Environment ministry may get a makeover soon

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, often criticised for its decisions to allow controversial projects in ecologically sensitive regions, may soon see a quiet makeover. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and his hand-picked personal staff comprising young professionals from prestigious Delhi institutions are known to be driving a transparency mission in the ministry.

The minister is known to have preferred a small team of less than a dozen youngsters over a bigger team of what used to be political appointments. “I don’t know if it was a deliberate choice, but all I can see around me are young faces,” a member of the minister’s team told Business Standard.

 

On Friday, Ramesh was seen asking one of his young colleagues to ensure that his daily activities were blogged on a regular basis on a newly-launched environmental portal.

If officials are to be believed, the ministry starts functioning at 8.30 am, when Ramesh enters his office and extends late into the night until the last file of the day is cleared. “There are hardly any pending files and the change is visible across the rank and file of the ministry,” an official said.

Further, all economic-impact assessment reports, and the minutes and official note filings of the expert committees that carries out such assessments, are in the process of getting digitalised, to be made available online soon.

“We are in the process of converting all files into a digital format. Over 3,000 of such files should be made available online soon,” J M Mauskar, additional secretary of the ministry, said.

Digitalisation of file and abolishing in-principle approvals are just the beginning. The minister plans to rope in grassroots-level non-governmental organisations to become independent agencies to evaluate the success of its social forestry programmes.

The ministry is also in the process of framing rules that makes efficiency-linked standards mandatory for all vehicles. Energy efficiency ratings for four key appliances — refrigerators, air-conditioners, tube lights and transformers — are also to be mandatory from January 7, 2010.

Incidentally, Ramesh is among the few ministers who had not refurbished their offices when they took charge a few months ago. The only change he made was to replace the wooden door with a transparent one — perhaps to symbolise his desire for transparency.