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CENTRE FOR PROMOTION OF CLEANER TECHNOLOGIES TO BE SET UP
INDIA AND IRAN TO COOPERATE IN ENVIRONMENTAL SECTOR
Minister for Environment and Forest Thiru T.R. Baalu has said that an Indian Centre for Promotion of Cleaner Technologies would be set up to promote adoption of environmentally friendly technologies in various sectors such as industry, energy, mining, construction, agriculture, tourism, transportation etc. The Centre would involve 24 national institutions, including industrial associations networking with each other. Shri Baalu was speaking at the International Conference on Green Industries at Tehran, Iran, yesterday.
Thiru Baalu emphasised the need for improving environmental governance and using market based instruments for green choices in order to provide solutions to the environmental problems in the next fifty years. He added that corporate initiatives in the field of environmental protection would go a long way in promoting environmentally friendly technologies.
Later, Thiru Baalu called on Ms Masumeh Ebtekar, Vice President and Head of Environment Protection Organisation of Iran. During the meeting, Thiru Baalu offered India’s assistance to Iran in providing training to its personnel in the field of pollution control measures covering air, water, noise, river and ground water pollution and for designing and operating common effluent treatment plants.
Stating that India has drawn up a National Policy and Action Strategy on Biological diversity for protection and conservation bio-diversity in the country, Thiru Baalu said that joint efforts between India and Iran towards bio-diversity conservation should be promoted within the framework of in-situ conservation of habitats and ecosystems and ex-situ conservation measures by developing zoological parks and botanical gardens in Iran.
Pointing out that India and Iran are both signatories to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Minister said that India has been designated as the Host country by the UNCCD for the Asian Regional Action Programme on Agroforestry and Soil Conservation, under the Thematic Network Programme (TPN), of which Iran is also a member. This opens the door for Indo-Iranian cooperation particularly with respect to combating desertification and associated efforts towards joint forestry management. He further added that technology perfected by India the field of forestry and desertification monitoring could be shared with Iranian scientists working in the field of forestry in the arid and semi-arid regions.
Evincing keen interest in India’s on-going projects for afforestation and water conservation, Ms Ebtekar indicated Iran’s willingness to offer its expertise to India in the field of water conservation and micro-water irrigation. She said that despite greater level of aridity in many regions, the local communities and populations in Iran have managed to use technologies for conservation of water. Appreciating the various policy initiatives taken by India to improve its environment and to bring pollution under control, she stated Iran could greatly benefit from India’s experience in this sector.
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USER FRIENDLY SERVICES VITAL FOR IT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT : SHRI PRAMOD MAHAJAN
MINISTER ADDRESSES INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE ON SOCIAL ROLE OF IT
Union Minister for Information Technology, Shri Pramod Mahajan has said, "The 21st Century IT mantra will not succeed globally, unless user friendly delivery systems and services are put in place." It is necessary to break the "DIGITAL DIVIDE IN IT". In order to reap the benefits of this new technological frontier, policy inputs have to generate a system that takes IT from elite to the people, class to masses, cities to villages and from English oriented vocabulary to linguistic & local language aspirations. Shri Mahajan stated this while delivering the keynote address at the International Indonesian Telecommunications, Media & Information Technology Conference & Exhibition in Jakarta yesterday.
Outlining the roadmap for a realistic development of IT, Shri Mahajan said, Government of India was taking appropriate policy measures to remove institutional & infrastructural problems in IT & Telecom. The Government was taking the necessary corrective measures to address the bandwidth problem. As IT was the soul of telecom development, Shri Mahajan said it was the responsibility of every government to balance the needs of both the IT & Telecom sectors.
On IT’s role in social development, Shri Mahajan said, Tele Education & Tele Medicine were two miracle boons of IT to humanity. The Government of India, Shri Mahajan said was preparing appropriate policy inputs to make these two critical inputs accessible to the people. The objective was to provide IT cheaper and faster to the masses and hence take "IT to the masses"
On the linkage between IT & Developing countries, Shri Mahajan said, the success rate of IT depended on the ratio & intensity of knowledge sharing. Group deliberations streamlined knowledge inputs, creating synergy of ideas. This was the USP of IT universally. Developing countries could benefit immensely if they pursued this strategy collectively.
Elaborating further, Shri Mahajan said the Government of India was devising the necessary strategies to implement e-governance in totality. This would bring about efficiency in the government functioning. At the same time the proper implementation of E-business would ensure remunerative prices to producers and affordable prices to consumers. These two critical inputs would define any government’s image in the 21st century.
The day-long Conference deliberations also focussed on the existing regulatory framework, incentives for high tech manufacturing, developing skilled human resources and strategising e-business as a growth strategy for competing in the global markets.