The Green Hour Volume 3 Issue 2 | Monsoon Session 2025
The Green Hour is a periodical that examines parliamentary proceedings in India through an environmental lens. This is the second issue of the third volume, covering the Monsoon Session 2025 of the Indian parliament, held between the 21st of July and 21st of August 2025.
The report is organized into 5 chapters. Chapter 1 (‘Introduction’) presents the broad framework of the report and introduces readers to the functioning of parliament. It also lays down the scope, methodology and definitions used in the report. This issue employs a new methodology to analyse parliamentary questions, which has been detailed in this chapter.
Chapter 2 (‘Decoding Parliamentary Questions’) analyses parliamentary questions directed to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) by Members of Parliament (MPs) and the responses provided to them. The section presents an analysis of the geographic and political representations of the MPs asking these questions. It also analyses the content of questions and responses, and groups the former into 9 themes.
A summary of other interventions in parliament, in the form of Matters under Rule 377, Special Mentions and Zero Hour speeches has been provided in Chapter 3 (‘Other Interventions in Parliament’).
Chapter 4 (‘In Focus’) provides a summary of the 399th report of the parliament’s Department Related Standing Committee (DRSC) on Science and Technology and Environment, Forest and Climate Change. This report covers the action taken by the government on the recommendations the committee provided in its 392nd report on the allocations made to the MoEFCC during the Union Budget 2025-26.
Chapter 5 (‘Beyond the Parliament’) provides a summary of important gazette notifications by the MoEFCC starting from July till the end of November 2025.
Question Hour and the MoEFCC
During the Monsoon Session 2025, the government responded to 8,895 questions, out of which 303 or 3.4% were directed towards the MoEFCC. This is a slight increase compared to the Monsoon Session 2024, when 3.15% of all questions were addressed to the MoEFCC. A total of 276 MPs from across 27 states and union territories addressed questions to the MoEFCC. The 6 states whose MPs raised the most MoEFCC-related questions were Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. 112 questions asked for numerical data and 48 enquired about government schemes. On the other hand, the government did not provide requested data in the responses to 25 questions and stated that a question’s subject matter was the responsibility of the state administration in 49 responses. The 3 most popular themes were Pollution, Wildlife and Forests/ Afforestation which together accounted for 62.37%. of MoEFCC-related questions.
Caption: : State/ UT-wise representation of the Number of MPs Asking Questions to the MoEFCC in Parliament during the Monsoon Session 2025.
Report of the DRSC on Science and Technology and Environment, Forest and Climate Change
The 399th report of the DRSC on Science and Technology, Environment, Forest and Climate Change covered the action taken by the MoEFCC on 12 of its recommendations from the committee’s 392nd report. Of these, 9 recommendations had been accepted by the government and the committee chose not to pursue the remaining 3, in light of the replies provided by the government.
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About the Authors
Aditya is a Research Fellow in the Climate and Ecosystems Team at Vidhi. Before joining Vidhi, he worked as a LAMP (Legislative Assistants to Member of Parliament) Fellow with a Lok Sabha MP. During his tenure, he primarily engaged with matters related to the environment, health and education and drafted two Private Members’ Bills including one related to eco-sensitive zones (ESZs). He has completed internships and projects related to topics like the avian diversity of terai grasslands and the prevalence of pastoralism in Greater Noida. He was also part of a team that co-authored a comprehensive field guide on the 157 species of butterflies recorded in and around his hometown, Chennai. He graduated from Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida in 2024 with a B.A (Research) in International Relations. He is extremely interested in photography, wildlife, food and politics and hopes to help in creating policy that is environmentally sound.
Anmol is a Senior Resident Fellow with the Climate and Ecosystems team. They graduated from National Law University Odisha in 2019. After graduation, Anmol worked as a litigator on cases involving environmental law and human rights violations at the appellate level. They then joined the legal research team at Land Conflict Watch, where they headed several research projects on common land governance and land acquisition law. Anmol has written for publications like the Wire, Article 14 and Frontline magazine. Their research interests include renewable energy, management of commons and community land rights.
Debadityo is a Senior Resident Fellow and Lead, the Climate & Ecosystems team at Vidhi. His research interest lies in the intersection of ecology, law, and policy. He graduated with B.Sc. (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Delhi in 2009 and completed M.Sc. (Tech.) Environmental Science & Technology from Banaras Hindu University in 2012. He has also undertaken training on Tropical Forest Restoration from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2016. He has over 12 years of professional experience in issues related to the environment and wildlife protection. In the past, he has worked with organizations like Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Centre, Legal Initiative for Forest & Environment, WWF-India, Wildlife Trust of India and several grassroots organizations. He is founder and trustee of Vindhyan Ecology and Natural History Foundation (since 2012). He is a recipient of the Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award' (2019) and is member of IUCN-Species Survival Commission’s Bear Specialist Group and EKOenergy network, Helsinki. Debadityo has also initiated litigations in the National Green Tribunal on issues related to environmental clearance, declaration of eco-sensitive zones and compensation for environmental damage.
