WORKSHOP ON
THE STRATEGIES AND IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISMS
FOR ENVIS WIDE AREA NETWORK PROGRAMME
8th, 9th and 10th July 2002, Taj Residency, Visakhapatnam
Sponsored by
The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India
( A World Bank assisted Environment Management )
Capacity Building Technical Assistance Project (EMCBTAP))
The Workshop opened with the inaugural session which was
presided over by Prof. YC Simhadri, the Vice Chancellor of Andhra University,
Visakhapatnam.
Prof. P Sambandan, Director, National Ship Design and Research
Centre, the host organization welcomed the participants.
Dr. Sushma Choudary, IAS, Additional Secretary, Ministry
of Environment and Forests, Government of India and the Chairperson of
the Monitoring Committee of the World Bank Assisted EMCBTAP was the Chief
Guest at the Inaugural Session gave the inaugural address after lighting
the traditional lamp.
Shri S Ray, Director General, Central Statistics Organization,
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India
released the Proceedings Volume and background information document.
Shri Harijit Singh, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Environment
and Forests, Government of India presented the objectives of the workshop.
Shri Bandyopadhyay, Director, ENVIS, Ministry of Environment
and Forests, Government of India proposed a formal vote of thanks.
Ms. Naokia Simhadri, presented the momentos to the distinguished
guests on behalf of the organizing committee.
Prof. RV Rama Rao, Director, Workshop and Advisor, NSDRC
detailed the design and mechanics of the Workshop.
Dr. R Shailaja Rao of the Centre for Strategies for Sustainable
Development (CSSD) compared the programme.
Prof. P Sambandan, Director, NSDRC
and the Chairman of the Organizing Committee in his welcome address….
At the outset I would like to extend a warm welcome from our Centre, the National Ship Design and Research Centre functioning under the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India to all of you who have taken great trouble to be with us this morning.
In fact, we were thinking that the notice was very short and whether it would be possible for all of you to come to Visakhapatnam at such short notice.
Our Centre established under the Indo-Dutch agreement was essentially looking at Ship Design Construction and Supervision. Recently we have extended our areas of operation and we now have divisions specializing in Ports and Infrastructure, telecommunications, electronics, environment, network and automation, computerization and information technology and other areas. I am happy to inform you that we have received ISO Certification for all the divisions.
With my own expertise in Ship Design and Construction, I am actually a little far removed from the core areas of environmental concern and activity. However, in the recent times I have been looking at environmental issues in the ship design itself because of the new regulations that are being brought out by IMO and other International organizations. Shipping is an international activity.
The IMO regulations are mandatory to be implemented and these look at quality of waters in the ports channels as well as the quality of water in the ballast, the treatment and disposal of bilge, the availability of WHO quality drinking water on board and in fact protection of eco-sensitive areas like mangroves, wetlands from Ship Disaster. We now take all these in to consideration in the design of ships and shipping activity.
We are very thankful to Dr. Sushma Chowdary for having
given us an opportunity to participate in the network that is being established
under the World Bank assisted programme and also to organize this workshop.
We have requested STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) who have an
earth station at VEPZ to provide us a radio link so that we would be able
to provide a very good online service. I may mention here that we have
one of the most high level computer facility at the Centre and we are
now undertaking many net based system designs for the Ministry of Shipping
and other associated sectors. I look upon this opportunity to extend our
R&D in the field of environmental concern and we have also submitted major
proposals to IMO in this regard. I once again thank the Ministry of Environment
and Forests, Government of India for giving us a node under the Network
and I once again welcome all of you.
Prof. YC Simhadri, Vice Chancellor, Andhra
University in his presidential address .
Myself and my wife are indeed very happy to be here this morning and I thank the organizers for inviting us to participate in this important function. Prof. RV Rama Rao and Dr. Shailaja Rao, are very close friends of us from a very long time and it is the friendship based on love and affection. I have met Prof. Sambandan recently and I am happy to meet him again here as the Chairman of the Organizing Committee.
