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Air we breathe: Delhi tops list of most polluted capitals for 3rd year

Delhi was also ranked the 10th most polluted of the 50 cities from where data was analysed. Of the top 30, 22 were located in India. Delhi was the most polluted capital city in the world in 2020 for the third consecutive year, according to a report by a Swiss group that ranked cities based on their air quality measured in terms of the levels of ultrafine particulate matter (PM 2.5) that can enter the organs and cause lasting damage. Delhi was also ranked the 10th most polluted of the 50 cities from where data was analysed. Of the top 30, 22 were located in India. In the overall city ranking, China’s Hotan topped the list while Ghaziabad in NCR was ranked second. All cities between rank 2 and 14 were Indian. The World Air Quality Report, 2020 by IQAir that was released globally on Tuesday showed that Delhi recorded an annual average PM 2.5 concentration of 84.1ug/m3. Delhi was followed by Dhaka (Bangladesh) with the annual concentrations of 77.1ug/m3 and then Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) recording 46.6ug/m3 of PM 2.5 levels last year. The WHO states that while no level of PM2.5 exposure is free from adverse health effects, annual average exposure below 10 μg/m³ minimises risks. The ambient air quality standards in India prescribes an annual average of 40ug/m3 as the safer limit for PM 2.5. According to the report, data was sourced from government monitoring and privately owned stations. Delhi has been at the centre of India’s air pollution crisis for years now, which particularly worsens every winter season. The landlocked demography of the national capital also puts it at a disadvantage, as winds carrying pollutants from neighbouring states also impacts its air. Experts have time and again pointed out that sharing a common air shed with the Indo-Gangetic Plains, the issue of Delhi’s pollution cannot be tackled in isolation, and the governments will have to come up with a holistic plan to bring down emissions in the entire region. According to the region wise analysis for central and south Asia, the report showed that top 14 of the 15 most polluted cities were in India with Ghaziabad ranked one and Delhi ninth. Ten of the top 14 most polluted cities in the region were in Delhi-NCR. The report said improvement in air quality during the Covid-19 lockdown was only short-lived. “Cities with higher average PM2.5 levels and denser populations tended to observe the most significant PM2.5 reductions from Covid-19 lockdown measures. Delhi (-60%), Seoul (-54%) and Wuhan (-44%), for example, all observed substantial drops during their respective lockdown periods as compared to the same time frame in 2019,” the report that was released on Tuesday said. “By the end of 2020, rebounds in industry and transport resulted in smaller average annual reductions. In Delhi, the overall reduction after the Covid-19 lockdown reopening was 15%, Seoul (South Korea) it was 16%, in Wuhan it was 18%. In Los Angeles, there was an overall increase was 15%,” it said. Air pollution caused an estimated 54,000 premature deaths in New Delhi in 2020, according to another study by IQAir and Greenpeace Southeast Asia released recently. The report released Tuesday also highlighted how Delhi’s air quality during the onset of winters, starting October, worsens because of external factors such as crop residue burning carried out in the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. As the burning of crop stubble peaked last year, Delhi’s PM2.5 levels averaged 144 ug/m3 in November, and 157 ug/m3 in December, the findings show. “Delhi’s most polluted months correlate with the agricultural burning season, which spans October through December. During these months, the average pollution exposure often exceeds the WHO (World Health Organization) annual target 10 ug/m3) by more than 14 times,” the report said. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said most cities in the world saw an unprecedented reduction in the pollution levels last year because of the global Covid-19 pandemic. “We are reducing pollution concentrations, but Delhi still has a long way to go. Cities bouncing back from the lockdown is an indicator of the high impacts of local and regional pollution. We need to strengthen our reform strategy to address vehicular pollution, emissions from industry and power plants, etc.,” Roychowdhury said. IQAir is a Swiss air quality technology company that specialises in developing air quality monitoring and air cleaning products. It also operates AirVisual, a real-time air quality information platform. The report acknowledged contributions by Greenpeace, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and the UN environment programme.

AAP questions Centre for not presenting ordinance on air quality in Parliament

Senior Aam Aadmi Party legislator Atishi on Monday slammed the Centre for not tabling the Commission for Air Quality Management ordinance in the Parliament. She said the Commission has become defunct in the last few months, but the BJP-led Central government did not take the matter seriously to resolve the air pollution in Delhi. The AAP legislature from Kalkaji said that Delhi has two main sources of pollution - one which emanates from within the city and the other from the neighbouring states. "The Delhi government has taken consistent steps to control pollution in the city. Even the Centre for Science and Environment has said that pollution in Delhi has reduced by 25 per cent. With adequate electricity, the dependency on generators has reduced. The electric vehicles policy launched recently is also one the measures introduced in this direction," she said. She further said that Delhi has become the only state where thermal power plants are completely shut. "I would like to ask the Central government, what is it doing to control pollution generating from states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan? Why has the Central government not taken any step to control pollution," she asked. "Some time ago, we discovered that ever since the Commission was formed, it has not been given any office space or any office staff. This shows how serious the Central government is when it comes to curbing pollution," Atishi said. She further said that whenever an ordinance is brought forth, it must be tabled in the Parliament within six weeks of a session. "The Budget Session began on January 29, but no bill towards this has been presented yet, and thus the ordinance has lapsed," she said. Delhi's air quality was in the poor category on Monday morning. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board showed that the hourly air quality index (AQI) at 7 am stood at 201. On Sunday, the average 24-hour AQI was 209. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 is moderate, 201-300 is poor, 301-400 is very poor, and 401-500 is severe.

