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India-US partnership to ensure renewable energy target is achieved by 2030

In its Biennial Update Report to the UNFCCC submitted in February, India said it has progressively continued decoupling of economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions The US and India are likely to collaborate on a clean technology agenda for 2030 to ensure India meets its target of 450GW renewable energy capacity. Soon after US special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the PM announced on Wednesday that the two countries can collaborate on a 2030 agenda to facilitate affordable access to green technologies and requisite finance. Kerry also tweeted: “Thank you, @narendramodi, for the productive discussion. India has an ambitious 2030 climate agenda, having set a target of 450GW of renewable energy. Looking for shared solutions to drive progress faster.” On Tuesday, Kerry said in his address to the South Asia Women in Energy (SAWIE) Leadership Summit that it is already cheaper to build solar in India than anywhere else in the world. “That kind of urgency is exactly what we need to confront global climate change. We are in the decisive decade for action,” he said, adding that he sees India becoming the cleantech hub of Asia. Under the Paris Agreement, India has three quantifiable nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which include lowering the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35% compared to 2005 levels by 2030; increase total cumulative electricity generation from fossil free energy sources to 40% by 2030; create additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons through additional forest and tree cover. In its Biennial Update Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) submitted in February, India said it has progressively continued decoupling of economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions. India’s emission intensity of gross domestic product (GDP) has reduced by 24% between 2005 and 2016. India is therefore on track to meet its voluntary declaration to reduce the emission intensity of GDP by 20-25% from 2005 levels by 2020. It is implementing one of the largest renewable energy expansion programmes globally with a target of achieving 175GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 and later up to 450GW. Installed capacity of solar energy in India has increased by more than 14 times from 2.63GW in March 2014 to 36.91GW in November 2020. The new partnership with US on clean technology and finance is likely to accelerate the achievement of these targets so that India can enhance its ambition and NDCs in future, sources said. The details of the 2030 deal are yet to be spelt out. There has been a lot of speculation among officials and former diplomats that US may be nudging India to also announce a net zero emissions target by 2050. Senior environment ministry officials said one of the key objectives of Kerry’s visit is to get India to join the countries that have announced a target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. In September 2020, China announced that it will peak its GHG emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. The White House announced on January 27 that President Joe Biden will take steps to put the United States (US) on an “irreversible path” to a net zero economy by 2050. Consequently, Biden has also called for a summit of major emitting nations on April 22 in order to persuade them to commit to ambitious mitigation targets. Independent experts have cautioned that India should do a careful balancing act when it comes to a net zero emissions target, keeping in sight India’s domestic circumstances. “A net zero target has no flesh to it. It is not real. It is an aspirational target. Firstly, developed countries considering their historical emissions, should have taken on advanced deadlines. Secondly, even if 2050 is the deadline for them to achieve net zero emissions, there are no pathways to it. The US will definitely miss the 2030 targets under the Paris Agreement. Net zero emissions target is a way to kick the ball in the future. India should demand credible action now. China has announced a net zero target for 2060 and is continuing to build coal power plants,” said Sunita Narain, director general at Centre for Science and Environment. “There is a lot of pressure on India to phase out coal. India had also planned to retire old thermal power plants but with a recent notification from the environment ministry that has gone for a six. India has not just extended the time period for thermal power plants to comply with emission norms but it has made it easy for thermal power plants to keep polluting. The cost of non-compliance as per the new notification is minuscule compared to cost of compliance,” added Narain. The environment ministry had issued a notification on March 31 with staggered timelines for thermal power plants to comply with emission norms. It also specified the environmental compensation to be paid by plants that don’t comply.

Env ministry’s new deadlines for thermal plants will give them license to pollute indefinitely: CSE

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Wednesday said the environment ministry''s decision to "extend" deadlines for thermal power plants (TPPs) to comply with new emission norms “will give them a license to pollute indefinitely”. Norms to limit pollutants from TPPs were announced in 2015 and were expected to be adopted by 2017. But the industry managed to delay implementation to 2022, it said. “It is 2021 now: with just a few months to go before the deadline, a mere one-third of the plants have taken any serious steps to comply with the norms,” the green think tank said in a statement. On April 1, the ministry had issued a notification allowing TPPs within 10 km of the national capital region and in cities with more than 10 lakh population to comply with new emission norms by the end of 2022, according to an official notification. TPP units in "non-attainment cities" and those within 10 km of critically-polluted areas are required to meet the emission norms by December 31, 2023. Coal-fired power plants in the rest of the areas have to comply with the new standards by December 31, 2024, according to the notification. “The ministry has chosen to extend the deadline further, allowing a majority of the plants to pollute for another three to four years. What makes this a fatally flawed notification is that the deterrence provided in it for non-compliance actually gives the polluters a license to pollute,” said Sunita Narain, the director general of CSE. It said that six TPPs that were adding to Delhi''s air pollution issues are likely to be given a much extended 2024/2025 deadline based on the new categorisation. A majority of these plants are in Punjab. Earlier, they had to comply with the 2019 deadline. “The new notification undermines all efforts to ''clean'' up dirty coal power plants. It is clear that thermal power sector is a major contributor to India''s pollution challenge – from air to water – and this notification nullifies all the work that was being done to improve performance of the sector,” said Nivit Kumar Yadav, programme director, Industrial Pollution Unit, CSE. The environment ministry had revised emission norms for particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen for TPPs in December 2015, requiring them to install emission control systems by December 2017. The deadline was pushed to December 2022 for all the power stations in the country in view of implementation issues and challenges. However, power stations in the national capital region were required to comply with the revised norms by December 2019. The power ministry had last year requested the environment ministry to extend the deadline to meet emission norms for all thermal plants from 2022 to 2024, citing delay due to various reasons, including the coronavirus pandemic and import restrictions. Major pollutants from coal-fired power plants are oxides of nitrogen (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM). According to the CSE, TPPs account for more than 60 per cent of total industrial emissions of particulate matter; 45 per cent of SO2; 30 per cent of NOx; and more than 80 per cent of mercury, in the country. These are also responsible for 70 per cent of the total freshwater withdrawal by all industries, according to an analysis by the think tank. A recent compliance report by the CSE showed that out of the 12 power plants located around Delhi, SO2 control technology was available only in two plants. PTI GVS RHL RHL

