The Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India

The Ministry of Environment & Forests, of the Government of India, is responsible for the planning, promotion, co-ordination and overseeing the implementation of environmental and forestry programmes in India. The Ministry is also the Nodal agency in the country for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The principal activities undertaken by Ministry of Environment & Forests, consist of conservation & survey of flora, fauna, forests and Wildlife, prevention & control of pollution, afforestation & regeneration of degraded areas and protection of environment, in the frame work of various national legislations and international conventions. India is a signatory to all the major international environmental conventions, and the Ministry of Environment is the nodal agency for most of them such as the Convention of Biological Diversity, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Control of Desertification and the Ramsar Convention.

The main tools utilized for this include surveys, impact assessment, control of pollution, regeneration programmes, support to organizations, research to solve solutions and training to augment the requisite manpower, collection and dissemination of environmental information and creation of environmental awareness among all sectors of the country's population.

The organizational structure of the Ministry covers a number of Divisions, Directorate, Board, Subordinate Offices, Autonomous Institutions, and Public Sector Undertakings.

The Government of India has taken many measures to control water pollution and improve the water quality in all inland waters since the Stockholm Conference. India was among the first countries to adopt a legislation, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act in 1974. Soon after the formation of a separate Ministry and India’s joining the Ramsar Convention in 1981, the Ministry set up a National Wetlands Committee and initiated a programme of wetland conservation. In 1985, the Ministry established the Central Ganga Authority chaired by the Prime Minister, and launched the Ganga Action Plan for restoring the water quality in River Ganga through a series of projects aimed at interception, diversion and treatment of domestic wastewater effluents in many major towns in the Ganga river basin. Later in 1995, the activities for improving water quality were extended to all major rivers in the country under the National River Conservation Plan, and Central Ganga Authority was renamed as National River Conservation Authority. The NRCP us administered and implemented by the National River Conservation Directorate, headed by an Additional Secretary and Project Director. Now, the NRCD is also responsible for the administration and implementation of the National Lake Conservation Plan.

For more information on the Ministry's Policies and Programmes, visit http://envfor.nic.in

In early 1980s, the newly formed Ministry of Environment and Forests started devoted considerable attention to the conservation of inland aquatic ecosystems. A National Committee on Wetlands was constituted as early as 1983. The Committee initiated a survey and inventory of important wetlands in the country. It was reconstituted as National Wetland Management Committee in March 1987 under the chairmanship of the Secretary of the Ministry. The Committee identified several lakes and wetlands for their conservation and management. Currently, some of the very important lakes such as Wular, Tso Moriri, Harike, Loktak, Chilika and Vembnad have been designated as wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

Lately, the Ministry recognized the need for a separate programme for the conservation of lakes, particularly the Urban Lakes because of their special need for prevention and control of pollution by domestic sewage from urban areas. The National Lake Conservation Plan was, however, launched formally in 2001. Conservation measures have been initiated 21 lakes in 8 states. The most prominent among these are Lake Powai in Mumbai, Dal Lake in Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir), Lakes Nainital and Bhimtal in Uttaranchal, Lakes Ooty and Kodaikanal in Tamilnadu, Lake Mansagar in Jaipur, Lake Mirik in West Bengal, and several smaller lakers in Karnataka. Two major lakes, Upper Lake (also called Bhoj) in Bhopal and Hussainsagar in Hyderabad have been supported by the respective state governments.

The Ministry has undertaken an exercise, with the assistance of the National Institute of Ecology, for the identification and prioritization of lakes for support under the NLCP. The State Governments have also been asked to undertake similar exercise for prioritization within their states. Some states have set up state level Lake Development Authorities for the conservation of specific lakes or all the lakes within the state.

The conservation and management plans include, besides the interception and treatment of wastewaters before their entry in to the lakes, a variety of activities such as: catchment improvement, shoreline protection, in-lake treatments (aeration, deweeding, desiltation, bioremediation and biomanipulation) and improvement of recreational facilities in and around the lake in order to ensure public interest and participation.