MoRTH to disallow re-registration of old government vehicles

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a draft notification to disallow re-registration of government vehicles older than 15 years. The Ministry has invited suggestions or objections to its proposal for the next 30 days, and if it is able to sail smoothly, the rule is proposed to become effective from April 1, 2022. If approved, the rule will come into effect from April 1, 2022 India could have over 2 crore ELVs by 2025 Scrappage policy for government vehicles has been approved in January As per the proposal, all vehicles belonging to the Central and State governments, Union Territories, local government institutions, PSUs, STUs, and other autonomous bodies with the Central and State governments, have been put under the ambit of this new proposed amendment to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (1989). There are more than 10 million old and polluting vehicles in India and this move is expected to get rid of police vans, postal vans, state transport buses and ambulances older than 15 years, to name a few. While reducing pollution, the need to replace older vehicles will also drive demand for the domestic automobile industry in terms of supplying new vehicles. Recently, the ministry announced a 5 percent rebate on new cars under the scrappage scheme. Vehicle scrappage policy in India According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), by 2025, India will have a monumental load of over 2 crore old ‘end of life vehicles’ (ELVs). These, along with other unfit vehicles, will cause huge pollution and environmental damage. This step by the ministry then is understood to be in line with the recently announced Scrappage Policy for government vehicles, which aims to take old and higher polluting vehicles off the road for environmental protection. A ‘Green Tax’ will also be levied on vehicles that continue on the road after 15 years (8 years for transport vehicles) to de-incentivise their use for being a greater contributor to pollution. In a recent interview with our sister publication, Autocar Professional, Nishant Arya, executive director, JBM Group, commented on the Scrappage Policy and said, "The Scrappage Policy, specifically on the commercial vehicle side, would give a boost to the sector and therefore, people are viewing it positively. These are primarily BS-II and BS-III vehicles which would be moving out of the roads and thus reducing vehicular pollution as well."

Efficient operation of waste to energy plants

India’s experience with waste to energy plants has been lacklustre until now India’s waste-to-energy sector, which kicked off in 1987, is still searching for a successful role model even after tens of millions of dollars of investment. The Narendra Modi government’s quest for an efficient solid waste management (SWM) system has prompted it to look westward, where countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Germany manage their waste with clockwork precision. Sweden’s sophisticated system that handles waste and convert them into energy, is so good that it has run out of waste to feed the plant. But hype aside, Sweden does a pretty impressive job of keeping its municipal solid waste (MSW) — household garbage — out of landfills because it receives largely segregated, high calorific value wastes to feed its waste-to-energy (WTE) plants that is easy to manage. So, why are WTE plants struggling to survive in India while they are doing reasonably well in Sweden? India’s experience with WTE has been lacklustre until now. The progress of the WTE sector in India is hampered by multiple issues including poor quality of municipal waste, high operation and maintenance cost of WTE plants and lack of successful projects. According to a recent study by the Centre for Science and Environment, nearly half of India’s WTE plants are defunct. The fundamental reason is the quality and composition of waste. generates around 5,000 tonnes of waste on a daily basis. In a bid to solve garbage-related issues in Bengaluru, the BBMP is set to establish five WTE power plants in public-private partnership model in and around the city as part of Swacch Bharat Mission as well as Atma Nirbhar mission. The first WTE power plant being set up in Bidadi would generate 11.5 MW power using 600 MT processed waste every day - built at a cost of Rs 260 crore - followed by other four projects around Bengaluru. Separating solid waste management from BBMPThere are many challenges and speed bumps in the efficient operation of the existing WTE projects.  One of the biggest challenges encountered in MSW-fired boilers are the increased tendency for bed agglomeration and increased fouling of convective heat transfer surfaces, associated with increased corrosion due to their ash constituents such as sulphur, chlorine and phosphorous. This is one of the reasons for the unforeseen shutdown of the MSW-fired boilers resulting in constant repairs thereby adding to the running cost. These problems can be eliminated by avoiding the use of mixed waste and totally eliminating the presence of chlorinated hydrocarbons like PVC and paying attention to the materials used in the boiler. Union Power and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh said in a written reply in Parliament: “The compositional characteristics of waste in India are very distinct compared to those in developed countries. Waste generated in the country has more organic components, more moisture content and low calorific value compared to waste generated in developed countries, which has a direct influence on the efficiency of electricity generation. Smells emanating from the landfill have also triggered widespread opprobrium among citizens when the plant location is not isolated. Hence, the waste should be stored in an enclosed area with a negative pressure, which prevents unpleasant odours from escaping and the air drawn from the storage area is sent into the boiler Heap of garbage The crashing down of massive heap of garbage has sometimes been fatal. On September 1, 2017, a massive heap of garbage came crashing down from the Ghazipur landfill site near Delhi, killing two people on the spot and sweeping away several vehicles. This incident captures the seriousness and importance of the subject of MSW management. The presence of chlorinated hydrocarbons like PVC in waste results in are extremely difficult and costly to measure. They are known to be carcinogenic. SWM Rules 2016 require that PVC be phased out in incinerators by April 2018. But it is impossible to identify and remove PVC beverage labels, from mixed waste streams. As a preventive measure, the National Green Tribunal directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests to consider the phase-out of such single-use short-life PVC by July 2017. Their failure to do so till date is inexcusable. Appropriate efficient filtering mechanisms need to be installed to prevent the emission of dioxins and furans.There will be wastewater discharge as leachate from waste collection, storage and processing areas and effluent from the power generation process to avoid groundwater pollution which invites public protest demanding the closure of the plant. Leachate management is very critical and appropriate filtering mechanisms need to be installed Did you know? Each person in India wastes 50 kg of food per year, says UN reportThe total amount of ash produced by WTE plants ranges from 15% to 25% by weight of the original quantity of waste and the fly ash amounts to about 10% to 20% of the total ash. The fly ash, by far, constitutes more of a potential health hazard than does the bottom ash because fly ash contains toxic metals such The bottom ash may or may not contain significant levels of health hazardous materials. Hence, ash is tested for toxicity before disposal in landfills. If ash is found to be hazardous, it can only be disposed of in landfills which are carefully designed to prevent pollutants in ash from leaching into underground & aquifers. In the above context of existing WTE projects, the state government should give due consideration to the above challenges. Rather than blindly ape Sweden, we should try to learn from the Swedish example and adapt the learning to the Indian context. If the government fails to initiate corrective measures to alleviate the root cause or causes while executing the project, the government will not only fail to appease the local residents, which may exacerbate the situation, but also may fail in the successful operation of the projects.

