-The Times of India NEW DELHI: As the world is already staring at impending water crisis due to climate change, population increase and pollution, a UN report has predicted that as many as 3.4 billion people will be living in "water-scarce" countries by 2025. It also pointed out that the situation will be deteriorated further in the next 25 years (by 2050), culminating into instances of human conflicts in many parts of...

-The Hindu     Some changes were ordered on the direct instructions of the Prime Minister The Prime Minister's office has repeatedly ordered and orchestrated dilution of environment and forest clearances in order to fast-pace industrial projects, documents with The Hindu show. In a series of orders and missives sent to the Union Environment and Forests Ministry over 2012-2013, the PMO instructed that regulations and norms had to be diluted or done away with. These...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Senior advocate Harish Salve startled the Supreme Court on Monday by presenting a report which established a direct link between death of 3,000 children annually in Delhi to the increased pollution level attributable mainly to more diesel cars on the roads. Salve said subsidized diesel price was almost at par with CNG, leading to a massive increase in sale of diesel cars. As a result, emissions...

-The Indian Express Overriding the government's authority to grant environmental clearances, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the setting up of a national regulator with offices across the country to appraise projects, enforce Environmental Norms for approvals and penalise polluters. The Green bench led by Justice A K Patnaik rejected the government's contention that it alone was the regulator under the Forest (Conservation) Act and that no one else could be appointed...

-The Business Standard A quick recap of the intensely fractured debate on GM crops and what the pro & anti arguments are. After nearly a decade of opposition, Environment Minister Veerappa Moily is finally expected to rule in favour of the contentious GM or genetically modified food crops in India. The Economic Times reports that this will "pave the way for the government to submit an affidavit in the Supreme Court agreeing...