During the valedictory function of an international seminar, ‘Global Environment and Disaster Management,' convened by the Indian Supreme Court, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared the plans of the government to introduce an independent regulator solely to manage and provide environmental clearances.
He has offered this solution amid criticisms on the delay on environmental clearances that strained the economical and industrial growth of the nation.
He added that the ‘National Environment Appraisal and Monitoring Authority,’ an independent regulatory body will lead the process of offering environmental permissions. He said that the full time body will be adequately staffed to introduce more object oriented standards of analysis. He has suggested for launching a successful lawful regulatory set up to defend the environment by taking care in not including the complicated license and permit raj setup of the pre-1991 period.
He stressed the need for introducing a system to protect the intellectual property rights and to offer sufficient motivations to invest in the eco-friendly technologies ensuring that they are affordable to the poor countries. He explained the various environmental protection steps taken by his government including that of the national Green India Mission to make 10 million hectares of forest land green.
He underlined the intention of the government to generate more than 20,000 MW solar power by the year 2020 and the mission of the government to develop standards for green buildings and include them in the municipal rules of the government.
Singh expressed optimism that the water conservation and sustainable agriculture methods introduced under the governments mission will result in efficient water usage and increased yield of dry land agriculture. He concluded saying that the steps taken by his government will lead to low level of carbon growth and make Indians as responsible global citizens.