Centre for Science and Environment masthead Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Donate

Cse In News

Cse In News

Modi’s LPG subsidy programme is not as big a success as the finance minister suggests

Around 9.6% of beneficiaries took no cooking gas refills, 11.3% took only one refill and 56.5% took four or fewer refills in 2021-’22. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the 2023-2024 budget, on February 1, said that 9.6 crore liquefied petroleum gas or cooking gas connections were provided under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. More than 9.58 crore gas connections have been released under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme, as of February 2, data from the official Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana website show. However, 9.6% of beneficiaries took no cooking gas refills, 11.3% took only one refill and 56.5% took four or fewer refills in 2021-’22, according to data provided in the Lok Sabha in July and data from a response given in the Rajya Sabha on August 1. A typical household using only liquefied petroleum gas for cooking, whether in urban or rural India, would need at least seven cylinders a year to meet all its cooking energy needs, a 2020 study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a Delhi-based think tank, had found. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, in May 2016, launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana as a “flagship scheme with an aim to make clean cooking fuel, such as liquefied petroleum gas, accessible to rural households, which were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes etc”. The target was 8 crore liquefied petroleum gas connections to poor households by March 2020. The government said that the target was met on September 7, 2019. In 2021, the government launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana 2.0 to cover an additional 1 crore households with a special focus on migrant households. The target was achieved in January 2022, as per a Lok Sabha response on February 2, along with an additional target of 60 lakh connections. From May 21, 2022, the government announced a Rs 200 subsidy per 14.2 kg cylinder for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries, for up to 12 refills a year during 2022-’23, as per the December 2022 Rajya Sabha response. Advertisement Budget allocation The budget allocation for “liquefied petroleum gas connection to Poor Households” in the 2023-’24 Union budget is Rs 0.01 crore, a drop of 99.99% compared to the budget estimate of Rs 800 crore and revised estimates of Rs 8,010 crore in 2022-’23. The budget for the Direct Benefit Transfer as a subsidy to households for purchasing refills remained unchanged at Rs 180 crore, compared to the revised estimates of 2022-’23 while it dropped by 95.5% as compared to the Rs 4,000 crore budget estimate of 2022-’23. When FactChecker asked if the scheme had been disbanded, Pardeep Kumar, from the Marketing Division of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, clarified that the scheme is operational but refused to comment on the reasons for the fall in allocation. FactChecker has also reached out to Sitharaman’s office, Pankaj Jain, secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Praveen Mal Khanooja, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas via phone and email for clarifications and comment on the lack of refills at the consumer end and the drop in the budget for the scheme. We will update the story when we receive a response. Credit: FactChecker Fewer cylinder refills The main reason for fewer cylinder refills is due to the high cost of refilling them. When Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched in May 2016, the price of a standard non-subsidised 14.2 kg liquefied petroleum gas cylinder in Delhi was Rs 527.5. This had doubled to Rs 1,053 by July 2022, FactChecker had reported in October. The prices of liquefied petroleum gas have remained unchanged since July. Advertisement Most beneficiaries IndiaSpend Hindi interviewed in January said that they didn’t have enough money to refill cylinders. When asked the reason for not refilling their gas cylinders, Sukhnand Kumar from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh said, “What do we do, we are daily wage labourers, we are unable to fill it.” “Direct benefit transfer rules require people to first refill their cylinders before receiving a subsidy. It is difficult for poor families to get the cylinder refilled from their own pocket and to wait for the subsidy amount in the future,” Binit Das, Deputy Programme Manager for renewable energy at the Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based research and advocacy think tank had told FactChecker in October. “It is better that the government spend the subsidy in advance than place the economic burden of clean fuel on the poor.” “The challenge with maintaining access to liquefied petroleum gas is because oil prices have become unaffordable at this point,” Bhargav Krishna, Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, a public policy think-tank based in Delhi, told FactChecker. “The scheme is dependent on states to find innovative financing mechanisms to be able to provide for running this but I don’t think states are keen either.” “The prices of petroleum products in the country are linked to the price of respective products in the international market,” Rameswar Teli, minister of state in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, had told the Rajya Sabha in July 2022. India imports about 58% of the liquefied petroleum gas consumed domestically. liquefied petroleum gas prices are based on the Saudi Contract Prices which had surged by 218% – from $236 per metric tonne in April 2020 to $750 per metric tonne in June 2022, according to his response. Advertisement “While there have been substantial increases in commitment to adjacent sectors such as transport, the almost total phase out of subsidies for liquefied petroleum gas signal an end to the initially ground-breaking Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana,” Krishna wrote in Centre for Policy Research’s blog on the Union Budget 2023-’24. “The lack of subsidies, coupled with the substantial increase in prices of liquefied petroleum gas over the last year will almost certainly mean more households will revert to using polluting cooking fuels in their homes, harming the health especially of women and children.”

‘Industries in Delhi-NCR shift towards green fuel’

Industries in Delhi-NCR are beginning to move towards using cleaner fuels, a new assessment done by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) of two major industrial areas in Alwar district of Rajasthan has found. However, limited PNG availability and its soaring price are making it difficult for them to go greener and new particulate emission standards are being overlooked by industries firing biomass, states CSE. The study has surveyed and analysed the pattern of fuel shift, changes and tentative costs required for making this shift, challenges faced by industries for shifting towards cleaner fuels and the strategies they adopt to combat them. CSE has done in-depth assessment of two industrial areas — Matsya Industrial Area and Bhiwadi. Nivit Kumar Yadav, programme director, industrial pollution, CSE, said, “Though these industries are changing their fuels, a few significant points need to be kept in mind to make cleaner fuel usage a sustainable option — these include the issue of PNG availability, its soaring prices and the challenge of meeting new PM emission norms using biomass as a fuel.” Yadav, “But our study found that industries are not making enough efforts to mitigate PM emissions. Bag filters or electrostatic precipitators can bring down emissions below 50 mg/Nm3 – but only one out of 15 surveyed biomass-firing industries has a bag filter.”

Survey to map sources of pollution at Anand Vihar

New Delhi: Pollution levels at Anand Vihar in east Delhi -- a hotspot for PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate matter in the Capital -- have improved significantly year-on-year after key interventions by the environment department in November 2022 to map pollution sources in the area, a field survey has revealed. Officials said the department is set to launch a second such survey to assess how effective the on-ground action has been, and to ascertain how many pollution sources still remain. The department in November 2022 had launched an exercise to map and crack down on sources of pollution, including unpaved roads, diesel generator sets, potholes, garbage heaps, road dust and construction sites. Officials said the 470 “point sources” were identified in a 5-km radius from the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) at Anand Vihar. A point source of pollution is a specific area or stretch in the pollution hotspot, which could contribute to the local pollution in some form. “We used field surveys to record all micro-level sources which could be as small as a pothole or a heap of debris to a full-fledged construction site. However, within construction sites too, we identified several sources and each source was mapped with a geo-coordinate,” said an official on condition of anonymity, adding that Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) teams were then asked to either fix these sources, to remove them, or to ensure sprinkling of water to reduce localised emissions. “The second survey will give us a clearer picture on what has changed on the ground and how many sources have been fixed so far. We will also try to derive a correlation with on-ground action and the reduction in pollution levels beyond meteorological factors.” the official added. The official said that based on the success of this pilot project, a similar inventorisation of other point sources of pollution will take place across other pollution hotspots in Delhi. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said while it is important to have a city-wide action plan, it is equally important to have hyperlocal plans, which can pave way for improvement in air quality in a defined area. “If we act on specific local sources, then people’s exposure to localised pollution gets reduced. Each hotspot and neighbourhood of Delhi will have very different sources and if this approach is successful, then we can scale this up too,” she said.

