STATE OF ENVIRONMENT REPORTS TO LINKAGE VARIOUS ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES WITH ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Thirty-two out of thirty five States and Union Territories have published their State of Environment Reports. The overall objective of the SOE reporting is to highlight the linkages of various economic activities and house-hold and Government functions with the environmental issues creating baseline data. This involves systemic data collection, compilation, analysis along with networking with various Government Departments and other Organisations. Inaugurating the National Workshop on State of Environment today, Shri Siddharth Behura, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, said, it is very satisfying to learn about the progress of 32 reports. Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Lakshdweep Islands have yet to fulfill this requirement of National Planning by mainstreaming environment in policy making and strategy formulation. The Ministry will continue its efforts to convince them to prepare this report, he added. The SOE reporting is initiated during Tenth Plan with the financial help of Central Government and technical support with the help of National Host Institutions. During the Tenth Plan a network of Institutions at State level for providing the required information has been developed. SOE reports will become important document for planning formulation and distribution of financial resources from the Planning Commission. During Eleventh Plan efforts will be made to achieve the objective of making their information similar and statistically consistent as well as comparable in concepts definitions and norms. Giving key-note address, Shri Sudhir Mittal, Joint Secretary , Ministry of Environment and Forests, said that it was anticipated that through the SOE reports, State Governments and UT Administrations will be able to integrate environmental dimension in their social, economic and sustainable development planning. Four National Host Institutes viz. The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi; The Development Alternatives, New Delhi; The Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad and The Environment Protection Training Research Institute, Hyderabad, were engaged for sensitizing, capacity building and Assistant States and Union Territories in preparation of SOE reports. Representatives from State Governments and Union Territories and Officers from Ministry of Environment and Forests and TERI are participating in the Workshop.
