17th Annual Sustainability Conference concluded in Bangalore today

Environment and Sustainability professionals who gathered in Bangalore for a National Meet on Sustainability are not so happy about budgetary allocations to the environmental protection in the country
Bangalore, February 2, 2017: A Two-day National Conference on Sustainability and Environment Protection concluded today here in Bangalore at Hotel Taj Airport.

The theme of the conference was "Sustainability for inclusive growth"

The two day meet discussed various issues pertaining to the environment protection, sustainability, challenges etc.

About 100 professionals, experts from all over India gathered to discuss the theme

Speaking on the sidelines and during the conference, reacting sharply to the union budget presented yesterday, they are not so happy about budgetary allocations to the environment protection.

The Environment Ministry got an increase of 19 per cent in its budgetary allocation for the next fiscal, but Union Budget has failed to acknowledge many problems of the industry such as climate control induced disasters, pollution etc.

The Union Budget proposed allocation of Rs 2,675.42 crore for the Environment Ministry for 2017-18 in comparison to last fiscal where it was allotted Rs 2,250.34 crore is meager. It is just an increase of 18.88 per cent, they observed.

The budget may have brought cheers to many, but, environmental and sustainability, occupational health and safety professionals who gathered in Bangalore for a national meet on sustainability organized by Delhi based NGO, Greentech are not so happy the way the environmental issues were dealt and budgetary sanctions proposed in the budget. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made no special announcements for the sectors, they opined

Jaitley only talked about solar power to some 7000 railways stations in India, observed Kamleshwar Sharan, President of Greentech Foundation.

We were expecting a big boost for sectors like climate change as Mr. Jaitley himself some time ago said that India would start preparing for implementation of Paris agreement from 2017. The Paris Agreement is an agreement with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020 informed Swagata Sen Pillai, an Indepent Trainer & Consultant on Best Practices in Occupational Health and Safety.

A mere increase of Rs 300crore allocations to the union Environment Ministry won’t do any good’, observed Anirudh another delegate of the meet.

There is a severe problem like climate change induced disasters. Nothing was talked about in the budget, observed another participant who doesn’t want to get identified.

However Arvind Pathak, Head of Occupational Health and Safety of NOKIA described budget as progressive and said the increased allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee scheme is welcome and it could improve management of water resources and forestry in the country.

Earlier during the inaugural on Wednesday, welcoming the gathering, Kamleshwar Sharan, President of Greentech Foundation said "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs is the real sustainability development.

The National Meet was organized by New Delhi-based NGO, Greentech Foundation. The conference provided guidance based on best practices and experiences of developing and implementing best strategies.

The conference attracted the mix of 100 plus specialists, environmentalists and sustainability experts from all over India.