Crackdown on 5 million end-of-life vehicles in Delhi kicks off

New Delhi Around 5 million vehicles which were deregistered in Delhi between January and October 2022 are on the radar of the state transport department, with enforcement teams impounding around 250 such vehicles over the past three days, officials aware of the development said on Thursday. No vehicle which is 15 years old can operate on the roads of the national capital, according to orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (2015) and the Supreme Court (2018). For diesel vehicles, this time period is cut down to 10 years only. The government calls such vehicles “end-of-Iife” vehicles, and driving them in Delhi is illegal. The aim behind these rules is to cut down on the number of vehicles on the city’s roads with dated emission standards. A transport enforcement official said that earlier this week, 80 teams were formed. These teams have been deployed in different parts of the city -- especially on roads which witness heavy traffic and at petrol pumps -- to check for deregistered vehicles plying against the rules, and to impound and send them for scrapping. The official said that the special enforcement drive has been undertaken in light of the G20-related meetings in the city, starting from March till the summit meeting in September. A second official said overage vehicles are identified by model, condition, and on the basis of their registration number. “Some of them turn out to be deregistered, and are then impounded,” the official said. Transport commissioner Ashish Kundra said the drive against overage vehicles will be intensified over the next few days. “Overage vehicles make a huge contribution to air pollution. A drive against such vehicles is an important step towards combating air pollution. I urge all owners of overage vehicles to scrap their vehicles. We have six currently functional scrappers, the list of which is available on the website of the Delhi transport department. Even overage vehicles which are illegally parked in the streets will be impounded by the enforcement teams,” said Kundra. From a legal standpoint, deregistration immobilises vehicles and ensures that they cannot be lawfully used. “Deregistered vehicles cannot be sold and the insurance of such vehicles cannot be purchased. Using such vehicles becomes illegal and they can be impounded,” said an official. HT had in October last year reported that the transport department had deregistered 5,338,045 vehicles between January 2018 and October 2022, of which 4,698,391 were petrol-run, 415,362 had diesel engines, and 41,311 ran on CNG. Vehicular emissions contribute around 9% of the PM10 load and around 20% of the PM2.5 load in Delhi, according to a 2016 study by Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy) at Centre for Science and Environment, said, “It is necessary to replace overage and highly polluting vehicles with cleaner and zero-emission vehicles to reduce toxic exposure.”

Guwahati air pollution: ধূলিয়ৰি গুৱাহাটীত বিপদ বাঢ়িছে মহানাগৰিকৰ; অপেক্ষা বৰষুণলৈ

Guwahati air pollution: ধূলিয়ৰি গুৱাহাটীত বিপদ বাঢ়িছে মহানাগৰিকৰ; অপেক্ষা বৰষুণলৈ গুৱাহাটীত আচম্বিতে সৃষ্টি হোৱা ধূলিময় পৰিবেশে সমস্যাত পেলাইছে মহানগৰবাসীক ৷ দিনতেই ঘোপমৰা পৰিবেশক লৈ শংকিত হৈ পৰিছে মহানগৰীৰ লোকসকল (Guwahati air pollution) ৷ এইক্ষেত্ৰত কিদৰে সজাগতা ল’ব লাগে আৰু এই সমস্যাৰ বাবে জগৰীয়া কোন ? এই সন্দৰ্ভত এক প্ৰতিবেদন ৷ গুৱাহাটীত আচম্বিতে সৃষ্টি হোৱা ধূলিময় পৰিবেশে সমস্যাত পেলাইছে মহানগৰবাসীক ৷ দিনতেই ঘোপমৰা পৰিবেশক লৈ শংকিত হৈ পৰিছে মহানগৰীৰ লোকসকল (Guwahati air pollution) ৷ এইক্ষেত্ৰত কিদৰে সজাগতা ল’ব লাগে আৰু এই সমস্যাৰ বাবে জগৰীয়া কোন ? এই সন্দৰ্ভত এক প্ৰতিবেদন ৷ Guwahati air pollution: ধূলিয়ৰি গুৱাহাটীত বিপদ বাঢ়িছে মহানাগৰিকৰ; অপেক্ষা বৰষুণলৈ গুৱাহাটীত আচম্বিতে সৃষ্টি হোৱা ধূলিময় পৰিবেশে সমস্যাত পেলাইছে মহানগৰবাসীক ৷ দিনতেই ঘোপমৰা পৰিবেশক লৈ শংকিত হৈ পৰিছে মহানগৰীৰ লোকসকল (Guwahati air pollution) ৷ এইক্ষেত্ৰত কিদৰে সজাগতা ল’ব লাগে আৰু এই সমস্যাৰ বাবে জগৰীয়া কোন ? এই সন্দৰ্ভত এক প্ৰতিবেদন ৷ Guwahati air pollution: ধূলিয়ৰি গুৱাহাটীত বিপদ বাঢ়িছে মহানাগৰিকৰ; অপেক্ষা বৰষুণলৈ গুৱাহাটীত আচম্বিতে সৃষ্টি হোৱা ধূলিময় পৰিবেশে সমস্যাত পেলাইছে মহানগৰবাসীক ৷ দিনতেই ঘোপমৰা পৰিবেশক লৈ শংকিত হৈ পৰিছে মহানগৰীৰ লোকসকল (Guwahati air pollution) ৷ এইক্ষেত্ৰত কিদৰে সজাগতা ল’ব লাগে আৰু এই সমস্যাৰ বাবে জগৰীয়া কোন ? এই সন্দৰ্ভত এক প্ৰতিবেদন ৷ Guwahati air pollution: ধূলিয়ৰি গুৱাহাটীত বিপদ বাঢ়িছে মহানাগৰিকৰ; অপেক্ষা বৰষুণলৈ গুৱাহাটীত আচম্বিতে সৃষ্টি হোৱা ধূলিময় পৰিবেশে সমস্যাত পেলাইছে মহানগৰবাসীক ৷ দিনতেই ঘোপমৰা পৰিবেশক লৈ শংকিত হৈ পৰিছে মহানগৰীৰ লোকসকল (Guwahati air pollution) ৷ এইক্ষেত্ৰত কিদৰে সজাগতা ল’ব লাগে আৰু এই সমস্যাৰ বাবে জগৰীয়া কোন ? এই সন্দৰ্ভত এক প্ৰতিবেদন ৷