On Covid-19 responses and their disastrous consequences

On Covid-19 responses and their disastrous consequences Lockdowns have violated three core tenets of public health policy: prioritising the long term over the short, focussing on the totality of health outcomes and not just on one disease and weighing both the harms and the benefits of medical interventions in the balance of decision-making. Responding to the article by James Allan on 20 March requiring five tests before imposing lockdowns, one reader dismissed lockdown-critical articles in The Spectator Australia as ‘mindless right-wing claptrap unsupported by evidence and common sense’. I can only conclude that income-protected members of the Zoom class who self-identify as socially progressive need to invent a right-wing bogey as a salve to their conscience for the immense harm done by lockdowns to the poorest and most marginalised and vulnerable peoples of the world. Dr Sebastian Rushworth, a practising physician in a Stockholm hospital who is so good that Amazon cancelled his book on Covid, writes in his internationally well-regarded blog: ‘Lockdowns are inherently racist and elitist, with unclear benefits but proven harms’. He reports on a new study from the Karolinska Institute using UN data that as many people have died as a result of lockdowns as of Covid. The latter have died mostly in rich countries and been old, while most of the former were younger people in poor countries who succumbed to malnutrition, lack of vaccination with childhood immunisation programs shut, and treatable diseases like tuberculosis (TB) and HIV. The face of Covid in rich countries is an elderly man with multiple co-morbidities; among the biggest victims of prolonged lockdowns are children in poor countries. On 18 March, the Pew Research Center reported that India’s middle class (earning US $10-20 per day) shrank by 32 million last year compared to pre-pandemic predictions, while the poor (under $2 daily) jumped by 75 million, accounting for 60 per cent of the global retreat on both measures. An April 2020 study from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health warned that, with health services disrupted by the obsession with Covid, infant mortality could go up by 1.2 million by October in poorer countries, and maternal mortality by 56,700. People ‘fear hunger may kill us before coronavirus’. According to a World Food Programme study last April, the number of people suffering from acute hunger would jump from 135 million pre-pandemic to 265 million by the end of 2020. Childhood death rates rose in 2020 for the first time in decades. Therefore the number of total years of life lost to lockdown is significantly greater than that lost to Covid-19. A UNICEF report published in October warned ‘the harmful effects… will not be distributed equally. They are expected to be most damaging for children in the poorest countries, and in the poorest neighbourhoods, and for those in already disadvantaged or vulnerable situations’. The additional deaths of children under five would climb over two million in just 12 months and there would be an extra 200,000 stillbirths. An additional 150 million children could be pushed into ‘multidimensional poverty’ by year’s end, with diminished access to education, health care, housing, nutrition, sanitation and water. School closures affected 1.6 billion children and youth globally, with 463 million without access to remote learning platforms. A follow-up report on South Asia on 17 March noted that against 186,000 people who had died with Covid, the disruption in health services had caused 239,000 maternal and child deaths. In India, which comprises 70 per cent of South Asia’s population, with 149,000 deaths Covid-19 was the 13th deadliest killer last year, with TB, diarrhoea and diabetes accounting for 2 to 4 times as many deaths. The 216,000 suicides killed 50 per cent more Indians than Covid and we can be certain that lockdowns were both a direct and indirect cause of suicides. Lockdowns have forced 500 million children around the world out of school and more than half of them are in India. Pointing this out on the release of a report on 25 February, Sunita Narain, director-general of the Centre for Science and Environment, said more than half the additional 115 million people pushed back into extreme poverty live in South Asia. India, she said, was all set to usher in a 375-million strong ‘pandemic generation’ of children up to age 14 likely to suffer long-lasting impacts like increased child mortality, being underweight and stunted and educational and work-productivity reversals. The New York Times had a long report on 3 August detailing lockdowns’ collateral harms. Dr Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO’s global malaria program, warned that with public health attention monopolised by Covid, disruptions to global supply chains for medicines and medical equipment and interruptions to immunisation programs and screenings, two decades of progress on TB, HIV and malaria was at risk of reversals. TB is the world’s deadliest infectious disease, killing around 1.5 million each year. TB diagnoses in South Africa, Mozambique, Mexico and India (which accounts for 27 per cent of the world’s cases) fell by 50-75 per cent after the pandemic struck. Just three months of lockdowns would increase TB cases by another 6.3 million over ten months and deaths by 1.4 million. Similarly, access to preventative drugs to stop HIV-positive pregnant women from passing the infection to their babies in the womb, if delayed by six months, could increase HIV infection in children by around 150 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. On 1 February, BBC’s India business correspondent Nikhil Inamdar reported: ‘Covid-19 has ravaged the country, shrunk its GDP, sent unemployment soaring and added to the distress of a banking sector that was already in crisis’. Actually, no, Covid-19 doesn’t possess such omnipotent powers. Rather, lockdown measures to combat the disease proved deadlier than the disease itself. Meanwhile on 23 December, Forbes published a list of fifty doctors, scientists and healthcare entrepreneurs who’ve became pandemic billionaires. Covid business has boomed for cabinet cronies in the UK and for consulting firms in Australia. Amazon, Facebook and Google increased their share of US advertising dollars to more than half in 2020. The increased time and money spent on these platforms in turn fattens the consumer data collected by them and increases their market appeal for advertisers. This just might influence their decisions on censoring lockdown-critical commentary. Yet millions of Covidians are brainwashed enough to believe that opposition to all this is ‘right-wing claptrap’. Sigh.

