• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Delhi government pushes for alternate fuel mix; EVs and CNG to take centrestage

As Delhi grapples with rising pollution levels, hazardous AQI reading and low visibility, the government has issued a prohibition order for BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles till Friday. On Monday, the national capital’s average air quality (AQI) worsened from 371 to 434 at 4pm. An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’. “Emergency situations call for emergency measures,” said Ashish Kundra, Principal Secretary, Government of Delhi. When asked about the worsening situation in the region and long-term measures that are expected to be put in place, Kundra said that the government has been promoting the usage of green vehicles. The idea is to get rid of old polluting vehicles. Vehicles older than 10-15 years should be scrapped or be sent out of the Delhi-NCR, according to him. “We are extensively promoting electric vehicles and the adoption of them in Delhi is the highest in the country. In 2022, almost 10 percent of new vehicle registration came from EVs, in December it went up to 16 percent. In the electric three-wheeler cargo it was around 60 percent in 2022,” said Kundra. In addition, the government also was looking to convert 80 percent of the buses in the region to electric by 2025. “We have already inducted 300 e-buses and have placed an order for nearly 1,500 more. Two days back there was a tender for 4,000 more e-buses and we will soon be out with a tender for 2,500 more e-buses,” reveals Kundra. Speaking on the temporary ban on BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles and the potential challenges for the common man, Kundra said that “Delhi with its extensive Metro network, along with the bus and other last-mile transportation vehicles was efficiently equipped to not create challenges for mobility needs.” On the other hand, in an earlier interaction with Financial Express Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE and KK Gandhi, auto and fuel expert and former ED (Technical), SIAM believe that banning vehicles is a temporary solution. Gandhi had pointed out how resuspended dust is one of the biggest contributors to high particulate matter, as per most studies, “Most of our roads are broken. Every vehicular movement re-introduces these dust particles back into the environment. Unfortunately, no one will touch that as that involves the government directly. The road conditions are quite bad, the pavements broken and there is no systematic cleaning of the roads. A BS VI vehicle automatically does not mean clean emissions. If the vehicle is not maintained properly, even a BS VI vehicle can be more polluting than a BS-IV one.” Roychowdury stated that the current severe condition in Delhi is a “direct outcome of what’s happening across the Indo-Gangetic plain. There is a lot of regional pollution. Need to ensure there is a regional plan in place with clear accountability and state-level coordination.”

• Director General Office

Fast forward to 2023

The second overwhelming trend of 2022 is the impact of climate change 2022 was horrible, just horrible. Last year brought the world to its knees. This was when we started with a sliver of hope. After two years of surreal and back-breaking events, when the novel coronavirus had shut down our world, we thought the worst was over. We hoped that this new phase of reconstruction would be based on learnings of past years. But how quickly all these unravelled. By February end of 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, our world became more divided, more polarised, and deadlier. The eventful year, culminating with the climate conference in Egypt (COP27), had two dominant trends. One, the energy market was in turmoil. Europe learned that its energy policy had left it dependent on Russia and so deeply vulnerable to the crisis that unfolded. This past year, in spite of all the rhetoric and big talk, the developed world has already gone back to “drill baby drill”. Let’s be clear that even if Europe sticks to its green commitment — notwithstanding it being re-invested in brown energy — it is bad for climate and, worse, it is really bad optics. How can the emerging world, which is still in the throes of energy poverty, be asked to move to costly green transition, when at the drop of a hat, the rich go back to fossil fuels, including restarting coal plants and mines. They can call natural gas green or transitional but the fact is that it is a fossil fuel and needs to be phased out. This part of the world does not have any carbon budget left for the use of fossil fuel, even slightly cleaner natural gas. Let’s also be clear that the idea that these investments (like the opening of the UK’s coalmine in Cumbria) are somehow carbon-neutral because they invest in “offsets”— in most cases paying for trees to be planted in the parts of the world that are being told to switch off lights — is hogwash, if not downright immoral. The second overwhelming trend of 2022 is the impact of climate change. It is now real, in our face and devastating every region of the world. In India, our report “Climate India 2022: An Assessment of Extreme Weather Events January-September” shows that we have seen one extreme weather event a day in the first nine months. This number hides the human face of the poor, who suffer the worst devastations since they have to cope with repeated damages to their sources of livelihoods. In the face of these two trends — growing insecurity of the rich and growing vulnerability of the poor — we have seen the worst manifestation of human behaviour. The global community, which till last year, was talking about the need for vaccine cooperation and interdependence, has gone back to shovelling dirt and provocation in others’ faces. Our leaders want to accentuate the differences, not the common objectives to work together for a secure future. But we must change this. This is not a time for war; this is not the age for divisions — even those based on our values and views of the world. We need to have a common minimum programme that brings all countries together on the only issues that matter for humanity: How to avert the existential crisis we face and to build a just and inclusive world order. This is possible only when we go back to a rule-based system of global governance—one that sets rules for the rich and powerful and not just for the poor to abide by. In the case of climate change, this means that we must ensure there are global standards of responsibility based on the contribution of gases and these all must follow—this will set a level playing field so that old and new polluters are all required to do what is then agreed upon. Then we need to reorder the financial systems so that there is enough money available to do development differently. The fact is that the deck is stacked against the emerging world when it comes to investment in cleaner energy sources. There is no money; the cost of finance is high; and high debt burdens mean that many countries pay more than what they even receive in the name of climate gratuity. This year can and must be different. There is no turning away from the urgency of the change that is needed. What will make the difference, I believe, is our ability to speak truth to power. We need to start calling it as it happens; not because we want to name and shame, but because we deserve better. The second is about our ability to listen to each other. It is not that the world is divided; we are divided in our minds and thoughts. We do not even know that “another” exists. Dissent and dialogue are what we must celebrate in 2023. We will then build that new world that we all so desperately hope is still possible.

• Sustainable Food Systems

किसानों के कितना काम आएगी

Please see the attachment.

• Sustainable Habitat

न्यूज़ इंडिया ने की पर्यावरणविद रजनीश सरीन से खास बातचीत

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Why Methane Emissions From Landfills Are Concerning

