[Administration, IWS Unit, IFS Cadre Management, Public Grievance Cell, Vishisht Vaigyanik Purskar, NGO Cell, Use of Hindi, Civil Construction Unit, Plan and Co-ordination]
The Ministry at its headquarter is presently having a total strength of 1083 personnel in various groups including those in National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board (NAEB) and the National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD). A statement showing the strength of various groups as well as the reservation of posts for SC/ST/OBC is given in Table-14.
Table -14 Reservation of Posts for SCs, STs, and OBC in this Ministry (including NRCD and NAEB)
Sl Group Sanctioned No. in Scheduled % of SC Scheduled % of ST OBC % of OBC No. Strength position Castes employees Tribes employees employees
Group 'A' 197 180 13 7.2% 7 3.9% 1 0.6% Group 'B' 300 245 27 11% 9 3.7% 2 0.8% Group 'C' 364 306 57 18.6% 16 5.2% 16 5.2% Group 'D' Excluding Safaiwala 194 182 58 31.8% 16 8.8% 12 6.6% Safaiwala 28 25 25 100%
Total 1083 938 180 48 31
Personnel Policies
Under the modified Flexible Complementing Scheme (FCS), involving a two tier system of evaluation for review/assessment of scientists for their promotion, a total of 33 scientists of the Ministry including its subordinate offices were screened till 31.12.2002 and five of them have been finally found fit for promotion after interview. Results of interview are awaited in respect of 16 of these scientists which are expected to be finalized shortly.
During the year, 911 Parliament Questions pertaining to various aspects were dealt with by the Ministry. 485 question in the Lok Sabha and 426 questions in the Rajya Sabha were answered. The questions covered a wide range of issues with which the Ministry is concerned, prominent among them being conservation of wild life, pollution related issues, preservation and extension of forest cover, environmental clearance of development and industrial projects, bio-diversity, genetically modified crops, animal welfare etc.
During the year four meetings of the Consultative Committee of Members of Parliament attached to this Ministry were held. A variety of subjects which fall under the purview of this Ministry were discussed. Further four visits of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology and Environment & Forests to various parts of India were arranged. The Committee studied a number of Organisations under the Ministry.
Internal Work Study Unit (Including O&M)
O&M Activities
The Internal Work Study Unit (IWSU) of the Ministry continued its normal activities aimed at ensuring timely action by various sections on records management, maintenance of memory and retrieval aids and strict compliance of various provisions of the Manual of Office Procedure, O&M Inspection Programmes for the Ministry as well as its attached/subordinate and autonomous organizations was drawn up and follow up action for rectifying the defects pointed out in the inspection reports was taken.
Record Management Activities
With a view to have proper environment in the workplace, and to ensure efficient space utilization which is critical to a healthy work culture in any organization. A Special drive on Records Management was launched for a month in September, 2002 during which 1,195 files were reportedly recorded, 2431 files were reviewed out of which 703 files were retained and 1728 files were weeded out by various sections/division of the Ministry.
Review of the Existing Channel of Submission and final level of disposal of cases
In pursuance of the instructions issued by Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances and provisions contained in the Manual of Office Procedure, a review of existing instructions contained in the compendium issued in 1996 was undertaken. On the basis of the feed back received from the various sections/divisions the existing compendium has been revised. This is to be issued shortly.
Brochure on the Items of work handled by various sections/divisions
The brochure on distribution of work amongst various sections/divisions of the Ministry which was last brought out in the year 1999, was reviewed and revised in order to incorporate the changes which have taken place in the work allocation within the Ministry. The revised ‘Brochure’ is to be issued shortly.
Modernisation of the Department Record Room of the Ministry
Under the scheme launched by Government of India to modernize the Government offices, the Department Record Room of the Ministry has been modernized by installing the compactors fixing of ACs and floor glazed tiles. After installation of compactors, the storage capacity of the Department Record Room has increased significantly.
Indian Forest Service (IFS) Cadre Management
Ministry is the "Cadre Controlling Authority" for the Indian Forest Service (IFS), an all India Service. This Service consists of 24 State Cadres including three Joint Cadres namely the Assam-Meghalaya, Manipur-Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram, Union Territories (AGMUT). Present authorized strength of the Service is 2756.
