Nagpur: Even as forest, wildlife and climate change demand greater focus following the pandemic, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not even make a mention of it in her budget speech.
Moreover, greens are disappointed over meagre allocation for the forestry and wildlife sector. On one hand, India’s tiger population has increased by 33% to 2,967 from 2014, but there is poor fund allocation for the development of wildlife habitat (WCCB, Project Tiger & Project Elephant).
Satpuda Foundation president Kishor Rithe said, “Total demand under development of wildlife habitat for 2021-22 is just Rs414 crore, which is not enough as compared to Rs473 crore in 2019-20. This may be the total budget of the forest department of any big state. Apart from this, the demand for forestry and wildlife sector was Rs672 crore in 2019-20, which has been reduced to Rs586 crore in 2021-22.”
“This shows that actual demands by MoEFCC have not been accepted as per the requirement,” said Rithe.
The total allocation to autonomous institutes under MoEFCC has also been reduced. The institutes include WII, GB Pant Himalayan Institute of Environment & Development, Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education, Indian Plywood Industries Research & Training Institute. The allocation of over Rs305 crore is lower than the previous allocation of Rs340 crore.
Suresh Chopne, founder of Green Planet Society, said, “The budget is disappointing for the environment, climate change and pollution mitigation. The FM allocated Rs2,217 crore only to mitigate air pollution and solid waste in 42 cities.”
“The minister did not even mention in her budget speech about climate change and forestry sector. If we do not mitigate environmental problems and save forests, it will have a huge impact on the GDP,” said Chopne.
“It is a mixed bag for the environment sector. Hydrogen energy mission for generating hydrogen out of green power sources and allotment of Rs1,000 crore to SECI and Rs1,500 crore to IREDA are steps towards promoting renewable energy. For preserving aquatic biodiversity an outlay of Rs4,000 crore has been made. The budget neglects forest & wildlife,” said Green Vigil founder Kaustav Chatterjee.
On reduced air quality, Ajay Singh Nagpure, director, air quality, WRI India, said, “The budget saw a drop in the funds for air quality improvement from Rs4,400 crore in 2020. Incidentally, last year’s funds remained largely unutilized by the urban local bodies. This year, a consorted effort by the states and cities to develop capacity will help use the allocated funds efficiently and impact on-ground change.”