US-AEP COUNTRY ASSESSMENT:
Republic of India

• Economic Profile
• Environmental Profile
• Government
• Policies and Laws
• Urban Environment and Infrastructure
• Private Sector and Academia
• Environmental Awareness and Public Involvement
• U.S. Government Activities
• Other Bilateral and Multilateral Organization Activities
• Opportunities to Support Clean Production and Environmental Management
• References
• Endnotes

ACRONYMS

1. NGO: Nongovernmental organization
2. MOEF: Ministry of Environment and Forests
3. CPCB: Central Pollution Control Board
4. EIA: Environmental impact assessment
5. ISO: International Organization for Standardization
6. US-AEP: United States-Asia Environmental Partnership
7. USAID: United States Agency for International Development

1. ECONOMIC PROFILE

Demographic Conditions and Trends

With an annual population growth of 1.91 percent, India increases every year by the size of the population of Australia or Sri Lanka. India�s population doubled in the last thirty years and is expected to surpass China�s population early in the 21st century. High infant and child mortality rates affect a large portion of the population, as does child malnourishment. A declining ratio of females to males and low female literacy are endemic.

Economic Conditions and Trends

India has been likened to a "caged tiger"�in theory able to grow as fast as East Asian countries but stalled by "poor policies, overregulation, and isolation from the world economy." India began a subtle shift away from its socialist past during the 1980s, when its economy grew at about 5.5 percent annually. Prior to those years, 3.5 percent growth was the norm; today, it is about 6 percent, although 8�9 percent growth is required for the 10 million new jobs needed each year. With the launching of economic liberalization in August 1991, India took unprecedented moves to curtail the licensing system by which it traditionally controlled foreign investment, encouraged import substitution, and inhibited private sector growth. Since then, a large number of multinational corporations have entered India, often despite public criticism. Nevertheless, old policies remain. Duties on capital good imports, at 50 percent, remain high by East Asian standards; energy production and distribution and other heavy industry remain state sectors. All political parties support continued subsidies for energy and water that favor farmers and the poor and markedly discourage energy and water conservation. Small enterprises have been encouraged; no public or private enterprise with more than 100 employees has been allowed to go out of business.

2. ENVIRONMENTAL PROFILE

Industrial and Urban Environmental Management Background

India in the 1950s pursued an inward-focused, energy-intensive, heavy industry, and import-substituting development strategy. Rising international concern, development of "green" NGOs, the Bhopal disaster, and evident impacts of air and water pollution on all social strata caused India to develop an array of environmental laws and institutions that accelerated in the 1980s and continues into the 1990s. With economic liberalization, the government formulated a Policy Statement on Pollution Abatement (February 1992) to establish pollution prevention, best practicable solutions, the "polluter pays" principle, public participation, a focus on heavily polluted areas, and increased industrial safety. It sought these goals through stronger regulations and financial incentives.

Environmental Conditions

Health conditions and economic productivity in India have been significantly impaired by environmental degradation. A recent World Bank study concluded that India�s annual environmental damages conservatively amounted to $9.7 billion or 4.5 percent of gross domestic product in 1992 values, compared to 2.6 percent for China. Approximately $7 billion of the estimate is due to water and air pollution. The following facts illustrate the problem:

Six of India�s largest cities have severe air pollution. Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Ahmadabad, Kanpur, and Nagpur have annual average total suspended particulates at least three times World Health Organization standards. Respiratory ailments are common; reductions to World Health Organization standards would save an estimated 37,000 lives annually. An ancient stock of automobiles and growing numbers of two-cycle vehicles exacerbate the problem.

Scarcity of surface and groundwater makes economic use of water "perhaps the most important challenge facing India today." Large government investment in surface storage and irrigation along with increasing private mining of groundwater have continued since independence. Rivers that are otherwise dry, except during the monsoon, because of upstream dams now only receive sewage or industrial waste. Widespread salinity, water logging, siltation, pesticide and fertilizer pollution in rural areas, coupled with urban household and industrial pollution result in severe health threats and daunting challenges to obtain potable or industrial water. Water use decisions have been prone to political considerations and not based on resource and river basin information.

Domestic sewage is the primary source of water pollution. Sewerage is provided in only 20 percent of India�s largest cities; even that is partial. About 75 percent of wastewater that flows into the Ganges comes from municipal sources, predominantly the largest cities.

Industrial effluent largely comes from the 3 million small- and medium-sized units that are scattered throughout the country, particularly in production of paper, sugar, leather, and chemicals. Only about half the medium- to large-scale industries have partial or complete effluent treatment. Fourfold industrial growth in 1963�91 resulted in sixfold growth in toxic releases. Industrial chemical, iron, and steel producers contribute nearly 70 percent of the toxics released but only 20 percent of industrial output. Industrial disposal of polluted effluent occurs via open drains into streams and reservoirs or through underground injection. Most industrial estates lack wastewater treatment systems.

Solid waste collection and disposal systems in cities have broken down. Most cities do not keep up with the buildup of waste or have places to put it. Facilities for nonhazardous industrial waste (110 million tons a year, of which half is fly ash) and safe disposal of hazardous waste (600,000 tons a year) do not exist; although some companies are able to recycle or incinerate these wastes effectively, hazardous waste output is increasing from chemical, textile, and other industries.

3. GOVERNMENT

India has a vast governmental structure with a proliferation of government institutions at both the central and state levels. Many of its states are larger than European or other Asian nations in area and population.

Central Government

India�s pervasive bureaucracy established by the British has been maintained since independence. Until liberalization in 1991, government policies and agencies banned most imports, established price controls, and discouraged foreign investment. Still-prolific regulation and licensing makes "rent seeking" a dominant feature of government life and environmental management approaches.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) began in the 1970s as the National Committee of Environmental Planning and Coordination, established by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after the Stockholm Conference on Environment in 1972. The committee became the Department of Environment in 1980 and a ministry in 1985. State environmental agencies developed in parallel. MOEF (with its divisions) (a) coordinates state activities, officers, and other authorities under any law relating to environmental protection, (b) plans and monitors nationwide pollution prevention, control, and abatement programs, (c) prescribes emission standards, (d) establishes environmental standards, (e) establishes pollution restrictions for industries, operations, and processes, and (f) prescribes procedures and safeguards for handling hazardous substances. MOEF also administers a national awards program, which recognizes environmental efforts of industry and other sectors.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), a statutory division of MOEF, began under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974 and expanded under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981. It largely executes MOEF�s executive responsibilities for industrial pollution prevention and control, establishes air and water effluent and emission (concentration-based) standards for more than 500 specific industries, oversees (but does not supervise) the work of state pollution control boards, and reviews and approves environmental impact assessments (EIAs). CPCB is charged with enforcing the Water (Cess) Act of 1977.

