Inviting comments of stakeholders on
The Draft Environmental and Social Assessment (ESSA) under
a World Bank funded programme - “Raising and Accelerating MSME Productivity” (RAMP)
- “Raising and Accelerating MSME Productivity” (RAMP) is a USD 500 million operation to support the Government of India on Raising the Productivity and Competitiveness of MSMEs in India with a counterpart funding of 500 million USD from Government of India. RAMP is an intervention designed on the basis of the UK Sinha led Reserve Bank of India’s Expert Committee report (June 2019), which recommended various regulatory, financial and implementation reforms as well as firm level access reforms to provide targeted interventions to MSMEs across recognized challenge areas. In addition to building the Ministry of MSME’s capacity at the national level, the RAMP program will seek to scale up implementation capacity and firm coverage in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. The programme is now in an advanced stage of formulation and finalization. As part of the requirements of World Bank funding, a mandatory Environment and Social Assessment (ESSA) is required to be done to verify compliances to Environmental and Social standards by the last mile enterprises covered under the various programmes of the Ministry.
- Under this the World Bank assesses, at the programme level, the potential environmental and Social (E&S) effects of the programme, including direct, indirect, induced, and cumulative effects as relevant; the borrower’s capacity in terms of the legal framework, regulatory authority, organizational capacity, and performance to manage those effects; and the likelihood that the proposed operation achieves its E&S objectives. The ESSA describes the extent to which the applicable government environmental and social policies, legislations, program procedures and institutional systems are consistent with the six ‘core principles’ as detailed below and recommends actions to address the gaps and to enhance performance during programme implementation. The core principles are:
- (i) Promote environmental and social sustainability in the programme design;
- (ii) Avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse impacts on natural habitats and physical cultural resources resulting from the programme;
- (iii) Protect public and worker safety against the potential risks associated with: (i) construction and/or operations of facilities (ii) exposure to toxic chemicals, hazardous wastes, and other dangerous materials under the Program; and, (iii) reconstruction or rehabilitation of infrastructure located in areas prone to natural hazards;
- (iv) Manage land acquisition and loss of access to natural resources in a way that avoids or minimizes displacement
- (v) Give due consideration to the cultural appropriateness of, and equitable access to, programme benefits, giving special attention to the rights and interests of the indigenous peoples and to the needs or concerns of vulnerable groups;
- (vi) Avoid exacerbating social conflict, especially in fragile states, post-conflict areas, or areas subject to territorial disputes.
- The draft ESSA accordingly prepared is placed here to invite comments and suggestions from all stakeholders. Any comments may kindly be given on or before November , 30th, 2020 to the following email:
- Email id: rajeshwari[dot]kr[at]gov[dot]in, Contact person address: Ms. K. R. Rajeshwari, Dy. Director, Ministry of MSME, Udyog Bhavan, New Delhi .