Environment is an all encompassing term and is not restricted to any branch of Science. Being a sociologist I would like to look at it from the point of view of social sciences. The reason being the impact on Environment has equally great impact on the human being located within that environment.
India’s environmental movement from the first UN Conference in Stockholm has been to stress on the fact of the rural poverty in the developing and underdeveloped countries. It is poverty which is a major factor in not achieving various goals detailed by the UN Conference as well as many others subsequently.
I am one of those who believe that the conservation of natural resources and protection of environment must go hand in hand to save the earth and preserve the landscape of today for the future generation.
A look at the abundant resources of India, an overwhelming part of which lies untapped, is enough to convince one that India’s poor live in a rich country. In fact one can even define poverty of the people in terms of the per capita unutilized resources.
I was informed that the environmental information system was launched by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India nearly two decades ago. I am also happy that the system takes cognizance of the human values as well as the importance of human beings in the generality of the database that is established under the system. This is a most important requirement particularly in the Indian context.
We have a department of environmental sciences in the College of Science and Technology and we have a division of Environmental Engineering in the Engineering College. The Andhra University has in the past undertaken a very massive project in which over 30 departments participated with the singular objective of detailing the environment of Viskahapatnam vis-à-vis the industrialization.
The Ministry may now consider similar R&D Programmes so as to assess the trends using that database as the bench mark. I would like Dr. Sushma Chowdary and other officers of the Ministry to explore this possibility. This would be a very unique study.
I have some plans for the University and one of them is to establish an inter-disciplinary school of Environmental Sciences. The University has many new disciplines like Biotechnology, Microbiology, Energy, Genetics and the core departments with very significant contributions in R&D and each of them could involve themselves in the school activity.
The location of the University is also very ideally suited for the study of Environment of different scenario we have the sea, we have the eastern ghats, we have the growing industrial city, we have sensitive areas and all these add to formation of strategic programme in the field of environment.
I am also planning to have a collaborative agreement between NSDRC and University to achieve and extend cooperation in this sector.
I am thankful to Prof. Sambandan, the Director, NSDRC for requesting me to be here and preside over this inaugural session. I wish the proceedings of the workshop all success.
I must express my deep sense of gratitude to Dr. Sushma Choudary for having taken the trouble and time to visit Visakhapatnam and give us her valuable observations which would set the trend for discussions at this workshop.
Dr. Sushma Chowdary, IAS, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests and Chairperson of the monitoring committee of the World Bank Assisted EMCBTAP Programme in her inaugural address …
I am indeed happy to be here at this workshop which is being organized at a critical juncture to promote the operational aspects of the ENVIS Network Programme which is a premier programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. This is the part of the capacity building exercise which is being initiated with world bank assistance.
ENVIS had till recently 24 centres in various subject areas and the focal point was in the Ministry and this is now targeted to be enhanced to 90 nodes. The objectives of Envis centres and the focal point include providing national environmental information service relevant to present needs and capable of development for the future challenges, building storage, retrieval and dissemination capabilities and promoting national and international cooperation and liaison for exchange of environment related information.
The Ministry has launched a major initiative under the World Bank – assisted EMCBTAP for expanding the network and the reach through involvement of additional institutions / organizations in State Governments and the academic, corporate and NGO sectors. The project aims at broadening the scope of Envis for including varying subject areas, themes, local conditions, issues and data needs of the country relating to environment through enlargement through enlargement of the participating institutions and induction of modern methods of information and communication technologies.
I would also like to point out that establishment of ENVIS Network, preparation of State of Environment Report and such other activities in the Ministry are to be attempted on priority as Environmental Planning in the development sector is becoming increasingly necessary.
The lack of attention to environmental factors in development planning has led to significant environmental degradation, irreversible loss of precious ecological and other natural resources, and in many instances proved hazardous to life and property resulting in , unanticipated social costs, loss of amenity and quality of life. In addition, when development planning concentrated on overall economic growth, socio-economic disparities have led to the creation of urban slums and attendant negligence of basic environmental amenities such as water supply and sanitation. Disparities between urban and rural area
have intensified migration from rural areas to urban slums.