Other MOEF-linked institutions. A number of independent, autonomous organizations work under broad policy directives from MOEF. Several other institutions attached to various ministries and government organizations work in the environmental field.

The Central Ganga Authority was established in 1985 to oversee the Action Plan for the Prevention of Pollution of the Ganga developed by CPCB. The action plan is a gigantic plan to restore the water quality of India�s largest river, the River Ganga (Ganges) and the subject of intense planning.

The Ministry of Industries has in recent years had limited engagement in environmental management. In the 1970s through the 1980s, it fostered a policy of encouraging industrial siting outside cities in backward areas and at least 25 kilometers outside major cities. It also fostered the policy of encouraging small industries. Later, the ministry articulated a policy favoring industrial estates, which never worked in backward areas. Today, this location policy is not observed. The ministry�s environment-related programs include modernizing the steel industry; updating technology information, forecasting, and assessment to make Indian industries globally competitive; and creating a pesticide development program.

The Bureau of Indian Standards, under the Ministry of Civil Supplies, was designated as the international organization with primary responsibility to implement ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9000; it has been similarly designated for ISO 14000. To carry out that function, it requires certification from the Quality Council of India, an interagency autonomous body established to create national accreditation boards in testing and quality management, among other things.

Science and technology are topics of great national importance in India; the Council on Scientific and Industrial Research, founded in 1942, is the government agency for India�s forty national laboratories. These laboratories are clustered around physical, chemical, biological, engineering, and information sciences, with a unit for corporate affairs (i.e., research and development, planning, international affairs, intellectual property, and so forth). The National Environmental Engineering Laboratory is located at Neeri; other laboratories have a greater focus on industrial sectors, such as electronics, leather, food processing and technologies, mines, drugs, steel, petroleum, buildings, glass and ceramics, and aerospace.

State Government

Environmental management powers are shifting to the states under India�s federal system. The twenty-two Indian states have significant authority over water supply, solid waste management, sanitation, environmental protection, and land use and can give these powers to municipalities. State and municipal governments are playing an increasingly significant and competitive role in economic development. Some places in India share East Asia�s export orientation and have competed well; Tirupur, in Tamil Nadu, for example, now exports $1 billion in garments each year. Increasingly, the key to local economic development and environmental management is provision of adequate infrastructure.

State Pollution Control Boards are in essence India�s primary pollution control enforcers. They are authorized to plan, enforce, and render advice on comprehensive programs for prevention, control, and abatement of pollution. They may prescribe emission and effluent standards in consultation with CPCB; inspect equipment, industrial plants, or manufacturing processes; and require licensing of industries. State boards must seek time-consuming judicial remedies to close down polluting industries and must bear the burden of proof in demonstrating pollution violations. They may also apply to a court to restrain emissions that exceed prescribed standards. Their effectiveness has been limited by the large number of small (with revenue below Rs. [rupees] 5 million^*) industries, lack of technical capacity to monitor hazardous waste streams, slow response from courts on enforcement actions, and lack of public oversight and accountability due to public information restrictions. Moreover, as the World Bank has expressed it, state boards have been plagued "by poor enforcement due to political interference . . ." whereas "[a]s with other enforcement activities in India, corruption is pervasive." But the boards differ among the states; judicial activism and rising public and industry concern may improve their enforcement incentives (see section 4 below).

4. POLICIES AND LAWS

Environmental Policies and Laws

Policy pronouncements on environment may have arguable practical significance, but they at least reflect the direction of government thinking and the extent to which certain issues and needs are commonly recognized. The Policy Statement for the Abatement of Pollution (1992), noted above, established the central government environmental policy framework for the industrial and urban sectors. The National Environmental Action Plan prepared in December 1993 by MOEF presents India�s environmental priorities and illustrates the rank and importance of industrial pollution, including the following:

• Afforestation, wasteland development, conservation of soil and moisture, and ensuring unpolluted water sources

• Conservation of and sustainable development of biodiversity in selected ecosystems

• Control of industrial and related pollution with an accent on the reduction and/or management of wastes, particularly hazardous wastes

• Improving access to clean technologies
  Tackling urban environmental issues

• Strengthening scientific understanding of environmental issues

• Developing an alternative energy plan

• Environmental impact assessment.

The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1992) outlined the goal of sustainable development and ensuring a coordinated and integrated government action plan for conserving nature and the sustainable use of natural resources. The plan adopted a liberalized economic approach by harnessing market incentives and lifting many restrictions.

Environmental Pollution Laws

India began to develop distinctive forms of environmental laws and regulations in the 1970s. The first of India�s modern environmental laws was the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974, which established the Central and State Water Pollution Control Boards; the Water Cess Act of 1977; the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981; and the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986. The latter is umbrella legislation designed to provide a framework for central government coordination of the various central and state authorities established under previous laws. Most recently, the Public Liability Insurance Act of 1991 requires every owner of hazardous substances to take out an insurance policy for people likely to be affected in the event of an accident.

Pollution laws have achieved limited success. Courts have been slow to respond to enforcement actions sought by state pollution boards, the boards themselves have been poorly funded, and charges of corruption have been regular and widespread. Large industries have achieved pollution compliance more easily than small industries, which, in aggregate, pollute more (see discussion below). Some question exists on whether India�s pollution control strategy and its minimum national standards are sufficiently flexible to achieve India�s environmental goals with economically practical and environmentally improving measures.

Constitutional Provisions Affecting the Environment

India�s Constitution, in effect since 1950, is an extensive document with some 400 articles and a dozen schedules of definitions and lists. The fundamental right to live is guaranteed under Article 21; the Forty-Second Amendment Act of 1976 explicitly incorporated environmental protection into the Constitution. Article 32 allows the Supreme Court to exercise jurisdiction when any fundamental right, including the right to live and the right to a wholesome environment, is violated.

Court Decisions and Environmental Public Interest Litigation

In the 1970s Supreme Court judgments liberalized traditional constraints on standing to sue, enabling citizens to challenge government actions in the public interest, even though citizens had not suffered any individualized harm. In the late 1980s and continuing into the 1990s, the Supreme Court became active in protecting citizen rights to environmental quality in response to public interest litigation. As a result, India�s Supreme Court and several of the state high courts have issued extraordinary writs of mandamus against federal and state agencies, finding, as one court expressed it, ". . . complete abdication of authority by the government . . ." and directing them to close large numbers of industries for noncompliance with pollution standards as a result. The closures have alerted industry to the need for pollution controls.

Environmental Impact Assessment

The MOEF Notification of January 1994 (amended May 1994) required CPCB environmental clearance with the necessary EIA for (a) large new projects costing more than $15 million engaged in specified activities or (b) projects by specific industries such as pesticides, mining, dye making, electroplating, foundries, or tourism.

