Towards Sustainability: Stories from India 68 A Foundation for Sustainable Development Building institutions and capacities 20 That India was home to the Flying Gecko (Ptykozon lionotum) was not known until a student of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) discovered this rare reptile during research undertaken as part of the requirements for his Master’s degree. The Post-Graduate programme in Wildlife Science is one of WII’s activities for capacity-building for wildlife conservation. WII was set up at Dehra Dun in 1982 with a mandate to train government and non-government personnel, carry out research, and advise on matters of conservation and management of wildlife resources. Since its inception, WII has been engaged in various activities towards wildlife management and has been involved in many of the country’s wildlife conservation  and research programmes. The Institute has been strengthened by international and bilateral collaborations for institutional building, faculty development, infusion of modern technology and creation of a scientific infrastructure. These collaborations with wildlife organizations, scientific institutions and universities are worked out at the national as well as international levels. WII now attracts persons from across the South Asian region for training and education in wildlife management and conservation. The establishment of institutions to provide expertise and skilled human resources in different sectors has been one of the key features of India’s progress towards sustainable development. The institutions span the wide gamut of subject areas necessary for sustainable development. The leaders of modern independent India envisioned a country with indigenous capacities, and in keeping with this vision, the country is in the process of building up capacities to provide a better quality of life to all its citizens. Agriculture has been one of the core areas of development in India. Constant inputs from R&D activities have greatly benefitted the country through an overall increase of agricultural production. The Indian Council of  Agricultural Research (ICAR) is one of the key institutions that has been fulfilling the needs of Indian agriculture through establishing a variety of institutions and programmes. Established in 1929, the Council was re-organized in 1965 and 1973, during which period the spectacular results of Green Revolution were obtained. The huge extent of ICAR’s operations can be judged by the fact that it now encompasses 46 Central Research Institutes, 4 National Bureaux, 10 Project Directorates, 27 National Research Centres, 90 All India Co-ordinated Research Projects, 261 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (Agriculture Science Centres) and 8 Trainers’ Training Centres.  Additionally, 29 Institutions as Catalysts of Change
Greening of Formal Education and Raising Public Awareness 69 agricultural universities have been established in the country to provide the necessary human resource for scientific agricultural development. Agriculture being the most important sector in India, such a wide network of offices and projects facilitates R&D inputs suited to the specific needs of the farmers. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) helps realize the objective of promoting science and its application for sustainable development. Research and development inputs in a variety of fields are being facilitated by forty institutes of CSIR. Research in diverse fields such as drug development, biotechnology, building research, chemical and botanical research, environmental engineering, industrial toxicology etc. is being undertaken by these institutes. More than 10,000 scientific and technical professionals have undertaken pioneering research in these organizations. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world. The Council undertakes research to support the national health priorities through 21Research Institutes/Centres addressing specific diseases and 6 regional medical research centres. Besides extramural research and fellowship programmes are undertaken by the Council. To meet the requirement of expert engineering professionals and developing state-of-art indigenous technologies, Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) were set up during the period 1951-63, under an Act of the Parliament. IITs are among premier institutes in the world engaged in enhancing scientific and technological skills. Over the period of more than four decades since the IIT system came into existence, it has established a world-wide reputation for excellence in undergraduate engineering education and faculty research. Research undertaken at IITs includes issues related to sustainable development in an Indian context using GIS, remote sensing, energy auditing, planning for land use, wasteland development, groundwater potential and allied fields.  For proper planning and co- ordinated development of the technical education system throughout the country, the Government of India established the All India Council for Technical Education. It monitors qualitative growth of technical education in relation to planned quantitative growth and proper maintenance of norms and standards. The areas covered by technical education include education, research and training in the fields of engineering and technology, architecture, town planning, management, pharmacy and applied arts and crafts. Centres of Excellence Recognizing  the need for specialist  institutions to undertake cutting-edge work on various aspects of the environment, the Government of India adopted an unusual strategy to fulfill this need. Rather than  creating  new institutions which would  think of programmes it would undertake, find people to do them, build up systems, capacities and infrastructure, it was decided that the Government  would enter into partnerships with NGOs or others who were already doing related programmes and had demonstrated excellence in the task. The Government would provide the support to enable these institutions to work at a larger scale. Beginning with a partnership with the Nehru Foundation for Development to set up the Centre for Environment Education in 1984, today the MoEF has eight Centres of Excellence to strengthen awareness, research and training in priority areas of environmental science and management, in areas as diverse as mining and ornithology. These are Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad, CPR Environmental Education Centre (CPREEC), Chennai, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Bangalore Centre for Mining Environment (CME), Dhanbad Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE), New Delhi The Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI), Thiruvananthapuram Chennai Centre for Economics, Chennai Many of these institutions are today not only making a difference nationally, but are also setting the pace for regional and international programmes.
Towards Sustainability: Stories from India 70 Disseminating Information The Environmental Information System (ENVIS) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, is a network of over 25 centres situated in different parts of the country. ENVIS has the responsibility of disseminating information on various aspects of the environment. The ENVIS focal point is in the Ministry, and it coordinates the activities of all the centers. ENVIS centres collect, collate, store, retrieve and disseminate information on the specific subject area allotted to them. Besides strengthening the database and responding to various national and international queries related to their subject areas, the ENVIS Centres carry out a variety of activities with the ultimate objective of disseminating relevant information to user groups. ENVIS has been designated as the National Centre for the Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) of UNDP. It is also a National Focal Point (NFP) and a Regional Service Centre  for the INFOTERRA Network, a global information network of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Assessing the Wealth The Botanical Survey of India, established in 1890 has the objective of surveying and identifying plant resources of the country, and undertaking studies on selected critical and fragile eco-systems. The Zoological Survey of India has the responsibility of exploring and determining the faunal wealth of the country. The Forest Survey of India makes independent assessments of the forests of the country using satellite imagery and remote sensing. Institutions like the National Institute of Oceanography, the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, National Institute of Occupational Health and the Indian Institute of Forest Management contribute to developing knowledge about and capacities to manage resources sustainably. The Central Pollution Control Board and the State Pollution Control Boards have the role of monitoring and controlling pollution. Institutions have and will continue to play a crucial role in India’s progress towards sustainable development. Building up a sound technological base, capacity-building in areas requiring more human power, and providing knowledge and information support to both government and civil society will continue to be the role of institutions.