Rita Sharma, Secretary of India's National Advisory Council (NAC), has been appointed to a new commission on climate change to be chaired by Britain's chief scientific adviser Sir John Beddington. The new Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, has been set up by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research's Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security program (CCAFS). Sharma is among 13 members of the commission which, in...

India’s Supreme Court has questioned clearances to industries on the basis of environment impact assessments (EIAs) carried out by private consultants in the pay of project proponents. A special bench of the court led by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, that is hearing a petition challenging approvals granted to the French company Lafarge to mine limestone, likened the practice to "paying the piper to call the tune." Kapadia’s bench noted that every report...

A recent survey by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has revealed that 18% of the Water supplied by Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is unfit for drinking. Every fifth person in the city is consuming contaminated Water, the report indicates. The civic agency tested 616 samples from different parts of the city, of which 111 were found unfit for drinking. The worst affected areas were the south and Karol Bagh zones. In...

Toxicity in Ferozepur district's groundWater is causing crippling disorders among children in several villages Sutlej Water gets polluted by effluents and seeps into groundWater People in border areas upset at official apathy The toxicity of the groundWater in over four dozen villages in the border areas of Ferozepur district of Punjab has risen to such alarming levels that an increasing number of children now requires wheelchairs more than toys, as they fall victim...

The oldest and most common dig against organic agriculture is that it cannot feed the world’s citizens; this, however, is a supposition, not a fact. And industrial agriculture isn’t working perfectly, either: the global food price index is at a record high, and our agricultural system is wreaking havoc with the health not only of humans but of the earth. There are around a billion undernourished people; we can also...