Industrial Policies

In critical respects, industrial and environmental policies have not merged in India. Industries, large and small, have not been sited with environmental criteria in mind; environmental standards have not adapted to technological feasibility; and environmental impact assessment has played little or no role in decisions or plans. With liberalization, as approved foreign investments grew from $200,000 to nearly $3 billion, large industry has become an increasingly critical part of the industrial scene; yet, popular and intellectual bias against multinational corporations appears to be widespread, based on the suspicion that multinational corporations are bringing in "dirty equipment" and not clean technology.

Some evidence exists that state and municipal, not national, policies will shape the pattern of industrial growth in India. More than half of industry and employment lies in five states in a belt along an industrial corridor from Ahmadabad down to Bombay along the coast, from Bombay to Hyderabad, and from Hyderabad to Bangalore to Madras. Whereas national policies once required industrial siting outside urban and agricultural areas, today, as a practical matter, the industrial states allow industries to go where they want, unless they are highly polluting. Large industries, such as the chemical industry in Gujarat, goes where a strong infrastructure and incentives exist; small industries are still encouraged in industrial estates. Increasingly, states and cities are competing for the location and composition of large industry.

Policies Favoring Small Industry

An ongoing debate in India, affecting the approach taken to clean production, concerns the appropriate economic and environmental policies for the estimated 3 million small- and medium-sized enterprises. Government policies have been biased toward small industries as employment generators, although small industries are highly polluting in the aggregate and large companies are showing increasing pollution control compliance. Promotion of small enterprise is widely seen as a desirable way to achieve sustainable development; for that result, however, their pollution problems, among others, must be overcome.

Environmental Goods and Services Industry

The Indian environmental goods and services industry is a small but growing segment of Indian industry. Some 300 firms manufacture pollution control equipment. The Confederation of Indian Industry estimates that the Indian environmental goods and services market will grow from $2 billion in 1995 to $5 billion by the year 2000.

Public Information Policies and Laws

India�s environmental laws function under the Official Secrets Act of 1923, which established for India the British system that inhibits freedom of information to the public. It results, for example, in restrictions on the public availability of environmental pollution data gathered by the government and information on government actions concerning environmental regulations and management. The environmental documents required for new industries, such as the annual "environmental statement" required by the State Pollution Control Boards for operating industries, are not public. As a result, these requirements are widely considered to be ineffective and often not met; yet, if this kind of information was shared with the public, it would raise the level of public understanding as well as government accountability.

5. URBAN ENVIRONMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Along with the central government, state and municipal governments are playing an increasingly important role in developing infrastructure in water supply, wastewater, solid wastes, and hazardous waste.

Water Supply

The National River Action Plan to improve the quality of twenty-eight polluted stretches of seventeen rivers has been approved by the government at an estimated outlay of more than $300 million during a ten-year period. The National Lake Conservation Plan is a $200 million plan that has identified twenty-one lakes for intensive conservation and management purposes. Water supply is a high priority with most state governments, but few projects have been implemented to date.

Wastewater

The central government is planning to spend $200 million on wastewater projects, but for business the current wastewater market is slow, all turnkey, with no private operation and management opportunities. A basically undeveloped market for wastewater services exists throughout India. Municipalities are still at the problem-solving stage and are attempting to improve management of these basic urban services.

Solid Waste

MOEF has provided funding to seventeen cities to conduct surveys on urban solid waste disposal. Solid waste management is currently an underdeveloped market with little privatization. Landfills are costly due to restricted land availability. Most nonhazardous, nonorganic solid waste (plastic, tires, metal, glass, and so forth) is sold as scrap, which is then recycled.

Hazardous Waste

Hazardous waste rules were introduced in 1989 under the Environmental Protection Act; implementation is progressing gradually. Medical waste legislation is currently in draft form. An estimated 4�5 million tons per year of industrial waste will be disposed of in landfills having an average size of 25,000�30,000 tons.

6. PRIVATE SECTOR AND ACADEMIA

Industry

India has a number of NGOs dedicated to industrial development that are important to the U.S.-Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP). Among them are the Confederation of Indian Industry, a nationwide industry association representing large- and medium-sized firms before the Indian government, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce of Industry, the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the International Environment Federation Industry Alliance. Specialized industrial institutes are often influential in fostering improved environmental management, such as the Ahmadabad Textile Industry Research Association, which serves the Indian textile industry and receives funds from the government as well. Among the many important nongovernmental academic institutes, several were selected for the task of drawing up sectoral reports addressing issues under the National Environmental Action Plan.

Finance

India�s financial system is one of the largest in the world with a variety of banking, financial, and capital market institutions and instruments. The combination of a high domestic saving rate (averaging 24 percent of gross domestic product in the 1990�94 period) and success in lowering inflation led to a high rate of resource mobilization. Bank deposits and corporate securities held by Indian residents now amount to 108 percent of gross domestic product, up from 19 percent in the early 1970s.

Liberalization initiatives to develop a healthy, efficient, and market-oriented financial system have created substantial change. These efforts have deregulated interest rates, developed market instruments for pricing public debt and bank loans, upgraded India�s regulatory and accounting standards to international norms, gave greater freedom to banking institutions to allocate credit in accordance with market signals, and adjusted monetary policies and exchange rate management. The result has been an increasingly liberalized and open economic environment.

Closure of some large projects on environmental grounds following public litigation has convinced the two quasi-governmental banks, the Industrial Development Bank of India and the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, of the need to watch overall negative impacts of projects with hazardous operations. Litigation is also compelling financial institutions and commercial banks to anticipate environment-related default risks. In addition to the standard submission of government consent permits to industry, both institutions now require firms to furnish separate details on the nature of pollution likely to be created by the project and the control measures required.

Commercial banks such as the Indian Bank, Dena Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, and Bank of India require applicants to submit consent permits from the State Pollution Control Boards for new projects. World Bank projects with the banking system require participating financial institutions and commercial banks to develop and incorporate an environmental risk analysis program as part of their strategic planning, human resource development, and credit risk management.

Acceleration of industrial investment and the opening up of the Indian economy allow Indian financial institutions to shape environmental decisions. Currently Indian industrial development banks have approximately $20 billion of project financing loans outstanding. These institutions will finance that industrial changeover. They may be joined by the other national banks to the extent that they can shift from working capital to project finance lending.

7. ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

Environmental Awareness

Environmental issues are regular but not obviously prominent parts of media attention in India. The government and NGOs engage regularly in public awareness activities. Opportunities to increase public environmental awareness and effective participation appear more likely through television and radio than through the print media, which is limited in the breadth of its effect due to limited literacy in the country.

