-Outlook New Delhi: The air quality in the national has deteriorated significantly and experts identified burning of agricultural wastes in neighbouring states as one of the major contributors to a visible haze over the city. As per official data, the air quality in the city has slipped into the category of "poor" following rapid increase of PM2.5 (respirable particles) level. The Air Quality Index value, calculated on the basis of PM 2.5 level,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The sustained anti-firecracker campaign, clampdown on Chinese crackers and a 10pm deadline do not seem to have made the city breathe any easier this Diwali than during the last one. There was no significant improvement in air quality compared to last year. The range of average PM 2.5 (fine, respirable particles) may have reduced from 201-533 microgram per cubic metre last Diwali to 145-500 microgram per...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today said "heads should roll" because the Ganga has remained polluted even after 30 years and Rs 20,000 crore of clean-up efforts and hinted it might order the closure of industrial units pumping waste into the sacred river. "You can't shift the city but at least you can shift the factories," a three-judge bench said in a terse warning to over 700 such units as...

-Economic and Political Weekly     Sustained and focused efforts have to be made by the Tamil Nadu state government to provide relief and rehabilitation to the drought affected people of the state. S Rajendran (myrajendran@gmail.com) is with the Department of Economics, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu. Due to the failure of the north-east monsoon in December 2013, Tamil Nadu is witnessing drought like conditions this year, leading to poor agricultural productivity, rural distress,...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: After a WHO urban air quality database released last week sounded alarm bells on the city's extremely high air pollution levels, lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung has set up a high-powered committee to look into air pollution levels. "We cannot allow pollution to grow unchecked. It is our moral responsibility to provide a healthy environment to our citizens. If we have to ensure health of our cities,...