Data on methane emissions from landfills, and policies to curb them , are inadequate, studies and experts tell us Mumbai: More than a quarter of methane emissions in Mumbai--which generates the most solid waste among India's metro cities–originate in its landfills, a study has shown. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and tackling emission sources that can potentially be mitigated, and reduce global warming, is crucial. Apart from causing a major health and social impact, such as contamination of water, fire outbreaks and a rotting odour, landfills emit methane when organic waste such as food scraps, wood and paper decompose. It is estimated that, globally, 30-70 million tons of methane is emitted from landfills each year. In India, the waste sector accounts for about 20% of methane emissions, as per the Global Methane Tracker 2022. Methane is a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere over a 100-year period, and is responsible for almost a quarter of global warming. Reducing methane emissions is a priority for curbing climate change, IndiaSpend reported in July 2022. Climate change mitigation, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), refers to efforts to reduce or prevent emission of greenhouse gases. Waste- related emissions, such as methane, can be mitigated through the use of new technology like waste-to-energy plants; making existing units, such as waste management facilities, energy-efficient or by changes in behaviour, such as less wastage of food. A study published in August 2022 by researchers from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and GHGSat Inc., a global emissions monitoring platform from Canada, found that more than a quarter of methane emissions (26%) in the metropolitan city of Mumbai originated in landfills. For national capital Delhi, landfills accounted for 6% of methane emissions. Landfills and the growing waste problem Every day between the years 2016-2020, Greater Mumbai generated between 6,500 and 9,400 million tonnes of waste, as per a June 2021 report published by the Praja Foundation, a Mumbai based not-for-profit working on accountability and governance issues. Most of this waste is dumped in three main landfills of Mumbai: the Deonar dumping ground, Kanjurmarg and Mulund dump yards. While the Mulund dumpyard has been closed for waste disposal since 2018-19, the Deonar and Kanjurmarg dump yards received up to 1,700 and 5,500 million tonnes of waste, respectively, in 2019-20. "In India we don't have many landfills made in a scientific manner. Landfills are basically dumpsites outside city boundaries; they eventually become bigger landfills. But under Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), there is a provision on how landfills need to be treated, which many cities do not follow," said Pratima Singh, Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), a Bengaluru-based think-tank, where she leads the air pollution domain. "When your wet waste and dry waste is not segregated and dumped in an open area, this in presence of oxygen gets degraded further--through a process called aerobic decomposition--with help of microorganisms, and in 20-21 days the decomposition starts releasing methane," she added. In 2021, the per capita per day solid waste generation across 28 selected cities of India was in the range of 190 to 990 grams, with the average being 390 grams, as per a joint study by the Niti-Aayog and the Centre for Science and Environment. Bigger and more affluent cities have been adding more waste per day, the study noted. With increased urbanisation and unabated consumption, the waste we generate is expected to grow in the coming years. India will, in a couple of decades, generate nearly thrice the waste it currently does--"165 million tonnes by 2030 and 436 million tonnes by 2050", according to a June 2021 report by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Only 22-28% of the waste now collected is processed or treated. Estimating landfill emissions No government authority is continuously monitoring methane emissions from landfills. For reporting purposes, they collaborate with other organisations for a specific period of time, experts told us. For instance, in 2006, the CPCB, in collaboration with National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Delhi had made an attempt to assess the status of methane emissions from dump-sites. Most data are also dependent on satellites, experts added. Using satellite data to detect methane emissions is still relatively new, but it is being brought to use more widely. It also means that several independent organisations are tracking greenhouse gases, data on which were earlier only provided by the government. IndiaSpend's Chasing Methane is one such attempt to track methane emissions across sectors from India. In the first phase, the project presents data from the European Space Agency's Sentinel 5-P satellite at 1110-metre resolution, along with an emissions inventory from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. The data gathered between January and September 2022 show that metro cities like Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru are some of the highest methane emitting cities in the waste sector in India. Apart from satellite data, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provides two models to estimate methane emissions from landfills: the default method and the first order decay method. The default method is simple and it assumes that all methane emissions are released in the same year of waste disposal. It uses the quantity of waste generated and disposed to estimate the amount of methane released. The first order decay method looks at methane emissions across time periods. These two methods also provide very different figures for methane emissions. For instance, a 2016 study by researchers from Delhi Technological University found that methane emissions at Ghazipur landfill in the year 2011-12 under the IPCC default method was 3,845.20 gigagram per year, while under the First Order Decay method the emissions come up to 2,611.99 gigagram per year. (1,000 gigagram equals 1 million tonnes) This is equivalent to emissions from 17- 25 coal fired plants in a year. The limitation in estimating methane emissions from landfills is the lack of data on municipal solid waste generation and actual disposal in landfills, said Singh. This is also exacerbated as legacy waste, or waste that has been collected and kept for years, is considered. While methane capture at landfills is urgent, there are discrepancies between estimated methane emission provided by technology like satellites and what was happening on the ground, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology report. "A new airborne methane sensor deployed by NASA, for instance, found that California landfills have been leaking methane at rates as much as six times greater than estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency," the report noted. Further, satellites with more precision are set to be launched in 2023, including the Environmental Defense Fund's MethaneSAT, which aims to track not only the rate of methane emissions and location but also how those emissions are changing. Earlier in November, at COP27 held in Egypt, the United Nations launched a high-tech, satellite-based global methane detecting system called MARS or Methane Alert and Response System. It was developed as part of the Global Methane Pledge, signed by 103 countries to cut 30% of methane emissions by 2030 from 2020 levels. The system is intended to provide data to governments and businesses and allow them to act on mitigating the emissions. Policies on emissions from landfills Between now and 2050, landfill waste is predicted to grow at double the rate of the population in the world. Experts noted the need to monitor emissions from landfills and design policies to mitigate these emissions. Further, the government has also been implementing policies to deal with the waste problem in cities. For instance, the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2016 mandate segregation of waste at the household level and urban local bodies need to transport them separately in collection vehicles. Policies for landfills are definitely there, but cities have failed to follow them, which is why we are dealing with the problem of legacy waste, said Singh. "Many cities are now trying to come up with solutions, like incineration, or transporting the waste to another area, which are not the solution. The first and foremost solution is that we segregate the waste at household level." We reached out to the CPCB and asked them if they maintain data on methane emissions from landfills and for comment on policy measures taken to contain these emissions. We will update this story when we receive their response. "The regulatory framework on waste management has been very strong, but the implementation has been very poor," said Priti Mahesh, Chief Programme Coordinator at Toxics Link, a not-for-profit focussing on environmental issues. "There is also no monitoring of recycling facilities; whether any standards are being met or whether they are different from what was happening in the informal sector?" CPCB's annual report 2020-21 shows that of 150,847 tonnes of waste collected each day, only 47% or 70,973 tonnes per day was treated in 2020-21. Further, 27% or 40,863 tonnes of waste ended up in landfills and 25.8% or 39,010 tonnes each day was completely unaccounted for. "While standards are being created by CPCB, enforcement is a state subject under state control boards. And, due to the lack of capacity in terms of resources available to them and knowledge of it, not much action is happening on ground," noted Mahesh. Furthermore, technology adoption to contain methane emissions in India is limited, as per studies. In the United States, landfill gas emissions declined by 40% from 1990 to 2016 through methane abatement strategies such as landfill gas collection and control systems, according to a March 2019 paper by Veera Pekkarinen, supported by the European Union's ClimaSlow project. The study noted that there is potential to spread these technologies to developing countries. The government has also initiated waste to energy plants for generating energy from municipal solid waste. But improper handling of organic waste has been identified as one of the root causes for failure of waste-to-energy technology, according to a 2017 study. Further, it has often been found that adoption of such practices have not only increased the cost of waste processing, but also bring environmental and health hazards if not managed properly. "Measuring methane from landfill sites doesn't specifically fall under the mandate of [a] municipal authority. Only when they are asked specifically by CPCB on emissions from the landfill sites, is there a study conducted," noted Singh. "So there are no specific solutions that target the emissions apart from general solutions on treating the waste problem."

• DTE - Web

‘Save Soil’: Why India should listen to this clarion call

Country aims to become land degradation neutral by 2030 In March 2022, renowned spiritual leader and yoga proponent Sadhguru set out on a 100-day motorbike journey covering 27 countries and a distance of 30,000 kilometres to raise awareness about the widespread loss and degradation of soil—one of the most serious and alarming environmental issues in the modern era. He hit the road in front of London’s Parliament Square and traversed Europe and the Middle East—meeting government leaders, influencers, and the general public—before coming to a halt in India in June. The 'Save Soil' campaign has been gaining traction both home and abroad, with thousands of eminent figures, including scientists, celebrities, policy experts, and even heads of states coming together with this common goal. Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation, based in Coimbatore, says 81 countries, two United Nations agencies— United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the World Food Programme (WFP)—and the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have already pledged their support to this campaign. The movement has come up as a wake-up call at a time when soil extinction in India as well as across the globe call for urgent intervention from governments and policy makers. According to a United Nations report, almost one-third of the world's farmable land has disappeared in the last four decades due to intensive agricultural practices. If the current rate of loss continues, all of the world's topsoil could become unproductive within 60 years, posing a major threat to food security and exacerbating the issue of climate change. Why is healthy soil important Soil degradation is the physical, chemical and biological decline in soil quality due to its improper or poor management for agriculture, industrial or urban purposes. The degradation can involve water erosion, wind erosion, salinity, loss of organic matter, fertility decline, soil acidity, structure decline, mass movement or soil contamination. Healthy soil will be teeming with biodiversity. According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, millions of microscopic and larger organisms in the soil “perform many vital functions including converting dead and decaying matter as well as minerals to plant nutrients, controlling plant disease and insect and weed pests, improving soil structure with positive effects for soil water and nutrient holding capacity, and ultimately improving crop production”. The minerals and microbes in soil help clean water by filtering and buffering potential pollutants. Organisms like earthworms, ants and termites also facilitate this process by creating channels and routes for water and air to flow through. Moreover, soil is the second largest carbon sink after the ocean, thereby playing a crucial role in mitigating climate change. India’s depleting soil cover Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a 2030 target for India to become land degradation neutral, a state “whereby the amount and quality of land resources, necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security, remains stable or increases within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems,” according to UN Convention to Combat Desertification. However, data released by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shows a grim picture with almost all Indian states recording an increase in degraded land in the past 15 years. As per the latest Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of the ISRO published in June 2021, 87.85 million hectors of land in India (around 30 per cent of the country's geographical area) has already been degraded, of which 3.32 mha was added between 2003 and 2019 alone. Interestingly and alarmingly, the biodiversity-rich northeastern states recorded the most rapid increase in degraded soil. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, and Karnataka have the highest area of degrading land. In Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat, and Goa, the area of degrading land account for more than 50 per cent of each of their total area. Rajasthan, however, along with Uttar Pradesh and Telangana—has recorded a reduction in the degrading soil as these three states combinedly reclaimed around 0.7 mha of land in the last 15 years. An analysis of the ISRO data done by the environmental magazine Down to Earth shows that more than half of the degraded land in the country is either rainfed farmland, responsible for the food security in the country, or forest land that offers the best defence against climate change. Around 37 mha of the degraded land falls in the 'agriculture unirrigated' category. The DTE analysis further claims that water erosion is the most common reason (80 per cent) for degradation of unirrigated farmland, followed by wind erosion, salinity/alkanility in land and water logging. A 2022 report of the Centre for Science and Environment, too, reiterates the gravity of the situation as it claims 13 Indian states/UTs have over 30 per cent of land under degradation—Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Ladakh, Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana. As per the report, in Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Delhi, more than 60 per cent of land is under degradation. India supports 18 per cent of the world's human population and 15 per cent of the livestock, but has only 2.4 per cent of the world's land area. The country, where agriculture is a large contributor to the GDP, is already paying a heavy price for soil degradation. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has estimated that the economic losses from land degradation and change of land use in 2014-15 stood at 2.54 percent of India’s GDP or Rs. 3.17 lakh crore. Almost 82 per cent of the estimated cost is on account of land degradation and 18 per cent due to land use change. The TERI study further urges government to speed up the process of reclamation as the cost of land degradation will outstrip the cost of reclamation in 2030. According to experts, the wrong and inappropriate farming practices that led to widespread land degradation in India in the recent decades included low and imbalanced fertilization, excessive tillage and use of heavy machinery, crop residue burning and inadequate organic matter inputs, poor irrigation and water management, poor crop rotations, pesticide overuse and soil pollution. Overgrazing, deforestation, careless forest management, rampant industrialization and urbanization, infrastructure development and mining are the other major human-induced causes for loss of fertile land. Land shortage, land fragmentation, poor economy, and population have also contributed to the degradation of land, along with natural causes such as earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, landslides and floods. Policy interventions need of the hour PM Modi says India is working towards restoring 26 million hectors of degraded land by 2030. This, he claims, would contribute to India's commitment to achieve an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. However, it would require a major policy overhaul, since experts point out that even though more than half of India's farm land remains rainfed, the country's farm policy has always encouraged resource sensitive and chemical intensive cropping, which work well in irrigated farms. The government, however, has taken a few promising steps. In his address on the World Environmental Day, Modi informed that the government has focused on five main things to save soil. 1) How to make the soil chemical free. 2) How to save the organisms that live in the soil, which are called Soil Organic Matter in technical language. 3) How to maintain soil moisture, how to increase the availability of water till it. 4) How to remove the damage that is happening to the soil due to less groundwater. 5) How to stop the continuous erosion of soil due to the reduction of forests. He also claimed that the Soil Health Card, launched in 2015, has played an important role in changing the mindset of farmers. These cards provide every farmer with soil nutrient status of his land and teach him about the dosage of fertilizers to be maintained for good soil health. In last year’s budget, the government announced natural farming along the Ganga river corridor. In March, the Centre started the rejuvenation project of 13 rivers, which it claims will help in increasing the forest cover by over 7,400 sq km. Schemes like Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region also promote low cost organic farming. PM Krishi Sinchayi Yojana and ‘Per drop more Crop’ campaign seek to educate farmers on how to maintain soil moisture, while National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and Green India Mission (GIM) aim to control continuous erosion of soil due to the reduction of forests. However, given the pace of soil degradation, the government will have to do more and further harmonise the existing policies at the central and state level. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India is working towards restoring 26 million hectors of degraded land by 2030. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India is working towards restoring 26 million hectors of degraded land by 2030. The 'Save Soil' movement is urging nations to mandate 3-6 per cent organic content in agricultural soils around the world through policy driven initiatives. The average organic content in India’s soil is 0.68 per cent, but nearly 60 per cent of the land has below 0.5 per cent. In December 2022, Sadhguru, along with renowned soil experts and scientists, released a Global Save Soil Policy Handbook for seven regions—Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and Northern Africa, North America and Oceania—offering “practical and scientific policy recommendations” that the governments can put into action to revitalize the soil. The document puts forward a three-pronged strategy, including attractive incentive for farmers to reach the minimum threshold of 3-6 per cent organic content. Facilitating and streamlining of carbon credit for farmers and developing a mark of superior quality for food grown from soils that have the target 3-6 per cent organic content level are the other two policy recommendations. “Alongside this, we should also clearly articulate the various health, nutritional, and preventive health benefits of consuming such foods. As a result of this initiative, people would be more healthy, more productive, and more resilient – thereby leading to gains in man-days, and a lower stress on our health care systems,” the document says. In its Asia-specific recommendations, the document calls for a Package of Practices (PoP) where all the work done by the research institutes will be cataloged and documented. The nutritional requirements and means of production for specific crops should be precisely articulated to avoid problems that arise due to excess usage of inputs or application of the wrong inputs. Implementing this will ensure the pollution and contamination of soils from excess use of agrochemicals does not occur, says the handbook. The documents points out the lack of a farmer ecosystem, and suggests that farmers be given hands-on training on their land to adopt sustainable soil management (SSM) practices. “Soil doctors” must be developed and nurtured to support farmers in their region and farmers must be rewarded for ecosystem services provided by their SSM practices, it says. Standardisation of indicators to assess soil health and setting up of laboratories to conduct biological, physical and chemical properties of soil are the other major recommendations of the document. But, not all are impressed. While the ‘Save Soil’ campaign’s recommendations for all nations remain oriented around the same 3-6 per cent soil organic matter goal, some experts point out that increasing organic matter by any amount will help boost fertility, improve biodiversity and fight climate change. “Fixing on a specific number obscures the variations in soil types across countries and environments,” Jo Handelsman, a noted biologist, tells the Grist. Also, experts like Antony of 'A Growing Culture' believe that while industrial agriculture is the main factor for soil degradation, the ‘Save Soil’ movement makes it sound like the soil was ruined because of our collective abuse of the environment. However, all ecofreaks have been unanimous in admitting what Sadhguru called attention to is a very dire situation and it is high time the governments formulated policies that revitalise ecolology and soil.

