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AGENDA ITEM NO. I: Welcome Address By Secretary (E&F), Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee on ENVIS

AGENDA ITEM No. 2 : Brief presentation by Director (EI), Member Secretary of the Committee regarding the present status of ENVIS network.

AGENDA ITEM No. 3: Confirmation of the minutes of the second meeting of the reconstituted ENVIS Advisory Committee. The Minutes are at Appendix-1.

AGENDA ITEM No. 4 : Policy Issues.

4.1.  Reconstitution of the ENVIS Advisory Committee —



In the ENVIS Advisory Committee Meeting held on 18.9.2002, it was recommended that the Advisory Committee of the ENVIS Scheme and the Monitoring Committee of the EMCBTA Project of the World Bank be merged and ENVIS Advisory Committee reconstituted a fresh. Accordingly, the Committee was reconstituted on 25th February 2003. Consent of all the experts were solicited along with nominations from institutions . All the experts have consented to be members of the re-constituted Committee . In view of the changes in the Ministry , the Committee has again been re-constituted. A copy of the order constituting the ENVIS Advisory Committee is at Appendix-2.

4.2.  EMCBTA Project & Modified SFC of the ENVIS Scheme:-



With a view to expand the Environmental Information Network in the country, a Sub-component under the EMCBTA Project was initiated with the support of World Bank in January 2002. 85 Environmental Information Nodes were set up under the project. Of the 85 ENVIS Nodes established , 24 are housed in existing ENVIS Centres, 30 in State Government Departments and the remaining in Institutions/organisations, and NGOs on specific subjects. The 25 ENVIS Centres have been established under the Plan Scheme initiated in 1982 and are funded regularly . The other 60 ENVIS Nodes now established under the World Bank Project received financial support under the EMCBTA project which will come to a close on 30th June 2004. In order to sustain the network of ENVIS Nodes established beyond June 2004, a project proposal for the sustenance of the ENVIS Coordination Cell and a Standing Finance Committee Memo modifying the existing ENVIS Scheme for funding of ENVIS Nodes have been prepared. Details of the project formulated for ENVIS Coordination Cell and the modified SFC is at Appendix 3 & 4 respectively.

4.3.  Status of Staff of the ENVIS Centres.



Time and again reference has been received from various ENVIS Centres regarding status of staff employed in the ENVIS Centres. Following are the conditions stipulated in the MOU signed with the institutions with respect to staff recruited for ENVIS Centres:

“The ENVIS Centre will take steps for recruitment of staff and procurement of equipment etc. so that functioning of the Centre would start as soon as possible. The terms and conditions of services of the staff of the Centre would be governed by the rules prevailing in the organization/institution in which the Centre is located. The Ministry of Environment will not have any liability in such matters since the staff will be borne on the strength of the organization/institution locating the Centre.”

As the ENVIS Centres are being funded regularly and have been in existence for over a decade and some over 2 decades under the Plan Scheme, a question has arisen regarding the status of ENVIS employees in the institution/organisations where the ENVIS Centres are housed. The said issue was earlier considered in a meeting of Scientific Advisory Committee held in 1995 , at that point following were the suggestions made:

“Centre should ensure that the salary structure etc of the employees of the ENVIS Centre are at par with their host institutions. They may submit specific proposal to the ENVIS Secretariat for consideration.”

The Committee was informed that a decision has been taken to provide budgetary support on the basis of man hours instead of providing regular staff to the ENVIS Centres. At Appendix-5 is a letter from CPCB which clearly indicates that the ad-hoc status of the employees in the ENVIS Centres requires re-look and a decision needs to be taken.

4.4.  Computerization of information & Creation of database.



With the launching of websites by over 58 ENVIS nodes, the need for computerization of information and creation of data base have assumed importance. A need therefore has been felt to support computerization of information , creation of data bases to enhance the information resources and to convert existing information and available statistics into electronic form . We may therefore take a view to provide separate funding to ENVIS Centres and nodes of Rs. 1 to 2 lakhs for each Centre. However, this could be released only on receipt of a specific proposal in this regard. .

AGENDA ITEM No. 5: Report on the follow-up of the recommendations of the first and second meeting of the reconstituted ENVIS Advisory Committee.

       The Details are at Appendix-6.

AGENDA ITEM No. 6: AGENDA ITEM No. 6 : Consideration of new proposals received by the Ministry for setting up of ENVIS Centres.
       Details of the proposal received along with the proposed subject area, brief summary of the proposal and comments are at Appendix-7.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 7: Presentation by ENVIS Centres and Nodes on the progress of their activities in the order mentioned below:

1. Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) - Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

2. Centre for Advanced Studies in Marine Biology (CASMB) Annamalai Unniversity, Parangipettai

3. The Energy Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi

4. Development Alternatives (DA), New Delhi

5. World Wide Fund for Nature – India (WWF), New Delhi

6. Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur

7. Madras School of Economics (MSE), Chennai

8. National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore

9. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune

10. Gujarat Cleaner Production Centre (GCPC), Gandhi Nagar

11. Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad

12. Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), Bangalore

13. National Solid Waste Association of India (NSWAI), Mumbai

14. Institute for Ocean Management (IOM), Chennai

15. Centre for Environmental Studies (CES), Anna University, Chennai

16. National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad.

17. Centre for Mining and Environment(CME), Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad

18. School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi

19. School of Environmental Sciences (SES), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi

20. Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Kolkata

21. Bombay Natural Histroy Society (BNHS), Mumbai

22. Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun

23. Indian Environmental Society (IES), Delhi

24. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), New Delhi

25. National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow

26. Sulabh International Institute of Health and Hygiene, New Delhi

27. National Ship Design and Research Centre (NSDRC), Visakhapatnam

AGENDA ITEM No. 8: Any other items with the permission of the Chair.