Feds to spend $34.3 million to reduce lead contamination in Omaha

OMAHA -- To the tune of $34.3 million, the federal government is underscoring its commitment to reducing lead poisoning among Omaha children. The Environmental Protection Agency is providing the city $29.9 million, largely for replacing contaminated soil, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing $4.4 million to reduce lead paint hazards in homes and apartments. Officials gathered at the Revive Center at 2402 Lizzie Robinson Ave. Friday morning for a ceremonial delivery of checks. The EPA funding is for seven years and the HUD money is for four years. EPA Deputy Regional Administrator Edward H. Chu said the funding reflects a "whole of government" approach to reducing lead paint hazards, with an emphasis on disadvantaged children being at a higher risk. "Equal access to healthy living is a basic human right," he said. "It is not a privilege. Our health environment should not be contingent on economic status or where we live." Omaha was once a major hub for lead refining and recycling. The EPA estimates that more than 200,000 tons of lead were emitted into the air, with some of that settling on yards in east Omaha where it harmed the health of children. The EPA and HUD have been working to reduce lead hazards in Omaha since the late 1990s. When the yard cleanup began, the EPA considered Omaha as one of its top national priorities because thousands of children were at immediate risk. How the government works to reduce lead levels This house is an example of how the federal government is assisting Omaha in reducing the risk of lead poisoning among children. Chipping and peeling lead paint was stabilized through re-painting and contaminated soil was replaced. A new study blames pollution of all types for 9 million deaths a year globally, with the death toll attributed to dirty air from cars, trucks and industry rising 55% since 2000.That increase is offset by fewer pollution deaths from primitive indoor stoves and water contaminated with human and animal waste, so overall pollution deaths in 2019 are about the same as 2015.The United States is the only fully industrialized country in the top 10 nations for total pollution deaths, ranking 7th with 142,883 deaths blamed on pollution in 2019, sandwiched between Bangladesh and Ethiopia, according to a new study in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health. Tuesday's pre-pandemic study is based on calculations derived from the Global Burden of Disease database and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle. India and China lead the world in pollution deaths with nearly 2.4 million and almost 2.2 million deaths a year, but the two nations also have the world's largest populations.When deaths are put on a per population rate, the United States ranks 31st from the bottom at 43.6 pollution deaths per 100,000. Chad and the Central African Republic rank the highest with rates about 300 pollution deaths per 100,000, more than half of them due to tainted water, while Brunei, Qatar and Iceland have the lowest pollution death rates ranging from 15 to 23. The global average is 117 pollution deaths per 100,000 people.Pollution kills about the same number of people a year around the world as cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke combined, the study said.SEE MORE: What Makes The U.S. So Invested In Cars?"9 million deaths is a lot of deaths," said Philip Landrigan, director of the Global Public Health Program and Global Pollution Observatory at Boston College."The bad news is that it's not decreasing," Landrigan said. "We're making gains in the easy stuff and we're seeing the more difficult stuff, which is the ambient (outdoor industrial) air pollution and the chemical pollution, still going up."It doesn't have to be this way, researchers said."They are preventable deaths. Each and every one of them is a death that is unnecessary," said Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health, who wasn't part of the study. She said the calculations made sense and if anything was so conservative about what it attributed to pollution, that the real death toll is likely higher.The certificates for these deaths don't say pollution. They list heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, other lung issues and diabetes that are "tightly correlated" with pollution by numerous epidemiological studies, Landrigan said. To then put these together with actual deaths, researchers look at the number of deaths by cause, exposure to pollution weighted for various factors, and then complicated exposure response calculations derived by large epidemiological studies based on thousands of people over decades of study, he said. It's the same way scientists can say cigarettes cause cancer and heart disease deaths."That canon of information constitutes causality," Landrigan said. "That's how we do it."Five outside experts in public health and air pollution, including Goldman, told The Associated Press the study follows mainstream scientific thought. Dr. Renee Salas, an emergency room doctor and Harvard professor who wasn't part of the study, said "the American Heart Association determined over a decade ago that exposure to (tiny pollution particles) like that generated from the burning of fossil fuels is causal for heart disease and death.""While people focus on decreasing their blood pressure and cholesterol, few recognize that the removal of air pollution is an important prescription to improve their heart health," Salas said.Three-quarters of the overall pollution deaths came from air pollution and the overwhelming part of that is "a combination of pollution from stationary sources like coal-fired power plants and steel mills on one hand and mobile sources like cars, trucks and buses. And it's just a big global problem," said Landrigan, a public health physician. "And it's getting worse around the world as countries develop and cities grow."In New Delhi, India, air pollution peaks in the winter months, and last year the city saw just two days when the air wasn't considered polluted. It was the first time in four years that the city experienced a clean air day during the winter months.That air pollution remains the leading cause of death in South Asia reconfirms what is already known, but the increase in these deaths means that toxic emissions from vehicles and energy generation is increasing, said Anumita Roychowdhury, a director at the advocacy group Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi."This data is a reminder of what is going wrong but also

Are industries in NCR switching to clean fuel amid coal ban? It’s not so easy, finds study

A case study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has pointed to the availability of PNG (piped natural gas) and price hikes of natural gas as key issues. With a complete ban on the use of the coal in the NCR from January 1 onwards, the switch to cleaner fuel for industries has come with challenges including high prices and limited supply of natural gas, and emissions from the use of biomass. A case study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has pointed to the availability of PNG (piped natural gas) and price hikes of natural gas as key issues. “With the high price of gas, industries are either reducing production, have started looking for land outside the NCR or have increased the prices of their product. Some industrial units are now following a policy of wait-and-watch,” said Nivit Kumar Yadav, who is part of the industrial pollution team at CSE. The case study looked at two industrial clusters in Alwar district, Rajasthan – the Bhiwadi and Matsya industrial areas. In Bhiwadi, which has around 349 industrial units, PNG pipelines are available and industries are switching towards PNG, CSE’s report noted. In contrast, the Matsya industrial area with 61 industries is still awaiting PNG infrastructure and industries are mostly shifting to the use of biomass instead of coal. The use of biomass or crop residue like paddy straw comes with a different set of challenges. “In Alwar, biomass is available in plenty and industry had begun using biomass a few years ago since it is cheaper than most other fuels. A boiler using biomass as fuel is required to comply with certain emission standards. But reducing emissions using biomass as fuel is difficult and this will have to be monitored,” Yadav explained. While some industries have reported that suppliers have restricted access to 70 to 80% of the contracted PNG quantity citing limited supply, other units have said that they had applied for PNG connections after the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) ordered a transition to cleaner fuel, but were yet to receive supply due to “availability issues”. The CSE report noted: “Due to the Ukraine war crisis, cost of PNG went up significantly from Rs 52 to Rs 72/scm (standard cubic meter) between June and December 2022. It was only Rs 24/scm in 2021.” On the way forward, Yadav said: “We wouldn’t want a scenario where industries are forced to leave NCR, considering the employment. Gas will have to be brought under GST. Industries should be able to use gas as an affordable fuel.”

