureaucracy.
• Citizens will not have to face long delays due to red tape
• Citizens can seek compensation for undue delay in delivery of service.
• Basic thrust of Citizens Charter is to make public services citizen centric by ensuring that these services are demand driven rather than supply driven.
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Problems with Citizens’ charters in India

2nd Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) found following problems with Citizens’ charters in India:

• Measurable standards of delivery are rarely spelt out in the charter.
• Standards are poorly defined, it becomes tough to assess whether the desired level of service has been achieved or not.
• Most charters are verbose. (containing too many words).
• Promises contained in the Charter were vague and meaningless.
• If the service is not delivered then very hard for citizen to get compensatation.
• Citizen Charters are not revised with time.
• The needs of senior citizens and disabled are not considered while drafting charters.
• Resistance to change.
• Lack of Public Awareness.
• End Users (public) & NGOs are not consulted when the charters are drafted.

Recommendations of 2nd ARC:

• The Charters should clearly spell out the remedy / penalty / compensation in case there is a default in meeting the standards spelt out in the Charter.
• Better give a few promises that can be kept, rather than a long list of lofty but impractical aspirations
• Before the organization makes charter, it should restructure its internal system and processes.
• One size does not fit all. Citizens’ Charter should be close to ground reality and local conditions.
• Consult all the stakeholders before finalizing the charter (including civil society).
• Firm Commitments should be made. There must be redressal mechanism should be citizen friendly.
• Organization should evaluate the Citizens’ charters periodically.
• Hold officers accountable for results.

Sevottam Model

Sevottam Model is a model proposed by 2nd ARC (Administrative Reforms Commission) for public Service Delivery. The word, Sevottam, is a combination of two Hindi words: ‘Seva’ (service) and ‘Uttam’ (excellence).

Sevottam Model is now regarded as a standard model for providing services in citizen centric governance.

The model is developed by rectifying the drawbacks in the earlier mechanisms of public service delivery like Citizen Charters (CC), and is gradually adopted by various departments under Central and State government.

Sevottam model, a quality management framework applicable to public service delivery organisations, in all its departments. Service Delivery Excellence Model provides a framework for organisations to assess and improve the quality of service delivery to citizens.

Seven Steps in Sevottam Model

The model prescribes seven steps:

1. Define services and identify clients.
2. Set standards and norms for each service.
3. Develop capability to meet the set standards.
4. Perform to achieve the standards.
5. Monitor performance against the set standards.
6. Evaluate impact through an independent mechanism.
7. Continuous improvement based on monitoring and evaluation.

Three Modules in Sevottam Framework

The Sevottam framework has basically three modules. They are:

Citizen Charter.

• The first component of the model requires effective charter implementation thereby opening up a channel for receiving citizens’ inputs into the way in which organizations determine service delivery requirements. Citizens’ Charters publicly declare the information on citizens’ entitlements; making citizens better informed and hence empowering them to demand better services.

Public Grievance Mechanism.

• The second component of the model, ‘Public Grievance Redress’ requires a good grievance redress system operating in a manner that leaves the citizen more satisfied with how the organization responds to complaints/grievances, irrespective of the final decision

Service Delivery Capability.

• The third component ‘Excellence in Service Delivery’, postulates that an organization can have an excellent performance in service delivery only if it is managing the key ingredients for good service delivery well, and building its own capacity to continuously improve delivery

Sevottam model provides a standard for providing public service delivery in a citizen centric administration. Those organisations adopting Sevottam model for service delivery needs to comply the 7 steps and ensure the formulation of 3 modules.

Recent Initiatives in Agriculture

Farmer FIRST
It is an ICAR initiative to enhance farmers-scientists contact with multi stake holders-participation. FIRST refers to Farm, Innovations, Resources, Science and Technology. The project focuses on enabling interaction of scientists with farm conditions and problems; exchange of knowledge between farmers and other stakeholders; integration of technology with different agro-systems;development of rural based institutions; and using the platform of the project having commodity institutions as partners to develop commodity specific contents for e-enabled knowledge sharing.

Mera Gaon – Mera Gaurav
It is launched by ICAR to provide farmers with required information, knowledge and advisories on regular basis. Under this scheme, groups of scientists will select villages and will remain in touch with that village and provide information to farmers on technical and other related aspects through personal visits or through telecommunication. The scheme enables 20,000 scientists of NationalAgricultural Research and Education System (NARES) to work directly in villages.

Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology (IIAB)
The Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology (IIAB) at Ranchi (Jharkhand) will be established
as a deemed University. Its foundation stone was laid in August 2014. The mandate of the Institute
would be to undertake multi-disciplinary basic research to develop crops for traits such as increased
yield, or increased tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress; to develop the highly trained manpower
required for fundamental research in agricultural biotechnology; to provide its research output to
breeders and developers in agricultural universities to develop the germ plasm, vaccines etc.

National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD)
NIHSAD, Bhopal is a premier institute of Indian Council of Agricultural Research for research on
exotic and emerging pathogens of animals. It came into existence in August 2014 as an independent
institute under ICAR from its original status as High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL),
a regional station of Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar. The institute has
contributed significantly by detecting many animal diseases of exotic origin and preventing them
from entering our country.

