Dear Finance Minister, 100 plus trees were felled for your Budget

75,000 kg of paper would have been used to print the Budget and Economic survey

75,000 kg of paper would have been used to print the Budget and Economic survey

The glaciers are not going to melt and drown us by 2020. Agreed. The Himalayas won't vanish anytime soon. Neither would ultra-violet rays fry us as early as the UN environmental watchdog had predicted. The End of Days is not yet upon us.
But the clock is ticking away. Slowly, but surely.


Heavy duty: Pranab Mukherjee will deliver the Budget in Parliament today. file pic

The economic well-being of the nation is in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's hands, but does he know at least 100 trees were felled for the voluminous budget to be printed and distributed?
Based upon a conservative estimate that at least 7,500 copies of the General Budget and Economic Survey were published, at least 75,000 kg of paper would have been used to print the two documents.
"Dry wood from a 10-year-old tree is used to manufacture 750 kg of paper," said Harish Mishra, general manager of S Chand & Co.

"For documents that weigh 75,000 kg, at least 100 trees have to be felled. Conversely, if we talk in number of A4 size sheets, 4,000 sheets of paper weigh 30 kg. So if somebody would want to read all the copies of the budget and the economic survey he would be handling around one crore A4 size sheets of paper," Mishra said.

Let's go digital
Environmentalists, politicians and policy makers have agreed it is high time India should usher in an era of digital budget. Any such move would have a huge symbolic significance and go a long way in reducing carbon footprints.
Sanjay Vashishith, director, South Asia Climate Action Network, said: "Such colonial practices should be done away with. They are more prevalent in India than anywhere else. I find developed nations more serious on climate change issues. India should start at home. Such initiatives could help in reducing carbon footprints,"

Strong footprint
India's per capita carbon dioxide emissions will increase by nearly three-fold to 3.5 tonnes by 2030, according to the Economic Survey 2009-10.
"India's Five-Year Plans include a strategy for sustainable growth resulting in low-carbon sustainable development. The Eleventh Five-Year Plan includes an indicative target of increasing energy efficiency by 20 per cent by 2016-17," the Survey, tabled in Parliament, on Thursday said.

The pre-Budget survey pointed out that India contributes about four per cent of the total global CO2 emissions.
Prof. Vikram Soni of Pusa Institute and an environmentalist said the government should lead by example by making governance a paper-less exercise. "Budget is just an annual exercise, unprecedented amount of paper is used to publish and distribute daily reports in Parliament. All such documents should be digitised or uploaded on a dedicated website for use of the Parliamentarians."

Another senior environmentalist said government actions hold a huge symbolic significance and they are easily replicated. "A digital budget and paper-less governance would save thousands of trees and prove a boon for the environment," said Ravi Agarwal, Director, Toxics Links, a Delhi-based NGO.

Capacity building
Politicians are also excited about the initiative. Congress MP and spokesperson Manish Tiwari said Parliament should be made "e-enabled". However, he was not hopeful of it happening some time soon.

Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha

Circulation of notices and papers to members 334. (1) The Secretary-General shall make every effort to circulate to each member a copy of every notice or other paper which is required by these rules to be made available for the use of members. (2) A notice or other paper shall be deemed to have been made available for the use of every member if a copy thereof is deposited in such manner and in such place as the Speaker may, from time to time, direct.

"As the party spokesperson, I need a hard copy ready with me to comment on developments at all times. Since laptops are not allowed inside the House, we need a digital environment inside Parliament before such a system comes into force," he said.

However, for people who are not a member of the House, it can be implemented immediately. "It will be a great move and help the environment immensely."u00a0 Prabhat Jha of the BJP, however, disagreed. He said more than 80 per cent of the lawmakers are not well versed with computers, and hence, such a system will only have a few takers. "A document as voluminous as the budget is easy to study in a hard copy format. We need at least five years before going paper-less in Parliament," Jha, a Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, said.

Trash it
Babus, who spend hours in printing, managing and distributing copies of bills, reports and other documents in the House, were all for a digital Parliament.
"I have seen a number of Parliamentarians who do not even open the bundles tabled in the House and trash it. Hundreds of copies are
also kept just for the sake of reference," said senior Parliament official, requesting anonymity.
Another official associated with the Finance Ministry said thousands of trees could be saved every year, if government would digitise official documents and upload data online.
"Why single out the budget? There are hundreds of other voluminous documents that are printed daily by the government," he said.

Ecological deficit

Budget box

>>u00a0Finance Bill >> Memorandum >>u00a0Receipt Budget >>u00a0Expenditure Budget >>u00a0Customs & Central Exciseu00a0u00a0 >> The Macro Economic Framework Statementu00a0u00a0 >> The Medium Term Fiscal Policy Statementu00a0u00a0 >> The Fiscal Policy Strategy Statementu00a0u00a0 >> Statement of Revenue Foregone

7,500 set of General Budget and Economic Survey printed
Weight of each Budget document setu00a0 =u00a0 10 kg
Total weight of all Budget copies, printedu00a0 =u00a0 75,000 kg
Trees required to produce 750 kg paper = 1
Trees required to produce 75,000 kg paper = 100
Number of A4 sheets of paper weighing 30 kg = 4,000
Number of A4 sheets of paper weighing 75,000 kg = 1,00,000,00
Cost of 500 A4 sheets of paper = Rs 180
Cost of 1,00,000,00 sheets of paper = Rs 36,00,000