Realising the importance of Environmental Information, the Government of India, in December, 1982, established an Environmental Information System (ENVIS) as a plan programme. The focus of ENVIS since inception has been on providing environmental information to decision makers, policy planners, scientists and engineers, research workers, etc. all over the country.

The Economic Division implements the Environmental Information System (ENVIS) Scheme. The ENVIS serves as a single-stop web-enabled repository of comprehensive environmental information with collection, collation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of the same through a nationwide network of ENVIS Hubs (hosted by the Environment/ Forest Department of State Governments/ UT Administrations) and ENVIS Resource Partners (RPs) (hosted by environment related governmental and non-governmental organizations/institutes of professional excellence). Economic Division handles the following areas of work related to the revamped ENVIS Scheme, after termination of the XIIth Five Year Plan.

The objectives of the ENVIS scheme are as follows:

1.To promote, implement and coordinate Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP), an initiative to skill youth in environment, forest and wildlife sectors and enabling them to be gainfully employed or self-employed.

2.To implement and coordinate National Environment Survey (NES) - a Grid-based Resource Information and Decision Support System (GRIDSS) for sustainable management of natural resources. The survey would be conducted at the district level to fill in data gaps in respect of various environmental parameters such as emission inventory and pollution; forest and wildlife (flora and fauna); wetlands; rivers and other water bodies; public health etc.

3.To implement and coordinate Community-driven Environmentally Sustainable Village Programme (CESVP) with the objective of mobilizing communities on environmental issues, creating decentralized models of development to empower local communities and build an awareness driven atmosphere in villages to adopt environmentally sustainable practices at community level.

4.To build a repository and dissemination centre in Environmental Science, Information and Management (ESIM).

5.To enable application of modem technologies of acquisition, processing, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information of environmental nature.

6.To support and promote research, development and innovation in ESIM.

7.To build storage, retrieval and dissemination capabilities, with the ultimate objective of disseminating information speedily to the users.

8.To build a strong statistical base such that ENVIS is recognised as a South Asian Hub for ESIM.

9.To promote national cooperation and liaise with agencies concerned for exchange of environment related information.

10.To promote, support and assist education and personnel training programmes designed to enhance ESIM capabilities.

11.Periodic convening of the meeting of Steering Committee to review the functioning of the Scheme.

12.Review and approval of Annual Plan of activities of each of 67 ENVIS Hubs/RPs across the country, set up for providing scientific, technical and semi-technical information on various environmental issues.

13.Monitoring and overseeing the functioning of ENVIS Hubs/RPs.

14.Coordination of all activities of the ENVIS Hubs/RPs through the ENVIS Focal Point located in Economic Division.

15.Auditing and upgrading of websites of each of the ENVIS Hubs/RPs maintained on National Information Centre (NIC) Platform.

16.Updation and maintenance of an ENVIS Portal connecting all ENVIS Hubs/RPs.

17.Coordination of and conducting annual performance review of each ENVIS Hub/RP independently and also through a National Evaluation Committees of Experts on both thematic issues and Status of Environment and Related Issues.

18.Updation and maintenance of India State-Level Basic Environmental Information Database (ISBEID) to collect, compile and disseminate State/UTs environmental information in 17 modules and 49 sub modules covering 337 parameters at the state/district level on a centralized server.