National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI)
NIVEDI, a unit of ICAR has been established at Bengaluru to study the changing pattern of emerging
and re-emerging animal diseases.

National Research Centre on Integrated Farming System
National Research Centre on Integrated Farming (ICAR-NRCIF) will come up in Bihar. The
mandate of the institute will be to conduct research on the development of location specific
integrated farming system models for diverse agro-ecological conditions specially flood and wetland
situation with emphasis on rice, sugarcane and banana which require more water.

National Agricultural Research & Education System (NARES)
NARES is a huge repository of knowledge and information on crop sciences, horticulture, animal
sciences, agricultural engineering, fisheries, agricultural extension, agricultural education and
resource management.

Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture (ARYA) Scheme
ICAR has initiated a programme on “Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture” to empower
youth in rural areas to take up agriculture, allied and service sector enterprises for sustainable income
and gainful employment in selected districts. It enables youth to establish network groups to take up
resource and capital intensive activities like processing, value addition and marketing. ARYA project
is implemented in 25 States through KVKs, one district from each State.

STUDENT READY
READY refers to “Rural and Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana”. Student READY is
a skill development initiative to strengthen students with skills to take up global challenges and also
to improve both their employability as well as ability to set up a venture.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
It is a central scheme that aims at providing irrigation facilities to every village in the country by
 converging ongoing irrigation schemes implemented by various ministries. It will focus on ‘end-to enddecentralised state-level planning and execution. This scheme has amalgamated three ongoing
programmes of three different ministries viz. Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme of the
Ministry of Water Resources; Integrated Watershed Management Programme of the Ministry of
Rural Development; and Farm water management component of the National Mission on
Sustainable Agriculture. For 2015-16, Rs.1,000 crore are allotted for the scheme. The funding
pattern between centre and states is 75:25 percent. In case of north-eastern region and hilly states it
will be 90:10.

Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana
Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (Traditional Farming Improvement Programme) has been
launched by Government of India to support and promote organic farming and thereby improving
soil health. This will encourage farmers to adopt eco-friendly concept of cultivation and reduce their
dependence on fertilizers and agricultural chemicals to improve yields. Government has made
budgetary allocation of Rs. 300 Crores for the same in the Union Budget 2015-16.

Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF)
ATIF is aimed at implementation of an appropriate common e-market platform to regulate 585
regulated wholesale markets in the states across the country.

National Agriculture Market (NAM)
NAM is envisaged as a pan-India electronic trading portal which seeks to network the
existing Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and other market yards to create a
unified national market for agricultural commodities.NAM will be implemented as a Central Sector
Scheme through Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF).

Price Stabilization Fund Scheme
To control the rising prices of agricultural commodities a Price Stabilization Fund of Rs. 500 Crore
for agricultural commodities was announced in the Union Budget 2014-15 with a view to mitigate
volatility in the prices of agricultural produce.

MIND_MAPs on Editorials

Current News for Prelims Environment,Geography & Climate Change

Three of India’s natural WHS face threat

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/Three-of-Indias-natural-world-heritage-sites-face-threat-from-harmful-activity-WWF/articleshow/51794852.cms

India’s three major natural World Heritage Sites – the Western Ghats, Sundarbans National Park and Manas Wildlife Sanctuary – are facing threats from harmful industrial activities like mining, according to a the survey ‘Protecting People Through Nature’ by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

What’s affecting them?

While ecology of Western Ghats covering six states – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala – is threatened by mining and oil and gas exploration, Manas Wild Life Sanctuary faces threat from dams and unsustainable water use.

• Sundarbans in West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh have been hit by various activities including unsustainable water use, dams, wood harvesting, over-fishing and shipping lanes.

Way ahead:

These iconic places face a range of threats, including climate change. Removing pressure from harmful industrial activity is therefore critical to increase the sites’ resilience.

Significance of world heritage sites:

• World Heritage sites are not just important environmentally, they also provide social and economic benefits.
• Two-thirds of natural sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List are crucial sources of water and about half help prevent natural disasters such as floods or landslides.
• WWF survey estimates that “11 million people – more than the population of Portugal – depend directly on World Heritage sites for food, water, shelter and medicine. Harmful industrial development poses a threat to these ecosystem services and communities that depend on them.”

UNESCO world heritage site:

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as of special cultural or physical significance.

• The list is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 UNESCO member states which are elected by the General Assembly.
• Each World Heritage Site remains part of the legal territory of the state wherein the site is located and UNESCO considers it in the interest of the international community to preserve each site.
• The List of recorded sites on the World Heritage now stands at 981 which include both cultural and natural wonders.
• Italy is home to the greatest number of World Heritage Sites with 50 sites.
  

Heat wave warning for Telangana

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/heat-wave-warning-for-telangana/article8468407.ece

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a heat wave warning for the next two days for Telangana.

• It has warned that heat wave conditions were likely to prevail over parts of Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Rangareddy, Khammam and Nalgonda districts.
• According to IMD, the State would have day temperatures hovering between 40 degree Celsius and 45 degree Celsius.