Women presenting ‘green’ solutions

For centuries, women have been playing an important role in social transformation and community development. An educated woman forms the basis of an educated family and an educated community. Like most countries across the world, India too has been facing the scourge of man-made environmental degradation. Rising pollution levels in the air, dipping water quality and soil contamination are affecting quality of life in urban areas. Saalumarada Thimmakka These new challenges need innovative solutions and a grassroots approach. Women have, over the years, contributed immensely in eradicating social evils and preserving the environment. In traditional communities, especially among tribals, nature and its elements are worshiped. Women of the household have been the caretakers of the environment through such rituals and ceremonies. In modern society, women are using ‘modern’ tools and skills to create environmental awareness. So, women from all walks of lives are not only advocating though legal and administrative processes to create change in law and policy, women scientists are designing ‘green’ products and technology and developing ‘sustainable’ processes and enterprises for a greener planet. Unassuming green warriors Karnataka’s 107-year-old Saalumarada Thimmakka is an Indian environmentalist who never planned to be one. She became an environmentalist by chance and received a Padma Shri for her contribution. The environmentalist could not have children, so she and her husband started spending their evenings planting trees and taking care of the saplings. ‘Saalumarada’ means rows of trees in Kannada. She has planted more than 8,000 trees including 400 banyan trees that were easily available in her village and protecting them on a four km stretch between Hulikal and Kudur. Thimmakka, with her husband, began grafting saplings from these trees and started planting them along the roads. In November 2020, she was awarded a doctorate by the Central University of Karnataka (CUK). Sugathakumari Indian poet and environmentalist, Kerala’s Sugathakumari has been leading the feminist and environmental movements in Kerala and was a prominent figure in the Silent Valley protest – one of the first environmental movements in Kerala in the 1970s. It was a crusade to protect the Silent Valley forest in Palakkad district of Kerala from a proposed dam over Kunthipuzha, a tributary of the Bharathapuzha. She was the founder secretary of the Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi, an organisation for the protection of nature. She was also very close to the tribals and worked closely with them to take their issues with the government. Highlighting the important of keeping the biodiversity intact for human survival, Sugathakumari would regularly talk to children to teach them about environmental biodiversity, rivers, ponds, groves, forests, etc. Tackling the menace of waste In Assam, in the villages surrounding the Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site, plastic waste was a big problem. A native of the area, Rupjyoti Saikia Gogoi, devised a creative solution to the plastic waste problem by weaving it in traditional handlooms and creating daily use and home products such as table mats, handbags, door mats, etc. Rupjyoti Saikia Gogoi Through her enterprising venture, Rupjyoti also trained women of nearby villages in the plastic weaving technique. Rupjyoti’s initiative has not only helped tackle the plastic waste problem but has also helped thousands of women earn a livelihood. As an Assamese woman, she was trained in handloom weaving since childhood, a skill she used to upcycle plastic waste. She used the same weaving technique used in weaving bamboo by integrating plastic with cotton threads to weave on a traditional handloom. Disturbed by the sight of waste lying around in her village, she thought of doing something. Trained in handloom weaving, a skill known to Assamese women since childhood, Rupjyoti uses the same technique used in weaving bamboo and integrates plastic with cotton threads to weave on a traditional handloom. Annuradha Bhatt is an active member of Project Waste Management in Goa’s Assagao. An initiative by a local NGO, the project aims to tackle the problem of waste management. Owing to it being a tourist destination, solid waste management is a big problem in Goa due to lack of awareness and waste collection and disposal facilities. Through this initiative, Annuradha generates awareness among the locals about waste segregation and proper and environmental-friendly waste disposal. She has been actively working to make the locals understand the importance of waste management. Preserving biological biodiversity A leading conservation scientist and environmentalist, Dr Krithi Karanth’s focus areas include researching on ways in which humans and wildlife can peacefully coexist. She has been working for more than 20 years in the area of wildlife conservation and studying the impact of human activity on the environment. Dr Purnima Devi Barman from Assam is one of the most prominent environmentalists in India. Popularly known as Hargila baido, she has been awarded the Nari Shakti Purashkar by the President of India which is the highest civilian award for Indian women for her work as a conservation biologist. Leading from the front Sunita Narain Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in New Delhi and publisher of Down To Earth magazine, Sunita Narain is an Indian environmentalist and political activist. She’s also a major proponent of the Green concept of sustainable development. Starting her career in the 1980s, Sunita has been awarded the Padma Shri for her work. She has chaired the Tiger Task Force for conservation in 2005 and is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Climate Change and National Ganga River Basin Authority (which employ practices to clean the river). In 2005, 2008 and 2009 she was featured on the world’s 100 public intellectuals list generated by US journal Foreign Policy. Her focus areas include climate change, water conservation and resource management. Eco feminist and Delhi-based environmentalist Vandana Shiva is known the world over for her efforts to protect forests. A Gandhian, she has organised women networks to conserve local biodiversity. The TIME Magazine identified her as an environmental hero in 2003. She is the director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy in Dehradun. She created Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity of living resources in 1991 through which more than 2000 varieties of rice have been conserved and 34 seed banks have been established in 13 states nationwide. Maneka Gandhi is one of the most prominent and popular environmentalist in India. A politician and Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law, Maneka has been a champion for animal rights. In 1994, she founded People for Animals, the largest organisation for animal welfare in India. She was appointed chairwoman of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) in 1995. She has filed Public Interest Litigations in the area of animal rights. Her PILs have achieved the replacement of the municipal killing of homeless dogs with a sterilisation programme (Animal Birth Control programs, commonly abbreviated as ABCs), the unregulated sale of airguns and a ban on mobile or travelling zoos. For her revolutionary work, she has received several prestigious awards globally. Grassroots activist trigger change A native of Chamoli in Uttarakhand, Gaura Devi came to prominence in 1974 when she organised the women to hug trees to prevent their cutting. She and 27 other women confronted the local loggers who were cutting the trees. The men of the village were hoodwinked and sent out of the village. Gaura Devi was the head of the Mahila Mangal Dal at the Reni village. She and her women guarded the trees all night until the loggers surrendered and left. News of the movement soon spread to neighbouring villages and people joined in. Women are leading from the front to fight the menace of pollution, preserve biodiversity and generate sustainable living alternatives.