The coming World Summit is another important event in the coming month wherein the initiative being launched by the Government have to be given proper perspective. We have always taken the stand that poverty and socio-economic issues have a great bearing in regard to environmental concern and in any initiative to be launched towards environmental conservation.
There has been tremendous development in the field of communication and information technology and there is a immediate need to integrate and utilize these technologies for improving online access and connectivity between each of the ENVIS Centres and also to provide reliable update information on various aspects of environment to the public.
I am particularly happy to be here and the design and structure of the workshop as detailed by Prof. RV Rama Rao, should be able to provide a good forum for interaction between various ENVIS Centres, for introduction of new technologies and for establishing the ENVIS Network on very firm line.
I particularly thank NSDRC for having come forward to host this workshop and for making all the arrangements. We are particularly happy that Prof. Simhadri, the Vice Chancellor of Andhra University has agreed to preside over this morning inaugural session and is concerned for environment and for his appreciation of these problems is indeed laudible.
Shri Harjit Singh, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India in his remarks on the perspectives of the workshop….
I would like to take this opportunity to inform and we are proud of it in the Ministry, that the ENVIS Programme which was started nearly two decades ago has expanded to 80 nodes presently covering very many subject areas and all the states in the country.
It is indeed a point to reflect that the first workshop during the early stages of formulation of workshop was conducted under the Directorship of Prof. RV Rama Rao, nearly two decades ago and we are happy that the second workshop which is now being conducted when the ENVIS network has reached the stage of considerable magnitude and dynamism again here at Visakhapatnam and again under the Directorship of Prof. RV Rama Rao.
I must report to this august audience that the progress we have achieved in such rapid expansion in the very recent times is essentially due to the dynamism and the direction given by Dr. Sushma Choudary, our Additional Secretary who takes great pains in monitoring every activity associated with ENVIS. We thank you madam for your insight and the vision in regard to this programme.
ENVIS received major inputs through its two decades of progress from the moment it was initiated entirely by the Ministry. The SNDP Programme gave us consolidation and now the World Bank Assisted Capacity Building exercise has enabled us to expand the network to its present level.
We are indeed happy that the participation has been excellent at this workshop and we thank all the participants for having taken the trouble to attend the workshop.
Mr. S Ray, Director General, Central Statistics Organization, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the documentation prepared for the workshop and observed ….
It is indeed a pleasure for me to be here this morning to participate in this important activity and I am particularly thankful to the organizers for requesting me to release the proceedings and the documentation.
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation which is responsible for collection and collation of data and its precision through its various programmes and field activities is also the custodian of data. Over the years we have made great stride to improve the data collection system as well as processing system. We have strived to ensure that very high level of accuracy and reliability is maintained.
I am also happy to be here as we have recently started the programme on Environmental Statistics and already we have brought out two compendiums at the National Level. I know Prof. Rama Rao and his work as he carried out a project for us to prepare a model for environmental statistics at the District Level.
We are interacting very much with the Ministry of Environment and Forests, in our endeavour to bring out the Environmental Statistics and Mr. Bandyopadhyay of the Ministry is on our expert committee.
I am very happy to be here and release the proceedings.
Mr. Bandyopadhyay, Director, ENVIS Programme, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India in his vote of thanks….
It is my duty now to propose a formal vote of thanks in respect of this inaugural session. We are very grateful to Prof. YC Simhadri, the Vice Chancellor of Andhra University and Ms. Noakia Simhadri for having spared the time to be with us this morning and preside over the inaugural session. We record our appreciation sir for your kind concern in regard to environmental issues and for your thought provoking address. The Ministry would be happy to examine the suggestion of yours in regard to the project and we would be shortly reverting to you on this subject.
Our greatful thanks go to Dr. Sushma Choudary, our Additional Secretary and Chairperson of the Monitoring Committee of the World Bank Assisted Programme for her very inspiring address at this workshop. Her dynamism and vision are responsible for what is ENVIS today. We thank you for all your significant advises and guidance.
