One of the key mandates of NITI Aayog is to foster co-operative federalism through structured support initiatives. In this spirit, last year, the Prime Minister had constituted three sub-groups of Chief Ministers to advise the central government on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, Skill Development and Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. This was a case of a reversal of the past approach whereby the erstwhile Planning Commission directed the states on how they should spend the funds provided by it. After deliberations and consultations with different stakeholders, all three sub-groups of Chief Ministers have submitted their reports. While some recommendations have been implemented, others are under consideration.
Taking cue from this process, NITI Aayog recently experimented with a new approach for facilitating the resolution of issues involving states and central ministries. For most projects that states implement, there are permissions and clearances that they must obtain from central ministries. Many times, the process of granting these permissions and clearances get tied up into one or the other bureaucratic hurdle. Poor communication can sometimes lead to unnecessary delay for long periods of time. Bringing the two sides together on a single platform can help resolve these matters swiftly and to the satisfaction of all involved.
Recognizing this problem, NITI Aayog recently took the initiative to seek resolution of several pending issues of the State of Telangana with seven different central ministries. Initially, there were discussions between the State of Telangana government and the Aayog that led to the identification of some 20 issues on which the former needed answers, clearances or permissions from the central ministries. The Aayog first sent a note flagging these issues to the officials in the ministries at the appropriate levels in advance and then with mutual consent called a meeting of the senior state and central government officials under the chairmanship of its Vice Chairman. This process ensured that officials from both Central Ministries and the State Government came prepared.
The 20 issues were spread across ministries of Coal; Petroleum and Natural Gas; Power; Environment, Forests and Climate Change; Culture; Finance and Rural Development. With the benefit of senior officials of all ministries present, each issue could be discussed face-to-face between senior officials of the Government of Telangana and the relevant ministry officials. To the great satisfaction of both sides, one by one, all issues were either resolved or brought much closer to resolution. Some of these issues had been pending for more than six months. The best aspect of the process was that both sides discussed matters in good faith yielding ground where it was warranted and explaining satisfactorily when the outcome desired by the other side was not feasible. The entire meeting took less than two hours and required nudging by the Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog in only a few instances.
Three examples give the flavor of the nature of the issues facing Telangana and outcomes achieved. In implementing the rural housing scheme, Telangana has developed its own online beneficiary payment system that captures information on additional loans taken by beneficiaries and materials such as cement supplied to them. These features are not captured in AwaasSoft, the newly introduced payment system of the Ministry of Rural Development. The state has had difficulty in getting clarity on whether and how it could use its own system without putting the central government requirements in jeopardy. Upon discussion, a solution was found with the Ministry of Rural Development agreeing to Telangana using its own software for disbursement of benefits as long as it fed the relevant data into the national portal through web-server.
The second example concerned the applications by Telangana for allocations of natural gas for its Karimnagar and Shankarpally gas based power projects submitted to Government of India in November 2010 and April 2011, respectively. But the issue remained unresolved. Discussions resulted in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas informing the state officials that domestic production of natural gas fell far short of the demand. But luckily the price of imported gas had dropped by a wide margin recently and the State Government could import gas from using the existing infrastructure of Government of India. This was acceptable to Telangana officials and the matter was resolved.
The final example involves Bhadradri Thermal Power Project. The Government of Telangana had requested the Ministry of Power in August 2015 to accord approval for establishing 4×270 MW coal based thermal power project with subcritical technology. The Ministry of Power responded that it had adopted the policy of denying permissions to plants with subcritical technology during the 13th Five Year Plan. The state of Telangana argued that they were entitled to clearance of the project because they would complete the project within the 12th Five Year Plan. While NITI Aayog supported the state’s position, the Ministry of Power stood ground that it had already been denying permission to all subcritical plants. The impasse was, however, resolved when the official from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change stated that even if the Ministry of Power granted permission on the ground that the project would be completed before the 13th Plan, environmental clearance will not be given. The official advised the State to adopt supercritical technology to ensure that the necessary environmental clearance would be granted. The matter was thus resolved.
These examples illustrate the unnecessary delays can happen on account of very simple problems that can be readily resolved if the two sides come together at a single platform to speak face-to-face in good faith. The role of NITI Aayog was to make this happen. There are, of course, symmetrical problems that central government projects face in the states and there is scope for taking up those as well at forums such as this one. NITI Aayog stands ready to serve as the forum for similar future consultations to resolve two-way issues between other states and the central ministries. It makes no sense to delay projects on account of matters that are easily resolved by coming together face-to-face.
Thus completing the circle of co-operative federalism complete,in its true sense.
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- Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund.
- LEAF is supported by transnational corporations (TNCs) like Unilever plc, Amazon.com, Inc, Nestle, Airbnb, Inc as well as Emergent, a US-based non-profit.
- The world lost more than 10 million hectares of primary tropical forest cover last year, an area roughly the size of Switzerland.