Delhi Has Taken More Air Pollution Control Measures Than Any Other City But There Is Still A Long Way Ahead: CSE Report

According to a new report by the Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi has implemented the most ambitious clean fuel policy that has also outlawed coal but it still needs more than 60 per cent cut in annual PM2.5 concentration to meet the national ambient air quality standards New Delhi: Experts have repeatedly highlighted that air pollution is one of the leading threats to people’s health which can lead to various ailments like respiratory infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, heart diseases among others. IQAir, a Swiss group that measures air quality has recently revealed that India is home to 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities with Delhi being the most polluted capital in the world. In Delhi and the larger National Capital Region (NCR), air pollution levels have consistently remained so high that the region has been at the centre stage of the battle against the rising levels of pollutants. A new report titled ‘Capital Gains-Clean Air Action in Delhi NCR: What next?’ by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi based think tank states that the capital city has done more to curb air pollution than other cities in the country and that has resulted in a reduction of a major pollutant called Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 (particles that are 2.5 microns or less in diameter) by almost a quarter. However, the report highlights that this is far from enough and Delhi still needs to reduce PM 2.5 further by at least 60 per cent. The report said that to reduce air pollution, Delhi has taken steps like closing coal power plants, stopping dirty fuels, scaling up industrial use of natural gas, putting the entire public transport and commercial fleets on compressed natural gas (CNG), banning old vehicles, restricting truck entry, pushing for electric vehicles and skipping a Bharat Stage standard (emission standards instituted by the Government of India to regulate the output of air pollutants from) and adopting BS VI, tightening control on construction, promoting bio-decomposer developed by the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) that dissolves the farm residue into manure, and many other such steps. Ms. Roychowdhury said that Delhi’s clean air action is an unfinished agenda. It still requires deep action to restrain vehicle numbers and usage, scale up integrated public transport, strengthen city-wide waste management, eliminate use of dirty fuels in small and medium scale units and households among others and all the measures will have to be uniformly scaled up across the NCR, she said.

Smoke from fires in Uttarakhand worsens Delhi’s air quality

At 279, Delhi’s air quality was in the “poor” category overall on Tuesday, which according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s Sameer app means “breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure.” The Capital’s air quality index (AQI) has moved from moderate to poor to very poor over the past four days, the result of raging forest fires from Uttarakhand (and to a lesser extent, Himachal Pradesh) and winds blowing in from the northern state that has lost around 200 acres of forest to fires in the past few days. At 279, Delhi’s air quality was in the “poor” category overall on Tuesday, which according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s Sameer app means “breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure.” “Delhi’s air quality is on the poor zone as suddenly the dispersal of pollutants has gone down and pollutant load has increased because of many reasons and forest fires is probably one of them,” said Anumita Roy Choudhary, an air quality expert with Centre for Science and Environment. It isn’t just Delhi, several cities in the northern plains are facing the same problem. For example, Sharanpur in Uttar Pradesh recorded AQI of 331 on Tuesday and Yamunanagar in Haryana AQI of 289. And some areas in the foothills of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh witnessed haze like conditions on Tuesday. A CPCB official, who asked not to be named, said that till the last week of March the wind direction was taking the smoke from forest fires towards the north, thereby not contributing much to the air pollution levels in the plains. According to an Uttarakhand pollution control board official, there has been an increase in pollution levels in even within the state because of the forest fires. “We will be able to provide the data on the increase after few days as raw data was being analysed,” the official said. “There are some forest fires in Uttarakhand, but air quality hasn’t declined in NW India only because of that. Winds are northwesterly here. Air quality is in poor category mainly because of dust and lack of moisture. It will improve later today because a western disturbance is expected to bring rain,” said VK Soni, scientist in IMD’s air quality division.

US wants technical cooperation with FSSAI

In submission to WTO, says India should withdraw, defer order till ‘less burdensome’ alternatives are found The US wants to engage in technical cooperation with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to develop alternatives to the ‘non-GM (genetically modified) origin and GM free certificates’ that have been mandated by India for certain agricultural imports. It has sought withdrawal of the order or a delay in its implementation till “less burdensome’’ alternatives could be discussed. “The US notes that, after numerous requests for India to revoke the order, on January 27, 2021, the US Department of Agriculture proposed technical cooperation to develop alternatives to the non-GM origin and GM-free certificate and we are optimistic that the FSSAI will agree to this opportunity,” the US noted in a recent submission to the WTO Committee on Sanitary & Phytosanitary measures. Washington requested that India withdraw the mandatory certification order, implemented on March 1 2021, and if not, should at least delay it to January 2022 to allow for further technical engagement between the FSSAI and trade partners. This would allow less burdensome alternatives to be developed that could meet the order’s stated food safety goals, it said. In August last year, the FSSAI published an order specifying that every consignment of 24 identified food products, which include pineapples, apples, wheat, rice, tomato, potato, maize, melon, plum, papaya, potato, egg plant, bean, among others, need to be accompanied by a non-GM-origin-cum-GM-free certificate issued by Competent National Authority of the exporting country. The order was to be implemented on January 1, 2021, but was deferred by three months. Check on imports The FSSAI’s action followed a growing demand from several quarters for increased check on imports after studies carried out by research and advocacy body Centre for Science and Environment in 2018 found that about 32 per cent of samples of food items such as edible oils, processed and packaged food and infant food items, produced locally and imported, contained GM ingredients. Of greater concern was the finding that about 46 per cent of imported items were positive. The US argument against the order is that GM or GE (genetically engineered) products are not harmful. It is of the opinion that through reports by the National Academy of Science and the WHO, among others, the international scientific and regulatory community has reached a consensus that GE products available on the international market are as safe as their conventional counterparts. It also pointed out that it was not aware that India had carried out any risk assessments on GE products to show that they were less safe. Referring to FSSAI’s clarification published on February 8, 2021, establishing a 1 per cent tolerance for presence of GE in imported food consignments, the US requested India to provide the scientific justification for establishing the tolerance at this level and provide any relevant risk assessments or international standards on which this tolerance is based.