Fly Ash Pollution

In the last decade, coal consumption and fly ash generation from coal power plants have jumped up by almost 80 per cent. On an average, 35 per cent of fly ash remain unutilised in this decade, leading to its piling up in ash ponds. n Half the coal-fired power plants in India flout norms of fly ash management. Some plants don’t even utilise 30-40 per cent of the fly ash. In the last decade, coal consumption and fly ash generation from coal power plants have jumped up by almost 80 per cent. On an average, 35 per cent of fly ash remains unutilised in this decade, leading to its piling up in ash ponds. INDIA has the third-largest coal reserves in the world, and its power generation is primarily dependent on burning coal. But the coal-based thermal power plants in India are the least efficient and therefore the most polluting in the world. A recent study by the New Delhi-based environment think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) covered 47 plants across 16 States, accounting for half the coal-based thermal power plants in the country. It found that the sector performed poorly on all environmental and energy parameters, getting a score of a mere 23 per cent. As many as 40 per cent of the plants scored below 20 per cent. Globally, a thermal plant following all the best practices can get a score of around 80 per cent. The average efficiency of the Indian plants was 32.8 per cent, making it one of the lowest in the world. Their average carbon dioxide emissions were 14 per cent higher than the average in China. Carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas that is causing climate change, which in turn is reducing farm output worldwide, rising sea levels and causing prolonged droughts, intense storms and floods more frequent and more severe. Another major pollutant from these coal-based plants, which doesn’t often make the news, but makes them more dangerous environmentally, is fly ash. Half the coal-fired power plants in India flout norms of fly ash management. Some plants don’t even utilise 30-40 per cent of the fly ash. In the last decade, coal consumption and fly ash generation from coal power plants have jumped up by almost 80 per cent. On an average, 35 per cent of fly ash remain unutilised in this decade, leading to its piling up in ash ponds. As per a report, between 2010 and 2020, several major ash dyke breach incidents and cases of unsafe disposal of the ash have been reported from many regions. In the most recent incident in April 2020, a breach in the fly ash dyke of Reliance Power-owned Sasan plant in the Singrauli region of Madhya Pradesh led to fly ash slurry entering nearby farms and villages, resulting in the death of at least six people. The Madhya Pradesh pollution watchdog sought an interim compensation of INR 100 million (USD 1.34 million) from the company and asked it to start remedial and restoration work within 14 days. Similarly, in October 2019, a coal ash dyke breach in State-owned utility NTPC’s Vindhyachal Thermal Power Plant in Madhya Pradesh led to more than 3.5 million tonnes of fly ash flowing into the Govind Vallabh Pant Sagar, also known as the Rihand reservoir. The reservoir, the only source of potable water for people in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh and Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, was contaminated, making the water unfit for drinking. NGT asked NTPC to pay an interim compensation of INR 100 million and directed the Anpara and Lanco-Anpara power plants in the vicinity to stop ash pond overflow discharge into the Rihand reservoir. But such instances of immediate legal cognisance and reprimand are rare. Climate change heightens the risk from coal ash ponds in areas prone to flooding. In addition to the increased risk of spills, scientists say the heavier rains expected to come from a warming planet also threaten to bring a more hidden peril — rising water tables that seep into the ash ponds, contaminating groundwater used for agriculture and drinking, that can, in turn, affect a much larger population. Annual fly ash generation from Indian coal power plants rose to 217 million tonnes in 2018–19 from 123 million tonnes in 2009–10. The legacy fly ash in India stood at 1.6 billion tonnes as of March 2019. From 2012–13 to 2016–17, the quantity of fly ash utilised has remained stagnant at around 100 million tonnes; however, during the same period, the annual generation of fly ash has been above the 150 million tonne mark, which indicates a huge pile-up. Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh lead in fly ash generation, followed by West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. The majority of them belongs to NTPC Limited, Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Limited (CSPGCL), Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited (MPPGCL) and MahaGENCO (in Maharashtra). Coal-fired power plants in West Bengal have been exporting their fly ash to Bangladesh for this purpose. The problem with that is that barges used to transport the ash have a high capsize rate. Fly ash is the residue left after coal is burnt in thermal power plants, and poses grave risks to our health and environment. Coal-fired power plants are the biggest sources of fly ash, which contains toxic chemicals such as arsenic, barium, cadmium, nickel and lead, among others. These are known to cause cancer, lung and heart ailments and neurological damage, and contribute to premature mortality. Despite several policy and regulatory interventions, coal ash management in India remains a challenge. Coal ash is not classified as hazardous waste, and thus there are no guidelines to regulate its disposal or measure the leaching of chemicals from it into water bodies and groundwater. Fly ash can be used to make bricks, as part of road-building material and to make cement, but the utilisation has lagged far behind potential in India. If not anything, India should at least develop regulations for the scientific containment of pond ash. This would require retrofitting existing ash ponds with impermeable materials and linking the scientific landfilling of ash with environmental clearances. This would also entail a rigorous environmental monitoring protocol around the fly ash dumps to check for leachate and contamination of groundwater. It is estimated that by 2021-22, the sector will produce 300 million tonnes of fly ash every year. By the way, CSE recommends that India puts stringent air quality norms in place on par with global standards, water tariffs should be increased to check excess water use by the industries, old inefficient plants should be closed and stiff penalties should be imposed wherever the companies are not complying with the pollution norms.

Use of coal in industries around Mumbai could be one of biggest contributor to pollution, says study

Factories in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) burn two million tonnes of coal every year, the report released in February, highlighted. The massive use of coal in the industries situated around Mumbai could be one of the biggest contributor to pollution in the city and its surrounding areas, finds a study by Delhi-based non-profit organisation Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Factories in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) burn two million tonnes of coal every year, the report released in February, highlighted. Of the 13 industrial areas bordering Mumbai, CSE assessed four – Trans-Thane Creek (TTC), Taloja, Ambernath and Dombivali. These four areas cover about 70 per cent of the industries operating in MMR. The TTC, which comes under the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, was found to be a hotspot, contributing about 44 per cent of the total pollution load from the four areas. It also records the highest consumption of coal, at nearly 60 per cent of the coal consumed in the areas studied. Taloja Industrial Area follows TTC by contributing about 26 per cent of the pollution load. The MMR encompasses an area of 4,355 sq km and consists of eight municipal corporations – Greater Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Navi Mumbai, Ulhasnagar, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Vasai-Virar and Mira-Bhayandar. It also includes nine municipal councils – Ambernath, Kulgaon-Badalapur, Matheran, Karjat, Panvel, Khopoli, Pen, Uran and Alibaug – along with more than 1,000 villages in Thane and Raigad districts. Under the National Clean Air Programme, the four non-attainment cities – Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Ulhasnagar and Badlapur – also are part of MMR. “Mumbai is a coastal region and is, hence, not expected to have very high levels of pollution. But with rapid industrial and infrastructural development, the air quality has started deteriorating. The city needs to wake up and take corrective actions, to avoid turning into a pollution pressure-cooker like Delhi,” said Nivit Kumar Yadav, programme director, industrial pollution unit, CSE. To understand the local exposure, CSE monitored the Particulate Matter (PM) last February. The report found that heavy traffic and industrial emissions contribute to pollution, locally. The average level of PM 2.5 in Chembur, Taloja and TTC industrial areas were at 73 micrograms/cubic metre (µg/m3), 62 µg/m3 and 64 µg/m3, respectively. The safety limit of PM 2.5 is 40 µg/m3 (annual). PM 2.5 pollutants, made up of hundreds of chemicals, are emitted into the air by construction sites, unpaved roads, fields and smokestacks or fires, power plants, factories and automobiles. The average PM 10 values ranged between 200 to 900 µg/m3. The safety standard for PM 10 is 60 µg/m3 (annual). Patalganga industrial area near Panvel had the lowest exposure to PM, whereas Dombivali, which comes under the Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation, has the highest exposure in Thane district. Dombivali is one of the most densely populated areas in MMR, and thus its air quality impacts a larger population than other areas, said the report.