Nongovernmental Organizations

India may have the world�s and certainly Asia�s largest environmental movement, led by nearly 1,000 environmental NGOs. Groups range from local to national and from radical to "mainline." They are critical to environmental management throughout India, but their reach into the full panoply of environmental affairs, notably at the local level, defies brief description. Traditionally concerned with agriculture and forestry, they increasingly engage in issues of technological change and urban and industrial affairs, particularly after the environmental disaster at Bhopal. Activism, including highly effective legal action, has highlighted their presence in recent years. To the extent that they can be divided roughly into groups, they include (a) technologically disenchanted "greens" concerned with the "powerless" and national needs for self-sufficiency, equitable resource distribution, and traditional culture, (b) "ecodevelopers" anxious to turn development toward ecologically sustainable paths, and (c) environmental managers, who seek cost-effective environmental approaches.

Of the many environmental NGOs of interest to US-AEP, several have already been engaged with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/India. These NGOs support civic infrastructure management, for example, Exnora, which stimulates and assists neighborhood cleanup and solid waste management in Madras. Development Alternatives pursues environmental management activities designed for efficiency, limited governmental requirements, sustainable financial rewards, and public engagement. The Consumer Education Research Council, whose chairman and several staff recently completed a US-AEP exchange in the United States, began as a research group and now conducts environmental research, education, public interest litigation on environmental and information topics, and consumer product testing.

8. U.S. GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES

U.S. Agency for International Development

USAID�s multipronged approach in India is centered around economic growth, population, food security, and protecting the environment. Key programs include the following:

� The Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion project works to increase private investment in India�s long-term debt markets with emphasis on the development of an urban environmental infrastructure finance system that is commercially viable.

� The Technical Assistance and Support Project supports a variety of grants to organizations engaged in economic policy analysis and reform.

� The Program for Advancement of Commercial Technology is designed to accelerate the pace of technological innovations in products and production processes and help build market-oriented research and development capacity in the private sector.

� The Center for Technology Development is intended to stimulate the process of technology development and commercialization by acting as a catalyst for interaction among leading representatives of industry, academia, research and development, and finance.

� Trade in Environmental Services and Technology works to address India�s industrial pollution problems by fostering long-term linkages between U.S. and Indian environmental services and technology providers and consumers.

US-AEP Initiatives in India

US-AEP has supported 226 environmental exchanges in India, processed 154 trade leads, and sponsored 43 technology grants through the National Association of State Development Agencies, in addition to several environmental technology initiatives with the Council of State Governments. With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, US-AEP has also supported training and short-term technical assistance.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has long participated in the U.S.-India Fund (or Public Law 480 Rupee Fund), which, among other things, has supported cooperative research projects in lead and manganese effects on Indian populations. The agency has programs for conducting training sessions in India on EIAs, environmental risk assessment, environmental enforcement, and pollution management. In 1996 it plans a workshop with the Government of India on common sense regulatory reinvention developments in the United States.

U.S. Department of Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy has conducted a number of technical assistance, training, and information-sharing activities in India concerned with policy, fossil fuels, renewable energy and energy efficiency, and electric power. Environmental topics have been addressed in each of these areas, many of which have been conducted at the state level.

9. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND BILATERAL ASSISTANCE

World Bank

Progress in the two World Bank programs relevant to US-AEP is slow and uncertain. Two National Environmental Action Plan priorities are (a) control of industrial pollution with emphasis on reducing and managing wastes, in particular hazardous wastes and (b) improving access to clean technologies. In response, the bank authorized the Industrial Pollution Control Project and the Industrial Pollution Prevention Project, focusng more strongly on cleaner methods of production. In addition, the bank is helping India establish a clean technology institutional extension service for identifying waste minimization and abatement methods for small-scale industries, pre-investment studies, and training and consulting services for planning by MOEF.

On the policy front, the bank has been pursuing a $50 million program for environmental policy development, environmental economics, and institutional support for the Confederation of Indian Industry in India. It has confronted significant barriers in terms of lack of interest and capacity to develop programs.

Asian Development Bank

It is expected that by 1999, 50 percent of Asian Development Bank projects will focus on specific states in India. Gujarat will be the first of the states to receive the bank�s support directly. This support will be holistic in its approach, covering major infrastructure needs such as power, ports, and roads. The first loan is expected to be a structural adjustment loan�a fast-dispersing loan based on tranches released after progress has been made. The shift is due to the bank�s status as a small player when compared to others such as the World Bank and a sense that its smaller resources are better focused regionally than nationally. Second, as concerns about the future of India�s economic liberalization have subsided, the Asian Development Bank will focus on assisting economic liberalization at the state level following the Government of India�s movement and planning in this area.

Western Governments

The Environmental Protection, Training, and Research Institute in Hyderabad is being upgraded with financial assistance from the Swedish government. Norway is providing financial assistance to the State Pollution Control Boards of Uttar Pradesh and Orissa on the monitoring of fluorine emissions. Denmark is assisting with an environmental master plan study for the South Kannara district. It will also assist the environmental training institutes in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Australia is appointing contractors for drawing up a detailed engineering design for a project on waste management technology for Hussain Sagar, Hyderabad. Pending bilateral arrangements include the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, and Canada.

Japan

In terms of Japan�s official development assistance, India ranked as the fifth largest recipient of bilateral aid in 1993; India received $295.94 million that year. Most aid was in the form of loans, totaling $247 million. During the five-year period of 1989�93, Japan�s official development assistance to India has fluctuated from a low of $87 million (1990) to a high of $852 million (1991).

10. OPPORTUNITIES FOR CLEAN PRODUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Policy Framework

Public awareness and participation. India shows strong evidence of heightened awareness and pressure for environmental quality from the nongovernmental community and the courts. Concern for public information sharing could strike a strong chord in India. The assessment team found considerable interest in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state experience with environmental reforms spawned by public availability of information on pollution discharge, environmental impact assessment, and risk assessment. Broader and more systematic environmental information availability to the interested public in India could greatly enhance demands for moves toward ever cleaner technology and production processes; it could also help address underlying concerns about the environmental impacts of large corporations as well as actions (or inactions) by government agencies.

Environmental policy and regulatory reform. Opportunities for engagement in the policy and regulatory arena are circumscribed by resource or other institutional constraints within public institutions. Despite some interesting analytical work within CPCB and sister organizations at the state level, broad-scale cynicism and pessimism exists within India and the donor community on effective implementation of existing environmental regulatory (i.e., command and control) and management systems in India. One basic, ongoing, and politically difficult task concerns full-cost resource pricing. Resource pricing reform in both the energy and water sectors could be the single most important policy target for moving an environmental agenda in India.