Whether as per a recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment and Down to Earth magazine, 71 per cent of Indians cannot afford a nutritious meal and more than 17 lakh people die annually because of diseases attributable to poor diet

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1435 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.02.2023 LACK OF NUTRITIOUS MEAL 1435. SHRI BALUBHAU ALIAS SURESH NARAYAN DHANORKAR: SHRI S. VENKATESAN: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether as per a recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment and Down to Earth magazine, 71 per cent of Indians cannot afford a nutritious meal and more than 17 lakh people die annually because of diseases attributable to poor diet; (b) if so, the reasons therefor; (c) whether as per NFHS-5, 67.1 percent of children aged 6-59 months were anaemic in 2021 against 58.6 percent in 2016 highlighting a high increase in anaemia; (d) if so, the reasons therefor; and (e) the corrective measures taken/being taken by the Government in this regard ANSWER MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI) (a) & (b) Ministry is not aware of any such report. No data of deaths related to poor diet is reported by any States/UTs However, the issue of food security at the household level has been addressed by Government by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality foodgrains at subsidised rates. During the COVID Pandemic, free ration was provided to 80 crore people under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. Further, under the new integrated food security Scheme launched on 1 January 2023, free food grains would be provided to 81.35 crore beneficiaries under NFSA, for the year 2023, targeting the most vulnerable 67% of population. Further, the Government of India has taken initiative of rice fortification to achieve nutrition security in the country. As per the Scheme Guidelines for Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, local dietary inputs and fresh produce (green vegetables, fruits, medicinal plants and herbs), fortified rice and millets have to be actively encouraged in prescription of meals under Supplementary Nutrition to be served to different categories of beneficiaries to promote health, wellness and immunity and to manage anaemia. In FY 2021-22, 7.34 lakh MT of fortified rice was allocated to States. This year onwards only fortified rice is being allocated. (c) & (d) As per NFHS-5, 67.1% children aged 6-59 months were anaemic. Anaemia is a multifaceted problem. There are various causes for anaemia in children, which inter alia include low iron stores at birth due to maternal anaemia, non-exclusive breastfeeding, insufficient quantity of iron and iron enhancers in diet such as foods rich in Vitamin-C, increased iron requirements related to rapid growth and development during infancy and childhood, iron losses due to parasite load (e.g. malaria, intestinal worms), unsafe drinking water and inadequate personal hygiene and poor environmental sanitation, etc. (e) POSHAN Abhiyaan is a programmatic approach in addressing the life cycle issues of malnutrition. Reduction of anemia is one of the important objectives of the POSHAN Abhiyaan in convergence with key Ministries/ Departments, mainly Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW). A range of efforts are underway to improve the integration of nutrition interventions into the existing health platforms through various strategic measures. As part of its comprehensive strategy to tackle anemia, Government of India has included staple food fortification from central ministries for schemes/programs in multiple States. Under POSHAN Abhiyaan, efforts are also being made to strengthen processes for community engagement, empowerment of beneficiaries and behavioural change towards better nutrition for which the Abhiyaan provides a platform for organizing Community Based Events (CBEs) in Anganwadi Centres. Under Community Based Events, messages related to public health for improvement of nutrition and to reduce illness, prevention of anemia, importance of nutritious food, diet diversity etc. are being conducted. Many States/UTs have developed indigenous best practices like use of iron utensils for cooking to reduce iron deficiency, integrating Ayurveda products and formulations with supplementary nutrition etc. Further, the Government of India has launched Anemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) strategy with the target to reduce anemia in women, children and adolescents in life cycle approach. The 6x6x6 strategy under AMB implies six age groups, six interventions and six institutional mechanisms. The six interventions under Anemia Mukt Bharat strategy include, Prophylactic Iron Folic Acid Supplementation, Periodic de-worming, Intensified year-round Behaviour Change Communication Campaign, Testing and treatment of anemia, using digital methods and point of care treatment, Convergence and coordination with other line departments and ministries for strengthening implementation etc ******

Pollution and climate change set stage for rise in antimicrobial resistance

A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme illustrates the role that pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss can play in the development of antimicrobial resistance. The compounds used to treat bacterial, viral, parasitic and fungal infections have saved countless lives, but their overuse and their presence in the environment from human waste, agriculture and effluent from the pharmaceutical industry and places like hospitals has given rise to resistance to these chemicals in potentially harmful microbes. If this resistance continues to increase, experts warn that an additional 10 million people may lose their lives by 2050 — about the same number who died of cancer in 2020. The report’s authors recommend stronger safeguards around industrial runoff, better sanitation and more judicious use of antimicrobials to address this potential crisis. Pollution from a variety of sources is driving up the incidence of resistance to the compounds used to treat infections, according to a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme. The authors also note that climate change and biodiversity loss help foster the development of antimicrobial resistance, or AMR. They call for systemic societal changes to avoid rendering more of these disease-fighting tools ineffective. Our reliance on antibiotics and other antimicrobial compounds has created something of a paradox. These chemicals treat bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infections, saving countless lives around the world and boosting the production of food crops and livestock. But the use — and overuse in many cases — of these antimicrobials has also come at a cost, nudging along the evolution of potentially dangerous microbes into forms that are more resistant to the medications we throw at them. “We’re selecting for stronger and more powerful microorganisms,” David Graham, a professor of ecosystems engineering at the U.K.’s Newcastle University and one of the lead authors of the report, said at a press conference ahead of the report’s launch Feb. 7 at a meeting of the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance in Barbados. Studies show bacterial infections resistant to antimicrobials played a role in the deaths of nearly 5 million people in 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers antimicrobial resistance one of the top 10 threats to global health. The report’s authors sought to tease apart the complex dynamics by which this resistance develops and to identify the pollution sources that increase the likelihood of more resistance. Effluent from the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, human waste and agriculture exposes germs to the drugs, giving them more chances to evolve resistance to them. The presence of other pollutants in the environment, such as heavy metals like zinc used in the production of steel, can also prime the development of resistance to important antimicrobials, and the loss of biodiversity, even at the microbial level, can as well. A warmer global climate may also lead to more widespread resistance, as higher temperatures can encourage the rate at which genes are transferred from microbe to microbe. In addition, the extreme weather the world is already experiencing as a result of climate change can trigger the failure of the barriers, such as sewers, between us and virulent microorganisms. “Unfortunately, when you get a flood, for example, those barriers break down,” Graham said. “Once those barriers break, then you’ve got uncontrolled spread in places where AMR doesn’t exist. “By curbing temperature rises and reducing the extremity of events,” he added, “we can actually then fundamentally curb the probability of evolving new resistance.” Beyond the need to address climate change, the authors suggest that halting the rise of AMR will require improved sanitation and wastewater treatment, the enhanced ability of industry to contain the release of antimicrobials, resistant microbes and other pollutants, and limiting the use of these chemicals in agriculture when they’re not necessary. “If you’ve got a healthy animal, you don’t need an antibiotic,” Graham said. Recent projections suggest that antibiotic use in the animals humans raise for food will increase by 8% by 2030. “Failing to address the global burden of [antimicrobial resistance], including its environmental dimensions, could take humanity back to an era when even mild infections could become deadly,” the authors write. Research suggests this resistance could lead to an additional 10 million deaths by mid-century, about as many as the people who died of cancer globally in 2020, according to the WHO. What’s more, the resistance could cost governments trillions of dollars in lost economic productivity and impoverish 24 million more people worldwide, the authors write. Sunita Narain, the director-general of the Indian nonprofit Centre for Science and Environment, said countries like India are facing the “twin challenge” of needing access to antimicrobials but also dealing with their overuse. She said knowledge of the problems that widespread and excessive use of these compounds can cause gives less-industrialized countries the opportunity to find a different path. “The cost of cleaning up once you’ve contaminated your environment, your soil, with antimicrobials is extremely expensive,” said Narain, who served as a consultant to the authors of the report. “I think it’s very important that we bring out the environmental aspects of the silent pandemic, but we also move towards the action that we need.”