- Ending tropical and subtropical forest loss by 2030 is a crucial part of meeting global climate, biodiversity and sustainable development goals. Protecting tropical forests offers one of the biggest opportunities for climate action in the coming decade.
- Tropical forests are massive carbon sinks and by investing in their protection, public and private players are likely to stock up on their carbon credits.
- The LEAF coalition initiative is a step towards concretising the aims and objectives of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism.
- REDD+ was created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It monetised the value of carbon locked up in the tropical forests of most developing countries, thereby propelling these countries to help mitigate climate change.
- It is a unique initiative as it seeks to help developing countries in battling the double-edged sword of development versus ecological commitment.
- The initiative comes at a crucial time. The tropics have lost close to 12.2 million hectares (mha) of tree cover last year according to global estimates released by Global Forest Watch.
- Of this, a loss of 4.2 mha occurred within humid tropical primary forests alone. It should come as no surprise that most of these lost forests were located in the developing countries of Latin America, Africa and South Asia.
- Brazil has fared dismally on the parameter of ‘annual primary forest loss’ among all countries. It has lost 1.7 mha of primary forests that are rich storehouse of carbon. India’s estimated loss in 2020 stands at 20.8 kilo hectares.
- Between 2002-2020, Brazil’s total area of humid primary forest reduced by 7.7 per cent while India’s reduced by 3.4 per cent.
- Although the loss in India is not as drastic as in Brazil, its position is nevertheless precarious. For India, this loss is equivalent to 951 metric tonnes worth carbon dioxide emissions released in the atmosphere.
- It is important to draw comparisons between Brazil and India as both countries have adopted a rather lackadaisical attitude towards deforestation-induced climate change. The Brazilian government hardly did anything to control the massive fires that gutted the Amazon rainforest in 2019.
- It is mostly around May that forest fires peak in India. However, this year India, witnessed massive forest fires in early March in states like Odisha, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram among others.
- The European Union’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service claimed that 0.2 metric tonnes of carbon was emitted in the Uttarakhand forest fires.
- Implementation of the LEAF Coalition plan will help pump in fresh rigour among developing countries like India, that are reluctant to recognise the contributions of their forest dwelling populations in mitigating climate change.
- With the deadline for proposal submission fast approaching, India needs to act swiftly on a revised strategy.
- Although India has pledged to carry out its REDD+ commitments, it is impossible to do so without seeking knowledge from its forest dwelling population.
Context:-
At the recently concluded Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund plan that shall be offered to countries committed to arrest the decline of their tropical forests by 2030.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]What is LEAF Coalition?
Why LEAF Coalition?
Brazil & India
According to the UN-REDD programme, after the energy sector, deforestation accounts for massive carbon emissions — close to 11 per cent — in the atmosphere. Rapid urbanisation and commercialisation of forest produce are the main causes behind rampant deforestation across tropical forests.
Tribes, Forests and Government
Disregarding climate change as a valid excuse for the fires, Indian government officials were quick to lay the blame for deforestation on activities of forest dwellers and even labelled them “mischievous elements” and “unwanted elements”.
Policy makers around the world have emphasised the role of indigenous tribes and local communities in checking deforestation. These communities depend on forests for their survival as well as livelihood. Hence, they understand the need to protect forests. However, by posing legitimate environmental concerns as obstacles to real development, governments of developing countries swiftly avoid protection of forests and rights of forest dwellers.
For instance, the Government of India has not been forthcoming in recognising the socio-economic, civil, political or even cultural rights of forest dwellers. According to data from the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs in December, 2020 over 55 per cent of this population has still not been granted either individual or community ownership of their lands.
To make matters worse, the government has undertaken systematic and sustained measures to render the landmark Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 ineffective in its implementation. The Act had sought to legitimise claims of forest dwellers on occupied forest land.
Various government decisions have seriously undermined the position of indigenous people within India. These include proposing amendments to the obsolete Indian Forest Act, 1927 that give forest officials the power to take away forest dwellers’ rights and to even use firearms with impunity.
There is also the Supreme Court’s order of February, 2019 directing state governments to evict illegal encroachers of forest land or millions of forest dwellers inhabiting forests since generations as a measure to conserve wildlife. Finally, there is the lack of data on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths among the forest dwelling population;
Tardy administration, insufficient supervision, apathetic attitude and a lack of political intent defeat the cause of forest dwelling populations in India, thereby directly affecting efforts at arresting deforestation.
Way Forward
Tuntiak Katan, a global indigenous leader from Ecuador and general coordinator of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, aptly indicated the next steps at the Climate Summit:
“The first step is recognition of land rights. The second step is the recognition of the contributions of local communities and indigenous communities, meaning the contributions of indigenous peoples.We also need recognition of traditional knowledge practices in order to fight climate change”
Perhaps India can begin by taking the first step.