Pandemic, fund crunch halt Delhi parking policy implementation

Delhi has at least 10 million registered vehicles including 7.9 million two-wheelers and 3.3 million four-wheelers. With 67,50,00 vehicles on an average added to Delhi roads annually, the parking woes continue to grow Haphazardly parked vehicles on roads and often pavements are a common sight in Delhi. Counted among the cities with poor parking facilities globally, Delhi continues to struggle to streamline its parking management despite a policy in place. Almost two years after the government notified the Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Places Rules, 2019, it has been put on the backburner by the three municipal agencies tasked with its implementation. The Covid-19 pandemic, fund crunch, lack of resources, poor enforcement, resistance from market associations have been cited as the reasons for it. Delhi has at least 10 million registered vehicles including 7.9 million two-wheelers and 3.3 million four-wheelers. With 67,50,00 vehicles on an average added to Delhi roads annually, the parking woes continue to grow. As per the policy, civic agencies were to make area-specific Parking Management Area Plans (PMAPs), regulate pricing, identify spaces for overnight parking of commercial vehicles, manage on-street parking and ensure charging facilities for electric vehicles. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) started the implementation of the policy in Lajpat Nagar-III on a pilot basis in January 2020. It prepared a PMAP under which lanes were marked for parking and non-parking purposes. Signage was installed to indicate no parking zones, tow-away zones, one-way lanes, and roundabouts. Vehicles of residents were to be provided green stickers while those of visitors red ones.

Guwahati’s water woes

From a recent study of the Guwahati Jal Board’s official website, what is fathomable is that most of the existing water supply plants have already outlived their intended utilities and, as such, they need their immediate replacement. But the authorities concerned were allegedly hemming and hawing to do so. One single but most crucial issue that immensely influences our day-to-day life is water because it is our life. We need water for life just as food does. We can survive without food at best supposedly for a month, but we cannot survive without water for long. It is also required for many other purposes such as sanitation, irrigation, to mention a few, in our day life. Civilization thrives around a region where water supply is steady and regular. So it is as plain as a pikestaff that water plays a very significant role in our life. But most countries in the world are currently suffering from the acute crisis of safe drinking water. In India too, it is really frustrating that even after the long 75 years of the country’s independence, drinking water still continues to be one of the biggest crises with close to 70% of the country’s citizens, as per a survey, having no access to piped drinking water, though the civic authorities’ could have managed to harness and preserve water from rainfall or make its judicious and frugal use. Some parts of Chennai were faced with acute water shortages way back in 2019 when all the four reservoirs ran dry after the onset of the delayed monsoon. The resultant crisis could have well been surmounted had it been judiciously and meticulously utilized when it was known that there was mounting pressure of an increasing population in Chennai as in other cities. What must have taken one by surprise is how a country which can send Chandrayaan for lunar exploration could have come a cropper in tiding over the brewing water crisis. If the situation is further allowed to drift without seriously attempting to develop ways to address the growing crisis, the problem is only likely to aggravate with a growth of population and indiscriminate extraction of surface water making water tables fall sharply in most cities in the country. Depressingly, what is literally happening is that Indian cities are growing at a faster pace than the civic authorities could provide access to safe water to the people, in water-scarce and water-starved urban zones in particular, a phenomenon that must be looked into. It has been reported that in urban areas, 50 million people in as many as 15 cities have no access to safe, affordable water. Look at Guwahati. Nestling on the edge of the mighty Brahmaputra flowing majestically along its entire stretch, the city, until before the shifting of the State capital to Dispur from Shillong in 1971, had abundance of water resources with innumerable marshy and water bodies almost all around it. But the city started facing acute scarcity of pure drinking water supply since the last two decades or so. A growing population and large-scale exodus to Guwahati from various parts of Assam and the north-eastern region over the past two decades, for higher education, better employment opportunities and relatively improved healthcare facilities, as well as the rapid haphazard growth of the city, have unsurprisingly served only to take a heavy toll on the existing limited civic amenities in the city. Resultantly, shortage of drinking water, water-logging, traffic snarls, flash floods, encroachment of pavements have snowballed into major problems in the city. With water turning out to be an elusive commodity, the bounden duty of the civic authorities is to put in place a judicious and economic water use mechanism. It is a matter of concern that they have been unable to provide at least 40% of Guwahati’s taxpayers access to safe, clean drinking water despite the Brahmaputra flowing through the State. From a recent study of the Guwahati Jal Board’s official website, what is fathomable is that most of the existing water supply plants have already outlived their intended utilities and, as such, they need their immediate replacement. But the authorities concerned were allegedly hemming and hawing to do so. Although currently, over 30% of the city-dwellers have access to piped water, yet the supply is reportedly almost unsteady and its quality is poor with seeping of polluting groundwater during flooding in particular, through worn-out, broken, old and aging distribution pipes. As a significant section of the Guwahatians has no access to piped water, they have to bank on their own bore-wells. But in the past few years in many localities of the city, such as Christian Basti, parts of Anil Nagar, Nabin Nagar, Ulubari, Lachit Nagar, etc., to name a few, the bore-wells have dried up with the abnormal rise in the residential and commercial buildings around. The consequent shortage of drinking water has, therefore, compelled the residents to purchase water delivered by private tankers at exorbitant prices. But nobody is sure about if it is fluoride- and arsenic-free water which is known to cause cancer. Excessive fluoride in water can result in dental fluoride. It is reported that toxic substances like fluoride and arsenic contents are present in the groundwater pumped out by residents in some localities of the city. What must cause one concern is a survey report conducted a few years ago by an organization called Antodaya, which found after 120 water samples collected in different parts of the city that about 20 were fluoride-contaminated. Panjabari, to exemplify, is a locality that was identified as heavily fluoride-contaminated. The situation has further worsened by the existent poor drainage system and inadequate sanitation facilities that have also contributed to groundwater contamination and exposed the inhabitants in Guwahati to a number of water-borne diseases. In spite of a major chunk of its residents risking their lives by consuming contaminated water year after year, some politicians who are contesting for the East Guwahati seat, far from promising to address the water contamination issue on getting elected, rather skirted to make it a major poll plank during their recent tenacious campaigns for the seat. Yet another major irritant is groundwater depletion. A study undertaken by the Centre for Science and Environment discovers that 48% of India’s urban water supply comes from groundwater. It also reveals that in seven of the country’s 10 most populous cities, groundwater levels have dropped significantly over the past two decades. In Guwahati, the real estate boom for the past two decades has hastened groundwater depletion process. Given the seriousness of the emerging situation, the State Government should be sensitive to the legitimate needs of the citizens and pop up with some innovative approach to resolve the brewing crisis. As the Brahmaputra is flowing along the northern part of Guwahati, introducing an effective water supply system is the crying need.

