As the Himalayan Region warms up faster than other places of the world, erratic weather puts geographically-vulnerable places such as Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh at greater risk. Rains are increasing, snowfall is declining, and temperatures are rising, which all have great impacts on an area prone to landslides and fed by glacial melt. On April 16 this year, Kinnauris woke up to a snowfall which had a dusty tinge to it. While a few experts...
India is celebrated as a democracy, but its environmental policies are controlled by a centralised bureaucracy. Forest-dependent people are shut out of the policy process and cannot hold India’s bloated and ineffective bureaucracy to account. As a result, agencies engage in maneuvers such as categorizing urban gardens and commercial tree plantations as “forests.” This disguises losses of natural forestland and exaggerates the government’s...
The recent audit report on environmental clearance and post-clearance monitoring lists many such instances of violations from development projects across India. Inadequate environmental impact assessments, irregularities in public hearings, not meeting promises and unregulated use of natural resources are just a few of the points raised by the audit team. Companies also routinely went back on their promises made during public hearings whether...
यह कल्पना करना मुश्किल है कि एक समय था जब यह नदी और जंगल सूख चुके थे। कुओं में कटीली झाड़ियां उग आई थी। बरसात के पानी से जो थोड़ी बहुत फसल होती थी, उसमें लोगों को गुज़ारा करना मुश्किल हो रहा था। पैसों की कमी के चलते लोगों को गाय भैंस का चारा खरीदना भारी पड़ रहा था, इसीलिए वे उन्हें बेच कर बकरियां रखने लगे। वहीं रोज़ी रोटी के लिए लोगों को मजबूरन यहां से पलायन करना पड़ रहा था। लेकिन आज यह इलाका न केवल प्राकृतिक रूप से समृद्ध है बल्कि आर्थिक रूप से...
Going by his fame, I had imagined somebody with people running around him, at least a couple of computers on display and cell phones caroling frequently. But here was a man working without a cellphone or a computer, surrounded by letters people wrote to him. A couple of wooden almirahs adorned with old postcards and images of famous personalities from Gandhi ji to Sunita Narain, stood in his room. Gandhi Marg, the bi-monthly periodical Anupam...
This document is a valuable resource that comprises important legal changes and events of last three years with reference to previous laws. Written by well known practitioner Kanchi Kohli, the e-book lists down steps that can be taken to secure people’s rights over land, forests, water and biodiversity. And all this is explained through instances where common men and women explore the nitty gritties of environmental laws. So, we have Sarita...
विश्वव्यापीकरण के नक्शेकदम पर चलते हुए हम अपने शहरों को अगला शिंघाई और दुबई बनाने में जुटे हैं और इसके चलते हम अपनी मजबूत सांस्कृतिक पहचान पीछे छोड़ते जा रहे हैं। वास्तुकला में यह बदलाव परंपरागत, अनूठे और उस जगह की जलवायु के हिसाब से बने हुए से लेकर आधुनिक, नीरस और सामान्य घरों के रूप में पहले के मुकाबले अब तेजी से हो रहा है। उदाहरण के लिए अगर हम पहले के समय को देखें, जब आंख बंद करके दूसरों की नकल करने की बजाय हम अपनी खुद की अद्वितीय...
The Chennai floods of December 2015 had little to do with nature’s fury and more about city’s flawed urban planning and decades of improper garbage management. Chennai generates between 4,500- 4,800 tonnes of waste every day, and about 1.8 million tonnes a year. However, the city seems to be learning its lessons pretty quickly, and the effort of some responsible citizens has culminated into the Plastic Waste Rules 2016, and the Solid Waste...
यमुना एक्शन प्लान गंगा एक्शन प्लान पर आधारित है। और समस्या दोनों प्लान में एक ही रही है, कि उनकी स्थिति को समझे बिना उनका हल ढ़ूंढ़ने का प्रयास किया गया है। आपने नदियों को समझा नहीं और बिना समझे उनकी सफाई में जुट गए। नदियां कोई नहर नहीं हैं। वे जीवित तंत्र हैं। जब तक आप उसके जीवन को वापस नहीं लाएंगे, नदियां वापस नहीं आ सकतीं। मात्र एसटीपी (सीवरेज ट्रीटमेंट प्लांट) बना देने से या फिर सीवरेज को नदियों में गिरने से रोक देने से नदियां साफ नहीं हो...
