Clean blow
Reliance asked to guarantee Rs 300 crore for new plant
News
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Bush fires spread very fast
It is the turn of the Indian energy establishment to be engulfed in the fire lit by President George Bush on nuclear energy. Bush says it is the safest, cleanest, cheapest option. So prime minister
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Most pay bribes to civic officials in Punjab: study
A state government survey says over 76 pc people had to grease the palms of municipal bodies to get basic amenities CHANDIGARH, February 21: It's not a finding the Punjab Government would like to flaunt. A survey sponsored by it has found out that 76.5 per cent of people pay bribes to officials in the various municipal bodies of the state to get their work done. The finding was an outcome of a study conducted by the Institute for Development and Communication (IDC) for the Department of Planning, Punjab Government. The study discovered that 76.5 per cent of the respondents had paid bribe on one occasion and most of them (82.3 per cent) had paid it to one person only. Interestingly, 94.1 per cent of the repondents admitted that the persons concerned had asked for money for redressal of their problems regarding basic amenities such as water, sewerage, streetlights and roads. Besides paying bribes, 37.1 per cent of the people also felt the need to approach an influential person to get their complaints redressed. Interestingly, almost half of the respondents were not in favour of paying bribes for any work at the MC level but were forced to do so. The only exception were people at Jalandhar and Nakodar where 80 per cent and 100 per cent of the respondents, respectively, did not mind greasing palms to get their work done at the municipal corporation. However, in many cases, bribe did not prove to be the ideal solution. Nearly 44.1 per cent of the respondents complained about harassment even after paying the bribe. Only 23.5 per cent felt that their work was done immediately after they paid the bribe, said the study. A large number (37.4 per cent) of respondents felt that middle-level officials were most corrupt, and only 8.1 per cent pointed a finger at the councillors. A majority of the complaints (45.2 per cent) were related to poor water supply followed by faulty streetlights, potholed roads (11.3 per cent) and choked sewerage (8.1 per cent). In Hoshiarpur, poor or polluted water supply accounted for half the complaints, while building construction made up for one-fourth of the grouses. In Moga and Amritsar, blockage of sewerage and poor water supply were the major grouses. In a damning indictment of the municipal bodies, the survey showed that 74.9 per cent of the people were dissatisfied with their grievance redressal system. The Jalandhar municipal body fared most poorly with only 2 per cent of the respondents saying that the civic body was prompt in dealing with grievances. The reasons for corruption, according to the study, ranged from poor work culture, faulty management, lack of proper planning, absence of transparency, to ad hoc allocation of resources. The people surveyed suggested transparency and involvement of the locals in grassroots initiatives would improve the delivery system. Principal Secretary, Local Bodies, DS Bains, however, blamed the old urban infrastructure for the corrupt system. "Urban infrastructure is nearing a collapse in the state for want of investment in the last decade and half. Some unscrupulous elements take advantage of people who want better services. The answer lies in massive investment to upgrade the urban services which we are doing this year.' Show 'em the money Of the 76.5 pc people who bribed Punjab civic body officials to get their work done:
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Whos afraid of 2C?
<p>The latest fuss about the 2°C global temperature target India apparently acceded to at the<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span><a href="http://www.state.gov/g/oes/climate/mem/index.htm">Major Economies Forum in L’Aquil<span style="text-decoration: underline;">, </span>Italy</a>, is important to unravel.
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Copenhagen: excluding people and voices for an unfair deal
<p>The Copenhagen conference will definitely go down as the worst meeting in global climate negotiations. There is a complete mess here: lines of people standing outside the Bella Centre, where the conference is taking place, wanting to get in. Inside the meeting has broken down for the umpteenth time because industrialized countries refuse to commit to cutting emissions.
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Beyond Rio+20
It was June of 1992. The location was Rio de Janeiro. The occasion was the world conference on environment and development. A large number of people had come out on the streets. They were protesting the
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The future we do not want
<div class="content"> <div class="field field-type-text field-field-intro"> <p class="rtejustify">World leaders attending Rio+20 did nothing to tackle the interlinked crises of economy and ecology,
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Carbon emissions from aviation: issues and options
<p><strong>The underlying issue is not trade rules but the global climate regime</strong></p> <p class="rtejustify">The concerted opposition to the EU push towards forcing foreign airlines landing in
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Solar Energy
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Solar Energy</strong></span></p> <p><img alt="Solar Energy" src="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/country/bangladesh/solar_hl.jpg" style="width: 530px; height: 300px;" /></p> <p>In Bangladesh 60% of the population do not have access to the power grid. The country only produces 3500-4200 MW of electricity against a daily demand for 4000-5200 MW on average, according to official estimates. Solar energy is an ideal solution as it can provide gridless power and is totally clean in terms of pollution and health hazards. Since it saves money on constructing electricity transmission lines, it’s economical as well.</p>
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editor's pick
<table bgcolor="#f2f2f2"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <p><img border="0" src="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/html/eds_insidebanner.jpg" /></p> <div style="width:100%; height:660px;
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Demand Nirbhaya—fearless—cities
<p style="line-height: 22px; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 5px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Catalysing safe design for public spaces should be among the top priorities
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Superstorm ‘Sandy’ tells us why the climate change denial must stop
<p><img alt="" src="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/media/iep/homepage/sn_blog.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 131px; float: left;" />I start this blog on climate politics as tropical superstorm
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Coal-based power industry expands rapidly while solar power trots behind
Tuticorin, a coastal district in southern Tamil Nadu, is a large hub for coal-based thermal energy generation with many more such projects in the pipeline. Currently there are 2 power stations commissioned
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India’s climate strategy needs revision
<div class="authors" style="margin-top: 5px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size:12px;"><span
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Coal-based "merchant" power plants- A threat to ecology and livelihoods
<div> (From my website <a href="http://eassarma.in">http://eassarma.in</a>)</div> <div> </div> <ol type="1"> <li>While India is seriously engaged in global climate talks, it has simultaneously launched a highly misconceived plan to set up private “merchant” power plants based on coal.
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In favour of...
...biodiversity or bio plurality? What is of essence is to sustain all that is in the biosphere rather than conserve few forms of biodiversity, says <font class='UCASE'>gopal k kadekodi</font>
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For a terra firma
Earth, the cradle of all lifeforms, should not be transformed into a graveyard for want of serious monitoring of soil degradation all over India and the world
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Scraping the barrel
No stock, nuclear energy programme in crisis
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Pedalling to a new dawn
As India goes into economic overdrive, the urban explosion and its attendant traffic nightmares cry out for a radical alternative. DERK J VAN DER LAAN presents the case for the cheap and ecofriendly bicycle
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Opinions
DTE sought the comments of legal luminaries and journalists on some issues that emerged out of this analysis. The individuals whose opinions appear here are P N Baghwati, former Chief Justice of India, A M Singhvi, additional solicitor general of India; R