• Environment Education

“The modern education industry is no longer bound by time or space”

Various trends in the education sector have been deployed with varying degrees of success in the past, but the trends that have emerged in the last few years have completely altered the sector’s dynamics and are unquestionably here to stay for the foreseeable future said, Shikha Tripathi, Principal, Orchids The International School, Pune, Maharashtra in an interview with Nidhi Shail Kujur of Elets News Network (ENN). Edited Excerpts: Tell us about your achievements regarding ‘Innovation in Education’ during the year 2022. 1. Green school program- CHANGING COLORS, GOING GREEN. Initiatives are taken by the audit team of this program. The audit team members check the process and prepare a report card of the school in terms of electricity consumption, air quality, land usage, and water consumption. At the end of the year, the report is shared with the CENTRE OF SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT, DELHI. 2. Vrikshabandhan- On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, children take a pledge to save the environment by tying knots to trees. 3. Sanskaarshaala- Students were trained in terms of etiquettes and values during assembly and special sessions were organised. Storytelling sessions and activities are part of this program where children are groomed for personality development. 4. Muskaan- spreading smiles. Donation to those in need is a special activity which is for humans, by humans. 5. Sunshine call- Each parent of the school is contacted for feedback on the child. This may be virtual too. How are futuristic technologies going to transform education in the year 2023? Technology today is evolving at a rapid pace, enabling faster change and progress, causing an acceleration of the rate of change. However, it is not only technology trends and emerging technologies that are evolving, a lot more has changed this year due to the outbreak of COVID-19 making IT professionals realize that their role will not stay the same in the contactless world tomorrow. And an IT professional in 2023-24 will constantly be learning, unlearning, and relearning (out of necessity if not desire). Artificial intelligence will become more prevalent in 2023 with natural language processing and machine learning advancement. Artificial intelligence can better understand us and perform more complex tasks using this technology. It is estimated that 5G will revolutionize the way we live and work in the future. Computing power has already established its place in the digital era, with almost every device and appliance being computerized. Datafication is simply transforming everything in our life into devices or software powered by data. Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has already received a lot of buzz in the past decade, but it continues to be one of the new technology trends because its notable effects on how we live, work and play are only in the early stages. Extended reality comprises all the technologies that simulate reality, from Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality to Mixed Reality and everything else in between. However challenging the field is it also offers lucrative six figure incomes, and roles can range from offering a promising career path for someone who wants to get into and stick with this evergreen trending technology • Ethical Hacker • Malware Analyst • Security Engineer • Chief Security Officer What innovation accelerated the transformation of growth in the education landscape in the year 2022? Traditional education is no longer the centre of attention. The modern education industry is no longer bound by time or space. Various trends in the education sector have been deployed with varying degrees of success in the past, but the trends that have emerged in the last few years have completely altered the sector’s dynamics and are unquestionably here to stay for the foreseeable future. The digital transformation in the education sector has accelerated immeasurably, causing a shift toward online and cloud-based delivery platforms from primary to higher education. Technologies that will upend the education sector: 1. Learning for life through subscription services 2. A combination of real, AI, AR, AND VR 3. Nano-Learning 4. Personalised learning. 5. Gamification Learners can read text, view images, and watch videos all at the same time. As a result, youngsters have a strong desire to explore new boundaries. Collaboration and communication are also encouraged through digital learning tools. Students may now exchange links, videos, and lecture notes on a single platform. What is your mission and vision to impact the paradigm shift of the education arena in the year 2023? “To learn is to change. Education is a process that changes the learner.” – George Leonard “Our mission is not instruction but producing learning with every student by whatever means works best.” Principles that guide this change in learning include: Student and teacher share responsibility for the quality of the student’s learning process (only indirectly and secondarily, the quality of the teacher’s teaching). For both student and teacher, core motivation is the satisfaction derived from improving the quality of each student’s learning. Our role as teachers is to be a “guide on the side” instead of a “sage on the stage.” We have moved from an instruction paradigm, in which an instructor transfers knowledge to students, to a learning paradigm, in which a teacher’s role is that of the coach. The result is a student learning how to learn and discovering knowledge with the coaching guidance of a teacher.

• Down To Earth

BL Podcast. Can robots be climate friendly?

Thunderstorms, torrential rains, landslides, floods, cold waves, heat waves, cyclones, droughts, dust storms, hail or snowstorms: India experienced at least one of them every day in the first nine months of 2022, according to the New Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment (CSE). These climate extremes claimed 2,755 lives, affected 1.8 million hectares (ha) crop area, 416,667 houses and killed over 69,007 animals, states the report. These data will carry a lot of weight, even if India hasn’t submitted its Long-Term Low Emissions Growth Strategy for low carbon transition pathways nor took charge as the president of G20. Experts want nations to capture and assess their progress toward enhancing resilience and make more detailed and ambitious commitments in their national climate plans. What can help nations do this is as simple as an artificially intelligent robot. AI is a powerful tool that can address the challenges posed by climate change.

