Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is an Indian government ministry. This ministry is headed by Secretary Rank senior most IAS officer. The ministry portfolio is currently held by Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.[3]

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Emblem of India
Agency overview
Formed1985 (1985)
JurisdictionGovernment of India
HeadquartersIndira Paryavaran Bhavan, Jorbagh Road, New Delhi[1]
Annual budget₹2,870 crore (US$360 million) (2021–22 est.)[2]
Ministers responsible
Agency executives
  • Leena Nandan, IAS, Secretary (EF&CC)
  • C. P. Goyal, IFoS, Director General of Forests and Special Secretary
Websitemoef.gov.in
Wildlife of India
Biodiversity
Lists
Protected areas
Lists
Conservation
Projects
Acts of Parliament
Organisations
National
International
Related topics
Lists

The ministry is responsible for planning, promoting, coordinating, and overseeing the implementation of environmental and forestry programmes in the country. The main activities undertaken by the ministry include conservation and survey of the flora of India and fauna of India, forests and other wilderness areas; prevention and control of pollution; Indian Himalayan Environment and its sustainable development;afforestation, and land degradation mitigation. It is responsible for the administration of the 1947 national parks of India.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the cadre controlling authority of the Indian Forest Service (IFoS), one of the three All India Services.

History

Environmental debates were first introduced into the national political agenda during Indira Gandhi's first term as Prime Minister of India. The 4th Five-Year Plan (1969–74), for example, proclaimed "harmonious development [...] on the basis of a comprehensive appraisal of environmental issues." In 1977 (during the Emergency) Gandhi added Article 48A to the constitution stating that: "The State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country." The same decree transferred wildlife and forests from state list to concurrent list of the constitution, thus giving the central government the power to overrule state decisions on that matter. Such political and constitutional changes prepared the groundwork for the creation of a federal Department of Environment in 1980, turned into the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 1985.[4] Although tackling climate change was already a responsibility of the ministry, its priority was raised when in May 2014 the ministry was renamed to the current title of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.[5]

Administration

The forest administration is based on demarcation of states into Forest Divisions which consists of Forest Ranges. Forest Beats under Ranges are the smallest unit of administration hierarchy. Natural features on the field form the boundaries of each beat which has an average area of around 16 km square.[6]

Organisation

Ministers
No Portrait Name Term of office Prime Minister Party
1 Rajiv Gandhi 31 December 1984 22 October 1986 1 year, 295 days Rajiv Gandhi Indian National Congress
2 Bhajan Lal 22 October 1986 14 February 1988 1 year, 115 days
3 Ziaur Rahman Ansari
(Independent Charge
till 25-Jun-1988)		 14 February 1988 02 December 1989 1 year, 291 days
4 V. P. Singh 02 December 1989 23 April 1990 142 days V. P. Singh Janata Dal
5 Nilamani Routray 23 April 1990 10 November 1990 201 days
6 Maneka Gandhi
(Independent Charge)		 21 November 1990 21 June 1991 212 days Chandra Shekhar Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
7 Kamal Nath
(Independent Charge)		 21 June 1991 15 September 1995 4 years, 86 days P. V. Narasimha Rao Indian National Congress
8 Rajesh Pilot
(Independent Charge)		 15 September 1995 16 May 1996 244 days
9 Atal Bihari Vajpayee 16 May 1996 01 June 1996 16 days Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bharatiya Janata Party
10 H. D. Deve Gowda 1 June 1996 29 June 1996 28 days H. D. Deve Gowda Janata Dal
11 Jai Narain Prasad Nishad 29 June 1996 21 February 1997 237 days
12 Saifuddin Soz 21 February 1997 19 March 1998 1 year, 26 days H. D. Deve Gowda
I. K. Gujral		 Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
13 Suresh Prabhu 19 March 1998 13 October 1999 1 year, 208 days Atal Bihari Vajpayee Shiv Sena
14 T. R. Baalu 13 October 1999 21 December 2003 4 years, 69 days Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(9) Atal Bihari Vajpayee 21 December 2003 09 January 2004 19 days Bharatiya Janata Party
15 Ramesh Bais

(Independent Charge)

 09 January 2004 22 May 2004 134 days
16 A. Raja 23 May 2004 15 May 2007 2 years, 357 days Manmohan Singh Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
17 Manmohan Singh 15 May 2007 22 May 2009 2 years, 7 days Indian National Congress
18 Jairam Ramesh
(Independent Charge)		 28 May 2009 12 July 2011 2 years, 45 days
19 Jayanthi Natarajan
(Independent Charge)		 12 July 2011 21 December 2013 2 years, 162 days
20 M. Veerappa Moily 21 December 2013 26 May 2014 156 days
21 Prakash Javdekar
(Independent Charge)		 26 May 2014 05 July 2016 2 years, 40 days Narendra Modi Bharatiya Janata Party
22 Anil Madhav Dave
(Independent Charge)		 05 July 2016 18 May 2017 317 days
23 Dr. Harsh Vardhan 18 May 2017 30 May 2019 2 years, 12 days
(21) Prakash Javdekar 30 May 2019 7 July 2021 2 years, 38 days
24 Bhupender Yadav 7 July 2021 Incumbent 1 year, 313 days
Prakash Javadekar meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry at COP21 in Paris.

Initiatives

In August 2019 Ministry of Environment released the Draft National Resource Efficiency Policy. It is a set of guidelines which envisions a future with environmentally sustainable and equitable economic growth. The policy is guided by principle of reduction in primary resource consumption; creation of higher value with less material through resource efficient circular approach; waste minimization; material security and creation of employment opportunities and business model beneficial to cause of environment protection and restoration. It was based on the report of NITI Aayog and European Union titled, The strategy on resource efficiency. The policy seeks to set up a National Resource Efficiency Authority with core working group housed in the Ministry. It also plans to offer tax benefits on recycled materials and soft loans to set up waste disposal and material recovery facilities.[8][9]

As of 8th December 2021, some states have received more than Rupees 47,000 crore for afforestation. The states are directed to channel this amount as compensatory afforestation which shall be used for plantations, assisted natural forest regeneration, forest fire-prevention, pest and disease control in forest, and expedite soil and moisture conservation works.

References
  1. "Contact Us | Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Government of India". Moef.gov.in. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  2. "MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE DEMAND NO. 27 : Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change" (web). Indiabudget.gov.in. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  3. "Following Anil Daves death, Dr Harsh Vardhan gets additional charge of environment". Indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  4. Sanjeev Khagram (2004) "Dams and Development", New York, Cornell University Press, ISBN 978-0-8014-8907-5
  5. "Ministry of environment and forests undergoes a nomenclature change". The Economic Times. 28 May 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  6. Jhala, Yadvendradev Vikramsinh; Qureshi, Qamar; Nayak, Anup Kumar, eds. (July 2020). Status of tigers, copredators and prey in India, 2018 (First ed.). National Tiger Conservation Authority, Government of India, New Delhi, and Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. ISBN 8185496501.
  7. "About ENVIS".
  8. "Comments called for on the Draft National Resource Efficiency Policy Released". Press Information Bureau. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  9. "EU-India joint declaration on resource efficiency and circular economy(PDF)". Consilium.europa.eu. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
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