SurveySparrow announces hiring initiative of Rs 50K joining bonus for women candidates

Chennai, Mar 13 (PTI) SurveySparrow, an experience solutions service provider, on Saturday announced a hiring initiative--a joining bonus of Rs 50,000--for women candidates. The company said the initiative will cover women candidates who apply for positions of product developers, quality analyst, and technical writers on or before March 15 and join the company by April 15. Citing a study undertaken by Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, the company said only 16 per cent of employed women were able to continue their jobs after the lockdown was relaxed. "With reports claiming that the female labour force participation rate has hit its lowest, it is imperative that we all do some swift changes to remedy that," company founder Shihab Muhammed said. The joining bonus follows the launch of first virtual hackathon -- HackerFlow -- an initiative to bring developers, students and coding enthusiasts under one platform. The company plans to double the employee base and grow significantly during the year. Recently, the company announced software as a service (SaaS) product 2021 -- G2 Crowd, garnering over 50,000 customers, the release said.

MoRTH plans to disallow 15-year-old government vehicles from re-registration

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has today issued a draft notification to disallow re-registration of old government vehicles. As per the proposal, all vehicles belonging to the Central and State governments, Union Territories, local government institutions, PSUs, STUs, and other autonomous bodies with the Central and State governments, have been put under the ambit of this new proposed amendment to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (1989). The Ministry has invited suggestions or objections to its proposal for the next 30 days, and if it is able to sail smoothly, the rule is proposed to to become effective from April 1, 2022. The step could be understood to be in line with the government's recently announced Scrappage Policy, which aims to take old and higher polluting vehicles off the road for environmental protection. There are more than 10 million old and polluting vehicles in India and this move is expected to get rid of old police vans, postal vans, state transport buses and ambulances to name a few. While reducing pollution, the need to replace older vehicles will also drive demand for the domestic automobile industry in terms of supplying new vehicles. According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), by 2025, India will have a monumental load of over 2 crore old vehicles (see table below) nearing the end of their lives. These, along with other unfit vehicles, will cause huge pollution and environmental damage. In a recent interview with Autocar Professional, Nishant Arya, executive director, JBM Group, had commented on the Scrappage Policy and said, "The Scrappage Policy, specifically on the commercial vehicle side, would give a boost to the sector and therefore, people are viewing it positively. These are primarily BS-II and BS-III vehicles which would be moving out of the roads and thus reducing vehicular pollution as well." "There will be a thrust towards the M&HCV and HCV segments. I expect there to be substantial purchasing in the coming financial year, thereby giving a much-needed fillip to the sector. It would also give a boost to the logistics sector as the cost of logistics will go down with a new fleet. The cost of older vehicles is higher and we were seeing companies trying to increase their Opex to save their Capex. So, we will see logistics costs becoming more competitive as we move forward."

Weekend Reading: The U.S. Dropped from 48th to 67th in Women’s Representation. How?

The incredible team at the Inter-Parliamentary Union released their 2021 map and report on international women’s representation this week in advance of the 65th session of the Commision on the Status of Women. According to the press release from the IPU, the map “shows the latest data on women’s participation in political decision-making, including the number of countries with women Heads of State and/or Heads of Government, the global share of women Ministers, Speakers of parliament and parliamentarians.” The data that the IPU collects is invaluable and helps to fuel our understanding of the rules and systems that are accelerating the increase in women’s representation around the globe. Note the use of proportional voting systems and gender quotas in most of the top ranked countries. As a reminder, the United States has dropped from 48th to 67th over the last two decades. The full list of countries is below. Kiran Pandey offers a terrific analysis of women’s representation in countries in sub-Saharan Africa on DownToEarth: Every fourth parliamentarian in sub-Saharan Africa last year was a woman, according to a recent report The region ranked at third position after the Americas and Europe with an increase by 0.6 points since 2019, according to the report released ahead of International Women’s Day. Burundi (bicameral), Tanzania (unicameral) and Cameroon (lower chamber) topped the list in the region yet again, with 30 per cent or more women parliamentarians, Burundi has 38.2 per cent of women parliamentarians in the lower house (the National Assembly) and 41 per cent in the upper house (The Senate). This has been due to the implementation of gender quotas in the country in 2005. Burundi was among the few countries in the world that adopted a gender quota for its legislature for promoting the inclusion and participation of women in the political process. The country’s new constitution in 2018 provides for maintaining a minimum 30 per cent gender quota for women’s representation in the legislature and the executive branch and extends it to the judiciary. In Liberia, Madagascar and Ghana, less than 15 per cent of parliamentarians were women. Burkina Faso also slipped in ensuring women representation in its parliament, according to the report. The Comoros, Niger and Mali performed exceptionally well. With less than 15 per cent of women parliamentarians, these countries recorded double-digit increases in women’s representation in their parliaments. Women’s representation in Mali had been slowly decreasing since the late 1990s. It had remained less than 10 per cent for over a decade. But Mali saw the largest progress in terms of the number of seats held by women among all countries holding parliamentary elections in 2020. The percentage of women MPs tripled to nearly 29 per cent from 9.5 per cent previously, thanks to the quota law adopted in 2015. Mali’s parliament was replaced by a Transitional National Council later in 2020, where women hold 26 per cent of the seats. At least 30 per cent of elected and appointed officials were required to be women according to the “quota law”.