• Director General Office

Greta Thunberg vs India’s Surmeet Kaur

Lalit Kala Academy hosts art show highlighting Earth’s changing relationship with humanity. Noted environmentalist & Padma Sri Sunita Narain inaugurated exhibition titled – ‘Feminine Connection’. Artist Surmeet Kaur’s exhibition showcases adverse effects of human activity on Earth. Her artworks question self-centered attitude of human beings. She says, “We’ve poisoned the soil, which provides us everything.” Kaur wants to shatter the popular belief that Earth is our ‘Mother’. Humans have taken ‘Mother Earth’ for granted, she says. She believes Earth should be cared for and nurtured like child.

• Renewable Energy

सर्द रातों में सिंचाई की समस्या का समाधान बनती सौर बिजली

कई राज्यों में किसानों को रात में अपनी फसलों में पानी देना पड़ता है। इन राज्यों में खेती के लिए बिजली सिर्फ रात में ही मिलती है। ऐसी स्थिति में सिंचाई करते वक्त सर्द मौसम और जंगली जानवरों के खतरे का सामना करना पड़ता है। पंप सेटों को चलाने के लिए बिजली जरूरी है। ये पंप सेट खेती-बाड़ी का अहम हिस्सा बन गए हैं। राजस्थान पर आधारित एक हालिया अध्ययन में दावा किया गया है कि राज्य और देश सौर ऊर्जा के रास्ते पर चलकर भविष्य की ऊर्जा जरूरतों के लिए आवश्यक बुनियादी ढांचे पर बड़ी रकम बचा सकते हैं। राजस्थान के गंगानगर जिले में लुढ़कता पारा नए रिकॉर्ड बना रहा है। हालात ऐसे हैं कि लोग गर्म रजाई में भी ठिठुर रहे हैं। ऐसे वक्त में मोहनपुरा गांव के 50 वर्षीय किसान सतवीर सिंह को सर्दे रात अपने गेहूं के खेत में पानी देने के लिए जाना पड़ा। उनके मुताबिक इसकी वजह बिजली आपूर्ति है जो खेती के कामों के लिए अक्सर रात में आती है। सिंह कहते हैं कि गांव के कई लोग सांप के काटने और ऐसे ही अन्य हादसों में अपनी जान गंवा चुके हैं। ये लोग रात में खेतों की सिंचाई के लिए निकले थे। वे कहते हैं, “मेरा दर्द अपने उन साथियों की तुलना में कुछ भी नहीं है।” उन्हें उम्मीद है कि सरकार उनका दर्द समझेगी और दिन में (खेती के लिए) बिजली मुहैया कराएगी। ऐसा भी नहीं है कि यह कोई ऐसी मांग है जिसे सिर्फ इसी गांव के लोग पूरा कराना चाहते हैं। राजस्थान में किसान लंबे समय से खेती-बाड़ी के लिए बिजली आपूर्ति की ऐसी समय-सारणी से जूझ रहे हैं। कुछ महीने पहले किसानों के एक समूह ने अजमेर जिले में सिर्फ रात में बिजली की आपूर्ति के खिलाफ विरोध-प्रदर्शन किया था। राजस्थान के सबसे हालिया बजट में, मुख्यमंत्री अशोक गहलोत ने माना कि किसानों को परेशानी का सामना करना पड़ रहा है क्योंकि वे रात के समय अपने खेतों पटवन करने के लिए मजबूर हैं। उन्होंने राहत देने का वादा किया था। लेकिन यह समस्या सिर्फ राजस्थान तक सीमित नहीं है। ऐसा भी नहीं है कि यह समस्या सिर्फ ठंड की वजह से है। रात में जब किसान बाहर निकलते हैं तो जंगली जानवरों के चलते उनकी जिंदगी दांव पर लगी होती है। इस दिसंबर, कर्नाटक के मैसूरु जिले में चामुंडेश्वरी बिजली आपूर्ति निगम को सिंचाई पंप सेट के लिए रात से सुबह के घंटों तक बिजली आपूर्ति के समय को बदलना पड़ा। यह तेंदुए के हमले से हुई जानलेवा घटना के बाद हुआ। कर्नाटक इस मुद्दे पर चर्चा कर रहा है और किसानों को रात के बजाय दिन में बिजली देने की योजना बना रहा है। इसी तरह, महाराष्ट्र के विदर्भ इलाके के कई जिलों में सिर्फ रात में बिजली की दी जाती है। राज्य ने साल 2020 में किसानों को दिन के समय आठ घंटे बिजली मुहैया कराने की घोषणा की थी। इस तरह देखा जाए तो किसानों को रात में बिजली आपूर्ति का मुद्दा बहुत बड़ा है। खुद प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी को किसानों को दिन में बिजली देने के वादे के साथ अपने गृह राज्य गुजरात में एक कार्यक्रम शुरू करना पड़ा। साल 2020 में शुरू की गई, किसान सूर्योदय योजना के तहत 2022 के आखिर तक राज्य के लगभग 18,000 गांवों में खेती को ध्यान में रखते हुए बिजली देने का लक्ष्य था। खेती और बिजली आजादी के बाद से ही भारतीयों ने जीवन जीने के तरीकों में कई बदलाव देखे हैं। ये बदलाव कृषि में भी दिखते हैं। भारत में खेती-बाड़ी अब भूमिगत जल पर निर्भर हो गई है। बिजली और डीजल से चलने वाले पंप सेट कृषि से जुड़े कामों का हिस्सा बन गए हैं। साल 1960-61 के दौरान बोरवेल सिंचाई का हिस्सा मात्र 1% था। साल 2008 में यह बढ़कर 60% तक पहुंच गया। दिल्ली स्थित सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट की एक हालिया स्टडी में कहा गया है, “किसी भी साल में भारत के कुल भूजल का करीब 90% देश की कुल सिंचित भूमि के 70% के पटवन (सिंचाई) के लिए इस्तेमाल किया जाता है। इसके चलते इलेक्ट्रिक पंपों की संख्या तेजी से बढ़ते हुए दो करोड़ दस लाख से ज्यादा हो गई है। देश में खपत होने वाली कुल बिजली का एक बड़ा हिस्सा कृषि क्षेत्र में खपता है। साल 2020-21 में, कृषि क्षेत्र ने 12,27,000 GWh (गीगावाट घंटा) का 18% उपभोग किया। साल 2019 में किया गया एक अध्ययन बताता है कि भारत में खेती के लिए बिजली की मांग बढ़ रही है। रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि 2008-09 में इस सेक्टर ने 107 अरब यूनिट की खपत की। वहीं 2017-18 में खपत बढ़कर 205 अरब यूनिट तक पहुंच गई। दिल्ली स्थित एक अन्य थिंक टैंक, द एनर्जी एंड रिसोर्स इंस्टीट्यूट (टीईआरआई) का आकलन है कि 2030 में बिजली की मांग 307 अरब यूनिट तक पहुंच सकती है। ऑल इंडिया पावर इंजीनियर्स फेडरेशन के अध्यक्ष शैलेंद्र दुबे का कहना है कि कृषि क्षेत्र को काफी मात्रा में बिजली की जरूरत पड़ती है। ट्रांसमिशन लोड फैक्टर को बनाए रखने के लिए कृषि क्षेत्र को रात के समय बिजली मिलती है। आमतौर पर कृषि से संबंधित बिजली आपूर्ति दो पारियों में करने की योजना है। उन्होंने कहा कि आधे गांवों को दिन में और आधे को रात में बिजली मिलती है। सूरज की रोशनी उम्मीद की किरण भारत में बिजली से जुड़ी चर्चाओं में अक्षय ऊर्जा केंद्र में है। इसने लाखों किसानों की उम्मीदों को पंख दिए हैं। भारत ने प्रधानमंत्री-कुसुम (PM-KUSUM) नाम से सौर-आधारित सिंचाई योजना शुरू की है। यह गांवों में सौर ऊर्जा से चलने वाले सौर पंपों पर आधारित है। मांग पर आधारित इस योजना के तहत सरकार 35 लाख कृषि पंपों को सौर ऊर्जा से लैस करने की योजना बना रही है। फिलहाल पूरे देश में एनर्जी ट्रांजिशन (स्वच्छ तरीके से बिजली बनाना) की योजना पर काम हो रहा है। तो एक तरह से यह किसानों के लिए उम्मीद की एक और किरण है। क्योंकि 2022 के एक अध्ययन में अनुमान लगाया गया है कि कृषि क्षेत्र को दिन के समय बिजली मुहैया कराने से बिजली सेक्टर की लागत में भारी कमी आएगी। इस रिपोर्ट का नाम राजस्थान में नवीन ऊर्जा, स्टोरेज, व्हीकल इलेक्ट्रिफिकेशन और डिमांड रिस्पॉन्स के लिए अवसर है। रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक इस बदलाव से ट्रांजिशन लागत में बचत होगी और इसमें इसी मुद्दे की वकालत की गई है। नेशनल रिन्यूएबल एनर्जी लेबोरेटरी (एनआरईएल) की ओर से प्रकाशित इस रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है, “कृषि लोड (बिजली से जुड़ा) में बदलाव से प्रचुर मात्रा में राज्य के सौर संसाधनों के इस्तेमाल को ज्यादा से ज्यादा करते हुए अधिक विश्वसनीय बिजली आपूर्ति करने का अवसर मिल सकता है।” राजस्थान में कुल बिजली मांग का लगभग 50% खेती-बाड़ी से जुड़ा है। रिपोर्ट में दावा किया गया है कि अगर इस मांग को राज्य में दिन के समय पर ले आया जाए, तो बिजली क्षेत्र की कुल लागत राजस्थान में 18% कम हो सकती है। वहीं पूरे भारत में 2050 तक 1.5% कमी लाई जा सकती है। जब बिजली की मांग दिन के समय में स्थानांतरित हो जाती है, तो शाम के समय बिजली देने के लिए ऊर्जा स्टोरेज क्षमता और तापीय क्षमता की कम जरूरत होती है। अप्रत्याशित रूप से, लंबी अवधि में बनाई गई सौर क्षमता भी कम है। ऐसा इसलिए है क्योंकि स्टोरेज को चार्ज करने के लिए अतिरिक्त सौर ऊर्जा का इस्तेमाल किया जाता है। अध्ययन में दावा किया गया है कि जब शाम में बिजली की मांग को शिफ्ट किया जाता है, तो स्टोरेज को चार्ज करने के लिए कम ऊर्जा की आवश्यकता होती है। इस तरह मांग को पूरा करने के लिए कुल सौर क्षमता की कम जरूरत होती है। सौर ऊर्जा पर भरोसा करते हुए मध्य प्रदेश, महाराष्ट्र और कर्नाटक जैसे कुछ राज्यों ने सिंचाई के लिए दिन में अतिरिक्त सौर ऊर्जा देना शुरू कर दिया है। इंटरनेशनल काउंसिल फॉर रिसर्च ऑन इंटरनेशनल इकोनॉमिक रिलेशंस (आईसीआरआईईआर) के सीनियर विजिटिंग फेलो सोमित दासगुप्ता का कहना है कि यह निश्चित रूप से बिजली वितरण कंपनियों के लिए मददगार होगा। ऐसा इसलिए क्योंकि आमतौर पर शाम और सुबह ज्यादातर राज्यों में पीक टाइम होते हैं। हालांकि जब सौर ऊर्जा की बात आती है तो मौसम की एक बड़ी भूमिका होती है। यह डिस्कॉम (वितरण कंपनियों) की बिजली खरीद लागत को कम कर सकता है। इस तरह वे अपने नुकसान को कम कर सकते हैं क्योंकि पीक समय पर ऐसी लागत गैर-पीक घंटों की तुलना में अधिकतम होती है। एक विशेषज्ञ का कहना है कि खेती से जुड़े कई कनेक्शनों में बिजली या तो शाम को आती है या रात में। रात में बिजली से जुड़ा लोड कम होता है। शायद यही वजह है कि कृषि क्षेत्र को रात में आपूर्ति की जाती है। वो कहते हैं, “जब आप विकेंद्रीकृत रास्ते से सौर ऊर्जा लेते हैं, तो आप ट्रांसमिशन और डिस्ट्रीब्यूशन घाटे से भी बचते हैं, जो ग्रिड में बहुत ज्यादा हैं। अगर आप सौर ऊर्जा वाला पंप इस्तेमाल करते हैं और जितनी सौर ऊर्जा आप पैदा कर रहे हैं और सरप्लस ग्रिड को दे रहे हैं तो इससे आपको लाभ भी होगा।” अगर हम दिन के समय (सौर पीक ऑवर) में शिफ्ट हो जाते हैं, तो हम ग्रिड में जाने वाली सौर ऊर्जा की अधिकतम मात्रा का इस्तेमाल कर सकते हैं। दासगुप्ता कहते हैं, “इससे यह भी पक्का होगा कि हम जीवाश्म ईंधन का इस्तेमाल कम कर सकते हैं और अतिरिक्त बैटरी स्टोरेज सिस्टम की जरूरत पर निर्भरता कम कर सकते हैं।”

