bringing executives of 12 leading pulp and paper mills from across India on a single platform, the Green Rating Project ( grp ) of the Centre for Science and Environment ( cse ), a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, endorsed the vision for a better and healthy tomorrow on September 26. As part of its aim to encourage greater transparency and publicising of information by the industry, the project organised a briefing and an interactive workshop for the environmental rating of pulp and paper sector.

The project is the first of its kind in India to rate industry on the basis of its environmental performance. It was launched three years ago to bring about a change in industry's attitude towards environmental issues. It presents a market-oriented framework to monitor the environmental impact of industrialisation. A self-sustaining programme, it tries to create greater environmental awareness and responsibility among industrial firms, investors, consumers and financial institutions.

" cse believes in a democracy where the voice of the weakest in the society is heard and this was also reflected in the grp . The project does not aim to merely criticise industry, but to encourage it for greater community participation,' says Chandrabhushan Singh, coordinator of the project. "Apart from pollution, the lack of communication is a major hurdle for the industry, as revealed in the first rating of the pulp and paper sector,' he added.

"We welcome this kind of study and strongly believe that such efforts will help the industry get more investments. It will also help in building the reputation of the industry, not only among local communities but also among financial institutions and consumers,' says K S Kasi Vishwanathan, senior vice president (operations), Seshasayee Paper and Boards Limited, Tamil Nadu. "One challenge we face is involving communities and to find out who would represent them,' he added.

It is not surprising that the rating of industries has prompted many companies to take the environmental aspect seriously. Says T S Chellam of the Tamil Nadu-based SIV Industries: "After the grp , SIV Industries now has separate discharge facilities for coloured and non-coloured effluents. For non-coloured effluents, an activated sludge digestion has been adopted and the treated water was then discharged into the river.'

"It is a social responsibility of an industry to take care of the community perception,' says Anil Agarwal, director of cse . "The main purpose of this workshop is to come up with policy ideas with a combination of public perception and the industry's views, and then go to the government,' he added.