One in two coal-based power plants still flouts fly ash disposal norms

CSE study found that Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha have accumulated the most ash in the last decade due to high generation and poor utilisation rates Mumbai: Over half of all coal-fired power plants in India still fall short of the government-set target to fully utilise fly ash, a harmful by-product of the power generation process, according to a report by environment group Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The government had set December 2017 as the target for power plants to meet fly ash utilisation norms. CSE’s report has found that one in every two power plants still fails to meet the legal requirements. Annual fly ash generation from power plants has risen by almost 76% to 226 million tonnes (mt) in 2019-20 from 123 (mt) in 2009-10. On an average, 35% of fly ash remained unutilised in this decade, leading to its piling up in ash ponds. As per the report, between 2010 and 2020, several major ash dyke breach incidents and cases of unsafe disposal of ash have been reported from many regions. Legacy ash is also a massive challenge for the sector. The study found that Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha have accumulated the most ash in the last decade due to high generation and poor utilisation rates. CSE has found that these states together account for over 76% of the total residual ash stocks generated over the last decade. Due to ash overburden, these states also top the list of coal ash accidents and require immediate attention due to the prevailing serious pollution issues near coal power plants. “Coal being the mainstay of power generation in India, we need to ensure that coal-based thermal power plants are as clean as possible. Only then can we meet the twin challenges of air pollution and climate change. To achieve the 100% utilisation target, power plants need to consistently utilise the new ash they generate annually while clearing the backlog of previous years," said Nivit Kumar Yadav, Programme Director, Industrial Pollution Unit of CSE. Fly ash can be safely used in the cement sector but its use has hovered around the 25% mark over the past many years. Enhancing fly ash use in cement making will not only solve the issue of waste but will also lead to considerable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions reduction from the sector. Over the years, the use of fly ash in the construction of highways and roads has witnessed a positive growth. However, fly ash uptake is still marginal when compared to the tremendous development in this sector. Average fly ash use in roads and flyovers has been a meagre 4%and can definitely be enhanced, CSE said. Besides, there are several logistic, storage, handling and transportation issues that lead to poor utilisation of fly ash in some states. Fly ash needs to be transported to cement plants through rail or road networks. This creates limitations on the immediate utilisation of the ash. Therefore, its effective storage, handling and transportation is a critical aspect towards enhancing fly ash utilisation.

India drags its feet in the face of climate catastrophe

Environment ministry unable to use nearly half the money allocated for controlling air pollution even as the scale of the problem continues to grow In this pandemic year, when climate change and the devastating effects of rising pollution are in more focus than ever, India’s environment ministry has said it has been unable to use nearly half the money allocated for controlling air pollution. To which a parliamentary panel has responded by suggesting that the ministry could show some innovation and use idle funds to boost the infrastructure needed for electric vehicles and set up bio-degraders so that the annual problem of stubble burning – which causes significant pollution in Delhi-NCR and other north Indian cities – can be mitigated. It is no secret that India is waging an increasingly difficult war on pollution. A recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment quotes an earlier study to show that air pollution increased in 33 of the 88 industrial clusters in India between 2009 and 2018; water pollution was up in 45 of these clusters, and so on. Given the scale of the problem, the inability of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate change to spend allotted amounts in countering pollution is baffling. Nearly half the budgetary allocations for various schemes and programmes this fiscal year have remained unutilised. In the budget estimates for 2020-21, the ministry was allocated ₹460 crore under the head ‘Control of Pollution’. This scheme largely funds the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), the most prominent central initiative to tackle air pollution. The targets under NCAP were stiff: to achieve 20 per cent to 30 per cent reduction in particulate matter concentrations by 2024, keeping 2017 as the base year for the comparison of concentration. Of the ₹460 crore allocated, the ministry had utilised only about ₹190 crore, or 58 per cent, till January end. Overall, the BE for the ministry was ₹3,100 crore but only Rs 1,673.71 crore was used till January 31 this year. This is why the parliamentary standing committee has asked the ministry to innovate and invest the unused funds in, among other things, setting up charging stations for electric vehicles. This would take care of the infrastructure bottleneck being faced by the government in promoting EVs and simultaneously help the fight against air pollution. Investments needed in setting up country-wide charging infrastructure for EVs are scarce. In fact, another parliamentary panel examining the demands of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has suggested that vehicle makers should be asked to invest in developing charging infrastructure. According to a study by the CEEW-Centre for Energy Finance, the government has allotted ₹1,000 crore for charging infrastructure under the FAME II policy for electric vehicles, but the scheme does not provide specifics and no targets have been set. Given this background, it is sensible for the environment ministry to use idle funds in creating the much-needed EV infrastructure. The panel’s other suggestion – about bio-digesters – is also a pertinent one since establishing effective microorganism bio-digester units will not only help increase the efficiency of waste treatment and biogas production in urban areas, but also reduce the problem of stubble burning in north India. Seeking a central mechanism for coordination of various central and state agencies and ensuring accountability through monitoring of the progress of the works undertaken, the parliamentary panel has also asked for audits to be freely accessible to the public and civil society on information relating to expenditure of ‘Control of Pollution’ scheme. And what is the status of research on ecological and environmental topics? Here, too, the ministry doesn’t seem to have exerted itself. In the three years between 2018-19 and 2020-21, just a fourth of the budget for research has been utilised. India has, on the whole, been walking back on its climate goals since the start of the pandemic. The CSE report quoted earlier has pointed out that of the various fiscal stimuli – estimated to be equal to 10 per cent of the GDP – announced by the Centre so far to boost the sagging economy, we seem to be pursuing high-carbon economic production instead of walking the path of sustainability. Then, due to the adverse impact of the pandemic on the economy, the automobile industry is seeking to delay the implementation of Corporate Fuel Consumption Standards for passenger cars; a vehicle scrappage policy for promoting the sale of new vehicles does not provide for safe dismantling of ageing vehicles; power plants have already pleaded for a delayed deadline to meet the new standards beyond 2022; and private investments in the coal sector are being sought for accelerated commercial coal mining while removing end-use restrictions. In this scenario, where growth is expected on the back of lax norms, and the ministry tasked with upholding norms to counter pollution, protect forests and address climate change is unable to spend even budgeted amounts, perhaps a complete overhaul of climate initiatives is the need of the hour.