The work relating to the recruitment to the Indian Forest Service, induction through promotion from the State Forest Service Cadres, Cadre Reviews for revising the composition and strength of IFS of various Cadres, allocation of I.F.S. probationers to various State cadres, determination of year of allotment of Promotee officers and inter-seniority, selection/appointment of I.F.S. personnel against Central Deputation Reserve forestry posts, Central Deputation Secretariat positions under Central Bodies including Indian council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun. Indian Institute of forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, finalization of service matters like post-retirement benefits, intercadre transfers and deputations, management of AGMUT Cadre including promotions/transfers and postings and other related service matters are dealt in the Indian Forest division in the Ministry.
During the year, Cadre Review meetings were conducted and completed revising the strength and composition of six States. Cadre Review proposals of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal were received and are under examination. Thrity-two direct recruit officers on the basis of IFS Examination, 2001 were inducted into the Service and their probationary training has commenced at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun. Twenty four State Forest Service officers under IFS (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations were inducted into the Service during the year. The Selection Committee meetings were held during 2002 in respect of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu & West Bengal to consider appointment of State Forest Service Officers to the Indian Forest Service.
Twenty four IFS officer who were promoted from the State Forest Service under the IFS (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1966 were imparted Professional Upgradation Skill training in two batches at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun.
A Grievance Cell has been functioning in the Ministry to attend to the complaints of public regarding environmental matter. JS (Admn.) has been nominated as Public Grievance Officer of this Ministry.
The particulars of the Public Grievance Officer of this Ministry are as under :
Joint Secretary (Admn.)
Room No. 418 (4th Floor)
Paryavaran Bhavan,
CGO Complex, Lodi Road,
New Delhi- 110 003
Tel:24361613
E-mail : ddverma@nic.in
The general public can meet the Public Grievance Officer every Wednesday from 10.00 AM to 1.00 PM. Apart from this, all the officers of the level of Deputy Secretary and above have also been advised to observe every Wednesday as Meetingless Day and meet the general public from 10.00AM to 1.00PM.
The main function of the Cell is to ensure timely redressal of public grievances by taking up the matter with the concerned authorities such as District Magistrates, Municipal Corporations, Pollution Control Boards, State Governments etc. Most of the complaints relate to:
This award was instituted in 1991-92 as an incentive to Group ‘A’ Scientists of the Ministry and its associated formations. The award consists of a cash prize of Rs. 20,000/- and is awarded to two Scientists every year
The Ministry with a view to handle various matters relating to Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) working in various fields of Environment has established an NGO Cell. Following are the major activities of NGO Cell :
A recreation club in the Ministry has been set up to encourage the employees of the Ministry for social functions, sports, dramatic, library and such other activities. The functioning of the Recreation Club is monitored by the Management Committee, elected by the members of the club for a period of 2 years. The new Management Committee has been constituted on 16th December, 2002. The main objectives of the club is to encourage social functions, sports, dramatic, literary and such other activities. During this year, the Cricket team of this Ministry took part in the Nayudamma tournament held in Lucknow from 18th to 20th October, 2002. The team won the trophy in the tournament 4th time in succession. The following teams from this Ministry have also participated in the inter ministry tournaments organized by the Central Civil Services Cultured & Sports Board :
In athletics, following officials of this Ministry have also participated and were adjudged winners :
In order to improve the progressive use of Hindi in the Official work in the Ministry, necessary directions were issued to officers by conducting inspections of Sections in the Ministry, its subordinate offices and through meeting of Official Language Implementation Committee. This effort has resulted in improving the progressive use of Hindi in the Ministry as well as its subordinate offices. The percentage of work being done in Hindi during the period in the Ministry was 61% in Region ‘A’, 46% in Region ‘B’, 34% in Region ‘C’.
The meetings of the official language implementation committee of the Ministry were held regularly during the year and important directions were given to the officers regarding improvement in use of Hindi in official work. Actions have also been taken to implement the decision which were taken in the meetings.
The Meetings in the Hindi Advisory Committee of the Ministry, were also held under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Minister and necessary follow-up actions have also being completed.