The US-AEP assessment team identified needs and opportunities to support Indian efforts to establish the opportunity costs to the environment of present industrial/urban policies. Examples are policies that restrict trade and competition and subsidize energy and water use. These costs appear high, but they have not been addressed in analyses of environmental degradation costs carried out by the World Bank.

A related topic concerns targeted fiscal incentives. India has a set of fiscal incentives to promote environmental quality at the firm level. Although we were not able to assess the effectiveness of the incentives, anecdotal evidence exists that they work only at the margin and often overlap with an even larger set of incentives for a variety of different (and sometimes contradictory) objectives.

Industrial Environmental Management

Technology transfer. India is more internally focused (i.e., more isolated, perhaps by choice, from the world) than other countries in Asia. Although a number of intermediary instruments exist (e.g., the Trade in Environmental Services and Technology project, Department of Commerce/US-AEP technology representation, and so on), few foster long-term cooperative relationships (e.g., between the Air and Waste Management Association and local counterparts). In addition, too little information is available about technological alternatives, despite several promising opportunities. But India has a large capability for science and technology research and development and a substantial capital goods industry; it has a clear policy preference for Indianization in this arena. Technology transfer in terms of sales to end users is important but insufficient. Signal opportunities exist to promote collaborative research and joint ventures among equipment suppliers and to license hardware. The possibility also exists for mutual advantage in linking India into the global technology system, most desirably through links with the United States.

Environmental principles for industrial growth. India, like other countries, would benefit from the ability to gauge the intensity of industrial pollution for industry�s own standard-setting and government enforcement. Firms could then apply these standards to make informed technology choices and monitor their own performance and compliance. Counterparts for collaboration can be found within the industrial research community and among business and industrial associations. The Confederation of Indian Industry has expressed interest in working on this topic.

Voluntary standards. Perhaps the most important impetus for environmental quality within India�s industrial regime will be pressure from the ISO 14000 international environmental standard (particularly as it affects export industries). Although some activity to tackle ISO 14000 and inform industry about environmental management systems is already occurring within industry associations, stronger national support is necessary to make ISO 14000 an effective incentive. Counterparts for collaboration can be found in the government�s standards agencies (e.g., the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Quality Council of India) and among business groups, such as the Association of Chambers, Confederation of Indian Industry, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce of Industry, and other industry-specific organizations.

Greening the supply chain. A related pressure favoring clean production from international standards is reflected by the movement to "green supply chains." This development reflects the incorporation of environmental concerns within quality standards, movement to organize manufacturing networks, and globalization of business. The US-AEP assessment team identified three program possibilities for India: (a) work with U.S. multinational corporations and larger Indian companies to advance the idea in India, (b) work with related industrial associations to strengthen members� ability to respond to requirements of multinational corporations and large Indian firms, and (c) use these companies to provide pro bono technical assistance and training to their suppliers. The principal counterparts for collaboration will probably be found among specific firms (e.g., Tata Exports), larger houses (e.g., Larson and Tubro), multinational corporations (e.g., General Motors and Motorola), and business groups, such as the Association of Chambers, Confederation of Indian Industry, and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce of Industry).

Environmental due diligence. The Bank of Baroda is actively seeking to improve its environmental consulting capabilities. The principal counterparts for collaboration may be found among specific banks (e.g., Bank of Baroda), industry associations (e.g., banking and insurance industry associations in India), educational and training organizations (e.g., those institutions specifically geared to the financial sector), and business groups (e.g., the Association of Chambers, Confederation of Indian Industry, and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce of Industry). Vigorous efforts by lending institutions to improve their understanding of environmental risks and liabilities could be an important impetus to increased public disclosure of environmental information by the government.

Industrial extension. USAID experience with capacity building puts a premium on "training of trainers." This is particularly important in India, where issues of scale threaten the reach of any capacity-building intervention. An analogous approach is to develop an industrial extension system to intermediate organizations whose self-interest depends on an industrial regime dedicated to clean technology.

Environmental Infrastructure

Expanding markets. The market for water, wastewater, and solid and hazardous waste infrastructure in India is currently estimated at more than $500 million and is expected to reach $4.5 billion by 2005. The central government remains the major buyer and driving force behind this market. Rising public and NGO awareness of domestic pollution and its adverse impacts on health will impel increasing government as well as private investment in environmental infrastructure projects. Encouraged by new liberalization laws, foreign investment is coming into India from Europe, Japan, Canada, and Australia. The United States has historically been India�s largest trading partner and provided the largest investments; hence, U.S. technology and equipment are readily accepted in India.

Management needs of municipalities. The brunt of the demands for environmental infrastructure development will fall on municipalities. Throughout India an increasing need exists to help build their capacity to plan, finance, operate and maintain new infrastructure investments. They also need continuous information and guidance on the types of technologies available and appropriate to local conditions and the levels of service required. In 1997 USAID�s Regional Housing and Urban Development Office in India and US-AEP will hire an Urban Environmental Infrastructure Representative to provide municipal governments and private project sponsors with technology advice, information on twinning with U.S. municipalities, and project advisory services. This effort will also relate to the Regional Housing and Urban Development Office�s Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion program and utilize other U.S. government resources, including Department of Commerce advocacy and complementary programs from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, EXIM Bank, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

REFERENCES

Brandon, Carter and Kirsten Hommen. 1995. The Cost of Inaction: Valuing the Economy-wide Cost of Environmental Degradation in India. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, Asia Environment Division.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). 1995. Indian Environmental Legislation, Guide for Industry and Business. New Delhi.

���. 1996. "Environmental Market Strategies and Opportunities." Presentation at the "Conference on Gaining Competitive Edge in Asian Environmental Infrastructure Market," San Diego, California, March 1996.

Development Alternatives. 1992. Sustainable Development and the Small Enterprise. New Delhi.

Exnora International. N.d. A Comprehensive Study of Solid Waste Management in the City of Madras. Madras.

Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB). 1995. Annual Report 1994�95. Gandhinagar, India.

India. 1991. Scheme for Adoption of Clean Technology in the Small-Scale Industries. Ministry of Environment and Forests. New Delhi.

���. 1993. National Environmental Action Plan: Environment Action Programme. Report no. E0026. Ministry of Environment and Forests. New Delhi.

Indian Environmental Society. 1992. Industry and Environment. New Delhi.

Peritore, N. Patrick. 1993. "Environmental Attitudes of Indian Elites: Challenging Western Postmodernist Models." Asia Survey 3(8) (August).

Ramakrishna, Kilaparti. 1985. "The Emergence of Environmental Law in the Developing Countries: A Case Study of India." Ecology Law Quarterly 12 (907�35).

The India Information, Inc. "Environmental Journalism Input Low: Maneka," Environment Briefs (January 31, 1996). (Internet: http://www.indiaserver.com/news/thehindu/03196thehindu/ THB09.html).

