Addressing an international seminar on global environment and disaster management here on Sunday Dr Singh said that the work was on to establish an independent national environmental appraisal authority. The authority will streamline the process of granting environmental clearance to various projects in the country.
The Prime Minister said that the UPA government has taken several steps to protect and preserve environment. He said that the country will generate twenty thousand mega watt of solar energy by 2020. He added that the government has also set a target of greening ten million hectares of forest land. Dr. Singh called upon the global community to design a system of intellectual property rights to provide an incentive in development of new environmental friendly technologies and ensure that these technologies are available to the poor countries at affordable cost.
Dr Singh said the regulator would help and protect ecology without bringing back the license permit raj. The Prime Minister also expressed the hope that in future there would not be much litigation in projects due to environmental issues.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia suggested that there should be a price regulatory mechanism for mineral exports as several private companies in the states were flouting norms and depriving government of huge royalty. Justice Kapadia urged the government to work out a stringent regulatory mechanism for pricing of minerals excavated in the country.