Category: Environment
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India running out of Air: Can we rescue the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981?
India’s toxic air has led to a health as well as an economic crisis. As per the World Bank, India lost 8.5% GDP in 2013 due to air pollution, which roughly amounts to $221 billion; the situation has only worsened in the last 6 years. India has some Acts and Programs in place to prevent…
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The curious case of Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009 and Air Pollution
By Akshat Jain, Madras School of Economics, Tamil Nadu. India is going through a period that can be regarded as its worst environmental crisis. The air quality index in India is worsening with every passing day. 7 of the world’s 10 most polluted cities are in India. Many reasons have been cited for the plummeting…
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Solid Waste Management in India’s Mega Cities: Crossroads for Smarter Cities
India’s metropolitan cities are often touted for their superior development models. However, when it comes to the subject of Solid Waste Management (SWM), the status quo is particularly severe in the four major Indian cities. This Policy Brief examines the status of Solid Waste Management in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru & Chennai while…
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The Steel Scrap Policy: India’s way to a greener tomorrow?
By Ananya Kanth, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. There are iconic steel structures around the world-buildings that soar to record heights, bridges that span the widest rivers, iconic landmarks in our own country like the Howrah Bridge, Vidyasagar Setu, Jogighopa rail-cum-road bridge, to name a few, which are steel intensive state-of-the-art constructions that stand…
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Rusting of a ‘migrant’ magnet: The severe ecological consequences of population influx on Delhi-NCR
By Shaunak Kishor Tapaskar, National Rail & Transportation Institute, Vadodara. Migration is considered as a prime feature of today’s globalized world. People migrate from their places of origin to aspire for a safe and better future. In India, especially in its National Capital Region (NCR), we come across a similar phenomenon. NCR is the world’s…
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Water Law Reform: A Necessity?
By Shashank Shekhar Shukla, Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh. “Water is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime and our children’s lifetime. The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land.” Our Constitution contains several provisions regarding water. Water is a State subject covered under the seventh…
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Need for a new Environment Protection Legislation?
By Sarthak Kanoria, Christ Church College, Kanpur. Gandhi’s saying, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed” is highly relevant today, in comparison to the time when he said it. The progress made by India in the economic sphere is overshadowed by the deterioration in the quality of its environment.…
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The City of Imbalance: The Burden of Population and Ecological Crisis in Mumbai
Mumbai’s urban population is fast growing and problems of water availability, waste management and congestion are going to get more complex in future. Real estate development, Airport development project, Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, to name a few, are all meant to elevate the standard of life for an average citizen, however, their individual and collective…
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Water Degradation in India: Any Hope for the Future?
If the recent reports are to be believed, India is hurtling headfirst towards Day Zero. Several cities will run out of groundwater by 2020. India’s demand for water will surpass its supply resources by 2030. This will affect the quality of life across India and stagnate the country’s development.
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Coastal Regulation Zones and Economic Development: Is Ecological Dilution the Cost of Progress?
By Debarati Choudhury, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. Story So Far: The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 2019 has cleared the way for commercialisation and development projects in Mumbai, while racing towards a more vulnerable ecology. The proposal of lifting restrictions from over 6,070 kilometres of the coastline for commercial activities has rung alarms…