It is indeed very nice of Shri Ray, Director General of CSO who have agreed to be here with us and release the documentation. Mr. Ray has been instrumental in promoting environmental statistics in CSO and we at ENVIS would be definitely utilizing the databases created.
I thank Mr. Harjit Singh for his remarks and perspectives of this workshop and I thank Prof. Sambandan, Director, NSDRC for taking up the responsibility in such a short notice to organize this workshop and for guiding to Prof. RV Rama Rao.
We are most grateful to all the participants from various ENVIS Centres who have taken the trouble at such short notice to be here this morning and I am very confident that the design and structure of the workshop as given by Prof. RV Rama Rao would benefit the participants and the ENVIS Programme very much.
This session was chaired by Mr. Harjit Singh and Co-Chaired
by Mr. Bandyopadhyay. Shri NV Rao, DGM, NSDRC acted as the rappoteur.
Shri Harjit Singh made a detailed
audio-visual presentation on the ENVIS Programme. The audio visual presentation
is on the website.
The World Bank assistance was a shot in the arm for expanding the network to the present level. He mentioned about the amalgamation of SNDP Programme with the World Bank Assisted Programme and the country as such has gained both these initiatives. He informed about the website and about the various initiatives launched by the ENVIS focal point.
A number of observations were made by the participants and the replies were given by Chairman and the Co-Chairman.
Shri SK Bhattacharya , Ms. Sanskriti Menon, Mr. LK Banerjee, Dr. Trivikramji, Dr. Kavi Kumar, Mr. GK Pujari, participated in the discussion.
The discussion was on assistance for bringing out reports in local language, assistance for collection of primary data, authentication of data, translation to regional languages, infrastructure and particularly VSAT connectivity and such other points.
It was clarified that the ENVIS Centres are free to utilize the financial allocation given under data collection to collect marginal amounts of primary data if required essentially to fill the gap in the information database of the subject areas of the respective centres.
Dr. Sushma Choudary intervened to inform the house that various schemes to the Ministry could be utilized through appropriate applications for grants for collecting primary information.
It was also clarified that process delays in release of funds are essentially not because of laxity at the Ministry level but essentially due to non-furnishing of information by the respective centres as per the formats circulated.
This technical session was presided over by Dr. Sushma Chowdary and Dr. Aditya Mukherjee, an environmental consultant was the rappoteur.
Two lead presentations were made at the session. One by Dr. Sujeet Kishan of Ernst Young and Prof. RV Rama Rao of NSDRC.
Dr. Sujeet Kishan in his lead presentation covered the various processes involved in the environmental impact assessment, preparation of environmental management plans. The audio visual of Dr. Sujeet Kishan is on the website.
Prof. RV Rama Rao made a theme presentation on the conceptualization and development of web based software for establishing environmental attribute database and a spatial decision support system titled ENVIRONS. The audio visual presentation is on the website.
Mr. AR Rao, Managing Director, Spatial Technologies presented a working module of spatial GIS software and its capability. He also mentioned about the spatial vector software used for vectorization of raster images.
Mr. KK Banerjee, Mr. SK Bhattacharya, Mr. Vinod Mathur, Dr. AK Pal, Dr. Trivikramji, participated in the discussion in respect of the presentation of Dr. Sujeet Kishan.
Mr. Sanjay Patil, Mr. Sujeet Kishan, Mr. Harjit Singh participated in the discussion in respect of the presentation made by Prof. RV Rama Rao.
It was clarified that there is a need for preparation of regional sector wise industry based EIA report and to prepare these reports suitable databases have to be established. If there is a requirement of virgin forest land being converted to reservoir site, alternatives must first be explored in respect of the site as well as technological implications so as to conserve the forest area. The EIA database to be established in the four seasons except in monsoon.