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/India. 1995. Program Summary. Washington, D.C.

United States-Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP). 1996. "US-AEP/USCS Environmental Infrastructure Strategy: India." Draft. Washington, D.C. (August 15).

World Bank. 1996a. India�s Environment: Taking Stock of Plans, Programs, and Priorities. An Assessment of the Environment Action Program, India. Washington, D.C.: World Bank; South Asia Regional Office; India, Nepal, Bhutan Country Department.

______. 1996b. Environmental Management in India. Washington, D.C.

ENDNOTES

39The National Conservation Strategy and Policy Statement on Environment and Development (1992) provides the basis for the integration and internationalization of environmental considerations in the policies and programmes of different sectors. It emphasizes sustainable life styles and the proper management and conservation of resources.

40Included under this objective are modernization of cleaner production in leather, textile, and paper and pulp industries; research on natural dyes; quantification of pollutants from nonpoint (agricultural fields, waste disposal sites, leaky septic systems, mining and logging, and so on) sources; physical methods for ascertaining the role hydrology plays in influencing pollutant behavior; decision-oriented methods regarding nonpoint pollutant sources; technologies for control of nonpoint pollution; cost-effective water treatment technologies; wastewater treatment recycling and reuse technologies for water conservation; and least hazardous methods for mining.

41Included under this objective are research and technology development under the National Materials Initiative under the Industrial Development Programme for raw material upgrading; Technology Mission on Cleaner Production to promote cleaner technologies; industry-specific task force for selection of demonstration/ development projects; identification of cleaner technologies developed in India and abroad and facilitation of technology transfer/adaptation; centers for cleaner technologies for developing a central data base and providing information to industries; formulation of standards for waste discharge per unit quantity of raw material; formulation of legal and economic measures to ensure absorption of clean technologies; and capacity building for EIA of clean technologies.

42This objective includes various activities relevant to US-AEP, including among many other examples: programs to strengthen the Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council, reduce solid waste generation, provide fiscal instruments for waste minimization regarding nonbiodegradable and nonrecyclable packaging materials, and develop biodegradable packaging materials through the Eco-Mark scheme.

43Included in this objective are regular and sustained environmental education programs for professionals, decisionmakers, and local self-government authorities in EIA.

44Included in this objective is the plan to establish a National Center for Long-Term Training on EIA and evolve a network of regional centers in various institutes for training in preparation of EIA reports, including Disaster Management Plans.

45The plan placed the manufacturing sector at the center of industrial growth and stressed consideration of increased waste and pollutant outputs. It outlines an emphasis on expanding the export market through various mechanisms, including adoption of ISO 9000 protocols.

46The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974, as amended applies to streams, inland waters, subterranean waters, and sea and tidal waters. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act of 1977 was passed to meet the expenses of the Central and State Pollution Control Boards. The Indian Penal Code (Section 277) provides that anyone who voluntarily corrupts or fouls the water of a public spring or reservoir shall be fined up to Rs. 500, jailed up to three months, or both.

47The act was designed to allow the central and state water boards to levy a tax on specified industries credited to a consolidated fund. Rebates of 75 percent of the tax are designed to create incentives for those installing sewage or effluent treatment (Ramakrishna 1985, 924).

48The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981, as amended. Parliament enacted the Air Act to implement the decisions taken at the United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in June 1972. It expanded the authority of the central and state boards, which were established under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The 1987 amendment strengthened the enforcement machinery and introduced stiffer penalties. The Indian Penal Code (Section 278) provides that anyone who intentionally vitiates the atmosphere to make it noxious to health shall be punished by imprisonment of up to three months and fined up to Rs. 500, or both. The Motor Vehicle Rules of 1989 impose tailpipe emission standards.

49Environment is defined to include water, air, land, and the interrelationships that exist among them as well as between them and human beings, other living creatures, and property. The Environment Act is also the first environmental statute granting authority to issue direct orders to close, prohibit, or regulate any industry, operation, or process.

50Reimbursements of medical expenses of up to $400 or $800 for fatal accidents must be paid within thirty days of an accident. The Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules of 1989 includes waste materials not covered by the Atomic Energy Act, Merchant Shipping Act, and Water and Air Acts. The rules do introduce a permit system to regulate the handling and disposal of wastes and fixes responsibility on the person generating wastes. The Manufacture, Storage, and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules of 1989 covers the handling of hazardous substances other than wastes. The Factories (Amendment) Act of 1987 passed soon after the Bhopal tragedy, introduced special provisions on hazardous industrial activities.

51For example, of the 2,008 cases submitted under the Water Act by the State of Gujarat Pollution Control Board up to April 1995 (which constituted 80 percent of all cases filed), 1,330 were at that time still pending. Yet only 95 of these had been filed during 1994�95. See GPCB (1995, 38).

52A World Bank report raises the question of whether the industrial source performance standards are set at levels requiring maximum effluent reductions that are at or near what is technically achievable. Space constraints may make achievement of minimum standards infeasible for many industries, yet minimum standards cannot be reduced (World Bank 1996b, 87, and box 3.7).

53Ramakrishna 1985, 909.

54"The State shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country" (Article 48A). "It shall be the duty of every citizen of India . . . to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures" (Article 51A).

55As cited by the State of Gujarat�s High Court (1995 [2] Gujarat Law Herald 352) in Pravinbhai Jashbhai Patel et al. v. State of Gujarat and the Supreme Court in M. C. Mehta v. Union of India (AIR 1988 SC 1037), Virender Gaur and Ors. v. State of Haryana & Ors. (1995 [2] SCC 577), and C.E.R.C. v. Union of India (AIR 1995 SC 922), courts have held that persons who suffer as a result of this water and air pollution can justifiably contend that the fundamental right to live under Article 21 of the Constitution is violated.

56The High Court of the State of Gujarat, for example, has maintained daily supervision of the State Pollution Control Board and monitoring of the industries ordered closed and seeking to commence production; however, it is unclear how sustainable these court actions are given the demands on the court�s time and resources, even with the development of special environmental courts. Rigorous administrative monitoring and routine enforcement remains problematic (Gujarat State Pollution Control Board, Gujarat [May 1996]).

57The procedural steps for obtaining the necessary environmental clearance are displayed and explained in CII (1995).

58See Indian Environmental Society (1992, 158). A project on siting and location of industries in the natural and built environment, supported in part by USAID India.

59Observations from assessment team in India from extensive government and industry interviews (May 1996).

60Barjor E. Mehta, director, School of Planning, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Delhi (May 9, 1996).

61Small companies are defined as those with less than $180,000 in capital equipment. Approximately 40 percent of India�s exports come from small companies (K. P. Nyati, director, Environmental Management Division, Confederation of Indian Industry, New Delhi [May 5, 1996]).