All governments are crony capitalists

The Adani saga has dented the government's image of incorruptibility. But it is doubtful whether the cronyism embedded in India's economic fabric will disappear anytime soon Depending on which side of the political divide you favour, l’affaire Adani has provoked righteous anger, outright glee, consternation and embarrassment. Rahul Gandhi, having found a convenient issue to build on the image he crafted during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, has ensured that the issue stays front and centre of Parliament, demanding answers from the government on its connections with a business group that grew meteorically after the National Democratic Alliance II came to power. Mr Gandhi may think he’s on to a good thing politically, but he isn’t really in a position to protest. No government — at the Centre or state — nor regulators can claim to practise strict abstinence when it comes to the business-political nexus. If anything, the Hindenburg report, with its implications of sustained regulatory tolerance, has underlined this fact. Beyond the prurient fascination with Gautam Adani’s fabled power and wealth, or the shenanigans highlighted in the Hindenburg report lies the old systemic weakness of governments’ overweening powers over economic life and the feebleness of industry regulators to counter it. It is worth noting that the basis of Mr Adani’s business growth lies in a dominant presence in areas in which government policy plays a major role — ports, airports, electricity, green energy — and the principal competition mostly comes from the public sector. With notable exceptions of companies in IT, consumer products and automobiles, Indian big business has flourished in sectors where the government — central, state, local — stands to play a heavy interventionist hand. Mr Gandhi may have forgotten, but it was the telecom sector that proved the undoing of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance 13 years ago, though it was a coalition partner that was the principal transgressor in this case. That particular scandal — amplified by the active grandstanding by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of the time — was the product of a long-standing and opaque allocative policy for telecom licensing that enabled select entrants to apply in preference to others through a “first-come-first-served” policy and, extraordinarily, the physical blocking of unwanted applicants. That various politicians implicated in the scandal were acquitted on an extraordinary technicality in 2017 was only one unusual aspect of that case. The Supreme Court’s crusading judgement cancelling all those allocated licences was the other, a landmark that set back the industry by decades. The only benign outcome of this mess was that auctions rather than allocative policies have become the norm in telecom and coal, the other CAG revelation of the time. These were headline-grabbing issues that dictated the rise and fall of a government. But as any small or medium industrial house operating outside the glare of publicity will attest, it’s the intensity of cronyism — whether with the local MP, MLA or MLC — that determines the survival of a business. Complex rules and regulations — or the evasion of them — are considered valid reasons for seeking political connections for business purposes. The construction business, which has long been India’s largest and fastest growing employer, is a good example of cronyism that impacts our daily lives: The sand mafias, which are destroying the environment in double-quick time, would never have flourished without local political backing; likewise, the flagrant violation of labour codes, which keeps millions of migrants on the breadline. These are blatant violations that are ignored for being all-pervasive — and also because any journalist runs a serious risk of murder if he were to poke his nose too far in these transgressions. Indeed, it is notable that in the days before Hindenburg’ global bombshell, Mr Adani himself had been the recipient of less complimentary headlines in India. But the cynical acceptance of cronyism at the highest levels has meant that they achieved little more than raised eyebrows. We know, for instance, that Adani received land for his mammoth SEZ at rates far cheaper than other businesspeople (including the Tata Nano project). Or that the CAG raised questions about “undue benefits” that the Gujarat government gave to Adani Ports by waiving waterfront and other charges. In 2014, for instance, questions were raised (but not answered) on why the government-owned State Bank of India signed an agreement with the Adani group for its controversial Australian mining project. In 2016, came revelations the government had waived a Rs 200 crore penalty for environmental infringements by the Mundra Port project, following the findings by the Sunita Narain committee. When the Adani group was awarded six airports, both NITI Aayog and the finance ministry raised questions citing financial risk and performance issues. Strangely, no MP chose to raise any of these issues in Parliament, although their impact would have been more deleterious than Hindenburg’s allegations of Mauritius-based share rigging. As the Adani group works overtime to prepay loans and bond redemptions by way of damage control, it is hard to predict the political outcome of this scandal. At the very least, Gautam Adani’s alleged proximity to Narendra Modi has now entered the popular lexicon and may dent the latter’s self-styled image of incorruptibility. It may prompt some degree of moderation. But it is doubtful whether the cronyism embedded in India’s economic fabric will disappear anytime soon.

Whether the Government concur with the data provided by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) regarding the steady rise in pollution across majority of rivers in the country

