New Delhi, January 16, 2008: The car is not the problem, but government policy is, says the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), listing its demands for Budget 2008. The 9th Auto Expo will close on January 17, but its message should make us all sit up. Personal vehicle ownership is rising in India; it will grow manifold in coming years. There will be a few million more cars -- small as well as big, and many of them driven on toxic diesel -- jostling for that limited space on our limited roads.

New Delhi, November 27, 2006: “Setting up a National Tiger Conservation Authority was a key recommendation of the Tiger Task Force, and we welcome this step. The real test begins now: the Authority must have clear goals to be able to make a difference,” said Sunita Narain, director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) at a press briefing here today. Narain had headed the Tiger Task Force set up by the prime minister in 2005 to investigate the tiger crisis and to suggest ways to safeguard the magnificent animal.

New Delhi, December 16, 2005: The cement industry, the country’s second largest excise duty payer (after tobacco industry) and potentially very polluting, has been awarded the Three Leaves Award by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). This sector, which has major environmental impacts, has received higher marks than the three sectors rated previously by CSE – pulp and paper, chlor-alkali and automobiles.

New Delhi, August 5, 2005: India is protecting its tigers against all odds; the biggest threat to the tiger today is not poaching per se, but a deadly combination of the poachers’ guns and the growing anger of people who live in and around tiger habitats, says Joining the Dots, the report of the Tiger Task Force submitted to prime minister Manmohan Singh today.