-Hindustan Times New Delhi: During his routine morning jogs, Vardhaman Kaushik often felt his stamina was going down. The young environment lawyer choked on what he felt was highly toxic air. In February 2014, he moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for relief. He didn't expect his ‘innocuous petition' will escalate to the level it now has, and result in a ban for all petrol vehicles older than 15 years and diesel...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: You might not know it, but the next time you park your diesel vehicle at the shopping mall and answer that ringing phone, you would have done your bit to release a small portion of poison into Delhi's air. Not once, but thrice. From the exhaust fumes of your car to the generator sets that keep the mall alive, and the mobile tower active. So much so,...

-The Indian Express The way the graph moves tells the story of a public health disaster that has been allowed to happen: over the last 15 years, the fall and rise of the lethal, fine dust that clogs your lungs every day in the nation's capital. After the historic Supreme Court judgement in 1998 forced all public transport vehicles, an estimated 100,000, to switch to cleaner Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), the levels...

-The Indian Express The budget aims at economic growth and social protection. This is welcome. So are provisions for financial inclusion, housing, water, sanitation and rural electrification. But there are also substantial cuts in crucial social sectors and key omissions that are likely to undermine its stated economic objectives. Consider agriculture, environment and women. First, double-digit growth or poverty reduction is unlikely without strong, sustained agricultural growth. In 2014-15, agriculture grew at...

-The Hindu Panipat (Haryana): Launching the ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' scheme in Haryana, he said we must fight female foeticide and celebrate the birth of a girl child. The ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' scheme, which seeks to address gender imbalance and discrimination against the girl child, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Panipat in Haryana on Thursday. This is the fourth major scheme of his government after Jan Dhan Yojana, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan...