Plastic Overshoot Day marks the point when the amount of plastic waste generated exceeds the world’s capacity to manage it, resulting in environmental pollution. In 2024, the global Plastic Overshoot Day is projected to occur on September 5th. Each country has its own Plastic Overshoot Day, which is determined by …
AFTER the English cricket team lost the first Test match against. India in Calcutta last month, it resorted to "smogscreens" to defend its performance. The ball was figuratively set rolling by Ted Dexter, chairman of the English cricket selection committee, who reportedly blamed the defeat on ecological problems in the …
THE PESTICIDES India Limited (PIL) factory in the Khempura area of Udaipur is the focus of a pollution controversy that some believe is now assuming political overtones. After local residents complained of the factory's indiscriminate disposal of toxic wastes and discharge of malodorous pollutants, the district collector asked the Rajasthan …
The Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF) had several New Year presents for Indian industry. Environment minister Kamal Nath -- for the umpteenth time -- relaxed his schedule for gross polluting industries to clean up or face closure. The earlier deadline was December 31, 1992, but now grace periods …
IN THE last 100 years of industrialisationindustrial firms have sought to increase their efficiency and profitability through increases in labour productivity. One fallout of this was the replacement of human labour with machines thatin turnhas resulted in heavy natural costs as industries became increasingly energy- and material-intensive. All this has …
WATER is priced far too cheaply in India to prompt industrialists into conserving or recycling it, says a detailed study prepared by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) for the Ganga Project Directorate. But the government has let the NIPFP recommendations lie in its cupboards. The study …
PAPER mills can substantially reduce their water consumption if they were charged a higher price for the water they use, says a detailed water audit conducted by the Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices (BICP). In 1989, the pulp and paper industry had an annual installed capacity of 3.354 million …
MADRAS Refineries Ltd (MRL) will soon be a zero-effluent company. Situated in Manali, on the outskirts of water-starved Madras, MRL plans to treat its waste water and pump it back for circulation in its cooling towers. The Madras city corporation, which is extremely short of water, has placed restrictions on …
SINCE 1991, the Balotra municipality has been levying a tax of Rs 15 for every bale of cloth coming into the town for processing and dyeing. The levy was started by the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) on complaints by farmers downstream about groundwater pollution and will be used to …
• Entrepreneurs should be encouraged to set up separate companies that will operate common effluent treatment plants. While the companies would be paid for effluent treatment, their income would be exempt from tax, which would help them upgrade their technology and become more efficient. The companies could undertake not to …
CHARGES: Charges are a "price" polluters must pay for using environmental services. They increase costs of production for polluting industries. Various types of charges are: • Effluent charges are levied based on the quantity and/or quality of effluents discharged into the environment. • User charges are payments for collective effluent …
"WE CAN cut coke consumption in foundries by as much as a quarter by using a new technology, but nobody comes to us," says Rama Rao, Director of the Process and Product Development Centre (PPDC) in Agra. He adds, "It will also reduce pollution as the quantity of coke used …
GIRISH Karnad's genius for turning mythology to contemporary use surfaces once again in his exquisite and disturbing film Cheluvi. Based on a fable about a young woman who could turn into a flowering tree at will with the help of a mantra, it has a not-so-subtle environmental message. Cheluvi was …
A LARGE number of dead whales were found washed up by whale scientist Roger Payne in Patagonia, Chile. The cause of death was apparently skin infections. The mysterious human-AIDS-like plague, which attacked the whales' immune system, was also reported in large areas as diversely located as the South Pacific and …
WHILE Europe continues its efforts ID reduce electromagnetic pollution, dw European Commission (EC) has gritated a four-year reprieve to mWons exporting electronic equipMonts. The Commission recently wowded the deadline for imposing %@&restrictions; against import of shm2rouic goods that do not adhere to standards for electromag interference or pollution (EMI) md …
POPULAR demand for informative and entertaining science fare is constantly rising. And, any doubts on this score would be dispelled by the public response to Doordarshan's recent invitation to write in and say what they would like to see on the extended transmission that becomes effective early next year. More …
REMOTE sensing is slowly changing the contours of planning in India. In time, it could do away with conventional methods of data collection involving laborious field studies and replace dusty files in the large cupboards of officialdom with computer tapes, discs and video monitors. Providing such relatively easy access to …
THE GENERAL degradation of Goa's environment is symbolised by the damage being done to its khazan lands, a unique, coastal, estuarine agro-system that plays a crucial role in the state's coastal ecology. Though Goa must import foodgrains to support its 12 lakh population, agriculture is the most important occupation in …
A WORLDWIDE study of fertility research says men today have just about half the sperm count of men 50 years ago and there has also been an appreciable drop in the average volume of seminal fluid. These findings raise worries that male reproductive organs may be getting adversely affected by …
THE KATHMANDU valley, for decades the showpiece of Nepal, is literally gasping for breath in a highly polluted environment. Long-time residents are concerned that the host of problems plaguing the valley will also keep tourists away, thereby losing an estimated US $70 million in tourism-related earnings. Overpopulation is the popular …
WEAVERS of Tibetan carpets in Nepal have been named the primary polluter of the Kathmandu valley. In a May notification, the government demanded that it set in place the mandatory pollution control measures or pay a fine of NRs 50,000 (IRs 30,300) or face closure or both. Started as a …
