Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item Titled "Neglected Katora Houz in Hyderabad’s Golconda Fort Cries for attention appearing in ‘The Siasat Daily’ dated 25 May 2025". The application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled “Neglected Katora Houz in Hyderabad’s …
State regulations are extremely important to protect various elements of the ecosphere like air and water against pollution, and from over exploitation. But corruption, lack of public awareness of the importance of natural resources for daily survival, and policies that exclude the participation of the people can render the laws …
Why did the chicken cross the road? Simple. It wanted to bypass the forest official. Otherwise charcoal would never reach the town and poor would starve for the lack of a livelihood. In the early 1980s, St Xavier's Behavioural Science Centre, an Ahmedabad-based NGO, encouraged poor farmers living in the …
Corruption can steer even Supreme Court orders astray. In an effort to curb pollution in Delhi, the Supreme Court ordered all government vehicles to start using compressed natural gas (CNG) on an experimental basis. But the order was met with strong resistance, not from powerful bureaucrats but from the drivers …
Small may be beautiful, but not in terms of the bounty. The larger the project, the bigger the "10 per cent" cut allegedly paid as a bribe to politicians and bureaucrats by the contractors. To secure a deal, a contractor pays the signing authority a certain cut from the money …
A group of Bhil villagers, living in the dry and parched Aravalli hilts near Udaipur, told the authors, "We have been strictly warned by our local leader never to ask for a pucca (metalled) road to our village, because what will we then make year after year as part of …
India is rich in biodiversity which, if used properly, could fill the country's coffers with pounds and dollars. It could also alleviate the poverty and suffering of the local people who have the knowledge and access to these resources. Sadly, the laws governing biodiversity exclude their participation. In the process, …
A subsidy is levied on a product to reduce its price. This means the state (read taxpayer) is paying for part of the product. This is done to meet a national objective. Diesel was highly subsidised in India to help the poor farmer run his pumpset for the purpose of …
In the early 1980s, Indians were shocked to read media reports that the police of Bhagalpur was deliberately "blinding" criminals. What the media failed to expose was the link between corruption in the management of a unique ecology and a consequent rise in crime. All this resulted in a typical …
The solutions to corruption lie in a complex and comprehensive set of responses. • There is a need to study and spread greater public awareness about how corruption is gnawing away the vitals of society and affecting its governance system. This is particularly important in a situation when corruption is …
The corrupt normally observe a law of silence. The public , too, suffers in silence. Once in a while someone comes across to rock the boat and spill the beans. Anna Hazare of Ralegan Siddhi is one such person. His name is synonymous with ecological regeneration. But he has also …
Corruption can affect the environment in four different ways: • Corruption will encourage the loot of the natural estate. And what is worse is that when the people begin to see corruption around them and begin to realise that state regulations are meaningless, they too will join in the plunder …
Hungry molecules inhabiting pores in minuscule ceramic beads could soon be cleaning up vast amounts of contaminated soil and water. Researchers at the US energy department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNL) in Washington believe the beads may be the best pollution-buster yet. Ounce for ounce, the ceramic beads can devour …
The first leg of the phaseout plan for old commercial vehicles has begun in Delhi. The transport department and the traffic police are cracking down on vehicles that are 20 years old. There are more than 9,000 such vehicles in Delhi. All such vehicles entering Delhi from other states will …
A public interest petition was filed in the Bangalore high court which sought directions to implement pollution control measures in the city. The court directed the government to file objections on the petition. A two-member bench had earlier issued notices to the chief secretary, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, and …
The Delhi high court has asked the Central Public Works Department, civic bodies and the Central Pollution Control Board to devise an "aggressive" plan regarding the disposal of the solid waste plan. In a detailed order, the court said: "A systematic action plan was required to deal with the problem …
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 …
EUROPEAN railways may have found an answer to one of the most common complain they face - the noise pollution. By using small knee-high noise barriers along the railway track and an acoustic hood that shrouds the train's wheel, train noise can be reduced to half, say researchers at TNO, …
On when the green bench of the Calcutta high court was formed: The green bench was formed in June 1996 when a case was filed by the Howrah Ganatantrik Nagrik Samiti in the Supreme Court. At that time, Justice Kuldip Singh of the Supreme Court was known as a "green …
THE Supreme Court (sc) has turned down the Delhi Government's plea for extending the deadline of October 2, 1998, to phase-out 15-year-old commercial vehicles. The Delhi government told the apex court that it would phase-out even 12-year-old commercial vehicles by March 1999, if the deadline was extended. A three-judge bench …
WITH some 10.7 million hectares of woodlands and forests, which is almost one-third of its total area, Germany has one of the biggest forest cover in Europe. From three per cent of land under timber in one district to 61 per cent in another, there are wide variations in the …