It's not without reason that the Third World War is predicted to be triggered by water scarcity. The numbers themselves give us enough reason to be worried- by 2025, 60 per cent of India is expected to be living in towns and cities. Bore wells are getting deeper, urban areas brimming with population, and some already suffer from water shortage. However, success stories of humble organisations like the Rain Centre in Chennai let the results...
नदी का विज्ञानं क्या है और बढ़ते जल प्रदूषण , बाढ़ और सूखे के संदर्भ में यह कहाँ बैठता है? बता रहें हैं प्रसिद्ध पर्यावरणविद् और लेखक अनुपम मिश्र। यह व्यख्यान उन्होंने 28 नवंबर, 2015 को नई दिल्ली में जल नीति विशेषज्ञ स्व: रामास्वामी आर अय्यर की स्मृति में दिया । ‘सबको पानी’ के नारों से ले कर बड़ी वाटर वर्क्स की योजनाओं तक, अनुपम जी पानी से जुड़े सभी सामाजिक और राजनीतिक आयामों को छूते हुए नदी के अविरल स्वभाव को चित्रित करते हैं
जिस पेड़ की शाख पर बैठे हो उसी को काटने की मूर्खता करते व्यक्ति की कहानी लगभग सभी ने बचपन में पढ़ी है। वर्तमान परिदृश्य में, इस दुनिया के लिए यह कहानी सच प्रतीत होती दिख रही है। काल के इस पल में मानव एक बहुत ही खतरनाक दौर से गुजर रहा है जिससे उसका अस्तित्व ही खतरे में आ गया है । यह संकट स्वनिर्मित है । जलवायु परिवर्तन की पृष्टभूमि पश्चिम की औद्योगिक क्रांति के साथ शुरू हुई पर आज बढ़ते उपभोक्तावाद के दौर में भारत (7%) भी ग्रीन हाउस गैसों के...
If you frequent villages, ‘Jal, jungle, zamin’ is the commonest refrain you hear. While we city dwellers are acquainted to land and water, forest often remains a distant resource for us. But in many places of the world, there are people who are one with the forests. India is home to many such tribes who treat trees and shrubs as their extended family. The film, “I cannot give you my forest’, gives a glimpse of such a tribe, the Kondhs of...
The devastating impacts of big hydel projects, including submergence of habitats, alteration of river ecosystem, and displacements, are well known. Alternatively, India has been harnessing hydropower through small, community-based set ups which range from traditional water flour mills of the hills called gharats to the modern projects which generate power between 0-100 kw. These plants, being decentralised and community controlled, offer a...
Forest Rights Act proposes to do away with historical injustices done to those living in and around forests. It might be a tribal sourcing out forest foods and cultivating the land or a non-tribal using the wood for building own house, the Act gives powers back to the people not only for using the resources but also for conservation and protection. But there's still a lot of ground to be covered and we should not miss trees for the wood. Here...
Man has always been on quest of building new things. Even when there were no big machines and qualified engineers, the world had expert builders who shaped the earth into various forms to meet needs of the society. Kuhls of Himachal Pradesh are one such example of engineering brilliance. Kuhl is name given to a channel which carries glacial melt through gravity from nearby streams to the fields thus making irrigation possible even on steep...
Around a thousand families of Thalangi tribal hamlet in Coimbatore district received free television sets from the Tamil Nadu government in 2006. But these were of no use as the houses had no electricity supply. Kerosene was the main source of lighting. Today, it is interesting to see how the hamlet has met all its energy needs and also attained complete sanitation through a biodigester. Though biodigesters have conventionally been used to...
Last month, Delhi Metro launched its first rooftop solar power plant at Dwarka Sector 21 metro station, which would generate enough energy to meet the requirements of the station and is the largest rooftop plant in terms of capacity in the national capital region. DMRC plans to expand such installations to other stations in order to meet its requirements and reduce its carbon footprint. In Bihar, Patna has the world’s biggest off-grid solar...
In 1801, a city was born on the banks of the oldest and purest river of India- Ganga. The city went by the name of Cawnpore back then. Untouched by the cruel hands of industrialisation, the people prayed and used the pious river in minimal ways. There was an order, and it was good. It is not good now. It has been more than two hundred years and the city stands as the largest in the state, second largest in northern India. But all this...