62Small industries lack environmental commitment, technical expertise in environment, and financial capabilities to address environmental problems; nor do they have standards or effective treatment opportunities and services. The government�s Policy Statement for Abatement of Pollution seeks to encourage use of combined treatment facilities for small industries. See India (1991).

63The government has targeted seventeen industries for special monitoring and enforcement; twenty-two areas have been designated as critically polluted. Of the 1,500 facilities in these industries, fewer than 10 percent had installed pollution control equipment by the end of 1991, rising to 65 percent two years later (World Bank 1996a, 78).

64See Development Alternatives (1992).

65CII (1996).

66These must be filed by September 30, along with the required financial statements (CII 1995, 43).

67At present, strict guidelines do not exist on who is a competent professional to carry out EIAs. EIAs are done by private consulting firms to fulfill requirements to obtain environmental clearances. Interviews conducted in Delhi, Ahmadabad, and Madras (April 27�May 11, 1996) with government, business, and NGO representatives support the conclusion that EIAs could be considerably more useful if they were public documents prepared earlier in the planning process.

68In the Ganga Action Plan Phase I, $180 million has been spent since 1986 to improve the quality of the river Ganga. In phase II, Japan has provided $125 million to improve the quality of the Yamuna and Gomti rivers. All project feasibility reports have been approved (US-AEP 1996).

69The private sector (Western Paques and Excel) has entered into disposal of solid waste, generating organic manure and electricity in fifteen to twenty cities. Private and community involvement has occurred in solid waste management through management contracts, for instance, by Exnora Intrnational in Madras and others in Baroda, Rajkot, Hyderabad, and Bangalore.

70By 1998 the following incinerators are expected to be commissioned: three to eight incinerators of 150 metric tons per day, eight to ten incinerators of 50 metric tons per day, and fifty incinerators of 5 metric tons per day. It is frequently the case that hazardous waste is mixed with municipal waste. Indian companies are ready to invest in the hazardous waste market; foreign investors have started to come forward. A $20 million facility is being negotiated in Madras with two U.S. companies, International Technology Corp. and Fuller Co., and an Indian affiliate, Fuller KCP. A small emerging market exists for defined projects (US-AEP 1996).

71About 44 percent of the Confederation of Indian Industry�s more than 6,000 firms are small- and medium-sized enterprises. The confederation has an Environmental Management Division designed to help make industry "eco-efficient," which works in partnership with government, including membership on India�s National Environmental Council; the government�s Environmental Clearance Committee, which clears new investment; and others. Working with the Regional Institute of Environmental Technology in Singapore, the Environmental Management Division has carried out training programs for environmental auditors. The confederation was the first to conduct a small number of audits, which it used as the basis for its 100 training programs. Today, some 300 individuals or firms conduct environmental audits. The confederation has also worked with small- and medium-sized enterprises to develop new proposals for clean technology (Confederation of Indian Industry, New Delhi [May 5, 1996]).

72The Ahmadabad Textile Industry Research Association has a voluntary membership of companies in the die stock, machinery, and related textile businesses and instrument makers, including members outside India.

73Those responsible for topics that are particularly relevant to US-AEP include the following:

• Indian Institute of Public Administration. Institutional structures for environmental management and environmental education.
• Indian Institute of Technology. Environmental impact assessment.
• Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. Natural resource accounting.
• Madras Institute of Development Studies. Urban environmental management.
• National Environment Engineering Research Institute. Water quality.
• Tata Energy Research Institute. Alternative Energy Action Plan.

74Twenty-three of 275 commercial banks are foreign.

75Environmental awareness and staff experience are increasing in both institutions. The Industrial Development Bank of India and Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India have integrated environment as an appraisal function in the different project-financing departments. They have set up environment cells as part of their technology divisions. The EXIM Bank wholly serves the export community, requires proponents to obtain environmental clearance, and in the past has financed pollution control measures as part of project financing (e.g., leather tanning) (representatives of Indian banks and financial institutions, Bombay and New Delhi [May 1996]).

76The current practice is that financial institutions and commercial banks require financing to obtain valid consents under environmental clearance prior to sanctioning term assistance. Reliance is placed entirely on the approvals by environmental regulating agencies (representatives of Indian banks, New Delhi [May 1966]).

77Former Union Minister for environment Maneka Gandhi expressed her disappointment at the inadequate media coverage of issues relating to the environment and animal welfare. Gandhi made her remarks at a Madras symposium in January 1996. As an example, Gandhi noted that villagers in Rajasthan poisoned area water ponds to kill predatory animals, such as the tiger, which preyed on their goat herds. The incident went unreported in the news media, although they were aware of the problem. (See The India Information 1996). During the May 1996 election, the US-AEP assessment team noticed a complete absence of any environmental issues in the campaign.

78MOEF has launched a National Environment Awareness Campaign centered around the themes of joint forest management, ecodevelopment, and the Montreal protocol. Nearly 2,200 organizations comprising NGOs, schools, colleges, universities, research institutions, women and youth organizations, and so on are supported to organize on a variety of activities intended to create public environmental awareness.

79India is hampered by a literacy rate of 52 percent for ages 7 and older (64 percent male/39 percent female), as well as low annual income per capita (one of the lowest in the world) and a small middle class.

80See Peritore (1993), 807.

81Examples of Indian NGOs in the environmental field include the following:

