By Amita Bhaduri* As the Ganga emerges from the glaciers and glides along the foothills of the mighty Himalayas through the towns and cities with their sprawling ghats, engineered embankments, hydroelectric dams, and interrupted flows at barrages, the icy chilliness of its waters is lost. Pilgrims swarm its bank to pay obeisance to the holy … More While crores of rupees have been allocated for cleaning up Ganga, the river continues to flow filthy

By Sheshu Babu* In cities and towns, houses are being rapidly demolished paving way for construction of flats/ apartments. The house owners are selling their houses for ‘development’ with the intention of making money and the contractors are constructing flats selling each one with huge profit margin. Rubble created by demolishing structures and the spreading … More Need to recycle waste from demolished sites leads to pollution of land, air, water and environment

By Aditi Pinto* The people of the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh have always shared a deep connection with their water system. After all, it is here that people live right below the stunning Dhauladhar range, from the glaciers of which they get their waters. The glaciers flow down in streams or khuds from where water … More Himachal Pradesh: In a situation of climate flux, people need bottom-up approach to manage water

By Binu Mathew* A month has passed since the mammoth Kerala floods. I’ve travelled through many flood affected areas and talked to many affected people. The loss is huge many of them are irreparable. Even after one month many people haven’t come out of the psychological trauma caused by the floods. Many say they feel … More Post-floods: Kerala must join climate justice movement, seek carbon reduction strategies

By Kanchi Kohli and Manju Menon* Across India, residents’ mobilisation in cities to save trees has gained unprecedented momentum. The felling of 22,000 trees for the construction of an airport in Goa, over 14,000 for a world trade centre and government housing in Delhi, and another 1,800 for a metro car shed in Mumbai has … More Urban trees have a significant impact on controlling air pollution, can reduce city temperatures

By Himanshu Thakkar* In this second part of the Ganga article (click HERE for Part One), let us listen to some official agencies about the state of Ganga River following the recent efforts. Parliamentary Committee Why is Ganga among the five most polluted riverd of the world? Said Parliamentary estimates committee (2016-17) for Ministry of … More Need for urban water policy in view of increasing footprint of urban areas on Ganga, other rivers

Excerpts from the report “The Urban Commute: And how it contributes to pollution and energy consumption”, by Anumita Roychowdhury and Gaurav Dubey, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, which seeks to rank 14 Indian major cities: Cities that have a decent public transport spine, compact urban form, short travel distances, lesser number and usage … More Cities with decent public transport spine, short travel distances emit a lot less toxic pollutants