The Green Hour Volume 3 Issue I | Winter Session 2024 and Budget Session 2025
The Green Hour is a periodical that traces environment-related proceedings in each parliamentary session. This is the first of the third volume, covering 2 Parliamentary Sessions – the Winter Session 2024, held between 25th November and 20th December 2024 and the Budget Session 2025 held between 31st January and 4th April 2025.
This report is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 presents the broad framework of the report. It introduces the reader to the functioning of the Parliament and lays down the scope, methodology and definitions used in the report.
Chapter 2 analyses parliamentary questions directed at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) during both parliamentary sessions. The section presents an analysis of the geographic and political representations of the Members of Parliament (MPs) who asked these questions. it also groups the responses provided by the Ministry under 10 themes.
A summary of other interventions in Parliament in the form of Zero Hour speeches, Special Mentions and Matters Under Rule 377 has been presented in Chapter 3. This chapter also summarises the Calling Attention motion taken up in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session 2025 titled “Regarding Hardships Faced by Fisherman Community”.
Chapter 4 (‘In Focus’) analyses the implications for the environment based on the Finance Minister’s budget speech and a summary of the budgetary allocations for the MoEFCC in the Union Budget 2025-26. It then summarises the 392nd Report of the Department-Related Standing Committee (DRSC) on Science and Technology and Environment, Forest and Climate Change on the Demand For Grants 2025-26 of the MoEFCC. Finally, the chapter ends by providing an analysis of key changes brought about through the newly notified Biodiversity Rules, 2024.
Chapter 5 (‘Beyond the Parliament’) presents key findings and criticisms of the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023 which was released on 21st December 2024. It also provides a summary of India’s Updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), which was released following the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at the 16th Conference of Parties (CoP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Finally, Chapter 6 covers Private Member Bills that were introduced during both sessions.
Responses of MoEFCC in the Parliament during Question Hour
During the Winter Session, the government responded to 8,074 questions of which, 241 or 2.98% of all questions were addressed to the MoEFCC. This is a decline from the Winter Session 2023, when 3.26% of all questions were addressed to the MoEFCC. A total of 223 MPs from 29 states and Union Territories (UTs) addressed questions to the MoEFCC in the Winter Session 2024. The 5 states whose MPs asked the most MoEFCC-related questions were Maharashtra, Kerala, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The 3 most popular themes covered in responses were Environment Management, Species and Habitats and Conservation of Ecosystems, which accounted for 82.3% of the total questions. Species and Habitats saw a 10% increase in its relative share of questions. On the other hand, Institutional Functioning and Climate Change saw significant declines in how frequently they appeared in responses.
State/ UT-wise representation of the Number of MPs Asking Questions to the MoEFCC in Parliament during the Winter Session 2024.
Of the 10,621 questions answered by the government during the Budget Session 2025, 346 or 3.25% were addressed by the MoEFCC. This was a minor increase from 3.15% during the Monsoon Session 2024 and a decline from 3.85% during the Budget Session 2023. 282 MPs from 30 states and UTs asked environment-related questions with the top 5 most active states being Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The 3 most popular themes during the Budget Session were Environment Management, Conservation of Ecosystems and Institutional Functioning which together accounted for 89.04% of the total questions. Environment Management saw a 10% increase in its relative share of questions while Environmental Permissions saw a nearly 7% decline.
State/ UT-wise Representation of the Number of MPs Asking Questions to the MoEFCC in Parliament in the Budget Session 2025.
Budget Analysis
The Union Budget 2025-26 allocated Rs. 3,412.82 crores to the MoEFCC which accounted for around 0.06% of the government’s total estimated expenditure. This was a slight decline from its 0.07% share in the previous Budget 2024-25. The amount allocated to the ministry was 2.47% higher than the previous year’s Budget Estimates (BE) and 9.17% higher than the Revised Estimates (RE).
While the finance minister’s budget speech did not explicitly mention schemes or policies related to the environment, some measures such as the National Mission on High Yielding Seeds are likely to have an impact on sustainability.
Beyond the Parliament
The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023 was released on the 21st of December 2024. It noted that the country’s tree and forest cover had increased by 1445.81 sq. km since 2021, which included a 156.41 sq. km increase in forest cover. With this, India’s total forest and tree cover stands at 8,27,356.95 sq. km or 25.17% of the country’s total land area.
India released its updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) on 30th October, 2024. The NBSAP consists of 193 action points corresponding to 23 National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs) and was put together by the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA). The process of updating included the constitution of a 21-member high-level working group, which consulted independent experts and state and central government representatives.
Filed Under
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.
