Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

20-July-2011 15:15 IST

Anand Sharma Discusses Manufacturing Policy with Jayanti Natrajan

Mandatory CSR, Sequential Approvals to be Revisited

Committee for Revival of Tirupur Units Announced

After his meeting with the Minister of State (Environment & Forests), Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan, here today, the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Textiles, Shri Anand Sharma, said that on the environmental concerns regarding the proposed National Manufacturing Policy, the two Ministers have reached an understanding to fast-track the resolution of the issues and putting up the policy before the Cabinet as soon as possible. The Minister said “we had a good discussion on many matters one is related to industry and second about manufacturing policy. I think we are in a position now to move forward for taking final view in the matter.”

The two Ministers also discussed the issue raised during the recent industry consultations by Shri Sharma. The industry consultations threw up the issue of CSR initiatives being mandatory for environment clearances. Both the Ministers agreed that the issue merits a fresh look. Shri Sharma also raised the issue of delay caused by the sequential approval for industrial and environmental clearances and stressed the need for revisiting the procedure. It may be noted that last week Shri Sharma met the industry leaders and the consultations brought out the industry concerns over the environmental issues.

Shri Anand Sharma announced the formation of a Committee under Secretary (Textiles) for the issue of closure of textile units in Tirupur where a very large number of people lost their livelihood when Tamil Nadu High Court ordered these units to be closed over environmental regulations. Mr Sharma said that there is a need to find an interim short-term solution to reopen these units and the committee will also work for finding an enduring long-term solution. The Secretary Textile Ms Rita Menon visited the Tirupur on Monday to review the situation on the spot.

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Mandatory CSR linked to environmental clearances to be re-examined; sequential industrial and environmental approvals to be revisited. Ministers agreed to expedite resolution of environmental issues relating to the National Manufacturing Policy and to reconsider requiring mandatory CSR for environmental clearances; they also committed to revisit the procedural regime of sequential approvals for industrial and environmental permissions to reduce delays. Separately, a Committee under the Secretary (Textiles) was constituted to propose interim and long-term solutions for reopening and reviving textile units in Tirupur closed on environmental grounds.