Hindi Fortnight
Hindi Fortnight was held in the Ministry between 16th September to 30th September, 2002 with the issuance of an appeal from the Secretary regarding use of Hindi in the official work. The following competitions were also held.
In all these competitions, an amount of Rs.92,300/ were given as awards to the 136 officers/employees. These awards were distributed by Special Secretary in a special ceremony held for this purpose, with a view to encourage more and more officers/employees to participate in such competitions.
During this period, the 3rd Sub-Committee of Parliament of Official Language inspected the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). As regards to the assurances given to the Committee during the inspection, necessary action is being taken to fulfil the same.
Medini Puruskar Yojana
In order to encourage the authors who have written books in Hindi originally on subjects relating to environment, pollution, wildlife, cleaning of national rivers and water quality etc. the Ministry has been administering Medini Purskar Yojana. The amount given as awards in respect of best books written in Hindi under this scheme is given below:-
First Prize Rs.25,000/-
Second Prize Rs.20,000/-
Third Prize Rs.15,000/-
Consolation Prize Rs.10,000/-
Twenty three books were received under this Scheme during the year and the books selected by the Evaluation Committee for awarding the Prizes are as follows:
Name of Book Author’s Name Amount of the Prize Charak Sanhita ke Jeev Jantu Shri Romesh Bedi Rs.25,000/- Plastic Pradushan Shri Nishant Singh Rs.20,000/- Vanikaran Dr. Sewa Singh Sangwal Rs.15,000/- Pani De Gurdhani De Shri Sunir Kumar Chaturvedi Rs.5,000/- Boya Ped Babool ka Shri Dinesh Kumar Mishra Rs.5,000/-
Award Scheme of Noting/Drafting in Hindi
The Noting and Drafting incentive scheme of the Government of India is also being implemented by this Ministry. To evaluate the claims received from the various officers and staff of this Ministry, NAEB and NRCD have constituted evaluation committees and as per the recommendations of the committee, the prizes were given.
Organising Hindi Workshop for Officers/Employees
Special Hindi workshops were conducted in Ministry during the period for its officers/employees so that the use of Hindi in official work should improve.
"Paryavaran" Magazine
Paryavaran Magazine in Hindi is brought out regularly. This Magazine carries scientific and technical articles sent by the specialists, besides other material given by the officers/employees of the Ministry. Compliance of the instruction issued by the Department of Official Language, Ministry of Home Affairs, were carried out fully in respect of the publication of this Magazine. This is a special achievement of the Ministry as it has gained adequate popularity on the basis of the articles published in it.
It was decided to have a separate construction unit within the Ministry, being a scientific ministry, for better coordination of execution of works. The Civil Construction Unit was created in 1987. This Unit caters to construction work for all the main and attached offices under the Ministry such as Botanical Survey of India, Zoological Survey of India, Forest Survey of India, National Museum of Natural History, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Animal Welfare Division and Autonomous bodies funded by the Ministry like, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Indian Plywood Research and Training Institute, Central Pollution Control Board and Central Zoo Authority. A number of office buildings, laboratories, museums and residential quarters have been completed at Almora, Dehradun, Jodhpur, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Delhi, Mysore, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Yercaud, Hyderabad, Shimla and Chhindwara.
There are three divisions looking after construction activities. Two divisions are located at Delhi for works in Northern Region and one is located at Bangalore for works under Southern Region. The works under Western Region and Eastern Region are executed through CPWD and monitoring is done by this unit. To have effective control on construction activities, the sub-divisions are located at Delhi, Shimla, Dehradun, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Allahabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Calicut and Coimbatore.
The use of timber has been stopped in Civil Construction Unit and its substitutes are being used in all construction works in order to have better environment. Also to have better conservation of electric power, low powered CFL fittings are being used to all common places and solar water heating system is used in hostels and office buildings at high altitudes.
