-Livemint.com * The pandemic-induced global pause resulted in several visible environmental gains. Will they last? * A controversy is brewing over the government’s efforts to push through radical changes to the country’s environmental laws, which seek to further dilute environmental protections NAGPUR: Teeming wildlife; cities breathing fresh air; and clearer rivers. Those were all small signs of hope amid a dire, once-in-a-century pandemic. Nature was supposedly healing. At one point in April, an...

-The Indian Express The 2019 Human Development Report points to the limits of economic growth in lifting all boats. It also offers a way forward. Grappling with Delhi’s poor Air Quality for these last couple of months, I have become aware of a stark difference in the way I cope with air pollution, and the way many others do not — because they cannot. Despite the growing evidence detailing the catastrophic impact...

-PTI Greenpeace India and air visual report earlier in March this year declared Delhi as the most polluted capital city in the world. The Delhi government’s claim of a 25 per cent reduction in air pollution levels over the past few years is not true, Greenpeace India said on Thursday, inviting a quick rebuttal from city’s ruling party which dismissed the NGO’s report. According to a Greenpeace India analysis, “Historical ambient Air Quality...

-Financial Express There is an irony being played out in Delhi. While the national capital is reeling under one of its worst spells of air pollution, the Delhi government is bringing out a series of advertisements claiming that the pollution levels are down by 25%. The advertisements mention that the levels of PM 2.5—particulate matter of size less than 2.5 microns—have reduced from 154 microgrammes per cubic meter (µg/m3) during 2012-2014 to...

-Hindustan Times Beijing’s four-tier emergency response plan kicks in based on Air Quality index (AQI) forecasts and not actual recorded concentrations. Delhi’s deadly air pollution has exposed the lack of preparedness in NCR states to implement the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). It has also shown that many interventions under GRAP should have kicked in much earlier based on forecasts rather than when particulate matter concentrations were already peaking. Beijing’s four-tier emergency response...