-Down to Earth As the new ordinance seeks curtailment of judicial intervention, the executive faces the real challenge of pushing difficult and inconvenient solutions to clean air President Ramnath Kovind has signed a new ordinance to form a commission for air-quality management in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas. This move, in one sweep, erases all other committees and authorities that were set up under judicial and administrative orders, seeks to...

-Down to Earth Enforcement of graded response action plan on pollution hotspots in the national capital can help achieve clean air Delhi has, in the last 10 years, made visible strides in ameliorating its air quality. Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Sunita Narain and Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director and head of the air pollution and clean transportation programme at CSE discuss how this was achieved and how to bring...

-The Indian Express The pollution problem is not merely a technological issue, but a social concern. Air pollution is a silent killer in India, especially in the country’s northern belt. Eighteen per cent of the world’s population lives in India, but the country bears 26 per cent of the global disease burden due to air pollution. According to estimates of the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative — published last year in...

-The Hindu India’s public health system can no longer function within the shadows of its health services system In India, public health and health services have been synonymous. This integration has dwarfed the growth of a comprehensive public health system, which is critical to overcome some of the systemic challenges in healthcare. A stark increase in population growth, along with rising life expectancy, provides the burden of chronic diseases. Tackling this requires an...

-The Hindu The Coastal Regulation Zone notification of 2018 increases the vulnerability of coastal people to climate disasters The National Democratic Alliance government has unleashed several extremely unimaginative developmental policies that target areas that have retained some degree of ecological value to turn them into sites for industrial production. This is despite evidence of the damaging effects of such policies. The latest instance of this is the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification...