-Scroll.in The suggested changes will weaken environmental clearance processes, favour industry, say experts. In April, as India was busy in the 2019 parliamentary elections, the central government moved to “re-engineer” the environment Impact Assessment Notification 2006, which governs environment clearance for industrial projects. Experts who have analysed the zero draft (a first attempt at the draft) of the environmental Impact Assessment notification 2019 opined that it weakens the existing notification and favours the...

-Down to Earth To start work, the Sustainable Development Goals first need to be popularised by the new government The new government has to ensure that each one in the country is able to enjoy freedom and practices tolerance without fear. National security is no doubt significant, but it cannot be the country’s political narrative. India is riddled with problems such as extreme poverty, exploitation and inequalities, and does not need to...

-The Hindu The Maldharis of Kutch are well adapted to a culture of scarcity. But older coping mechanisms have died away Do you remember how the monsoon began last year, ben?” asked Haji bhai of Hodka village in the heart of the Banni grasslands in the Rann of Kutch. “The thunder, the way the ground swelled from hours of rain and tiny grasses appeared the very next day. Do you remember, we...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A day after confirmation of illegal cultivation of genetically modified (GM) brinjal - Bt Brinjal - in a small farm in Fatehabad district of Haryana, a group of farm activists on Saturday wrote to Union environment ministry seeking its direction to government agencies for time-bound investigations beyond Haryana as they suspect that the cultivation of this transgenic variety of food crop may not be limited...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Mumbaikars can now drink water straight from the tap, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC’s) hydraulic engineer Ashok Tawadia said. According to BMC, an average 0.7% of water samples collected daily across Mumbai between April 2018 and March 2019 tested positive for Coliform bacteria, a group of microorganisms present in water bodies that indicate water may not be fit for drinking. This is far better than the WHO...