Delhi govt plans long-term action plan to beat air pollution: Gopal Rai

A cyclist rides a bicycle near India Gate covered with a thick layer of smog as the air quality deteriorates due to air pollution, in New Delhi on Thursday. Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Monday said the city government will soon come up with a long-term action plan to curb air pollution. He held an online round table conference with experts that focused on formulating measures to reduce air pollution in Delhi. Rai said the Arvind Kejriwal government does not wish to wait till September when air pollution increases in Delhi. With the help of experts, we want to create a long-term action plan to combat air pollution throughout the year, a statement quoted him as saying. "Talking about environmental pollution only during the winter months, starting from October when air quality becomes severe, is not a solution. We are, in the next few days, going to come up with an action plan to further better the AQI of Delhi, he said. The minister also requested the experts to submit their presentations for further study. On the first day of the round table conference, the discussion centered on road dust resuspension, dust pollution due to construction and demolition activities, and industrial pollution control. The key speakers were Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment; Mukesh Sharma of IIT Kanpur; Gufran Beig of Indian Institute Of Tropical Meteorology; Deepak Agarwal of IL&FS; Partha Basu of Environmental Defence Fund; Siddharth Virmani of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago; Brikesh Singh of Clean Your Collective; and Akshima Ghare from Rocky Mountain Institute.

How keeping parks green is running Delhi dry

NEW DELHI: Even as a political row simmers over the sealing of borewells in municipal parks, the depleting groundwater table is an issue that cannot be easily brushed aside. While the borewell points irrigating the parks are being sealed in accordance with the orders of National Green Tribunal, the civic authorities want the drive to be halted till alternative arrangements are made. The three corporations collectively manage over 15,064 parks with more than 4,000 tubewells being used for irrigation. Jai Prakash, mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, which manages 6,095 parks spread over 2,159 acres, said the law department had filed a review petition in NGT to consider halting the drive till a new arrangement of getting water from sewage treatment plants was made. The north civic body has 1,862 borewell points, of which 99 have been sealed so far. This has affected over 400 parks, officials say. Delhi government has maintained that the spectre of parks turning barren and contributing to pollution is looming large because of the "mismanagement and misrule" of BJP even as Delhi Jal Board provides free treated wastewater. The civic functionaries, on the other hand, have blamed DJB for the sealing drive. Leader of the house in South Delhi Municipal Corporation, Narendra Chawla, claimed that DJB was ordered by the green tribunal to arrange water tankers for the parks. SDMC has 6,872 parks in its jurisdiction and uses 1,398 tubewells. Of these, 167 have been sealed so far. Senior civic officials say that while treated wastewater from DJB may be available for free, transporting it in a separate fleet of tankers will be costly affair. According to estimates prepared by the civic bodies, north corporation will need 540 tankers of 5,000-litre capacity to replace borewell-based irrigation, which will involve an expenditure of Rs 162 crore annually. Similarly, SDMC will need 600 tankers and an annual cost input of Rs 180 crore. Of the three corporations, SDMC has taken the lead in creating new mini-STPs to replace the old borewells. Officials say 132 parks are currently being irrigated using STPs and 56 tubewells have been closed as a result of this initiative. In east Delhi, around 474 borewells have been closed while 20 tankers are being used to irrigate key parks. A recent Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) report has stated that Delhi’s groundwater table is declining at a rate of 0.2 metres each year. In some parts of Delhi, mostly in south and southwest Delhi, the groundwater table has fallen to around 80 metres below the ground level. In joint surveys conducted by DJB and the revenue department, 12,350 illegal borewells were identified till March with the maximum concentration in the North West and South West districts. Only the Central district in Delhi is currently in the “safe zone” with all remaining districts either in “critical” or “over-exploited” categories, according to CGWB. It is clear the two-year-old NGT order to create alternative irrigation arrangements from STPs has not been acted upon with the urgency it required. CGWB has also pointed out that in almost 15% of the capital, groundwater now lies at a depth of 40-80 metres. In almost all of south Delhi and parts of central and east Delhi, the volume of groundwater withdrawn is much higher than what is replenished. A Delhi Parks and Gardens Society (DPGS) official said they were already providing financial assistance to parks up to Rs 3.5 lakh to set up decentralised sewage treatment plants, which could water parks as well as cater to other localised demands. However, borewells need to be shut down completely to comply with the directions. A study by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has advocated water harvesting in parks and open spaces of Delhi as a way to augment the drainage system and also address issues related to urban flooding. Spread over 8,000 hectares, Delhi has more than 16,000 parks and open spaces where stormwater harvesting can be implemented, CSE has stated. The city has the potential to harvest 12,800 million litres of rainwater every year. Instead of being points of crisis, the NGT order can be used to make these green spaces water conservation hotspots.

