The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
In 1978-79 , a third of the households were purchasing firewood logs. But in 1992-93, just about one-sixth were doing so. These are the findings of a nationwide survey, conducted by the New Delhi-based National Council of Applied Economic Researh. Undoubtedly, the survey has raised innumerable questions about the long …
The good news: India's forest coverhas more or less remained unchanged from the period 1991-93 to 1993-95. From 63.96 million hectares(mha), it is only marginally gone down to 63.34 mha,claims the ministry of environment and forest's (MEF) sixth State of Forest reports . But doubts persists as to how useful …
Environmental health, that is, health problems that result from changes in the environment, are nobody's business today. The ministry of health says that this is the business of the ministry of environment and forests. The latter is quick to pass the buck back to the former. But in the unending …
Every single chapter of the Fifth Citizens' Report that deals with the urban sector paints a distressing picture. The chapter on "Atmosphere' shows that it is not just metros like Delhi which are reeling under severe air pollution but also towns like Rajkot in Gujarat and Gajroula and Dehra Dun …
Dams have seen the strongest environmental protests in India. But these protests have failed to stop dams where rehabilitation has been the key issue. This shows that the government still believes that someone has to pay the price of development. And electoral democracy does not always favour the displaced. A …
In an environment marked by mass poverty, it is not easy to adopt high-cost technological options that have often been the hallmark of the Western effort to deal with environmental problems. But answers can and will be found. And they will lie, most of all, in: - Good democracy: debate …
What's the difference between the Ganga today and the Ganga 13 years ago. Nothing, except that Rs 462.02 crore from government coffers has been emptied into the river. Or rather the pockets of those entrusted with the task to clean up its dirty waters. The Ganga Action Plan, launched with …
The Centre for Science and Environment conducted a detailed study of a Himalayan village, called Syuta, though this is not its real name, in Chamoli district of Uttar Pradesh. The villagers spend 366,156 human hours on work every year. The data collected from this village confirms the reality that a …
India has witnessed strong anti-dam protests. The chorus of protests have grown: Development at what cost? But the government's response has been mixed. It has itself scrapped numerous dam proposals, and several more after public protests, but mostly where ecological impacts are high. Some of the dam projects which were …
With environmental problems growing by leaps and bounds and environmental governance institutions failing to meet the challenge, India's judiciary has begun to assert itself. The Supreme Court has triggered a wave of environmental consciousness in the country with its landmark judgements. Ordinary citizens now have the right to utilise the …
What does India's environmental future look like at the end of the century? The Citizens' Fifth Report on the State of India's Environment just released by the Centre for Science and Environment is a document on the current state of the environment but it also provides a peep into the …
"India has rich democratic and entrepreneurial traditions and has, in the face of emerging rural crisis, thrown up numerous outstanding examples of communities struggling to improve their environment, some of which have shown through the dint of their hard work and persistence that dealing with
once again, the Union Budget has failed to break new ground or provide direction as far as environmental policy is concerned. Yet, there was reason to hope that this time, things would be different: for the first time, the pre-Budget Economic Survey of the government included a chapter on sustainable …
Cse' s study to estimate industrial pollution is based on a model called the Industrial Pollution Projection System ( ipps ), developed by the World Bank ( wb) . The wb had earlier used the same model to estimate the pollution load in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines …
Whether it is an accidental leak or the emission of a poisonous gas, people are getting increasingly restive. In the face of sheer corporate indifference to environmental and health hazards, they are taking recourse to the judiciary. According to cpcb , the number of court cases filed under the Water …
The automobile bug has bitten Indians. And why not? Hyundai, Daewoo, telco , Honda and Fiat, to name a few, are coming up with the most buyer-friendly (read diesel), not necessarily environment-friendly, cars. Besides the luxury cars being introduced by the world's top car manufacturers, there are of course the …
They no longer say they are "living in Delhi'. Thousands of Delhi residents who have to breathe its unhealthy air prefer to say that they are "dying in Delhi'. The fear is for real. The capital's tree-lined avenues, grand colonial buildings, historical monuments are all submerged in the smog of …
I have written this before and I want to repeat it again: The Western economic model which we are following with such keenness is a highly toxic model. Toxicity is inherent in it. It is built upon an intensive use of energy and materials. To do this, it mobilises an …
• Some 22 per cent of the districts land area was brought under the Rajiv Gandhi Watershed Development Mission (RGWDM) by April 199& 374 villages have got involved In developing 249 micro- watersheds. • The foundation of any watershed programme is water and soil conservation. In JbidAw it means arresting …
