By Debadityo Sinha* The Government of India has undertaken the ambitious project of plying cargo ships from Haldia to Prayagraj on the river Ganga, also known as National Waterways-1 (NW-1). The justification for promoting waterways on such a massive scale as stated in National Waterways Bill, 2015 when introduced is as follows: “…inland water transport is recognised as … More National Waterways is unfeasible, will not benefit economy, will lead to environmental damage

  By Hridayesh Joshi Mustard, wheat, vegetables, millets – one of the most fertile valleys in the Himalayas is able to show a bumper harvest, thanks to the traditional irrigation channels that bring the water of the Gagas river to the farms in this part of Kumaon in the state of Uttarakhand. “River Gagas is our … More Deforestation, hydropower dams, ill-planned roads, housing, threaten Himalaya’s spring-fed rivers

By Manju Menon, Kanchi Kohli* The National Democratic Alliance government has unleashed several extremely unimaginative developmental policies that target areas that have retained some degree of ecological value to turn them into sites for industrial production. This is despite evidence of the damaging effects of such policies. The latest instance of this is the Coastal … More CRZ notification of 2018 increases vulnerability of coastal people to climate disasters

By Shawahiq Siddiqui* On August 18, 2018 – as the army helped thousands devastated by floods in Kerala – community members, scholars, activists, technical experts and civil society members from Nepal and India gathered in Patna in the northern state of Bihar for a civil society dialogue, led by the New Delhi-based Indian Environment Law … More Demand to review Koshi Project and set up viable accountability mechanism to implement it

By Nidhi Jamwal * The northeast monsoon is here and farmers across the southern state of Tamil Nadu are busy planting their crops. But, there is a lull in Elandarmade, a coastal village at one edge of the Cauvery delta in Cuddalore district. Sea level rise and salinity ingress have turned large tracts of agricultural … More Climate change: Rising sea level forces villagers to abandon rice farming as land turns more saline

Climate Scorecard, an international team of organizations and individuals working together to stabilize our global climate, with focus on pressing the top 20+ greenhouse-gas emitting countries to meet the pledges they made in the Paris Agreement, has sought “improvements” in India’s Draft Forest Policy 2018. In a comment, written by Ranjan Kishor Panda, expert-cum-activist on … More Draft Forest Policy doesn’t recognise challenges of climate change, excludes local communities

By Sheshu Babu* Use of electronic materials has increased over the years, and waste emanating from disbanding of the equipment is rising rapidly particularly in cities and towns. The city of Moradabad in UP (Located on the banks of Ramganga, a tributary of Ganga) is the largest e-waste hub in the country. The city’s air … More Lack of planning: India’s 95% of e-waste is managed by unorganized sector, mainly ‘kabadiwalas’