• Down To Earth

The Char Dham Road Project is a Freeway to Disaster: CP Rajendran

Joshimath is a serious warning signal. Any realistic development strategy should balance infra development, acceptable levels of risk, and carrying capacity of the terrai, says the noted expert on earthquakes. Dr CP Rajendran is among India’s foremost experts on seismo-tectonics, earthquakes and tsunami geology. He is also a strong critic of the development model being pursued in Uttarakhand, a hilly state where the intensity of large-scale infrastructure projects has been rising along with the risks this poses to the fragile ecosystem, the latest being the cracks and land slide in Joshimath. Rajendran, who is also an adjunct professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, is fearlessly vocal about the ills of such constructions, especially the large number of tunnels—66 to be exact—and dams that are being built across the small hilly state. He speaks to senior journalist Rashme Sehgal. Edited excerpts. RS: You were critical of the government’s Char Dham project, which is under construction at a relentless pace. In the next 10 years, the government also plans to build 66 tunnels in Uttarakhand, which already has 18 tunnels in operation. What is the problem with these projects? CPR: I have always thought the Char Dham road project is a freeway to disaster. As feared, it is indeed turning out to be an unscientific road construction project with catastrophic consequences for the mountain ecology. There are important environmental caveats to be respected before engaging in a mammoth engineering project in the Himalayas. The authorities, in their enthusiasm for “smoother” and “faster” “all-weather” connectivity for pilgrim tourists from the plains and the armed forces, ignored the government’s own recommended best practice norms to minimise the impact on the mountain ecosystems and landscapes. These engineering interventions are being done with scant regard to the local geology and environment. The construction of highways and railway tracks has now become a prime cause of landslides, whose occurrences have doubled over the years. RS: Many tunnels are being built as part of a rail project that will criss-cross the Himalayas. Half the work on the Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail project is complete. Tunnels will account for 70% of this project. What kind of environmental impact does this imply? CPR: Out of the 125 km track, the train will travel 105 km through tunnels. The longest tunnel will be 14 km long, from Devprayag to Janasu. Unlike many mountain chains in the world, the Himalayas are the youngest and most active in terms of tectonics. There is a belief that building tunnels may decrease the infrastructural impact on the environment. In fact, these subsurface structures could result in gross damage to the environment, including the concentration of pollutants from traffic exhausts compounded by a micro-environment with no sunlight and limited dispersion in long-distance tunnels. Rail traffic may rely on electric locomotion, but constantly generated vibrations during train movements is another issue related to tunnels that will keep the mountain slopes eternally unstable and thus make them vulnerable to slide at the slightest trigger. Blasting to make these tunnels would often lead to weakening rock formations, further leading to landslides, besides generating huge quantities of excavated rock waste. The irreversible impact on groundwater, such as descending water levels, has also been observed in tunnel construction areas. RS: And the world’s longest 30-km road tunnel is also being constructed between Dehradun and Tehri despite scientists warning on the increase in landslides from large-scale construction works. CPR: Landslides do not occur in isolation. Depending on the nature of rocks, their competency, and the blasting methods employed, road and dam constructions act as contributing triggering mechanisms. The geology of the rocks and the nature of fissility within them (their tendency to split along planes of weakness) are important criteria to be considered. Many times, a slip occurs along such fractures. Increased anthropogenic activities like road construction have made hill slopes extremely unstable. That is why recurring landslides have increased in numbers in the Himalayas, to which heavy downpours and cloud bursts due to climatic changes have also contributed. Excavating a tunnel induces stress changes, and consequent deformation within rock formations could also contribute to landslide vulnerability. RS: Homes have developed cracks in villages around flattened mountain slopes and where massive excavation work is being done to construct tunnels. The list of peoples’ complainants is growing. What does this indicate? CPR: Residents constantly complain about damage to their homes and the drying up of water sources. Such massive construction procedures will impact villagers and the livelihood of people there. Blasting during construction has resulted in cracks in houses and other buildings. Equally alarming is vanishing spring water and other community water sources. For instance, a People’s Science Institute report says, “Their natural water sources, gharats, irrigation canals have all dried up, so much so that the village does not even have enough water to immerse cremated remains. Adding to their woes, cracks have started appearing on the walls of homes and other buildings...” Erratic rainfall and ecological degradation associated with land use change for infrastructure development are already impacting mountain aquifer systems. In August 2018, a NITI Aayog report spoke of “increasing evidence that springs are drying up or their discharge is reducing throughout the Indian Himalayan Ranges and, indeed, throughout the entire Hindu Kush Himalayan region”. Groundwater use in the Himalayan states differs from that in the plains, as large and contiguous aquifers do not exist in the hills. Villagers tap into small pockets, called perched aquifers, where water percolates into the soil, depending on the orientation of the rocks. Sometimes, these small aquifers overflow as springs, but there is enough evidence to show these are drying up. Tunnelling may cause impediments to groundwater if it heads in a direction perpendicular to the tunnel axis. It can adversely affect the structures and can also influence the local ecosystem by hampering vegetation. Despite claims of a successful tourism policy, the social conscience confronts many issues concerning the mountain population. Most of the local population continues to live in abject poverty, and the innumerable dams across the Himalayan rivers provide no relief to the people—read women—who must trudge miles looking for water from natural springs, which are also drying up fast. RS: In strategically important Joshimath town, not only have many houses developed cracks, the town itself is sinking. Residents recently met the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Secretary and told him they believed the Tapovan Vishnugad hydroelectric project tunnel and a bypass—part of the rail project—are responsible for their crisis. Is that right? CPR: The residents allege that cracks have been developing in their houses since last year, but they did not get a proper response from the district administration. The geoscientists who visited Joshimath have recorded that several areas in that town in the Chamoli district, located at an altitude of 6,150 feet, are sinking rapidly due to human-induced causes. An expert team constituted by the Uttarakhand Disaster Management Authority certified in its 2022 report that “Joshimath town located on the thick cover of landslide material has been witnessing gradual sinking for a long time… Further uphill from the Joshimath-Auli Road, cavities and ground fissures were found.” The Tapovan Vishnugad hydro project tunnel that passes just below Joshimath could be a contributing factor, among others. During the tunnel construction, it was reported that the boring machine had perforated a water-bearing stratum on the left bank of the Alaknanda River near Shelong village. RS: In June 2022, the Chamoli district magistrate ordered the construction of a one-and-a-half-kilometre wall along the Alaknanda river to stop soil erosion. Will this help, or is it a cosmetic solution? CPR: While implementing a freeway project in the Himalayas, a major question that stares you down is whether the mountain morphology with steep slopes and sharp gradients is easily amenable to human engineering. All these “hard approaches”, like building a retaining wall, will not work in such a dynamic environment in the long term. Upslope erosion or the river scouring during the flood seasons will eventually degrade such walls. The bank stabilisation must be done primarily by planting the appropriate species of trees. The rivers need their space to flow, and we must respect their relationship with their floodplains. RS: With 100 dams under construction in Uttarakhand, scientists have warned of disturbances to the isostatic equilibrium, thereby increasing the possibility of earthquakes in the mountains. CPR: It is reported from many sites that the gravitational load created by the large reservoir disturbs the isostatic equilibrium of the earth’s crust. The crust converts the received potential energy of hydrostatic pressure into the kinetic energy of vertical displacement that lasts for many decades, which are generally reservoir-generated earthquakes. The entire central Himalayas are currently locked, and the accumulated stresses due to Indian plate collisions are waiting to be released in earthquakes. RS: Apart from Joshimath, Bhatwari and Uttarkashi are also sinking. Why would this be happening? CPR: What we see in Joshimath and towns like Uttarkashi is a warning of what is in store for us in future. Experts believe the resilience of the Himalayan ecosystem is likely to overshoot. It is thanks to the unprecedented combination of climate change and its consequences, like flooding, droughts and wildfires, alongside other global change drivers (such as changes in land use, pollution, fragmentation of natural systems and over-exploitation of resources). The melting of Himalayan glaciers is also likely to impact local rivers, either in the form of massive seasonal flooding or forcing them to dry up. We must remember that the Himalayan environment is on the brink of collapse. It may not be able to withstand another push generated by intrusive anthropogenic activities in the form of massive construction projects like highways, railway tracks and dams. Nor are there any serious attempts for compensatory afforestation. RS: Why does the government not pay attention to scientific objections and conduct technically sound environmental impact assessments led by independent experts? CPR: I fail to understand why the concerns expressed by many experts have been ignored. Economic interests play a major role. This is clear from the fact that there is a mad rush to award hydroelectric projects to private companies. Why? Infrastructural development is one thing, but we also need to understand the fragility of the landscape we are interfering with. A realistic development strategy should be based on a blueprint that strikes a balance between infrastructure development, acceptable levels of risk, and the carrying capacity of the terrain. The average daily footfall last year in these areas was around 58,000. Ground reports say plastic waste has been dumped in large or small pits, and the cleaning operations resort to open burning, which is highly hazardous. The Char Dham routes also witnessed a growing mound of garbage since the beginning of the pilgrimage season. Unregulated human activity during pilgrimages is most likely to impact water and air quality in these regions. Imagine the millions of travellers visiting the hills as part of the Char Dham pilgrimage circuit using the upcoming rail and road travel facilities and how this will pollute the mountain environment. Many hydroelectric projects need to be reviewed from the perspective of their long-term adverse impact. The 2013 Kedarnath flood was a wake-up call. The intensity of this disaster was directly proportional to the unregulated rise in tourism that led to a construction boom in unsafe zones such as the river valleys, floodplains and slopes vulnerable to landslides, which violated land use laws. Any human-induced change beyond the carrying capacity of the Himalayas will impact stream run-offs and erosional and depositional processes. Considering such vulnerabilities, we need to keep the scale of human-induced disturbances to the minimum possible level. In its current form, the Char Dham project goes against all environmental safeguards. RS: These projects cost lakhs of crores of rupees. Could these funds have been better utilised? CPR: Many scholars like Sunita Narain have suggested how we should go about funding a development strategy for the Himalayas that does not come at the cost of the environment. This strategy should be based on the region’s natural resources like forests, water, biodiversity and ecotourism. Rather than building massive dams, our focus should be on small projects that would help provide a local energy supply. Agriculture in the Himalayan ranges is closely linked to animal husbandry and natural forests. Most farmers have now abandoned traditional practices and local seed varieties and wait for the State or private sector to supply them with the necessary inputs. Reportedly, due to massive migrations from villages to the plains, less than 20% of agricultural land in the Himalayan districts of Uttarakhand is being farmed. The remaining 80% has become fallow land. It is one area that needs a massive influx of funds. An appropriate development strategy should also be able to use traditional knowledge of agriculture, construction practices, and local cultural aspects.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Luồng gió 'thần kỳ' bỏ rơi thành phố đông dân nhất Ấn Độ

