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India's environment budget: Too little to tackle growing crisis?

By Raj Kumar Sinha* 
The budget estimate for the financial year 2025-26 is ₹50,65,345 crore, out of which ₹3412.82 crore has been allocated to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. This is slightly more than the provision of ₹3330.37 crore in 2024-25. In this budget, ₹1060.56 crore has been provisioned for central schemes/projects, ₹720 crore for environment, forestry and wildlife, ₹220 crore for the National Green India Mission, ₹50 crore for natural resource and ecosystem conservation, ₹35 crore for aquatic ecosystem conservation, and ₹290 crore for Project Tiger and Project Elephant.
This budget is extremely low considering the deteriorating environmental conditions in the country. Nine out of the world's 10 most polluted cities are located in India, and India ranks third among the 10 most polluted countries. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, 351 out of the 521 rivers studied were found to be polluted. Due to climate change in India, temperature increases, changes in rainfall patterns, an increase in drought events, a decline in groundwater levels, melting glaciers, intense cyclones, sea-level rise, and incidents of landslides and floods have become common in various states.
According to a report by Swiss Re, India suffered a loss of ₹1 lakh crore in 2023 due to climate change. According to a report by the Asian Development Bank, India's GDP could decline by up to 24.7 percent by 2070 due to climate change. The report also stated that rising sea levels and declining productivity will be major causes of loss. It is estimated that globally, regional countries will need investments ranging from $102 billion to $431 billion annually to deal with temperature increases.
The work of environmental improvement has to be done by state governments and local bodies, but due to their weak financial condition, they are unable to function effectively. Especially in the urban development budget, there is a need to increase the provisions related to environment and sanitation. The demand of the people displaced and affected by the Bargi Dam is that, considering the impact of the current climate change, special financial provisions should be made for the most affected vulnerable sections.
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*Bargi Dam Displaced and Affected Association

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