Major works (above Rs. 25 lakhs) completed upto November 2002 during the year 2002-2003 and those under progress and planning are as under :
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Sl. Name of Work Cost (Rs. No. in lakhs) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 C/o Retaining wall with fencing on the valley side of BSI complex along the North Sikkim Highway at Gangtok 55.94 2 C/o Chimpanzee enclosure at NZP New Delhi 74.16 3 C/o 8 nos. type IV & 4 nos type II quarters for HFRI at Shimla 109.94 4 Providing & installing street light fittings & laying of cables in the entire campus of IBG Shibpur Howrah 65.41 5 C/o Boundary wall in the remaining 4th side of NBG at Noida 63.40 --------------------------------------------------------------------
(A) Botanical Survey of India
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Sl. Name of Work Cost (Rs. No. in lakhs) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 C/o Herbarium cum office building and residential quarters for Central Circle of BSI at Allahabad 816.60 2 C/o Residential quarters including development for BSI at Coimbatore 378.26 3 Resurfacing of roads of IBG Kolkata 34.14 4 Providing & installing & commissioning of A.C. plant for CNH building of IBG at Kolkata 150.38 5 Providing fencing with MS grill at the river front of IBG Kolkata 51.69 6 Bulk water supply at Arunachal field station of BSI at Itanagar 52.68 7 C/o Compound wall along road for Dhanikhari experimental garden cum arboretum of BSI at Port Blair 38.93 8 C/o Farm house, Orchid house & Nursery shed garage & store at Dhanikhari experimental garden cum Arboretum for BSI at Port Blair 50.42 9 C/o Security boundary wall & gate around BSI campur at Shillong 35.09 10 Providing security fencing & security lights around the experimental garden of BSI at Shillong 86.34 11 C/o Internal roads i/c street lights at BSI Barapani Shillong 30.71 (B) Zoological Survey of India 1 C/o Residential Quarters & Development work of Estuarine Biological Station ZSI at Gopalpur – on – Sea, Berhampur (Orissa) 149.72 2 C/o Office cum Lab Building for EBS, ZSI at Gopalpur – on – Sea, Berhampur (Orissa) 101.42 3 C/o Office cum Laboratory Building for ZSI at Hyderabad 301.81 4 Providing bulk water supply for ZSI at Itanagar 45.42 5 C/o Office cum lab building for ZSI at Jabalpur 283.35 6 C/o Additional floor on the existing office and lab building of ZSI at Shillong 62.76 7 C/o 20 nos Residential Quarters for ZSI at Solan 265.18 (C) National Museum of Natural History 1 C/o Canteen cum transit facility, garages, workshop i/c development at RMNH (Phase III) at Bhopal 128.08 2 Providing Central air conditioning of RMNH at Bhopal 101.67 3 C/o Auditorium & Galleries etc. for RMNH (Phase II) at Bhubaneshwar 315.74 (D) Strengthening of Forestry Division of MOEF 1 C/o 17 nos Residential Quarters for staff of Western regional office of M/o E&F at Bhopal 150.00 2 C/o Office Building for regional office of M/o E&F at Bhopal 108.19 3 C/o 30 nos Staff Quarters for southern regional office of M/o E&F at Bangalore 285.00 (E) Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy 1 C/o Faculty cum Library & Information Centre, Executive Hostel & 2 nos Type VI quarters for IGNFA at Dehradun 559.94 2 (a) C/o 2 nos tube well, pump house & water mains for IGNFA at Dehradun 56.00 (b) O/H tank 27.00 3 C/o Conference & Working group rooms community center, extension to guest house 6 nos type I quarters & 125 KVA DG set at Dehradun 106.92 (F) Forest Survey of India 1 C/o 24 nos res. Quarters for FSI at Bangalore 216.00 2 C/o Office Building for FSI eastern zone at Salt Lake at Kolkata 312.00 (G) National Zoological Park 1 C/o African Elephant Enclosure at NZP New Delhi 78.68 --------------------------------------------------------------------
III. Works under planning stage
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Sl. Name of Work Cost (Rs. No. in lakhs) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Providing Central air-conditioning to RMNH at Bhubaneshwar 137.00 2 C/o Canteen cum Transit Facility & Garages at RMNH (Ph III) at Bhubaneshwar 144.00 3 C/o Office cum Laboratory Building and Residential Quarters for ZSI at Calicut 587.00 4 C/o 23 nos Residential Quarters for ZSI at Jabalpur 181.00 5 C/o 15 nos Residential Quarters for IGNFA at Dehradun 89.00 6 C/o Community Centre for regional office of Ministry of Environment & Forests at Bhopal 26.42 7 C/o 15 nos Residential Quarters in sector 43A for staff of regional office of Ministry of Environment & Forests at Chandigarh 94.93 8 C/o 16 nos (Type I-4, Type II-4, Type III-4, Type IV-4 nos) resi. qtrs for RFRI at Jorhat 153.00 9 C/o Main office building (Ph-I) for IFP at Ranchi 59.00 10 C/o 6 nos type IV quarters for HFRI at Shimla 78.05 11 C/o New Training Facility Building for CPCB at Delhi 390.00 12 C/o Boundary wall peripheral drain & inspection path in front of RFRI Campus at Jorhat 99.59 13 External & bulk services for the training Institute building for AWD at Ballabhgarh - 14 C/o Moat & enclosure of White Tiger at NZP, New Delhi 26.08 --------------------------------------------------------------------
The Plan Co-ordination Division is responsible for the co-ordination of all plan schemes and programmes of the Ministry in close association with the Planning Commission. This involves preparation, monitoring and review of Five Year Plans, Annual Plans and Annual Action Plans of the Ministry. The Division also looks after the monitoring of progress reports under the 20-Point Programme (Points 16 & 17).