Ngay cả khi không đặt chân ra ngoài phòng khám của mình ở Mumbai, từ hơi thở khó nhọc của bệnh nhân, bác sĩ tư vấn về hô hấp Lancelot Pinto cũng biết rằng có điều gì đó không ổn đối với không khí của thành phố này, theo Financial Times. Theo chia sẻ của ông, một tỷ lệ lớn bệnh nhân trong những tháng qua đã gặp phải các triệu chứng hô hấp. Một số người phàn nàn về các triệu chứng “tức ngực, ho, thở khò khè khi ở ngoài trời”. Bác sĩ Pinto lý giải rằng không khí đột nhiên trở nên tồi tệ ở Mumbai có khả năng gây ra điều này hơn là nhiễm trùng. Thủ đô New Delhi của Ấn Độ thu hút sự chú ý của toàn thế giới vì bầu không khí ngột ngạt. Tại thành phố này, nông dân đốt gốc rạ ở các tỉnh lân cận vào mùa đông, từ đó tạo ra những đám mây khói ở phía trong thành phố. Tuy nhiên, trong vài tuần của tháng 11-12/2022, Mumbai, một trung tâm ven biển thường ít hứng chịu khói bụi như vậy, lại nhiều lần ghi nhận mức độ ô nhiễm không khí tồi tệ hơn New Delhi. Ô nhiễm không khí nghiêm trọng Theo chỉ số giám sát chất lượng không khí AQI, Mumbai là đô thị có chất lượng không khí kém thứ ba của Ấn Độ trong bốn tuần tính đến ngày 19/12/2022, sau New Delhi và Kolkata. Theo một báo cáo của Ngân hàng Thế giới, “Nam Á đang phải hứng chịu tình trạng ô nhiễm không khí nghiêm trọng". Tổ chức này cho biết gần 60% dân số trong khu vực hít thở không khí có nồng độ bụi nhỏ hoặc muội than cao gấp 7 lần so với khuyến cáo của WHO. Họ ước tính ô nhiễm không khí ở Nam Á gây ra cái chết sớm của 2 triệu người mỗi năm. Ajay Sharma, người sáng lập công ty tư vấn Abhinav Immigration, cho rằng ô nhiễm không khí thậm chí còn là một nhân tố quan trọng thúc đẩy giới nhà giàu Ấn Độ rời khỏi đất nước. “Của cải của chúng ta có ích gì khi chúng ta mất nhiều năm tuổi thọ khi sống ở Delhi?”, họ cho biết. Tuy nhiên, cư dân Mumbai, nơi có khu ổ chuột lớn nhất Ấn Độ, thường không cần lo lắng tới điều đó. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, Giám đốc nghiên cứu và vận động chính sách tại Trung tâm Khoa học và Môi trường, giải thích: "Nhiều người nhận định rằng Mumbai nằm trên bờ biển nên có gió biển thổi đến và cuốn bay mọi ô nhiễm. Điều đó tạo ra cảm giác thỏa mãn - nhiều người bắt đầu nghĩ rằng chỉ có miền Bắc Ấn Độ mới gặp vấn đề và họ vẫn an toàn”. “Bằng cách nào đó, chúng ta phải phá vỡ suy nghĩ hoang đường đó”, bà nói thêm. Theo bà, “khoa học sức khỏe đang chỉ ra rất rõ ràng” rằng nhiều người đổ bệnh và chết ở mức độ ô nhiễm được thấy ở các thành phố như Mumbai, Chennai và Bangalore ở các bang miền Tây và miền Nam Ấn Độ. Khi người dân Mumbai hầu như không thể nhìn thấy từ đầu này đến đầu kia của cây cầu Sea Link dài 5,6 km mang tính biểu tượng, nguyên nhân của bụi mù vẫn chưa rõ ràng. Các nhà khí tượng học theo dõi vấn đề này bao gồm tiến sĩ Gufran Beig, người sáng lập và giám đốc dự án của hệ thống dự báo chất lượng không khí tại Ấn Độ (Safar). Dữ liệu giám sát không khí của ông minh họa mức độ nghiêm trọng của tình trạng ô nhiễm tăng đột biến: Từ ngày 5/11-12/12/2022, chỉ số chất lượng không khí của Mumbai ghi nhận chỉ số “kém” trong 20 ngày, so với 6 ngày trong cùng kỳ năm 2021. Trong khi đó, bốn ngày có chỉ số không khí rất kém, trong khi năm trước đó không có ngày nào như vậy. Hệ thống tự làm sạch không khí "bị hỏng" Ông Beige cho biết vào mùa đông năm nay, “tốc độ gió trên bề mặt chậm hơn nhiều so với mức trung bình trong 10 năm qua”. Gió cũng không đổi hướng và mang theo không khí biển vài ngày một lần như điều thường xảy ra, hệ thống tự làm sạch không khí đã bị hỏng. “Luồng gió cần thiết từ đại dương vào đất liền chỉ được kích hoạt vào tuần trước”, ông giải thích vào thời điểm trước Giáng sinh. Không có một làn gió nào để cuốn đi lượng khí thải cao - từ xe cộ, đốt rác thải, công nghiệp, bụi xây dựng... Chúng bị mắc kẹt trong một làn khói mù mịt cay mắt. Ông Beig cho biết sự lưu thông bất thường này là một phần của sự biến đổi rộng lớn hơn trong các kiểu gió do hiệu ứng thời tiết La Nina kéo dài ở Ấn Độ. Và điều đó có liên quan đến biến đổi khí hậu. Một số dự án cơ sở hạ tầng và khí thải từ các nhà máy lọc dầu gần đó là những lý do khả dĩ, một quan chức chính phủ giấu tên cho biết. "Tình hình sẽ trở nên tồi tệ hơn ở Mumbai vì không có hạn chế nào đối với hoạt động xây dựng. Các con đường đều bị đào bới do tàu điện ngầm và phương tiện giao thông ngày càng đông, dẫn đến ô nhiễm trầm trọng hơn”, nhà môi trường học Debi Goenka cho biết, Reuters đưa tin. Mumbai đã cập nhật kế hoạch làm sạch không khí vào năm 2019. Tuy nhiên, điều đó là chưa đủ. Giới chuyên gia nhận định các quan chức phải thực hiện nó, trước khi gió đổi chiều. Bên cạnh đó, các chuyên gia đã cảnh báo rằng Mumbai có thể sẽ phải trải qua số ngày có chất lượng không khí ở mức “kém” và “rất kém” tăng trong mùa đông của những năm tới, theo Hindu. Anjal Prakash, Giám đốc nghiên cứu của Trường Kinh doanh Ấn Độ, nói: “Chất lượng không khí của Mumbai đã giảm xuống mức không lành mạnh. Điều này rất đáng lo ngại đối với sức khỏe của người dân”.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Mumbai’s self-cleaning air system breaks down

