Government reconstitutes PM's council on climate change

NEW DELHI: The UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chief R K Pachauri, economist Nitin Desai and retired diplomat Chandrasekar Dasgupta have once again found place in the reconstituted Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change — a key government body in India which provides oversight for formulation of action plans in the area of assessment, adaptation and mitigation of climate change in the country.

Other private member of the council includes retired IAS officer and advisor in the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) J M Mauskar who has vast experience of climate change negotiation.

The council, headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was re-constituted by the government on Wednesday. Pachauri, Desai and Dasgupta were members in the earlier council, headed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the UPA period, as well.

The council, having 15 members, will coordinate the National Action for Assessment, Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change.

According to government's notification, the council would focus on the following tasks:

* Evolve a coordinated response to issues relating to climate change at the national level;

* Provide oversight for formulation of action plans in the area of assessment, adaptation and mitigation of climate change;

*Periodically monitor key policy decisions.

The other members of the council are: finance minister Arun Jaitley, minister for environment, forests and climate change Prakash Javadekar, minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation Uma Bharti, minister for agriculture Radha Mohan Singh, minister for urban development Venkaiah Naidu, minister for science and technology Jitendra Singh and MoS (power, coal and NRE) Piyush Goyal.

Among the top officials, cabinet secretary, foreign secretary, environment secretary and chairperson of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency are the other members of the council.

The principal secretary to PM will be the Member-convener of this panel.

The ministry of environment, forests and climate change will assist PMO in facilitating the work of this committee.