Rajkumar needs no urging to talk about Sundari. She is evidently a favourite of his. When we met, he regaled me with stories of her beauty, her smartness and her incredibly sweet nature. When he finally brought her out to meet me, I failed to see any signs of a winning personality or of towering intelligence. "Well," I rebuked myself, "you've only met her for two minutes. Rajkumar knows her since she was an egg." The Sarnath turtle hatchery...
The nuclear plant accident in Japan earlier this year marked the 25th anniversary of world’s worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in Ukraine. Both the incidents, though separated in time, are grim reminders to the world that we need to apply brakes
Spread over 65,000 km and ferrying 2.8 million tons of goods plus 24 million passengers daily, Indian Railways can be called the most populous Indian city on wheels. And just like any other city, railways also eats up resources and generates waste on the way.
Visit Mata Karni Devi Temple at Deshnoke village near Bikaner and you won't be surprised by the rats scurrying freely in the shrine's precincts. Travel shows, including those on Discovery and National Geographic channels, have already covered the uniqueness extensively. The rodents, regarded as reincarnations of
In Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, the mechanised boats increasingly operate in groups. In order to save fuel and time, one of the boats is delegated to scout the prospective fishing grounds so the rest could follow only when there is potential for catching prawns.
In India, where economic paradigm has changed quite drastically in last 20 years, the term 'development' is getting synonymous with exploitation. The 2011-12 yearbook of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) also follows this paradox to the hilt.
Image 1: More than 30 bulldozers and 100 JCBs ply incessantly on a hill in Murbad tehsil of Maharashtra, excavating a huge foundation and simultaneously levelling the land to build a dam for which forest clearance has not been sanctioned yet. The project
Villagers in Hirakud area of Odisha routinely face a peculiar problem. Their standing crops burn to cinders due to toxic fumes emanating from the aluminum smelter of the Hindalco Industries Ltd – a flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group.
At the confluence of Subarnarekha river in Orissa, the average fish catch has fallen by 20-30 per cent over the past few years while input cost to run a power boat and maintain a good net has risen. In 2008 winter, standing crops in 16 districts in Rajasthan were damaged
Even as the Forest Survey of India (FSI) released its report on India’s receding forest cover, leading carmaker Rolls Royce announced that the interiors of its newest model will be made of teak straight from Malabar forests. According to the FSI’s latest report
National water policies are extremely important legal and institutional tools as they reflect the basic intent and direction that the government is planning to take regarding water resources. To ensure that this is a direction acceptable and beneficial to all, open
Assam's Rhinos have almost always spelt good and bad news for wildlife officials. The doggedness with which conservation has been pushed ahead in the last few decades is paying off. The present count of the great Asian one-horned rhino in Kaziranga
North East India has long been ignored by policy makers who usually blame the difficult terrain for non-delivery of essential services. However, for last few years, both the bureaucrats as well as corporates are making a beeline to the region offering development.
August 12, 2011: The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) decides to take legal action against multinational seed firm Monsanto for accessing local varieties of eggplant and using it to develop genetically modified bt brinjal. Though the action may appear
Leather pollution is the third largest pollution threat in the world. May be that's the reason why when the issue of massive pollution generated by 538 leather tanneries in Kolkata was raised, the Supreme Court was quick to order shifting of these units
There is a strong perception that the crisis of policy implementation runs deep across all the levels of governance from the Union to the State and further to the local government level. This perception is reinforced in the recent findings of the Comptroller and Auditor
Keshari Sahu is a happy farmer. When scanty and irregular rainfall resulted in heavy damage to the Kharif paddy crop at his village in Balangir district of Odisha last year, he decided to grow Gurjee millet on his three acre farm instead of cotton.
“Pawan guru, pani pita, mata dharti mahat (Air is the guru, water is father and earth is mother)”, the closing shalok of Japuji Sahib given by first Sikh guru Guru Nanak Dev has a special significance for Punjab. Being the only state with a name
In the times when tapped water supply is considered an absolute sign of development, the traditional water harvesting systems are losing their age-old relevance. This is why the Lakholaav pond in Rajasthan assumes greater significance.
Deforestation is the biggest problem rural India is facing today because agriculture is completely dependent on a good forest cover in the neighbourhood. Not only the forests help sustain the rivers, streams and springs, they also prevent floods during monsoon.
Ghaziram's family has been living at Ekalpaar village of Jaisalmer district for ages but managed to build a pucca house only recently. Besides rearing livestock, he owns 50 bigha of agricultural land which earned him Rs 2 lakh last year.