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 1325 ANSWERED ON: 09.02.2023 Rise in Pollution of Rivers Kaushalendra Kumar Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:- (a) whether the Government concur with the data provided by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) regarding the steady rise in pollution across majority of rivers in the country; (b) if so, the measures taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to remove the causes of the said rise in pollution and to improve the condition; (c) the details of the funds spent by the Government during the last five years on the projects to make the rivers pollution free; (d) whether any assessment has also been made by the Government to ensure the proper utilisation of the funds; and (e) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU) (a) The report published by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the data collected therein, is the guiding document for assessment of the pollution in various stretches of rivers in the country. CPCB, in association with the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/Pollution Control Committees (PCCs), monitors water quality of rivers and other water bodies in the country through a network of monitoring stations under the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWMP). Based on water quality monitoring results, pollution assessment of rivers has been carried out by CPCB from time to time. Rivers in the country are polluted due to discharge of untreated and partially treated domestic sewage from cities/towns/local bodies and industrial effluents in their respective catchments, problems in operation and maintenance of sewage and industrial effluent treatment plants, lack of dilution and other non-point sources of pollution. Rapid urbanization and industrialization have compounded the problem. So far, CPCB has adopted the criteria of Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) as an indicator to assess the quality of water in rivers and pollution levels. Presently, CPCB under NWMP monitors water quality of rivers at 2,026 locations in the country. Based on the assessment of water quality data for the year 2019 & 2021, CPCB in its report of November 2022, identified 311 polluted river stretches on 279 rivers in 30 States/Union Territories (UTs). State/UT-wise details of polluted river stretches are given at Annexure. It was informed by CPCB that the data published by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is not available with them, as the Board was not involved in publication of the same by CSE. (b) & (c) It is the primary responsibility of the States/UTs/ Local Bodies and industrial units to ensure required treatment of sewage and industrial effluents to the prescribed standards before discharging into water bodies, seas or land to prevent and control of pollution therein. Cleaning and rejuvenation of rivers are ongoing activities. This Ministry has been supplementing efforts of the States/UTs by providing financial and technical assistance for abatement of pollution in identified stretches of rivers (except Ganga basin) in the country through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National River Conservation Plan (NRCP). Rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries is undertaken through the Central Sector Scheme of Namami Gange Programme. NRCP has so far covered polluted stretches on 36 rivers in 80 towns spread over 16 States in the country with the project sanctioned cost of Rs. 6,248.16 crore, and inter alia, a sewage treatment capacity of 2,745.7 million liters per day (mld) has been created. Under the Namami Gange Programme, 409 projects, including 177 projects for sewage treatment capacity of 5,269.87 mld and a sewer network of 5,213 km, have been sanctioned at a cost of Rs. 32,912.40 crore. Details of the funds spent by the Government during the last five years on the projects to make the rivers pollution free are as under: Financial Year Funds Released (Rs. in crore) National River Conservation Plan Namami Gange 2017-18 173.34 1,625.01 2018-19 150.32 2,626.54 2019-20 136.66 2,673.09 2020-21 99.87 1,339.97 2021-22 202.32 1,892.70 Total 762.51 10,157.31 In addition to these, sewerage infrastructure is also created under programs like Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart Cities Mission of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs. As per the provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution), Act 1974, industrial units are required to install effluent treatment plants (ETPs) and treat their effluents to comply with stipulated environmental standards, before discharging into river and water bodies. Accordingly, CPCB, SPCBs and PCCs monitor industries with respect to effluent discharge standards and take punitive action for non-compliance under provisions of these Acts. Additionally, in compliance of the orders of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Original Application No.673/2018 regarding rejuvenation of polluted river stretches in the country, States/UTs are required to implement approved action plans for restoration of the polluted stretches in their jurisdiction as identified by CPCB and published in their report of 2018, within the stipulated timelines. As per the orders of NGT, regular review on implementation of these action plans is undertaken in the States/UTs and the same is also done at the Central level by Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt. of India. (d) & (e) Progress of implementation and proper utilization of funds are monitored by both the State Implementing Agencies and the Ministry through a multi-tier monitoring mechanism. Schemes under NRCP are periodically reviewed by NRCD. The concerned officers in the Ministry also visit the project sites and review the progress of the project and utilization of funds with the officer concerned from the implementing agency and the State Government. The shortcomings are then communicated to the State Government as well as the project implementing agency. The projects are also monitored on regular basis at the State level. Based on these efforts, the State Governments through its Implementing Authorities submit utilization certificates of the funds utilized for release of next installments of funds. *** ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1325 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 09.02.2023 ON ‘RISE IN POLLUTION OF RIVERS’. State/UT-wise & Priority wise number of Polluted River Stretches S No. STATE/UNION TERRITORY PRIORITY CLASS TOTAL No. of PRS I II III IV V 1 ANDHRA PRADESH 1 - - 1 1 3 2 ASSAM 1 - - - 9 10 3 BIHAR - 1 2 7 8 18 4 CHHATTISGARH 1 2 3 6 5 DAMAN AND DIU, DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELI - - 1 - - 1 6 DELHI 1 - - - - 1 7 GOA - - - 1 5 6 8 GUJARAT 6 1 1 1 4 13 9 HARYANA 2 1 - - - 3 10 HIMACHAL PRADESH 4 - - 1 4 9 11 JAMMU & KASHMIR - - 2 4 2 8 12 JHARKHAND - - 1 2 6 9 13 KARNATAKA 3 - - 3 11 17 14 KERALA - - 1 2 15 18 15 MADHYA PRADESH 2 - 1 5 11 19 16 MAHARASHTRA 4 5 18 17 11 55 17 MANIPUR - - - 2 11 13 18 MEGHALAYA 2 - - 1 4 7 19 MIZORAM - - - 2 1 3 20 NAGALAND - - 1 - 3 4 21 ODISHA 1 - - 3 3 7 22 PUDUCHERRY - 1 1 1 - 3 23 PUNJAB 3 - - - 2 5 24 RAJASTHAN 2 - 1 4 7 14 25 TAMIL NADU 4 1 1 1 3 10 26 TELANGANA 1 1 2 - 5 9 27 TRIPURA - - - - 1 1 28 UTTAR PRADESH 6 - 1 2 8 17 29 UTTARAKHAND 2 2 4 - 1 9 30 WEST BENGAL 1 2 1 3 6 13 GRAND TOTAL 46 16 39 65 145 311 *****

Over 9.5 Crore LPG Connections Provided Under PMUY But Gas Refilling Woes Remain

About 9.6% of beneficiaries took no LPG cylinder refills, 11.3% took only one refill and 56.5% took four or fewer refills in 2021-22, according to data from Parliament Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the 2023-2024 budget, on February 1, 2023, said that 9.6 crore LPG (liquefied petroleum gas or cooking gas) connections were provided under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). More than 9.58 crore gas connections have been released under the PMUY scheme, as of February 2, 2023, data from the official PMUY website show. However, 9.6% of beneficiaries took no LPG cylinder refills, 11.3% took only one refill and 56.5% took four or fewer refills in 2021-22, according to data provided in the Lok Sabha in July 2022 and data from a response given in the Rajya Sabha on August 1, 2022. A typical household using only LPG for cooking, whether in urban or rural India, would need at least seven cylinders a year to meet all its cooking energy needs, a 2020 study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a Delhi-based think tank, had found. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG), in May 2016, launched the PMUY as a "flagship scheme with an aim to make clean cooking fuel, such as LPG, accessible to rural households, which were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes etc". The target was 8 crore LPG connections to poor households by March 2020. The government said that the target was met on September 7, 2019. In 2021, the government launched PMUY 2.0 to cover an additional 1 crore households with a special focus on migrant households. The target was achieved in January 2022, as per a Lok Sabha response on February 2, 2023, along with an additional target of 60 lakh connections. From May 21, 2022, the government announced a Rs 200 subsidy per 14.2 Kg cylinder for PMUY beneficiaries, for up to 12 refills a year during 2022-23, as per the December 2022 Rajya Sabha response. Budget allocation The budget allocation for "LPG connection to Poor Households" in the 2023-24 Union budget is Rs 0.01 crore, a drop of 99.99% compared to the budget estimate of Rs 800 crores and revised estimates of Rs 8,010 crores in 2022-23. The budget for the Direct Benefit Transfer as a subsidy to households for purchasing refills remained unchanged at Rs 180 crores, compared to the revised estimates of 2022-23 while it dropped by 95.5% as compared to the Rs 4,000 crore budget estimate of 2022-23. When FactChecker asked if the scheme had been disbanded, Pardeep Kumar, from the Marketing Division of MoP&NG, clarified that the scheme is operational but refused to comment on the reasons for the fall in allocation. FactChecker has also reached out to Sitharaman's office, Pankaj Jain, secretary, MoP&NG and Praveen Mal Khanooja, Additional Secretary, MoP&NG via phone and email for clarifications and comment on the lack of refills at the consumer end and the drop in the budget for the scheme. We will update the story when we receive a response. Why people don't get cylinders refilled The main reason for fewer cylinder refills is due to the high cost of refilling them. When PMUY was launched in May 2016, the price of a standard non-subsidised 14.2 kg LPG cylinder in Delhi was Rs 527.5. This had doubled to Rs 1,053 by July 2022, FactChecker had reported in October 2022. The prices of LPG have remained unchanged since July 2022. Most beneficiaries IndiaSpend Hindi interviewed in January 2023 said that they didn't have enough money to refill cylinders. When asked the reason for not refilling their gas cylinders, Sukhnand Kumar from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh said, "What do we do, we are daily wage labourers, we are unable to fill it." "Direct benefit transfer (DBT) rules require people to first refill their cylinders before receiving a subsidy. It is difficult for poor families to get the cylinder refilled from their own pocket and to wait for the subsidy amount in the future," Binit Das, Deputy Programme Manager for renewable energy at the Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based research and advocacy think tank had told FactChecker in October 2022. "It is better that the government spend the subsidy in advance than place the economic burden of clean fuel on the poor." "The challenge with maintaining access to LPG is because oil prices have become unaffordable at this point," Bhargav Krishna, Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), a public policy think-tank based in Delhi, told FactChecker. "The scheme is dependent on states to find innovative financing mechanisms to be able to provide for running this but I don't think states are keen either." "The prices of petroleum products in the country are linked to the price of respective products in the international market," Rameswar Teli, Minister of State in MoP&NG had told the Rajya Sabha in July 2022. India imports about 58 % of the LPG consumed domestically. LPG prices are based on the Saudi Contract Prices (CP) which had surged by 218% – from $236 per metric tonne in April 2020 to $750 per metric tonne in June 2022, according to his response. "While there have been substantial increases in commitment to adjacent sectors such as transport, the almost total phase out of subsidies for LPG signal an end to the initially ground-breaking Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana," Krishna wrote in CPR's blog on the Union Budget 2023-24. "The lack of subsidies, coupled with the substantial increase in prices of LPG over the last year will almost certainly mean more households will revert to using polluting cooking fuels in their homes, harming the health especially of women and children."