Heat Wave:

A heat wave is a combination of temperture and humidity for a prolonged period. It is an extended period of very high summer temperture with the potential to adversely affect communities.

• High temperture are often accompanied by high humidity, that the body cannot tolerate are defined as extreme heat. A heat wave is a very dangerous situation and major threat to lives.
• According to IMD, Heat Wave occurs when temperatures are greater than 4.5 degree Celsius above what’s usual for the region.

South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=138834

The Union Cabinet has given its nod for India adopting the statute of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) which will help in checking cross border wildlife crimes.

• The approval allows the country to become a formal member of SAWEN in order to strengthen ties with the member countries in controlling the trans-boundary wildlife crime through communication, coordination, collaboration, capacity building and cooperation in the region.

What is SAWEN?

SAWEN is a regional network comprises eight countries in South Asia –Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

• It aims at working as a strong regional intergovernmental body for combating wildlife crimes by attempting common goals and approaches for combating illegal trade in the region.

Significance of SAWEN:

The South Asia region is very vulnerable to illegal traffic and wildlife crimes due to presence of precious biodiversity and large markets as well as traffic routes for wildlife products in the region. The collaboration in harmonising as well as enforcing the wildlife protection in the region is considered very important for effective conservation of biodiversity.

How will this statute benefit India?

Now, India along with other member countries will take initiatives to bring “harmonisation and standardisation” in laws and policies to conserve fauna and flora and will also document the trend of poaching, illegal trade and related threats to the natural biodiversity.

• This will also strengthen institutional responses to combat wildlife crime by promoting research and information sharing, training and capacity building, technical support, sharing experiences and outreach and to encourage member countries to prepare and implement their national action plans in curbing wildlife crime.

Cabinet approves changes in bill on afforestation

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/developmental-issues/Cabinet-approves-changes-in-bill-on-afforestation/articleshow/51910214.cms

Details:

• The legislation will ensure expeditious utilisation of accumulated unspent amounts available with the ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), which is currently around `40,000 crore, and fresh accrual of compensatory levies and interest on accumulated unspent balance, which will be of the order of approximately `6,000 crore per annum, in an efficient and transparent manner.
• Apart from facilitating timely execution of appropriate measures to mitigate impact of diversion of forest land, utilisation of these amounts will also result in creation of productive assets and generation of huge employment opportunities in the rural areas, especially the backward tribal areas.
• The amendments include deleting some of environmental services for which credible model to assess their monetary value does not exist while it also provides for prior consultation with states for making a rule under it. The amendments provide for use of monies realised from the user agencies in lieu for forest land diverted in protected areas for voluntary relocation from protected areas.

About the Bill:

The CAMPA Bill is meant to promote afforestation and regeneration activities to compensate for forest land diverted to non-forest uses, by regulating and managing $5.3 billion (almost Rs.350 billion) collected over years.

• The union government in April 2015 approved the bill for introduction in parliament. However, it was rejected in theRajya Sabha, where the government is in minority.
• The bill basically envisages the establishment of a national Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) and state CAFs to credit amounts collected by state governments and Union territory administrations to compensate for the loss of forest land to non-forest projects.

NGT halts Tawang hydro-power project

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/bird-hit-ngt-halts-tawang-hydro-power-project/article8506412.ece

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has suspended the Union Environment Ministry’s clearance for the Rs. 6,400-crore hydro power project in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. The clearance by the centre was granted in 2012.

Why?

This move was particularly aimed at protecting the vulnerable black-necked crane in the region.

Background:

The project was planned on the Nyamjang Chhu river and was the largest of 13 hydro power projects to be built in the Tawang basin.

About the species:

• Black-necked crane is a species that breeds on the Tibetan plateau and migrates to Tawang for the winter.
• The bird, most commonly found in China, is legally protected in Bhutan and Indiaand is considered sacred to certain Buddhist traditions.
• It is rated as ‘vulnerable’ in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of endangered species.
• It is also listed in India’s Wildlife Act as a Schedule 1 species, which gives animals and birds the highest legal protection.

Other species that are found in the region include the red panda, the snow leopard and the Arunachal macaque Macaca munzala, a recently-described primate species in the area.

Primate species new to India discovered in Arunachal Pradesh.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/rare-primate-sighted-in-arunachal-pradesh/article8510529.ece

A new primate species in India has been discovered by a team of biologists and wildlife photographers during their bird watching trip to Arunachal Pradesh’s Anjaw district.

• With this, White Cheeked Macaque has become a new primate species in India.

Details:

• The White Cheeked Macaque, hitherto unknown in India, was actually spotted by the team last year, but it took almost a year to confirm.
• The White Cheeked Macaque differs considerably from all macaque species such as Raesus Macaque, Arunachal Macaque, Tibetan macaque and Assamese macaque.
• It has relatively hairless short tail, long and thick hair on its neck and chin-whiskers creating a white cheek, among other characteristics.
• White-cheeked macaques are threatened by illegal hunting and potential habitat loss.