Without sea breezes sweeping away the high emissions, the metropolis became trapped in an eye-stinging haze Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/85f44f38-5947-4e5d-99de-6850959614ff Even if he hadn’t set foot outside his clinic in Mumbai, consultant respirologist Dr Lancelot Pinto would have known from his patients’ laboured breathing that something was wrong with the city’s air. “A significant proportion of patients over the past month have had respiratory symptoms that were of an irritant or allergic nature,” says Pinto. Some had complained “of chest tightness, cough, wheezing when outdoors”. Infection was less likely to have triggered this, Pinto reasons, than Mumbai’s suddenly bad air. India’s capital New Delhi captures global attention for the toxic air that engulfs its unfortunate inhabitants every winter: farmers burn stubble in nearby provinces and smoke clouds the inland city. But for a few weeks in November and December, the coastal commercial centre of Mumbai, usually spared such smog, recorded worse air pollution levels than New Delhi several times. According to air quality monitor AQI, Mumbai was India’s third worst-performing metropolis over the four weeks to December 19, behind New Delhi and Kolkata in the east. “South Asia suffers from extreme air pollution,” according to a World Bank report this month. It says nearly 60 per cent of the region’s population breathes in air whose concentration of tiny dust or soot particles is seven times over WHO guidelines. It estimates air pollution in South Asia causes the premature death of 2mn people a year. Air pollution is even a significant motivation for rich Indians to leave the country, thinks Ajay Sharma, founder of the consultancy Abhinav Immigration. They say: “What use is our wealth when we lose years of our life living in Delhi?” But denizens of Mumbai, home to India’s biggest slum, Bollywood stars and India’s second-richest man Mukesh Ambani, do not usually need to worry. “It is seen as, oh Mumbai is on the coast so there’s a sea breeze coming and blowing all the pollution away,” explains Anumita Roy Chowdhury, research and advocacy director at the Centre for Science and Environment. “It breeds a sense of complacency — people begin to think that it is only northern India which has the problem, and they are safe.” “Somehow we have to break that myth,” she adds. She says “the health science is showing very clearly” that people fall ill and die at pollution levels seen in cities such as Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore in India’s western and southern states. As Mumbaikars could barely see from one end to the other of the iconic 5.6km Sea Link bridge, the cause of the haze was just as unclear. Meteorologists watching included Dr Gufran Beig, founder and project director of India’s air quality forecasting system known as Safar. His air- monitoring data illustrated the severity of the pollution spike: between November 5 and December 12, Mumbai’s air quality index recorded a “poor” reading for 20 days, compared with six days in the same period in 2021. Four days were “very poor”, against zero last year. Beig says this winter, “surface wind speeds were relatively much slower than the last 10 years average”. Nor were winds changing direction and bringing sea air every few days as they usually do; the self-cleaning system had broken down. “The much-needed wind from ocean to land was only triggered last week,” he explained before Christmas. Without a breeze to sweep them away, the high emissions — from vehicles, waste burning, industry, construction dust — became trapped in an eye-stinging haze. This unusual circulation is part of a broader derangement in wind patterns due to a prolonged La Nina weather effect over India, which is linked to climate change, says Beig. India now has the G20 presidency, and on December 14, delegates of the body’s development working group landed in a Mumbai primped for their arrival — fresh paint on the walls, curtains and banners obscuring slums on their route, a lavish dance and music show laid on close to the Gateway of India monument. Miraculously, it was the clearest day in weeks. Mumbai updated its clean air plan in 2019. But that’s not enough. Experts say officials must now implement it, before the wind changes.

• Renewable Energy

Did India really achieve its goal of 175 gigawatt of renewable energy by 2022?

Minister of New and Renewable Energy RK Singh has informed Parliament that 95% of India’s clean energy target set in 2015 has been achieved. India is short of its installed renewable energy target for 2022 by 32%, as per latest data from the Central Electricity Authority. India’s renewable energy capacity (excluding large hydro power) has increased by about 66% since 2018. In fact, its non-fossil fuels’ installed capacity has been growing faster than fossil fuel capacity for at least five years, IndiaSpend reported in November. Even then, India has fallen short of its renewable energy targets. The target, set in 2015, was 175 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity to be set up in the country by the year 2022. This included 100 gigawatt from solar power, 60 gigawatt from wind power, 10 gigawatt from bio-power and 5 gigawatt from small hydro power. India has achieved 119 gigawatt. Out of this, 62% of the solar power target (62 gigawatt of proposed 100 gigawatt), 70% of the wind power target (42 gigawatt of 60 gigawatt), 107% of the bio-power target (10.7 of 10 gigawatt) and 98% of the small hydro power sector target (4.9 of 5 gigawatt), had been achieved by November 30. In January 2017, IndiaSpend had reported about the hurdles that India faces in meeting its renewable energy goals, such as inadequate funding for clean energy, problems with grid balancing and in land acquisition for renewable energy projects. Some of these challenge areas exist even now – such as integration of renewable energy with the power grid, buyers’ constrained capability to purchase renewable energy, and raising the necessary finance for renewable energy projects, especially in emerging economies such as ours, said Disha Agarwal, senior programme lead, at the New Delhi-based think tank, Council for Energy Environment and Water. Apart from these, there are a few more reasons for India lagging behind its renewable energy targets. “Part of this could be attributed to external factors like Covid-induced supply chain disruptions. Lack of coordination between national targets and state level enforcement is another factor,” Ashwini Swain, a fellow at New Delhi-based research organisation, the Centre for Policy Research, told FactChecker. We have reached out to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to ask if any of the renewable energy projects currently under implementation will be completed by the end of 2022. We are yet to receive a response by the time of publishing this story, and we shall update the story when we receive one. Large hydropower added to renewable energy target The initial renewable energy goal did not include large hydro power projects (projects with a capacity of more than 25 megawatts). But, in 2019, India changed its definition of renewable sources of energy, bringing large hydro into its ambit. The rationale was that hydropower can help bring stability to the electricity grid versus renewable sources like wind and solar that are intermittent. Large hydropower projects are mostly located in the Himalayas and the North-East region, and will enable socio-economic development of the region by providing direct employment in the power sector, the government had said at the time. In a recent response, Minister of New and Renewable Energy RK Singh also took into account large hydro projects in the calculation of installed renewable energy capacity, despite its omission from the original target, and informed Parliament that 165.94 gigawatt, or 95% of the 175 gigawatt renewable target has been achieved. In addition, “76.13 gigawatt is under various stages of implementation and a capacity of 36.44 GW is under various stages of bidding”, the minister informed Parliament. On the other hand, a Rajya Sabha response from the ministry earlier this year excluded large hydro power in measuring progress towards the 2022 target. But can large hydro power be considered a green source of energy? In a Lok Sabha reply in March 2021, the Minister of New and Renewable Energy RK Singh claimed that one of the measures taken by the government to transition to clean energy was to classify hydropower dams as renewable energy sources. But, experts that FactChecker reached out to suggested that large hydro projects often come with adverse ecological impacts. “Large hydro plants or mega-dams divert and reduce natural flows, restricting access for animal and human populations that depend on rivers. Generally, small hydroelectric plants (with an installed capacity below 25 megawatts), carefully managed, do not cause as much environmental damage, since they divert a relatively small amount of water,” said Binit Das, deputy programme manager for renewable energy at the New Delhi-based environment think tank, Centre for Science and Environment. He also pointed out that mega-dams cause ‘reservoir emissions’ – plant material that was present before flooding begins to decay as the water sits still in the reservoir, releasing methane into the atmosphere as it decays. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide (CO2) and has a warming potential that is 28-34 times higher than CO2 over a 100-year period. Agarwal from Council for Energy Environment and Water told FactChecker that even though large hydropower has served as a crucial power-grid balancer in recent years, hydropower projects still face the risks of natural disasters, many of which are increasingly climate-induced. IndiaSpend has previously reported on why large hydro plants are drivers of climate change and socio-economic adversity.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Delhi saw fewer ‘severe’ air hours in 2022 than 2021: CAQM data

