The Union environment ministry has notified the new Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) regime, replacing the CRZ notification of 1991. The notification, which has come after years of heated debate and controversy pleases no group entirely—the developers see it as a further restriction of building and industrial activities along the coast, …
It is rather naive to delink urbanisation from the rising lifestyle aspirations and the imperatives of economic development. Opportunities, power and prestige are some of the irresistible attributes of the growing urban centres which attract migrants on a large scale. In India economic liberalisation and urbanisation have become complimentary to …
URBAN local bodies in India’s scheduled areas have been functioning illegally for the past 15 years because of Parliament’s oversight. The Constitution mandates a law separate from the Panchayati Raj Act for rural and urban local bodies in scheduled areas—tribal dominated areas specified in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. …
The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has issued showcause notices to the Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ) located in Mundra taluka of Kutch district for violating the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 1991. The ministry has also simultaneously issued showcause notices to OPG Power Gujarat, which is planning …
Frank Lloyd Wright, the American architect, once said that to look at the cross-section of any plan of a big city is to look at something like the section of fibrous tumour. It is probably an apt description of how India
Social activists have moved court to scrap the Lavasa township project near Pune. The public interest petition filed in the Bombay High Court says the project does not have the mandatory environmental clearance from the Union environment ministry, and hence is liable to be cancelled. The petition alleged the Maharashtra …
This paper examines the policy options for India as it seeks to improve living conditions of the poor on a large scale and reduce the population in slums. Addressing the problem requires first a diagnosis of the market at the city level and a recognition that government interventions, rather than …
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has made public its proposed coastal regulation zone (crz) notification. The draft, uploaded on the ministry website on September 13, would replace the existing coastal regulations of 1991. It has classified coastal land into four zones. CRZ I will comprise ecologically sensitive areas …
As the country gets set for the Commonwealth Games in October this year, scientists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune have given India an Air Quality Index (AQI) and a System for Air Pollution Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). Gufran Beig, Project Director of SAFAR and scientist …
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission adopted a reform-linked funding approach, the culmination of two decades of active debate and experimentation in the urban development sector. Yet, progress of both fund utilisation and reforms under the programme has been tardy. As a second phase of the mission is planned, …
Considering the role and importance of rational and orderly growth of urban centers, the Government of Punjab intends to streamline the development process in urban settlements to ensure that these settlements continue to achieve their objectives of improved efficiency and productivity. Accordingly, it is desirable to have a stringent check …
The national mission on sustainable habitat approved by Prime minister. It is one of the eight missions under national climate change action plan and aims to make cities sustainable through improvements in energy efficiency in buildings, management of solid waste & shift to public transport. The National Mission for Sustainable …
The latest Cooum river restoration project in Chennai aims to focus on slum eviction as an achievable first step. A 19-kilometre elevated expressway on the river is also planned. Together estimated to displace over 18,000 families from the banks of the Cooum, these two projects testify to how waterfront development, …
The residents of Golibar slum colony near Mumbai airport have sniffed a scam in the state housing agency’s rehabilitation plan for them. They found the land where they are being resettled is encroached land belonging to the Air Force. About 550 families have already been shifted there in six housing …
NEW DELHI: After Shillong ranked 18th in terms of good urban sanitation and cleanliness among Indian cities, the "Scotland of the East" is found to be the only State capital in the entire north-eastern region having a slum population of over 50,000. After Shillong, Delhi and Chandigarh are other cities, …
This study presents reusing of locally available waste fibrous materials as concrete composites. Mechanical strength properties (compressive strength, split tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture and shear strength) of synthetic fibres (nylon, plastic and tyre) with volume fractions (0.5%, 1% and 1.5%) and aspect ratios (30, 60 and …
CHENNAI: Cycle lanes will be created by Chennai Corporation to promote cycling and control vehicular pollution and fuel consumption. To attract tourists to the Marina beach, the civic body would provide cycles on rent during weekends. It would also conduct a study for urban redevelopment of T. Nagar. A firm, …
AHMEDABAD: In a relief to the Adani Group, Gujarat High Court, on Monday, disposed of the petition filed by a group of fishermen against the Mundra Port Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ) seeking a stay on the alleged construction activity on creeks in the southern coast of Kutch. A division Bench …
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government has given a clean chit to Adani Group owned Mundra Port Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ) as the Kutch collectorate and Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) have stated before Gujarat High Court that no filling work on three disputed creeks in the southern coast of Kutch is being …
Despite being located in the seismically highly vulnerable region, Uttarakhand shows an elaborate tradition of constructing multistoried houses. Both the local dialects of the region (Kumaoni and Garhwali) have unique words for identifying four different floors of a building. This suggests common occurrence of multistoried structures in the region. Rajgarhi …