Water in the age of climate change

We know that climate change impacts are about heat - increased and scorching temperatures - and about variable and extreme rain. Sunita Narain March 22 every year is observed as World Water Day. This year as we celebrated, and reiterated, the importance of water, we remembered the difference — this was the World Water Day in the age of climate change. This means we have to do everything that we know we need to do: Augment water availability by harvesting every drop of rainwater; use it much more efficiently so that every drop of that rainwater is valued in the food we eat or the water we flush; and ensure that every drop of that used water is reused and recycled and not degraded by pollution. This we already know and practise. But this will not be enough in the age of climate change — we will have to do all we know at a faster pace, on a massive scale, and differently. Why do I say this? We know that climate change impacts are about heat — increased and scorching temperatures — and about variable and extreme rain. Both have a direct correlation with the water cycle. So, climate change mitigation has to be about water and its management. Every year, we know now, is the hottest year in recorded history — till the next year comes around and breaks the record. In India, temperatures in parts of Odisha crossed 40 degree C as early as February. North Indian states are breaking all records in terms of rising heat and higher than normal temperatures. And this is when 2021 is the year of La Nina — the Pacific water currents that are known to bring cool temperatures globally as compared to El Nino. But Indian weather scientists say global warming has offset this cooling effect of La Nina. Rising heat has many implications for water security. First, it means that there will be greater evaporation from waterbodies. It means that we need to work not just on storing water in millions of structures, but also plan for reducing losses due to evaporation. One option is to work on underground water storage — wells in other words. India has for too long discounted the management of groundwater systems as irrigation bureaucracies have been built on planned canals and other surface water systems. But this will need to shift in this age of climate change and water scarcity. We need to find ways to reduce losses from tanks, ponds, and canals as well. It’s not that evaporation losses didn’t happen in the past; but now the rates will increase with temperatures soaring. We need to plan; we need to do more. Second, increased heat means it will dry up the moisture in soils; it will make the land dusty and increase the need for irrigation. In a country like India where the bulk of the food is still grown in rainfed regions, it will intensify land degradation and dust bowl formations. This means water management must go hand in hand with vegetation planning to improve the ability of soils to hold water, even in times of intense and prolonged heat. Thirdly, and obviously, heat will drive up the use of water — from drinking and irrigation to fighting fires in forests or buildings. We have already seen devastating forest fires rage in many parts of the world, and in the forests of India. This will only increase as temperatures go up. The demand for water will increase with climate change, making it even more imperative that we do not waste — either water or wastewater. But this is not all. The fact is that climate change is already showing up in terms of the increasing number of extreme rain events. This means that we can expect rain to come as a flood, making the cycle of floods followed by droughts even more intense. India already has fewer rainy days in a year — it is said that it rains for just 100 hours on average in a year. Now the number of rainy days will further go down, but extreme rainy days will increase. This has a huge impact on our plans for water management. This means that we need to think more about flood management, not only to embank rivers but to optimise the floodwaters so that we can store them in underground and overground aquifers — wells and ponds. But it also means that we need to plan differently for the capture of rainwater. Currently, our water structures, the many millions that are being constructed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, for instance, are designed for normal rainfall. But now, as extreme rain becomes the normal, the structures will need to be redesigned so that they last over the seasons. The bottom line is that we must plan to capture every drop, not just of rain but of floodwater, in this age of climate change. Let’s then be clear; we needed to be obsessive about water and its management yesterday because water is the basis of health and wealth. But now we need to be more than obsessive — we need to be determined and deliberate. This is the real make or break of our future.

Pollution in Delhi has decreased by fifteen per cent

New Delhi: Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday announced that the Kejriwal-led government has been successful in curbing pollution in the national capital. Rai presented two reports to substantiate the claim. According to a report by Iqair.com, a Sweden-based organization, Delhi has dropped down to the 10th spot among the polluted cities in the world. Another report by the Centre of Science and Environment (CSE) reveals that Delhi’s PM 2.5 has decreased at the rate of 25% between 2018 and 2020. The report also revealed that Delhi is the first state in India to have shut down the power plants which emit harmful gases and also the first state to have 39 Air Quality Monitoring Systems. The BJP and Congress units have constantly criticized the Kejriwal-led government for not taking Delhi’s pollution and its impact on the people seriously. “BJP is in Opposition and it’s their job to criticize. We are talking about the reports of the independent organizations. These outcomes are coming because we are constantly working towards them. Whether it’s the initiative on stubble issue or turning off vehicles during red light, we are constantly working. The Delhi government has also made it mandatory that anti-smoke guns should be installed in all construction sites more than 20,000 sq ft. You can see that we have started working on this in March. Generally, governments talk about this after September. Delhi government is working on long-term plans too. We are also working on switching at least 25% of vehicles to e-vehicles. EV policy is one of the major steps launched by the Delhi government. Earlier, Delhi used to be the second or third polluted city in the world; now it’s on the 10th rank. Almost eight polluted cities are from Uttar Pradesh. The most unfortunate thing is if the nearby states are polluted, it has a direct impact on Delhi because of wind directions. Despite all the politics and criticism, we are constantly working,” an official from Delhi’s Environment Department said. While addressing the press conference, the Delhi Cabinet Minister also highlighted several other firsts that Delhi has achieved in terms of curbing environmental pollution like the Green-Delhi App, Transportation policy, Expansion of Green belt, and the EV Policy. The CSE report also reveals that Delhi’s pollution has decreased by 15%, Gopal Rai said. Underlining the five major points mentioned in the report by the Centre for Science and Environment, the minister said, “First, the report highlights that Delhi is the first state to have shut down those power plants which emit harmful gases. Despite Supreme Court’s rulings, 12 such plants are operational in the neighbouring areas of Delhi, and the Central government hasn’t done anything in this regard. I have been requesting them for the past six months. The second one being, Delhi is the first state to have initiated 13 hotspots which initiate measures at the micro-level to curb pollution, right from dust particles to expansion of the green-belt. The third one, Delhi is the first state to have provided PNG Gas at subsidized rates to its industrial sector. The fourth one is, Delhi is the first state to have installed 39 Air Quality Monitoring Systems which analyze and take concrete steps to decrease the AQI index. A lot of other neighbouring states which have these systems do not work effectively, leading to increased air pollution. The fifth one is, the EV policy launched by the Delhi government and its constant efforts to enforce it will help in curbing air pollution.” Rai said that Delhi provides 24×7 electricity to its citizens, which has been a helpful measure in controlling pollution. “War rooms which are set up to control pollution, are operational 24 hours, seven days of the week. It has Green Marshals who monitor on-ground realities. The Green Delhi App helped us in analyzing efforts to manage the AQ Index round-the-clock. The war room received as many as 20,000 complaints, of which 93% have been resolved,” the Environment Minister said. “Delhi is the first state to have launched the Tree Transplantation Policy, which is inclusive of afforestation measures. Moreover, we have made a policy in which 80% of the plants will be transplanted,” Rai added. Meanwhile, the Delhi government will conduct a round-table conference with environmental experts and various organizations on 12 and 13 April, to make a long-term action plan to combat air pollution in the national capital.

Govt issues new deadlines for thermal power plants to meet emission standards

Non-attainment cities are those which have consistently failed to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards New Delhi: The Environment Ministry has amended rules allowing thermal power plants within 10 kilometres of the National Capital Region (NCR) and in cities with more than 10 lakh population to comply with new emission norms by the end of 2022, according to official notification. A task force will be constituted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to "categorise thermal power plants (TPPs) in three categories on the basis of their location", the ministry said in the notification dated April 1. Also, TPP units in "non-attainment cities" and those within 10 kilometres of critically polluted areas are required to meet the emission norms by December 31, 2023. Non-attainment cities are those which have consistently failed to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The CPCB has identified 124 such cities. Coal-fired power plants in the rest of the areas have to comply with the new standards by December 31, 2024, according to the notification. TPPs declared to retire before December 31, 2025, are "not required to meet the specified norms in case such plants submit an undertaking to the CPCB and the CEA (Central Electricity Authority) for exemption on ground of retirement", the notification said. The Environment Ministry had revised emission norms for particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen for TPPs in December 2015, requiring them to install emission control systems by December 2017. The deadline was pushed to December 2022 for all power stations in the country in view of implementation issues and challenges. However, power stations in the national capital region were required to comply with the revised norms by December 2019. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Power requested the Environment Ministry to extend the deadline for meeting emission norms for all thermal plants from 2022 to 2024, citing delay due to various reasons, including the coronavirus pandemic and import restrictions. Major pollutants from coal-fired power plants are oxides of nitrogen (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM). According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), TPPs account for more than 60 per cent of total industrial emissions of particulate matter; 45 per cent of SO2; 30 per cent of NOx; and more than 80 per cent of mercury, in the country. These are also responsible for 70 per cent of the total freshwater withdrawal by all industries, according to an analysis by the green think tank. A recent compliance report by CSE showed that out of the 12 power plants located around Delhi, SO2 control technology was available only in two plants. According to a study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), 218 people die every year in Delhi from exposure to a toxic cocktail of fumes from the 12 thermal power plants located in a 300km radius of the national capital.

A Watershed Summit

On World Water Day, a virtual round table session organised by India Today brought together some of the best minds working to resolve the daunting water crisis facing India. Water is the world’s most replenishable substance,” said Sunita Narain, kicking off the India Today Water Round Table on a positive note. “It is not necessary that India will face water shortages or a water war,” added the director general of Centre for Science and Environment. ADVERTISING Moderated by Raj Chengappa, Group Editorial Director (Publishing) at the India Today Group, the virtual session had on its panel experts like Narain working in the field of water conservation. The session was held on March 22, observed as World Water Day. It also explored innovations and tech-based solutions which can be utilised to address India’s water crisis. Harvesting and utilising every drop of rain water India receives was something every speaker stressed on. “Every roof in India needs to be a catchment area. Every drain needs to be worshipped and every tank and pond has to become a temple,” said Narain. According to Arumugam Kalimuthu, programme director, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Institute, the decreasing water table level is a major concern. “As per the water resources ministry, in 1955, the fresh water availability in India was 52 lakh litre per person per annum. This had come down to 22 lakh litres by 2000,” he said. As a result, the country looked to groundwater for its needs, but the presence of fluoride and arsenic has made ground water potentially dangerous. The variation in rainfall over the past 10 years, though, adds Kalimuthu, has not been significant. Thus, the answer to India’s water woes lies in water harvesting and conservation. advertisement According to Narain, the big challenge comes from urban India since cities use clean water and give back waste. And, as India industrialises further, more water will be needed for this sector. To combat this, Narain advocated a shift in the way water supply is managed in urban areas, especially in the treatment of sewage and waste water. “What makes me feel good, though, is that over the past few years, governments, both at the Centre and state levels, have come to recognise the need to make changes in our strategy for water management,” she said. Amit Chandra, managing director and chairman, Bain Capital India, believes the country’s approach to water needs to be based on “common sense”. “India has 4 per cent of the world’s fresh water and 16 per cent of the world’s population...our water usage has to be sensible,” he said. The Centre and state have been stepping up their conservation efforts too. According to Bharat Lal, additional secretary, Jal Shakti ministry, and mission director, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the Union government’s flagship programme is different from the programmes of the past. “The JJM’s focus is on functionality of tap water, to provide adequate, clean and regular supply,” Lal said. “Use of technology is a major feature of the JJM.” As per Lal, when JJM was launched, 32.3 million of the 191 million rural households had tap water connections. Within 15 months, JJM had ensured there was a tap water connection in 31 million additional households. The water for these connections is being provided for using treated and grey water to reduce the stress on fresh water sources. Apoorva Ajay Oza, CEO, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India), listed four reasons behind the success of programmes such as the JJM. “Decentralisation in decision-making processes helps the community take responsibility and enter mutually respectful partnerships with professionals. Technology for monitoring and scaling up and setting up special purpose vehicles is crucial,” he said. Using technology as a conservation tool was something Divyang Waghela, head, Tata Water Mission, also stressed on. It helps communities understand and plan their own consumption patterns, he said, adding that farmers should be encouraged to adopt low-cost tech innovations as well. “Unless there is data, issues of wastage cannot be addressed,” he said.

