-The Hindu Chennai: If only Chennai’s unique macro, medium and micro drainage systems had been effectively maintained, the people of this expanding metropolis would not be undergoing the misery caused by the historic floods. Professor S. Janakarajan of the Madras Institute of Development Studies, who is an expert on water management and disaster risk reduction, agrees that Chennai’s current woes are the result of a “man-made disaster.” According to him, the construction...

-PTI NEW DELHI: The pre-monsoon groundwater level has declined in 46 per cent of wells assessed by the government across the country, as compared to the five-year average, Rajya Sabha was informed today. Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sanwar Lal Jat said this in Rajya Sabha while responding to questions on ground water levels in PLAins and drying waterfalls in hilly regions. "Assessment of groundwater-level monitoring...

-PTI New Delhi: A PIL was today moved in the Delhi High Court against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governments PLAn to restrict plying of private vehicles having odd and even registration numbers on alternate days from January 1 in the national capital to combat air pollution. The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva who listed it for hearing on December 9. The petitioner, Shweta Kapoor,...

Varanasi, which is known as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency during 2014, has hit the headlines recently due to people's struggle for water rights. Altogether 18 village councils (Gram Panchayats) of Varanasi have written recently to Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board to stop overexploitation of groundwater by the Coca-Cola bottling PLAnt, which is situated in Mehdiganj (please click here to access their letters).   The village councils, which have...

-The Hindu The restrictions on private vehicle usage may have got most of the media coverage, but are by no means the only steps the government has announced. Nationally, over 35 per cent of urban households own a motorised two-wheeler and just under 10 per cent own a car, jeep or van. In Delhi, where per capita incomes are among the highest in the country, these proportions are much higher: nearly 40...