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 …
THE COVER story of this issue of Down To Earth proves that Indian companies have a considerable potential to reduce wastes and hence, their waste treatment costs. Last year, India became the first country in the world to require environmental audits by law. But the results of this statute, at …
INDIA AND China signed an ecology pact on September 7, during Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao's visit to Beijing. "The two countries have several common environmental problems, which can be solved only by formulating joint programmes and regularly exchanging information," explains Sandeep Kumar of the ministry of external affairs. …
MORE THAN 50 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from across the world met recently in the sub-Saharan city of Bamako as a prelude to the intergovernmental convention on desertification, which was proposed by African countries at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. When the industrialised countries did not show much interest …
• Denmark's fourth-largest city, Alborg, has groundwater so pure it can be pumped directly into homes. But the supply from the Drastrup underground reserve is threatened by contamination and local officials are trying to solve this problem by encouraging users of the land to change their ways. Drastrup authorities did …
Nearly a decade after N C Mehta filed a public interest petition for the closure of industrial units in Agra, whose atmospheric pollutants he alleged were damaging the Taj Mahal, the Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in his favour. This is Mehta's second victory in less than six months -- …
Two British consultants have developed an underwater pump that can irrigate riverside fields without using fuel or causing pollution. The prize-winning turbine is easy to construct and can work continuously (Ceres 141, Vol 26, No 3). Originally designed to harness the energy of the Nile to irrigate the desert areas …
TOMORROW'S cars and motorcycles may operate on hydrogen, instead of petrol, if early successes with prototypes are an indication. A Benares Hindu University (BHU) team in Varanasi, led by physics professor O N Srivastava, has succeeded in operating a hydrogen-powered motorcycle on the street. And, H B Mathur, a professor …
PERHAPS economics started off on the wrong foot with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. Its early emphasis was on the process of creation of wealth as an outcome of humankind's toil against nature. This assumption of an antithetical relationship between humankind and nature has coloured much of traditional economic analyses …
EVEN AS Calcutta's transport authorities plan to phase out the tram, it is making a comeback in other parts of the world as technology's solution for a low-cost, non-polluting urban transport system. British firm JPM Parry and Associates has developed a modern tramway system, which does not require overhead wires …
THE DUTCH government has reached an agreement with livestock farmers to reduce pollution-causing manure surpluses by 2000 and thereby avert forced cuts in pig, cattle and poultry herds. The amount of harmful phosphorus in manure produced on farms will be reduced by 30 per cent of the 1986 level by …
EVEN AS the world prepared to celebrate Environment Day on June 5, environmentalists in Karnataka filed a complaint against the state pollution control board (SPCB) for failing to discharge their duties under the Water Act, 1974, and the Air Act, 1981. On May 11, Ram M Apte, an advocate and …
THE JOINT sector automobile manufacturer, Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL), launched its latest model with much fanfare in May. However, Alto, the version earmarked for European markets has pollution control features that are deemed futuristic for India. Alto has engines that will run on unleaded petrol. It also incorporates catalytic converters, …
Indian industrialists will now have few excuses for not undertaking Pollution control measures: the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) has offered Rs 150 crore as assistance to the most polluting industries. About 40 manufacturers of caustic soda, chlorine and paper, which ICICI says are the worst polluters, …
Indian-made autorickshaws may be taken off roads in Kathmandu as a pollution-control measure. Vehicular exhaust fumes from automobiles get trapped in the bowl-shaped Kathmandu valley, which is surrounded by high hills. Air pollution has reached such high levels, the authorities have been forced to undertake a study to identify short- …
EVEN AS the Ganga Project Directorate (GPD) begins work on cleaning up the Yamuna, environmentalists are questioning the decision of the ministry of environment and forests (MEF) to commit as much as Rs 357 crore towards the project. They point out that there has been no proper evaluation yet of …
Though a deadly gas leak two months ago caused nine deaths, Century Rayon is back in full production despite orders from the Maharashtra environment ministry and the state pollution control board (MPCB) to keep the mill closed until all MPCB directives had been implemented. Factory authorities had pleaded then that …
CASTING its anti-pollution net wider, the Supreme Court has cracked down on industries in Bihar and West Bengal spewing pollutants into the Ganga river, ordering them to be shut down or relocated. Ruling on a public interest petition filed by lawyer M C Mehta, Justices Kuldip Singh and N M …
Howrah railway station is facing closure because the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) says a huge volume of sewage from the station is discharged untreated into the Hooghly river. WBPCB officials say they will serve notice on Indian Railways asking them to suspend station operations, exercising its power under …
Soon after the gas leak at Century Rayon's Thane plant, which took a toll of 10 dead and 125 injured, the company was issued a closure notice by the Maharashtra state environment ministry. The Birla-owned company flouted the notice for nearly one month, citing financial reasons. But a subsequent 72-hour, …
AN ANSWER to the country's deepening energy crisis could be biogas, which besides being a non-polluting energy source, also provides enriched manure and improves local sanitation and health standards. Biogas consists largely of methane gas and it is produced through the anaerobic fermentation of cattle dung and other organic wastes. …