• Indian Council on Enviro-Legal Action was founded by former Supreme Justice P. N. Bhagwati and the environmental lawyer, M. C. Mehta who has won a series of judgments against industries and municipalities that are polluting the Ganges River and the air that damages the Taj Mahal. The council was established to train lawyers and broaden the scope of existing efforts. In 1994 the council was asked to become the home of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (E-LAW) in India.
• Narmada Bachao Andolan. Led by Medha Patkar, this coalition of more than 200 groups opposes the Narmada Dam scheme and has repeatedly lobbied the World Bank to cease funding the project. Its largest demonstration involved 50,000 people in Harsud, Madhyua Pradesh, in September 1989.
• The Chipko Movement, formed in 1973, is a grassroots organization that runs camps to teach students and villagers about environmental issues. They are best known for their opposition to the Tehri Dam near its base at Garhwal in the Himalayas. It is headed by Sunderlal Buhuguna.
• Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad, formed in the late 1950s, claims several thousand members across fifty units in the state of Kerala. It has campaigned on environmental issues�notably the Silent Valley hydroelectric project�and has a wider role to educate people about science, health, and social issues through art and theater.
• Center for Science and Environment, based in New Delhi, is India�s main environmental research and information dissemination organization. Publications include state of the environment reports and numerous books and pamphlets. Led by Anil Agarwal, the group believes in the rights of developing countries to decide economic policy without having conditions imposed on them by Western donor countries or lending agencies.
• Kalpavriksh. Formed in 1979 in response to the impending destruction of "The Ridge" greenbelt area in Delhi, the group now campaigns on a wide range of issues. It has issued writs against several polluting factories and mines, runs education programs in schools, carries out research into conservation and pollution problems, and publishes newsletters. The group believes that environmental problems arise from sociopolitical structures and ethical standpoints and their solution requires societal and moral changes. The name denotes a mythical Indian tree that provided everything one could wish for.
• Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. Although not solely an environmental group, the trust has an environmental section and carries out research into a variety of issues. In recent years, it has produced detailed reports arguing that both the Narmada and Tehri dams are ill-conceived on economic as well as environmental grounds. The organization is publicly funded.
• The Save Bombay Committee. Founded in the mid-1970s, the committee fights on similar issues as the Bombay Environmental Action Group (see below). Both organizations� campaigns largely cover issues outside of Bombay.
• The Bombay Environmental Action Group. Originally a subcommittee of the Save Bombay Committee, this group was formed in 1977 to fight a proposal to locate a major fertilizer plant/petrochemical complex/industrial zone at Rewas-Mandwa, a greenbelt area of farmland in the southern reaches of the greater Bombay metropolitan region. The Bombay Environmental Action Group, unlike the Save Bombay Committee, works with national, state, and local governments and tends to be less confrontational.

82On the night of December 2, 1984, an emission of methyl isocyanate gas from the pesticide plant of Union Carbide India at Bhopal killed more than 6,000 area residents and affected nearly 600,000 people who have now filed claims for compensation. Government response was immediate with the passing of the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act in 1985 and later the Supreme Court decision awarding $470 million to the victims of the disaster.

83N. Patrick Peritore�s division, based on an Indian attitude survey, as described in Peritore (1993).

84Exnora International is an NGO whose objective is to promote community-level or street-level organizations called Civic Exnoras that work for neighborhood cleanup through resident participation. Solid waste management, waterway monitoring, tree planting, slum improvement, and environmental education in schools are key aspects of the program. Exnora, which operates largely in Madras, now has nearly 3,000 of these Civic Exnoras in Madras and elsewhere. In Madras these groups are responsible for handling approximately 20 percent of the city�s solid waste collection and disposal. USAID has provided limited financial support to Exnora and substantial and much-needed and appreciated moral support, advice, and encouragement (M. B. Nirmal, chairman, and T. K. Ramkumar, advocate, Exnora International, Madras [May 6, 1996]). For information on its program, see Exnora International (N.d.).

85Ashok Kosla, chairman, Development Alternatives, New Delhi (May 7, 1996).

86The Consumer Education Research Council began in 1978 with a staff of six and now has a staff of seventy-five with an annual budget of Rs. 7 million. Its environmental division engages in public awareness and education programs. The council�s legal staff has engaged in public interest litigation in Gujarat and before the Indian Supreme Court; it is taking the lead in developing a freedom of information act in India (Professor M. Shah, managing trustee, Ahmadabad [May 1, 1996]; Rani Advani, advocate, Consumer Education Research Council, Washington, D.C. [June 6, 1996]).

87The life of the project is 1993�99, supported by $20 million direct assistance and $125 million housing guaranty funds. The Regional Housing and Urban Development Office manages the debt market development component of the Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion project. Housing guaranty funds, training, and consultant assistance are used to (a) increase capacity of the debt (e.g., bond) market to serve as a major private-sector urban infrastructure finance source, (b) increase local government capacity to plan, operate, maintain, and recover costs of basic urban infrastructure projects, and (c) increase trading volumes of debt instruments and introduce new financial instruments.

88Sample grants include $1.1 million to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce of Industry for economic growth policy seminars, $580,000 to the International Center for Economic Growth for distinguished author seminars and collaborative economic policy research, $108,000 for a privatization seminar with the federation to introduce a select Indian audience of policy makers to the fundamental concepts of privatization, $1.2 million for an Automation of Water Treatment Plant Pilot Demonstration activity, $208,000 for new research techniques and information technology for urban resource management with the National Institute of Urban Affairs, and $45,000 for a case study of the River Ganga with the Sankat Mochan Foundation. The life-of-project cost (1988�98) is $20 million.

89Implemented by the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, technology development projects include edible oil recovery, biopesticides, irrigation pumps, engineering, energy, tissue culture, pollution control, and pharmaceutical and information technologies. The life-of-project (1985�95) cost is $21.02 million.

90Center for Technology Development focus groups have been established in informatics, food processing, dryland development, and new materials. The center�s activities are currently limited to Karnataka state. The life-of-project (1989�98) cost is $10 million.

91The Trade in Environmental Services and Technology project provides funds (loans and conditional grants) to support sound environmental investments, technical assistance, trade and investment tours, information networks, promotion and environmental services and technology sector activities of trade and professional organizations, and implementation of development finance institutions. The life-of-project (1992�97) cost is $25 million.

92A project currently under consideration for fiscal 1996�97 is the Hazardous Waste Management Project.

93Notable projects included the Anpara Thermal Power Construction Project, Small-Scale Industries Development Program, Faridabad Gas-Based Power Station and Associated Transmission System Project, and Bakreswar Thermal Power Station Project.

94The experience and interest of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in these topics in India can be applied to training programs and information exchange.

95The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has opened new opportunities to address these problems with its planned workshop in India on common sense regulatory reinvention developments in the United States.

96Ambient measures are inadequate measures of industrial pollution progress because measures may decline or improve without any relation to pollution intensity, for example, because of a shift away from or export of dirty industries. Pollution intensity indexes are a more absolute guide to incorporating environmental quality goals in industrial policy.

97Other important opportunities in the area of voluntary standards include industrial codes (e.g., "responsible care" in the chemical industry) and business charters (e.g., the Business Charter for Sustainable Development).

98The assessment team is aware of strong sensitivities within the Indian government and business to the growing role and increasing requirements of the international marketplace. These are concerns that any US-AEP program will need to accommodate with care.

99US-AEP resources include arrangements with Louis Berger International, the Environmental Exchange Program (International Institute of Education), and pending agreements with different industrial sector organizations (e.g., the Chemical Manufacturers Association).

100In addition to the major commercial and project financing institutions, opportunities may also exist with state development banks. American banking institutions in Mumbai also have indicated their willingness to provide technical assistance.

HOME | ABOUT | SERVICES | NEWS & PUBS | CONTACTS | CONFERENCES | SITEMAP | SEARCH | LINKS | INSIDE US-AEP
United States-Asia Environmental Partnership, 1819 H Street NW, 7th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20006
Tel: 202-835-0333 Fax: 202-835-0366 E-mail: