By Krithika Dinesh and Kanchi Kohli* On March 14, 2017, India’s environment ministry, issued a notification, which gives an opportunity for projects that have violated conditions of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006 to be brought into compliance. Under this notification, a process is laid down for all those projects that have started construction, … More Anatomy of legalising violations: Environment Ministry’s policy of post facto approvals

By Hanzala Aman* The 2016 Environmental Performance Index ranked India 141 out of 180 countries surveyed. EPI is unique in its approach because it incorporates many high-priority environmental issues, including resource consumption, depletion of environmental assets, pollution, and species loss among other important topics. The EPI typically ranks countries on performance indicators tracked across policy categories … More Air pollution: Govt should understand, Swachh Bharat and Make in India can’t go hand-in-hand

An excerpt from “A 21st Century Institutional Architecture for India’s Water Reforms Report”*, submitted by the Committee on Restructuring the Central Water Commission (CWC) and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), chaired by Dr Mihir Shah to the Prime Minister’s Office: In India, the number of people living in urban areas is expected to more than … More India’s rivers, groundwater polluted by untreated effluents, sewage dumped in urban stretches

The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has distributed an online petition by Jayanta Bandyopadhyay, addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi*, appealing for his intervention and protection of the right to life and livelihoods of over 40,000 families in Narmada Valley facing submergence due to Sardar Sarovar Dam. Text: Water is life, and the people … More Stop injustice and safeguard the constitutional rights of the people of Narmada Valley

A letter from concerned citizens and organizations* to Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India, asking him to ensure the implementation of new norms for emissions and water use of thermal power plants. It insists, the Ministry should bring out “Status of implementation – Interim Report” … More Ensure implementation of new norms for emissions and water use of thermal power plants