Centre sets up panel to review key ‘ green laws’

The Centre on Tuesday set up a high- level committee headed by former Cabinet Secretary T. S. R. Subramanian to review environment laws and bring them in line with “current requirements”.

The committee was set up in the backdrop of the Centre taking serious steps to hasten the environment clearance process to attain economic growth without compromising on green issues. The four- member panel, headed by Mr Subramanian, was asked to review five key green laws on protection and conservation of the environment, forest, wildlife, water and air, among other aspects. The environment ministry asked the panel to give its report in two months. The members of the panel include former environment secretary Viswanath Anand, Justice A. K. Srivastava ( Retd) and senior Supreme Court advocate K. N. Bhat.

Minister of state for information and broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, who also handles environment, on Tuesday promised “red carpet treatment” for all investors and a “one- stop window for all”, in place of the earlier “licence raj”. The minister spoke hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Japanese investors to come to India.

Mr Javadekar said: “We laid down a process which is creditable; we made processes which are transparent and, therefore, it will be red carpet treatment for any investment, domestic or otherwise, and a one- stop window for all.”