Biodiversity has to be integrated with air and water quality databases. It is desirable to conduct the public hearing at the inception stage of the project and not at the completion stage of the EIA report as it would be very difficult to relocate the project having expended considerable finances. It is true that public hearing can only be conducted after sufficient data has been generated. But some solutions have to be formed in this regard.
Prof. Amitabh Kundu, intervening in the debate have mentioned about the development of check list as a priority requirement.
Prof. Kundu also mentioned about the reliability of data to be taken into account to be included in the database. He also mentioned that the data that is available for access should have an identifiable source from which it was collected.
He also mentioned about the need to compute indices which would help in drawing various conclusions for Environmental Planning. It is not desirable to place data without proper registration of the source.
It was clarified that the software ENVIRONS presented by Prof. RV Rama Rao could be adopted to any area or a region and the exercise carried out by NRSA in West Bengal could be looked into for possible interaction.
It was also mentioned that by proper encoding of data retrieval and dissemination could become easy and GIS is an important tool in this regard. The scale of maps that are used in the database is for blocks at 50,000, villages at 8,000 and districts at 250,000 which are the scales on which these base maps are generally available.
Dr. Sushma Choudary in her comments mentioned that the State of Environment Report has to be prepared on top priority. She mentioned that socio-economic issues presently dominate the environmental concerns and these should be given a proper role and position in the over all database that is proposed to be established. Access to data has to be examined. She desired that ENVIRONS and the ENVIS network to be utilized in the preparation.
The session was chaired by Prof. Amitabh Kundu. Shri Mohan Rao of NSDRC was the rappoteur.
Shri Kulshrestra, Additional Director General, Central Statistics Organization made a natural resource audit.
He mentioned that the objective of integrated economic-cum-environmental planning is to prepare good plans which direct wise investment decisions, thus contributing to sustainable development and benefiting the whole population. A ‘good plan’ is one which enables there by economic, social, natural resource, and environmental objectives to be satisfied; identifies development strategies which enable all the objectives to be satisfied; and identifies development and projects which are consistent with and facilitates the stated objectives and strategies.
He detailed the various conceptualization in the system of National Accounts and the newly given importance to natural resource accounting. He also mentioned about the various initiatives taken and the development of the systems at the Ministry.
Prof. Amitabh Kundu in his remarks mentioned about the imperative requirement of environmental concerns to be given due weightage and referred to the project activity being carried out in Goa in respect of natural resource accounting. He mentioned about the need to develop models which could be on the lines of input and output models which are generally deployed by economists.
There has emerged in the recent times a clear need to modify the traditional methodology and approach of project evaluation adopted by development planners and decision-makers as they are based purely on economic considerations. It is imperative that environmental dimension be incorporated into the development planning process from the outset.
The session was chaired by Prof. Subramanyam of IIT, Delhi and Ms. Seema Bose and Ms. Jyothi of NSDRC were the rappoteurs.
A number of ENVIS Centres presented in brief, their activities and constraints they are facing in the operation of ENVIS Centres. Prof. Subramanyam presiding over the session ensured that opportunity was given to most of the centres to present their view points and the requirements in the operation of the ENVIS Programme. She ensured large geographical coverage as well as thematic spread in the presentation.
Various issues have been raised during the discussion and presentation which are listed :
Confirmation of staff since the staff is on contractual basis. The
turn over is very high.
All the centres desired increase in budgetary allocation.
There was considerable dealy in receipt of funds and this is causing
inconvenience.
A revolving fund is suggested to alleviate the gap in the receipt
of funds.
Centralized online library electronic journal in full text format
could be developed.
There is a need for upgradation of computers and the lap top for
traveling staff.
There is a requirement for budget to bring out news letters in local
language for establishment of the website and stenographic assistance
for translation.
There is need for UPS to be provided in view of the heavy power shut
downs.
There is a need for more space in some centres.
There should be exchange of publications between various centres.
There is a need for intervention from the ministry to inform other ministries, and state governments about ENVIS centres.
There should be uniformity in the news letters being brought out by various centres.
Connectivity must be improved and provision made in the budget.
The various audio-visual presentations made by the respective centres are on the website.
