Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Ramdevbhai Samatbhai Sanjva Vs State of Gujarat & Others dated 09/05/2025. The matter related to remedial actions to be taken for abatement of pollution of river Bhadar near Ahmedabad. Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has filed the response affidavit, March …
The Supreme Court ruling to allow the construction of the controversial Sardar Sarovar Dam at the Narmada river has come as severe jolt to anti-dam activists. On February 17, in an interim order, the bench comprising Chief Justice A S Anand, Justice B N Kirpal and Justice S P Bharucha, …
The Supreme Court (SC) ruled that the establishment of industrial townships in areas belonging to village panchayats was in accordance with the Constitution. The 73rd and 74th Constitution amendments dealing with panchayats and municipalities were not in conflict with the declaration of villages as industrial townships, the judgement said. The …
The stand-off between Greenpeace activists and a shipping company at Botany Bay harbour in Sydney, Australia, has come as a wake-up call for South Asian countries where ship-breaking is a growing and for few, a very lucrative industry (Down To Earth, Vol 6, No 20). In a high-pitch drama, activists …
Gujarat is one of the most industrialised states in India. And pollution has been a direct fallout of industrialisation. In the last 38 years, after the creation of the state, the pattern of industrial growth has changed considerably. Textile industry, which formed 62 per cent of industries, has been replaced …
OVER the last 30 years, severe soil degradation has ravaged the state of Gujarat. If this trend continues, as much as 30 per cent of the state's land resources could be completely degraded by the turn of the century, warns a recent report of the Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC). "Increasing …
1965. The Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) embarks on an ambitious plan to set up a sprawling industrial area, the Nandesari Industrial Estate (NIE), in Nandesari, north of Vadodara, Gujarat. The GIDC promises huge earnings, job opportunities and numerous other benefits to the farmers' and residents of the area once …
India's first secured hazardous waste landfill, coming up Ankleshwar, is being built and managed by Bharuch Envirci Infrastructure Limited (BEIL), a company formed for the purpose by the industrialists of ' the area. Some 160-odd industries, including chemical units, firms producing pharmaceuticals, dyes, dyes intermediates, pigments and pesticides will be …
Gujarat government, Trumac Engineering Company and the labour commissioner have been issued notices by the Gujarat high court regarding the unhygenic working conditions of the company's sweep- ers. The sweepers in a petition had contended that they were being forced to clear a cesspool where human excreta from company's 600-strong …
WELCOME to Sakwa, a small tribal village in Valia taluka in Gujarat's Bharuch district. The population comprises some 473 persons living in 88 houses. And there are about 179 cattleheads: 83 cows, 24 buffaloes and 72 bullocks. In 1988, when the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme-India (AKRSP-I), a nongovernmental organisation …
JAMNAGAR is one of three cities in Gujarat which boasts of a large lake: the Ranmal lake. Once the pride of the residents of this historic city, also known as the Paris of Saurashtra, the lake has now become a dump site for urban effluents and hospitals wastes. According to …
A division bench of the Gujarat high court recently directed the Gujarat State Fertilisers Company Limited (GSFC), Vadodara, to take proper steps to ensure the upkeep of the wall which seperates the GSFC and the residential complex. The direction was given so that the wall could withstand pressure of heavy …
A suo moto notice regarding pollution in Bajwa township has been issued by a two-member bench of the Gujrat high court comprising Justice J R Vora and Justice S D Dave to the Gujrat State Fertiliser Corporation (GSFC) the state government, Gujrat Pollution Control Board and the Central Pollution Control …
THE Dangs, one of the few forests in Gujarat that boasts of green cover, is facing imminent danger of annihilation. Massive deforestation due to population pressures and rapid industrialisation are the two major reasons for the destruction of forests. The Gujarat forest department is fighting tooth and nail to check …
MORE than 2,229 lakh trees in 40 coastal villages of four tehsils of Kutch district were totally destroyed during the cyclone which which swept across Gujarat in July this year. More than 7,000 people died in the cyclone, including 4,400 salt pan workers at the Kandia port. About 13.5 lakh …
WORKERS at Gujarat's only basic chromium sulphate factory, Hema Chemicals, are suffering from nasal septum perforations, or holes in their noses, due to continuous exposure to hazardous chemicals. The factory lacks essential facilities such as proper ventilation, provision for natural light and fire exits. The result is all too evident. …
a group discussion was conducted with the women of Piparala, a village without out any surface irrigation facilities and very limited groundwater. What emerged from the discussion is that the main sources of cooking fuel are crop residue (mainly cotton as other crops like jowar and bajra stalks are used …
The easing of the supply position of firewood in the recent period is an extremely interesting and encouraging development. I am persuaded by Anil Agarwal's hypothesis on the positive supply response from the rural population to the fuelwood crisis as the main explanatory factor beyond the observed improvement, especially in …
Of late, the rural poor have realised that protection of the forest is basic to their survival and they themselves are protecting it. This would imply that creating awareness among the rural poor about the need to protect not merely forests but trees will go a long way in saving …
The US has plans to continue sending ships to the ship breaking units in India. This decision has brought mixed news for nearly 45,000 workers at Alang, Gujarat. While the recommendation of the US department of Navy and the Maritime Administration (USMA) brings employment opportunity, the workers at Alang will …
a quiet serene house, nestling in a green expanse, surrounded by heavily-laden fruit trees. Nothing new at the outset, for acres of the countryside is sprinkled with such picturesque villages and houses. However, village folk move out of these regularly attracted by the glamour of city life. On the other …
