-Livemint The Subramanian committee reviewing environment laws was undemocratic in process and results A high-level committee, led by retired bureaucrat T.S.R. Subramanian and set up under the environment ministry to review laws that protect the country's environment, submitted its report on 18 November. There's no dispute that there is a need to review the entire body of environment laws, such as the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Wildlife (Protection)...

-AP American scientist Joshua Apte travels in an autorickshaw to present alarming findings for anyone who spends time on or near the roads in this city of 25 million. The autorickshaw lurched through New Delhi's commuter-clogged streets with an American scientist and several air Pollution monitors in the back seat. Car horns blared. A scrappy scooter buzzed by belching black smoke from its tailpipe. One of the monitors spiked. Joshua Apte has alarming...

-Down to Earth The proposed Sewerage Master Plan 2031 that promises to end Delhi's drainage troubles underestimates the wastewater volume of the city Delhi is notorious for its overflowing drains and poor sanitation. The situation is so bad that just half of the city's population has sewerage connection. Media reports show that cases of water-borne diseases like cholera are reported more from areas lacking sewerage systems such as Rohini and Shahdara. This...

-The Hindu RAJAHMUNDRY (Andhra Pradesh): As the government is busy in holding meetings on how to conduct Godavari Pushkarams, findings by two separate NGOs from Chennai and Hyderabad have exposed dangers of unhygienic conditions, unclean surroundings and toxicants spread through excess usage of plastic along the Godavari bunds and its adjourning towns and villages. Centre for Environment Studies in Southern India (CESSI), Chennai and Organization against River Water Pollution (ORWP), Hyderabad have...

-Business Standard The committee has suggested an umbrella law to help set up new national and state-level regulators that would also take the powers of the existing Pollution control boards The T S R Subramanian committee, constituted about three months ago to review laws related to environment and forest protection, has recommended some big-ticket changes to the rules and legislation. These include a complete overhaul of certain laws, special fast-track dispensation...