Deadlines for coal-based power plants to meet new emission norms extended, environmentalists fume

NEW DELHI: The Centre has extended deadlines for coal-based power plants to adopt new emission standards by up to three years and even allowed the defaulters to continue their operations after paying penalty if they miss the new timelines. Thermal power plants (TPPs) located in different regions will, however, have different deadlines with maximum three years being given to those in comparatively lesser polluting areas. New deadlines were issued by the the environment ministry on Wednesday. As it will be the third deadline since notification of new emission norms for the coal-fired TPPs, the move drew criticism from environmentalists who said the extension will have grave repercussions for fight against air pollution. Though TPPs located within 10 km radius of the national capital region (NCR) or the cities having more than one million population will have to adhere to the December 31, 2022 deadline, others including retiring units will have graded deadlines up to December 31, 2025. The TPPs will have to install pollution control equipment such as flue gas desulphurization (FGD) units within the extended deadline to meet the new emission norms of sulphur dioxide. “Given that this is the third deadline, the environment ministry needs to clarify what commitments they have received from power companies and ministry of power, which ensures the implementation at least this time around,” said Sunil Dahiya, analyst, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). According to the notification, a task force will be constituted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to categorize thermal power plants in three categories on the basis of their location to comply with the emission norms within the different time limit. In case of non-compliance, the defaulter units will have to pay a penalty of up to 0.20 rupees per unit electricity generated for continuing the operations beyond the new deadlines. “Unless the environment ministry has got a commitment from the power companies to award the contracts for construction for pollution control equipment in the next few months and start penalising those who miss to do so, this will turn into an interim milestone for dirty power plants to seek more extension after 2025 at the cost of the public health,” said Dahiya. The environment ministry has issued the notification after getting request for it from the power ministry. The extension of deadline was sought for 448 operational power generating units, citing uncertainties and delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and other issues including import restrictions and liquidity crunch in the power sector. “Extending the deadline once again will have grave repercussions for the fight against air pollution. It will also mean a complete mockery of the Supreme Court and Indian regulators’ efforts to control pollution from the coal-based thermal power sector over the last five years,” Sunita Narain, director general of the Central for Science and Environment (CSE), had said ahead of the extension. She had made this remark in February while cautioning against extending the deadline. Narain had then said, “The power ministry’s move seems to have been influenced by the industry’s consistent efforts to dilute and delay the norms. The industry is obviously not bothered about the health risks posed by pollution from these coal-based power plants.”

Centre gives thermal plants new deadlines to meet emission norms

The notification dated March 31 replaces the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, with the Environment (Protection) Amendment Rules, 2021. The Union environment ministry has amended rules allowing thermal power plants within 10 kilometres of the National Capital Region (NCR) and in cities with more than 1 million population to comply with new emission norms by the end of 2022, official notification has said. The notification dated March 31 replaces the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, with the Environment (Protection) Amendment Rules, 2021. Thermal power plants within 10 km radius of critically polluted areas or non-attainment cities (that did not meet the annual national standard for particulate matter emissions from 2011 to 2015) will have to meet the standards by December 31, 2023, the notification said. HT has seen the notification. The environment ministry joint secretary Naresh Gangawar confirmed that the notification has been issued but did not divulge details on why the deadlines were deferred. The plants that do not fall in these two categories and are not scheduled for retirement will have to meet the norms by December 31, 2024, the notification said. MORE FROM THIS SECTION Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a top-level meeting with senior officers on the Bijapur encounter, at his residence in New Delhi on Sunday. (ANI Photo) Home minister Shah to visit Chhattisgarh encounter site, meet injured jawans Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel News updates from HT: BJP says Baghel was campaigning in Assam after jawans died Representational Image. (File photo) Widespread rains over western Himalayas till April 8: IMD Raman Singh claimed Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel treated elections as his first priority. PTI Photo Maoist ambush: Baghel was campaigning in Assam after jawans died, says BJP The ministry notified superior emission standards for thermal power plants in December 2015 for implementation by the end of 2017. The deadline, however, was pushed to 2022 due to resistance from the thermal power industry. The environment ministry agreed to extend the deadline to 2022, and approached the Supreme Court, which also ordered for an extension. Later, the power ministry approached the environment ministry last year seeking a further delay in the deadline citing the Covid-19 associated economic slowdown. The power ministry also said that the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign made it difficult to procure systems for flue gas desulphurization (FGD) that help to control SO2 emissions from thermal power plants. “Power ministry has approached us. They are finding it difficult to meet the 2022 deadline both because of Covid-19 and curbs on imports from China. We are considering the matter. We may have to give the thermal power plants time to deliver on the deadline,” RP Gupta, secretary, environment ministry said in August last year. Environmental experts said that the ministry was only favoring the power industry by delaying the deadline. “It is very unfortunate that MoEFCC sides with the polluters and law offenders time and again to give them extensions and dilutions rather than with the common public who is suffering from severe pollution and health impacts, whose interest MoEFCC is duty bound to protect. It’s not even a day since the extension and we can confidently say that many plants will not meet even the new deadline given that they are yet to even award any contracts to install pollution control equipment which would take three years to build by the power company’s own admission. Given that this is the third time this notification has been extended, MoEFCC needs to clarify what commitments they have received from power companies and ministry of power, which ensures the implementation at least this time around, otherwise it merely seems that the role of MoEFCC is just to extend deadlines and not to regulate their own laws and pollution,” said Sunil Dahiya, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in a statement on Friday. “This notification in one stroke has delayed the deadline for majority of the power plants in the country as there are only a few plants within 10 km radius of million plus cities that have been prioritised to meet the standards by 2022. While the plants that have already taken steps to meet the standards have not been incentivised, the laggards who have not acted on time, have been rewarded. This will perpetuate locking in of pollution and carbon when we are expected to accelerate our roadmap for clean air and low carbon growth path. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed penalty will have to be examined carefully,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment. A 2017 paper in the journal Nature warned against rising SO2 levels in India. The paper, India Is Overtaking China as the World’s Largest Emitter of Anthropogenic Sulfur Dioxide, said that India and China are on opposite trajectories for sulphurous pollution. Since 2007, emissions in China have declined by 75% while those in India have increased by 50%. With these changes, India has been surpassing China as the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic SO2, the paper said.