-The Financial Express How about planting bamboo extensively along the banks of the Yamuna to sequester the carbon from Delhi’s vehicle emissions? According to the World Bank, India’s per person emission of carbon dioxide was 1,730 kg a year in 2014. Another website says this has risen to 1,900 kg in 2016. Bharathi Namby, a scientist, says it will take just five bamboo plants a year to make an Indian carbon-neutral,...

-The Times of India blog With the approaching winter the air quality in many Indian cities, especially in Delhi, becomes a public health hazard. Something so fundamental as breathing easy can no longer be taken for granted. It’s a wake-up call worthy of a civic revolution. For decades now those who could afford it (very much including this writer), have seceded from public services. The Indian elite send their children to expensive...

-The Hindu Chief Secretary instructs State officials to take preparatory measures Uttar Pradesh is staring at a drought, the senior-most official in the State has said. Noting that the State received low rainfall during the monsoon, Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar has instructed divisional commissioners and district magistrates to brace for a “potential drought”. Mr. Kumar has instructed officials to coordinate with all departments and take “necessary steps on a priority basis”. The Chief Secretary has...

-The Hindu Suburban train services on all three lines suspended, to be resumed in phases Mumbai: Heavy and incessant rain in Mumbai, which began in the early hours of Tuesday and continued unabated throughout the day, brought the city to a virtual standstill, with lakhs of people stranded across the city as transport systems collapsed. According to the India Meteorological Department, the city had recorded 297 mm of rain. The BMC, the Mumbai...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Do you know every time you buy diesel or petrol you pay six paise and four paise per litre respectively for proper toilet facilities at petrol pumps? Petroleum ministry officials and petrol pump owners confirmed that this provision exists for generating revenue for maintenance of toilets. However, the latter claimed that the monthly revenue is not enough to meet the requirement. The allotment condition for petrol pumps...