Isra-Mart srl: Indian prime minister throws weight behind green reforms

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India's prime minister Manmohan Singh has today outlined his government's plans for a more robust environmental protection regime backed by a new green watchdog tasked with cracking down on illegal or environmentally damaging developments.

Speaking as part of his annual Independence Day address, Singh confirmed plans, that he announced last month, to launch a new independent National Environment Appraisal and Monitoring Authority (NEAMA) that would aim to take controversial planning decisions out of the hands of elected officials.

The Indian government has faced criticism from green groups in recent years for waving through projects with significant environmental impacts without carrying out adequate impact assessments – a practice that Singh has said must end.

The prime minister today again stressed the need to revamp agricultural infrastructure and land ownership rules in order to enable more sustainable and low carbon development.

"Preserving our environment even as we develop rapidly is a huge challenge for us," he said. "Climate change poses a threat to both our development processes and our natural resources."

He said that in addition to enacting the new NEAMA watchdog, the government had also established eight "missions" to tackle climate change, including the high-profile Solar Mission, which aims to deliver 20GW of new solar energy capacity by 2020.

He also added that the government had recently set up the National Ganga River Basin Authority to help protect and clean the river Ganga, and established the National Green Tribunal "for quick disposal of cases involving environmental issues".