PARKINGson’s law of mobility, and us

As we celebrate hosting this year’s G-20 annual forum, our resolve to organise over 200 meetings in 50 cities across 32 different work streams spotlighting LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) may put to test the rigours of urban mobility. The congestion on roads and pressure for parking already make for a stressful experience as is evident from the frequent road rage incidents in India. Though new technologies and business models have helped to improve transportation systems and services in the direction of a more sustainable mobility approach, it is shared mobility that has emerged as a possible answer to the rising number of vehicles. Shared mobility or shared transportation—where commuters can share resources such as vehicles, bikes, and parking space—has the potential to emerge as the most practical solution to meet a city’s urban transportation needs without unduly adding to the parking pressures. It can help cities maximise the use of public spaces and symbiotically aid ride hailing firms to generate revenue, and consequently employment. Yet, it remains a concept well resonated but seldom seeded in our policy initiatives on the ground. Shared mobility must be principally enabled as a commercial choice rather than a regulatory one. On its part, the Central Government has expressed a larger intent of promoting shared mobility. The enabling provisions of the ‘Cab Aggregators Guidelines’ of the Ministry of Road Transport allow for bikes, scooters, motorcycles, three wheelers, and cars to be on a single tech platform to be used throughout the day by several people for different trips. However, hailables do not necessarily get incubated into a single aggregators’ license issued by the state government. This is due to narrow interpretations driven by local political imperatives. Only a few states have shown the progressive intent to issue a single licence to aggregate ‘Bike Taxis, Autorickshaws and Cabs’. Most, on the other hand, have not adopted this universal interpretation but instead choose to promote a multiple licensing regime, almost reminiscent of the pre-1991 license era. This selective interpretation leads to suboptimal regulations. For instance, the ‘Bike Taxis’, which are extremely popular in Goa do not find an expression in the regulations of some of the large congested cities, despite their growing popularity despite being quick and light and best suited to avoid traffic snarls. A larger auto or cab gets thus deployed for a single passenger leading to a bigger than necessary carbon footprint. The other aspect of alleviating parking pressure and the attendant congestion and pollution lies in the larger outlook of States towards land required to park vehicles. Most cities are still trying to fulfill the insatiable demand for parking, using up large tracts of the scarce land, even as real estate development has gone vertical. Lessons from global experience are instructive. Globally, the governing principles of parking policy are changing. Instead of promoting unlimited supply of parking, parking demand is sought to be reduced by discouraging personal vehicle usage in congested areas. Such a move towards shared mobility is being encouraged in cities like Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Portland, etc., where fiscal disincentives have been put in place on use of personal vehicles, making public transport or a commercial hire a more lucrative financial choice. This frees up street spaces and parking lots, converting them into cycle lanes and recreational areas. Since India faces similar challenges, it is only natural that India’s response should also resonate with action taken across the globe. According to a study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a car in India on an average is parked for over 95 per cent of the time and is driven for less than five per cent of its life. The survey concluded that on an average, a car spends 8,360 hours parked and is only driven for 400 hours in a year. Cars or two-wheelers account for 85 per cent of parking space usage but provide for only 4-5 per cent of travel demand. In contrast, cabs account for 4-5 per cent of parking and on an average carry 15-20 times more passengers than a private car. The study also highlighted the vast land usage committed to this ever-rising parking demand in urban areas. It estimated that the annual additional demand for parking spaces can be equivalent to as much as 471 football fields in Delhi, 100 in Chennai, 58 in Chandigarh, and 179 in Gurgaon. The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), has gone on record to state that provisions of parking for personal vehicles cannot be considered a matter of public good. Land is a limited resource, so there is a limit to the additional parking spaces that can be created in a city. Decades of experience in India and across the world bear testimony to the fact that the demand for parking is insatiable. New mobility services and established mass transit must complement each other to build systems that serve consumers regardless of where they live within the cities or their circumstance. Already, for many of the millennials and Gen Z in India, the car has gone from being seen as a property asset to becoming a service that young people pay for only when they need it. It is expected that by the end of the decade, more apps, shared services, and electrification will significantly expand mobility’s scope and modes. New mobility services have the potential to carve out a meaningful role in future mobility for themselves. These are cues for policymakers to get more actively involved in envisioning these new services in the urban transportation system. One of the most powerful outcomes of shared mobility is the impact on the environment. The ability of states to garner revenues to combat the environment lies in innovative regulations. A commercial vehicle contributes substantially higher taxes, tolls and GST—a part of which needs to be channelised right to get this segment to grow. Despite the Green fund subsidies for manufacture of EVs through the FAME schemes, the current sales of electric vehicles (EV) is less than five per cent of the total vehicle sales against an ambitious target of a complete switch over for all new vehicles by 2030. Due to a higher initial capital cost, a loan for purchasing an EV entails higher EMIs than its fossil fuelled equivalent, offsetting some of the advantage of the lower running cost. A targeted interest subvention scheme for purchase of EVs by the marginal earners of commercial vehicles would create excellent self-employment opportunities. Further, Priority Sector Lending (PSL) for green mobility can be expanded to the last mile to cover purchase loans, especially for women drivers which would enable more women to earn their livelihood with complete flexibility in working hours. The tech platforms could also provide enhanced safety for women riders by mapping them to women drivers as a preference. The possibilities to convert this into an opportunity are endless. However, state governments must be exhorted to bring out the attendant rules and regulations to enable the tech platforms to aggregate all vehicles without an exception—through a single licence. The road to success need not be lined with many tempting parking spaces.

