Planning Commission : About Us : Committees : Steering Committees

Research, education, training, capacity building and information management for the Environment and Forests Sector

It has been decided to set up a Working Group on Research, education, training, capacity building and information management for the Environment and Forests Sector for the Eleventh Five-Year Plan. The composition of the Working Group will be as under:

1.	Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi	Chairman
2.	Principal Adviser (E and F), Planning Commission	Member
3.	Secretary, Deptt. of Biotechnology	Member
4.	Secretary, Deptt. of Science and Technology	Member
5.	Director General Forests and Special Secretary, MoEF	Member
6.	Director-General, ICFRE, Dehradun	Member-Secretary
7.	Dr S S Negi, Director, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun	Member-Convenor
8.	Dr D Pandey Director, Forest Survey of India, Dehradun	Member
9.	Director-General, ICAR	Member
10.	Director General, CSIR, New Delhi	Member
11.	Chairman, UGC, New Delhi	Member
12.	Vice-Chancellor, YS Parmar University, Solan (HP)	Member
13.	Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources	Member
14.	Dr. P.S Roy, Dy. Director, NRSA, Hyderabad	Member
15.	Prof. C.R.Babu, ICEMDE, Delhi University	Member
16.	Dr Ulhas Karanth, Wildlife Conservation Society India, Bangalore	Member
17.	Shri Kartikeya Sarabhai, Director, CEE, Ahmedabad	Member
18.	Shri B K P Sinha, Director, Amity School of Natural Resources	Member
19.	Dr. K.A. Singh, Director, Fodder Research Inst. Jhansi	Member
20.	Dr P Neema, Dy Dir and Head, APC Div NEERI	Member
21.	Representative of Centre for Science and Environment, N. Delhi	Member
22.	Director, IPIRTI, Bangalore	Member
23.	Representative of The Energy and Resource Institute, N. Delhi	Member
24.	Dr P J Dilip Kumar, PCCF Karnataka	Member
25.	Adviser (EE), MoEF	Member
26.	Joint Adviser (E and F), Planning Commission	Member
27.	Director (Forestry), Planning Commission	Member
28.	Director, WII, Dehradun	Member
29.	Dr. Lalit Pande, Almora	Member
30.	Dr. S R Shetye, Dona Paula, Goa	Member
31.	Dr. Sharad Lele, Bangalore	Member
32.	Dr. C S Rathore, Bhopal	Member
33.	Dr. Erach Bharucha, Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune	Member
34.	Dr. Jaishree Sharma, NCERT, New Delhi	Member
35.	Dr. K.S. Swaminath, CCF Karnatka Forest Deptt.	Member
36.	Dr. K.D. Singh ex-FAO Sr. Forestry Officer, ATREE, Delhi.	Member
37.	Director, IIFM, Bhopal	Member
38.	Director, IGNFA, Dehradun	Member

II. Terms of Reference of the Working Group will be as follows:

To make a critical review of the achievements in the field of environment and forestry research and education with special reference to the programmes undertaken in the sectors in tenth five year plan. This will include evaluation of the outcomes of the programmes.
To evaluate adequacy and recommend strategy and approach for management of research, education and training with reference to target groups, specific areas and infrastructural development; in the field of Forestry and Wildlife, Environment and Animal Welfare. This may also include the problems of private and public sector activities for research back up.
Examine possibilities of uploading all environmental information accessible to the public under the Right to Information Act on a public web site.
Review proposals for establishment of data and information base for understanding, assessment, planning and monitoring of the sectors at local, state and national level on various spatial and temporal scales. This will also include establishment of a national network for the forest biodiversity as well as other environmental information.
Recommend a strategy for implementing the recommendation of the National Curriculum Framework Review 2005 that the knowledge on environmental parameters generated through student projects on environment be used to create a publicly accessible database on Indian environment.
Recommend a strategy for greater involvement of folk taxonomists, ecologists and scientists outside the Government institutions in forestry, wildlife and environment research.
Recommend guiding principles for deciding the research priorities based on the global commitments on conservation and national needs.
Suggest measures for ensuring effective coordination in the field of forestry research in the State Sector with ICAR/ICFRE system.
Examine the existing system of forest education in the states/ country and scope of linkages between management and conservation research. This will include the existing forestry education paradigm in the universities, management institutions and its utility in career planning.
Suggest measures for effective coordination between the scientific Ministries/ Departments of the Govt, of India who are also dealing with environmental and forestry related activities.
Official members of the Working Group will be paid TA/DA by their respective Departments as per the rules of entitlement applicable to them. The non-official members will be paid TA/DA by the Planning Commission as per SR 190 (a) for attending meetings of the Working Group.
The Working Group will submit its report to the Planning Commission by 31.10.2006.
Shri M. Ravindranath, Joint Adviser (E and F), Room No. 301, Yojana Bhavan ( Tel No. 23096536) will be the Nodal Officer for this Working Group for all further communications.