The Central government will form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and design a structural mechanism to claim carbon credits for plantations and forests, union minister for commerce and industries Kamal Nath said.
He was inaugurating the 114th annual conference of UPASI here on Monday. ?The world must compensate us for conserving forests and plantations. It is our rightful claim,? Kamal Nath said.
He said that it was difficult to claim carbon credits for existing plantations and forests, as under the Kyoto Protocol credit is given only for planting new trees. The various trade boards will be asked to form a common vehicle to make claims for maintaining the flora and fauna, he said.
Nath also announced the formation of special committee to study the concept of providing a minimum support price for small tea growers.
?The share of small tea growers is growing in our country and they need hand-holding for sometime,? he said.
The government is also thinking of developing common facilities under the cluster approach for small tea growers. Under the cluster approach, growers can share processing and packaging facilities. This will help in bringing down the cost incurred.
The government will continue the orthodox incentive scheme in the new plan and outlay for the plantation sector has been enhanced to Rs 3,000 crore from Rs 1,500 crore, he said.
Nath said subsidy was a not permanent solution to all problems and effective schemes need to be designed for the plantation sector.