Ethanol blending allowed up to 20% in petrol

Domestically produced ethanol has been identified as an opportunity to reduce oil imports, in an effort to achieve energy independence Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol (ethyl alcohol), also called ‘E20’, at the India Energy Week February 6, 2023. This is touted to be a landmark green initiative to help the country reduce carbon emissions. Ethanol is a biofuel naturally produced by the fermentation of sugar extracted from sugarcane and agricultural waste such as bagasse and paddy straw. Ethanol, when blended with petrol, will reduce fossil fuel consumption and bring down the country’s import bills. The government is supporting advanced biofuel projects through the Pradhan Mantri Jivan Yojana with financial assistance of approximately Rs 25,000 crore. Domestically produced ethanol has been identified as an opportunity to reduce oil imports, in an effort to achieve energy independence. The following estimates were made by a presentation at the event: Ethanol blending will be lead to Forex savings in the country by Rs 55,000 crore per annum Ethanol blending will increase the farmer’s cumulative income by Rs 45,000 crore per annum Oil marketing companies (OMCs) are in the process of setting up 2G-3G ethanol plants with a total investment of Rs 8,000 crore per annum. According to the Niti Aayog report titled Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India-2020-25 prepared by an expert committee, the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas intended to introduce ethanol blended petrol in phases. The initial plan was to make E20 available by 2030, after introducing it in phases from April 2025 onwards. Now, the target is to scale it country-wide by 2025 onwards, after introducing it at 84 retail outlets of OMCs in 11 states and Union territories this year. Rahul Jain, deputy Programme Manager of the Renewable Energy Division at Centre for Science and Environment told Down to Earth: Automobile manufacturers are aware of the ethanol blending programme and are rolling out new flex fuel engines that accommodate an ethanol blend of up to 40 per cent-50 per cent. Manufacturers like Hero and Honda are preparing themselves for this. By the end of the year, newly manufactured two wheelers will be recalibrated. India plans to set up an International Biofuel Alliance through the G20 Presidency this year. We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.

Whether Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released a report titled ‘The Plastic Life-cycle November, 2022

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO: 43 ANSWERED ON: 06.02.2023 Plastic Pollution Pritam Gopinath Munde Rahul Ramesh Shewale Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:- (a) whether plastic pollution is a threat to human health and environment with scientific reports having proved that plastic is embedded throughout the food chain and if so, the facts thereof; (b) whether currently, more than 10,000 chemicals (additives) are used to manufacture plastics with close to one-fourth of the chemicals being proven to have adverse effects on human health and if so, the details thereof; (c) whether Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released a report titled ‘The Plastic Life-cycle November, 2022; (d) if so, the details of the facts revealed by the reports released by CSE; and (e) the reaction of the Government thereon and corrective measures taken in this regard? ANSWER MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BHUPENDER YADAV) (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House. *** Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 43 to be answered on 6th February, 2023 on “Plastic Pollution” by Dr. Pritam Gopinathrao Munde, Shri Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Hon’ble Members of Parliament. (a) &(b):The Central Pollution Control Board conducted a study ‘Impact of Plastic Waste Disposal on soil and water quality at Lucknow dumpsites’. It was observed in the study that dumping of plastic waste may deteriorate soil and underground water quality due to leaching of additives, colours, stabilizers and fillers present in different categories of plastic products.Additive chemicals and microplastics released from unmanaged and littered plastic waste can cause pollution of environment. Scientific reports on human health risk associated with additive chemicals and microplastics have variable conclusions. Some studies have estimated microplastics in different environment samples, biota and/or human tissue. Long term studies are required at relevant exposure levels to understand potential negative impacts on human health and to reach at conclusive findings. (c)& (d):The report on “Plastic Life-cycle” prepared by an NGO - Centre for Science and Environment, was released by them in November 2022 and is available in public domain. The report covers different stages of plastics from production, consumption, waste generation and management including recycling. (e) Identified single use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential, have already been prohibited, with effect from 1st July, 2022, vide Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021notified on 12th August 2021.The notification also prohibits manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of plastic carry bags having thickness less than seventy-five microns with effect from 30th September 2021, and having thickness less than thickness of one hundred and twenty microns with effect from the 31st December, 2022 The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the Guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic packaging vide Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022, on 16th February 2022. The Guidelines stipulate mandatory targets on EPR, recycling of plastic packaging waste, reuse of rigid plastic packaging and use of recycled plastic content. The guidelines provide for moving towards sustainable plastic packaging and reducing the plastic foot print. The implementation of ban on identified single use plastic items coupled with extended producer responsibility on plastic packaging will reduce pollution caused by littered and unmanaged plastic waste. The following steps have been taken to strengthen implementation of Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 and to implement ban on identified single use plastic items: (i) All thirty-six States/UTs have constituted the Special Task Force under the chairpersonship of the Chief Secretary / Administrator for elimination of identified single use plastic items and effective plastic waste management. A National Level Taskforce has also been constituted by the Ministry for taking coordinated efforts to eliminate identified single use plastic items and effective implementation of Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. Four meetings of the National Task Force have been held. (ii) Twenty Four State /UT Governments and concerned Central Ministries/Departments have already developed a comprehensive action plan for elimination of single use plastic and implement it in a time bound manner. (iii) Directions have been issued under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for setting up of institutional mechanism for enforcement of provisions of Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 to all State Pollution Control Boards / Pollution Control Committees. Directions have also been issued to E-commerce companies, leading single use plastic sellers/users, and plastic raw material manufacturers with respect to phasing out of identified single use plastic items. Separately, custom authorities have been asked to stop the import of banned SUP items (iv) For effective monitoring of ban on identified single use plastic items and plastic waste management in the country the following online platforms are in operation (a) National Dashboard on for monitoring of comprehensive action plan implementation, (b) CPCB Monitoring Module for Compliance on Elimination of Single Use Plastic, and (c) CPCB Grievance Redressal App. (v) Regular enforcement drives have been undertaken by CPCB, SPCBs/PCCs to implement ban on identified single use plastic items and on plastic carry bags having thickness less than one hundred twenty microns. (vi) In order to provide assistance to MSME enterprises transitioning away from single use plastic items to eco-alternatives, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has made provisions in their ongoing schemes. A National Expo on eco-alternatives to banned single use plastics items and Conference of Startups - 2022 was organized jointly with Government of Tamil Nadu in Chennai on 26-27th September 2022 to raise awareness on alternatives. Awareness generation and capacity building programmes have been organized for elimination of single use plastics.

Government pulls plug on trams, a Kolkata icon set to go the ‘heritage’ route

Tram enthusiasts said the government's decision not to revive disused tram routes was "atrocious" and "unfortunate".Transport expert Anumita Roychowchury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), however, questioned the government's decision to pull the plug on trams. "When the city is embracing electric vehicles with such robustness, how can it discard its original EV? Around the world, trams are coming back to cities as the most climate-friendly means of transport. It does not make sense to turn a living mode of transport into dead, heritage routes," she said. Debashis Bhattacharya, president, Calcutta Tram Users Association (CTUA), said the decision to kill trams would make us "regress 70-80 years. The reasons cited by the authorities to abolish trams were the same reasons cited by city authorities (including Bombay's) worldwide in 1946-1950 to abolish trams, he said, adding, "Now, all major cities have revived trams." Four routes earmarked as "heritage routes", which may survive this flux are the existing two routes - Tollygunge-Ballygunge and Gariahat-Esplanade - and two more: Shyambazar-Esplanade and Kidderpore-Esplanade. Transport officials said, however, that should they decide to revive a route at any point in the future, it would not require much work. "Just the bitumen layer would have to be peeled off. The tracks would not be uprooted," said a source. Tram-lovers, however, fear the worst: once gone, there's almost no chance of a route coming back, several of them felt, speaking from personal experience. "The city is moving towards a car-centric policy. The space vacated by trams will inevitably be used for parking cars. So, the abolition of trams will actually add to the congestion of the city," said Abhijit Saha, a researcher into the history of mobility in Kolkata. Saha's book 'Rajpathe Tram' has been well-received.