The commission said that between 2018 and 2022, Delhi recorded its lowest monthly average Air Quality Index (AQI) in three months (January, February and December), and the second-lowest in three other months (July, October, November), indicating considerable progress on the ground The number of hours in which Delhi’s air quality was “severe” in 2022 reduced to 204 from 628 in 2021, while the number of hours when air quality was in the “good” category increased from 927 in 2021 to 1,096 in 2022, data shared by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Monday showed. A CAQM statement added that concerted and persistent efforts by all stakeholders in the past year had made a difference in Delhi’s air quality, an opinion seconded by experts who added that a combination of favourable meteorological conditions played a part in Delhi breathing relatively cleaner air last year. The commission said that between 2018 and 2022, Delhi recorded its lowest monthly average Air Quality Index (AQI) in three months (January, February and December), and the second-lowest in three other months (July, October, November), indicating considerable progress on the ground. An AQI reading between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”. According to CAQM data, Delhi recorded an average AQI reading of 209 in 2022, the same as in 2021, while it was lower in 2020 – primarily due to the pandemic-induced months-long lockdown-- when the AQI reading was 185. The AQI was launched by the CPCB in 2015 and since then, this is Delhi’s second-lowest yearly average AQI reading, CAQM said. “The average daily AQI reading for Delhi in 2022 is the best since 2015, barring 2020 which saw an exceptional AQI owing to the lockdown and fewer anthropogenic activities round the year. While there were restrictions for a considerable duration during 2021, leading to low levels of industrial, vehicular and other anthropogenic activities, the daily average AQI in 2022, with no such restrictions and all anthropogenic activities returning to normal in a much higher proportion, still maintained the levels of 2021,” CAQM said on Monday. In January 2022, Delhi recorded its lowest average monthly AQI reading at 279. The lowest AQI reading for February ever recorded is 225 in 2022. CAQM said an unexceptionally dry summer raised the pollution levels after that, resulting in slightly higher AQI readings than normal. “Exceptionally prolonged dry spells during April, May and June in 2022, coupled with transportation of fine dust and particulate matter not only from the adjoining areas but also transboundary, resulted in poor AQI for these months, which otherwise was comparatively better for all other months during 2022 vis-à-vis previous years,” it said. Delhi recorded its second-lowest average AQI reading for July (87) in 2022 (it was 84 in 2020), which was second lowest in October and November too. In October, the average AQI reading was 210, behind 2021’s average of 173. In November, the average AQI reading was 320, behind 2019’s November, when it was 312. December, meanwhile, was at its cleanest, with an average AQI reading of 319. The improvement was also reflected in Delhi’s annual average PM2.5 and PM10 levels, which were second-lowest in five years--after 2020. The average PM2.5 level for Delhi was recorded at 98 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³), behind 2020’s average of 95µg/m³. It was 105µg/m³ in 2021. Delhi recorded an average annual PM10 concentration of 211µg/m³ in 2022, 213µg/m³ in 2021 and 181µg/m³ in 2020. “With persistent field-level efforts and targeted policy initiatives for quantified results in the short, medium and long term, it is expected that the air quality scenario in Delhi will see further gradual but marked improvement, year on year,” CAQM added. According to experts, a combination of favourable meteorological conditions, which includes a clean winter so far, and action on the ground brought about relatively clean air. “We saw an early Diwali in 2022 and the number of farm fires and their contribution to Delhi was much lower, which has helped control smog episodes. This winter is also the first time a pre-emptive Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) is in place, which helped agencies take action in advance,” Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, adding dthat espite an improvement, the PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentration was 2-3 times the national safe limit, indicating more action is required.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

India’s initiative towards sustainable environment

As part of Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), the Indian Government unveiled a list of 75 lifestyle practices that can promote climate-friendly behaviour. These actions are listed under 7 categories namely energy saving, water saving, reduced use of single-use plastic, sustainable food systems, waste reduction (swachhata actions), adopting healthy lifestyle and e-waste handling. For reducing plastic use, 11 actions were highlighted in which one was use of recycled plastic over virgin plastic wherever possible. This also leaves room for a special kind of plastic called Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) which will need to be seen from a new prism of a green economy. PET plastic packaging can be made not only from its virgin grade but also from recycled PET (rPET) as it is upto 100% recyclable. It not only recaptures the energy, but also translates into numerous life cycles for PET plastic bottles. Currently, all over the world, everyone is focusing on circular economy, and so is India. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has played a pivotal role in promoting circular economy across all key sectors by actively formulating policies and promoting projects to drive the country towards a circular economy. Circular economy is cyclic in nature, directing the economy towards reuse, as opposed to waste at the end of a product’s lifecycle. According to the Chemicals and Petrochemicals Manufacturers Association of India, bottle production from PET accounts for 30% of the global demand. The PET packaging and recycling ecosystem in terms of GDP value is an astounding Rs 7.5 lakh crores and the industry is also one of the largest employment generators in the country, with an employment footprint exceeding 70 lakhs. It is no wonder then that over 50% of rag picker’s earnings come from collecting used PET products. Indian PET recycling industry is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years, as rPET will also be used in direct food contact applications soon, as it is free from Bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates as well as any other endocrine-disrupting chemicals. In a recently launched report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), it was stated that almost 97% of the collected PET bottles are channelized for making fabric and all the bottles converted to fabric are then claimed to have been recycled as per the existing policies in the country. Many brands have recently taken charge of recycling pet bottles into garments, which is one method of reducing waste generation. Interestingly, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bisleri recycle millions of discarded mineral water, cold drinks and other PET bottles to make eco-friendly uniforms for their staff, with the help of advanced technologies. The Indian PET recycling industry’s turnover will be more than Rs. 13,500 Crores ($1700 million) in the next 4-5 years. PET is slowly and surely becoming the first material of choice in rigid packages, due to its ease of recyclability and its current established recycling systems in India Another focus which needs to be highlighted is the ban on Single-Use Plastics (SUPs) by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). PET bottles are not banned but are often clubbed with other non-recyclable plastics undermining its unique properties. Small PET bottles (under 1 Litre) fall under threat of ban because of misinformation and faulty linkage with the SUP ban. However, industry associations like PET Packaging Association for Clean Environment (PACE India) are conducting various initiatives and campaigns to dispel myths and advocate reuse and recyclability around PET plastics. Today in India, more than 1000 Reverse Vending Machines (RVM) have been installed to encourage the public on the need for recycling and create awareness in the minds of decision-makers about the vast infrastructure existing for PET recycling in India. Recently Coca-Cola India has partnered with 10-Min grocery delivery service, Zepto, for a unique ‘return and recycle’ initiative for PET bottles. This joint initiative seeks to establish an organized process of collection of PET bottles with 100% traceability, to ensure effective plastic waste management. PET plastic bottles are a popular choice for packaging due to the numerous benefits they provide both to manufacturers and consumers. However, there are myths related to them that are not accurate. For e.g., ‘Plastic bottle left in a car will leach carcinogens into the soft drink it contains’ but there are no carcinogens present in PET plastic. There is also a surprising myth that PET plastics can cause cancer whereas this is yet again factually incorrect. PET products are free from phthalates (i.e., phthalate ester plasticizers) and have no harmful consequences on human body. A WHO report mentions that PET does not produce any cancer or endocrine-disrupting chemicals and it can be safely recycled. Another common myth is also circulated that glass or aluminum bottles are better than PET bottles. In a comparison of the environmental footprints of bottles, PET often performs better than glass or aluminium bottles as less carbon is emitted during the production of PET bottles than the production of glass bottles. Also, PET bottles are strong, light and shatterproof unlike glass or aluminium bottles. PET plastics have a low carbon footprint which contributes to India’s goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2070. A combination of renewable energy use and the inclusion of PET/rPET can enable India to meet carbon neutrality commitments in line with the larger vision of a circular economy. We all need to ensure that recycling rates continue to grow and the industry urges people to recycle plastic waste including plastic bottles and not discard them as litter.