An amount of Rs. 3013.84 crores and Rs. 5945.00 crores was allocated to the Ministry for its Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) and Tenth Five Year Plan (2002_2007) respectively. The Annual Plan 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 of the Ministry provided for outlays of Rs. 543.70 crores, Rs 704.09, Rs. 700.00 crores, Rs. 850.00 and Rs.800.00 crores respectively. The current year annual Plan, 2002-2003 has been allocated an outlay of Rs. 990.00 crores. The Sector-wise break up of approved outlays is given in Table-15:
Ninth Plan and Annual Plan Outlays - Ministry of Environment and Forests
(Rs. crores) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sl. Sector Outlay IX Plan X Plan Annual Plan No. Outlay Outlay 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Environment 887.00 1200.00 198.00 210.91 191.50 229.90 214.65 229.00 2. National River 766.84 1670.84 109.00 191.70 200.00 210.05 190.95 295.00 Conservation Dte. 3. Forests & Wildlife 860.00 1775.00* 144.70 209.13 215.00 258.05 257.20 265.00 4. National Afforestation 500.00 1300.00 92.00 92.35 93.50 152.00 137.20 201.00 & Eco-development Board ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total 3013.84 5945.00 543.70 704.09 700.00 850.00 800.00 990.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ * Includes Rs. 175.00 Crores for Animal Welfare
As against the above approved Outlays, the actual expenditure, year-wise and sector-wise is given in Table-16.
Actual Plan Expenditue - Annual Plans
(Rs. crores) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sl. No. Sector Outlay 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003* -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Environment 115.37 144.00 118.11 166.48 196.92 207.81 2. National River 99.44 107.48 157.24 121.58 297.37 296.45 Conservation Dte. 3. Forests & Wildlife 122.70 174.24 178.10 204.40 261.85 236.02 4. National Afforestation 69.19 72.05 86.45 115.10 137.41 184.72 & Eco-development Board 5. Animal Welfare 15.00** -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 406.70 497.77 539.90 607.56 893.55 940.00 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Anticipated expenditure
A graphical depiction of progress of plan outlays / expenditure during the period 1997-98 to 2002-2003 is given in Fig.-88. Similarly, sectoral shares in Annual Plan 2002-2003 are given in Fig.-89.
The progress of plan schemes are reviewed regularly in the Ministry and necessary corrective action is taken to ensure proper and meaningful deployment of resources with a view to building up the capabilities of the State Governments in Forestry and Environment Sector, for programmatic aspects and variegated Centrally Sponsored and Central Sector Schemes. Thus the total expenditure during the Ninth Five Year Plan is expected to be Rs. 2945.48 crores.
For the Annual Plan 2003-2004, Ministry has been allocated an outlay of Rs. 1010.00 crores as per following sectoral break-up:
(Rs. crores) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Environment 210 2. National River Conservation Directorate 295 3. Forests & Wildlife 265 4. National Afforestation and Eco development Board 220 5. Animal Welfare 20 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 1010 --------------------------------------------------------------------