50% thermal plants do not meet fly ash use norms, says environment group

Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh lead in fly ash generation; most plants blamed for flouting norms are owned by governments Half the coal-fired power plants in India flout norms asking them to use polluting fly ash they generate, said the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in a report. Some plants don’t even utilise 30-40 per cent of the fly ash. A notification by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) in 1999 laid down the targets for utilisation of fly ash. "In the last decade, coal consumption and fly ash generation from coal power plants has jumped up by almost 80 per cent. On an average, 35 per cent of fly ash remain unutilised in this decade, leading to its piling up in ash ponds. As per the report, between 2010 and 2020, several major ash dyke breach incidents and cases of unsafe disposal of ash have been reported from many regions," said the report by the independent environment group. Annual fly ash generation from Indian coal power plants rose to 217 million tonnes in 2018–19 from 123 million tonnes in 2009–10. The legacy fly ash in India stood at 1.6 billion tonne as on March 2019, said CSE. From 2012–13 to 2016–17, the quantity of fly ash utilized has remained stagnant at around 100 million tonnes; however, during the same period, annual generation has been above the 150 million tonne mark, which indicates a huge pile up. Only in the last two years (i.e., 2017–18 and 2018-19) has there been an additional 30 million tonnes increase in utilization each year, said the study. Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh lead in fly ash generation, followed by West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. Most plants with poor ash utilisation rates were run by the central or state governments. A majority belonged to NTPC Limited, Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Limited (CSPGCL), Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited (MPPGCL) and MahaGENCO (in Maharashtra). NTPC units blamed for poor ash utilisation are Barauni, Barh, Kahalgaon, Muzaffarpur, Bongaigaon among others. Reliance Power's Sasan ultra mega power plant in Madhya Pradesh also rates low in ash utilisation.

Serious gaps in ratio of food testing labs to FBOs in the country: Experts

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has in the last few years put up serious efforts in terms of food testing labs availability. However, experts feel that despite its rigorous efforts, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that food testing laboratories in India have faced major challenges in the domains of manpower availability, equipment and machinery, skill development, R&D (research and development), customer awareness as well as capacity utilisation. It has also come to light that there have been serious gaps in the ratio of labs to the FBOs in the country. Moreover, due to chemical testing being less capital-intensive than pesticide residue and microbiological testing, many labs possessed only the former infrastructure. Industry insiders feel that they must work towards increasing the abilities of these labs and fill the gaps. Recently the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health had also made several recommendations with respect to the FSSAI. On the Committee’s recommendations for a fully Centrally Sponsored Scheme for upgrading manpower, strengthening infrastructure and robust surveillance systems at the state level, FSSAI in its response has stated that it is implementing a Central Sector Scheme for strengthening of food testing laboratories and upgrading manpower. FSSAI is incorporating a Central Sector Scheme for Strengthening of Food Testing Ecosystem with a total expense of Rs 481.95 crore. This includes Rs 300 crore for building up a network of laboratories across the nation as well as provision of mobile food testing labs and other related equipment. Under this scheme, 39 state food testing labs of 29 states/UTs & 10 referral labs have been bolstered with high-end equipment in order to enable efficient testing of safety parameters (pesticides, heavy metals and antibiotics). Till now, 60 mobile food labs have been provided to 32 states/UTs for training, testing and awareness generation even in remote areas. Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, a total of 179 online training programmes with 37,000 participants have been conducted. Ashwin Bhadri, CEO, Equinox Lab, stated that a core area of enhancing the food safety infrastructure involves strengthening food testing laboratories for better functioning across stages. FSSAI has worked towards the development of new National Food Laboratories (NFLs) at Chennai/Mumbai, investment in training and capacity building efforts for field staff, FSOs as well as food businesses for self-compliance along with INFoLNET, which is a web-based online system created by FSSAI to form a network of food labs across the country. Bhadri added that since the year 2019, FSSAI has made rapid progress towards the use of advanced technologies for food testing. Several new rapid food testing kits/devices for detection of food-borne contaminants and toxins have been introduced that will ensure “faster, better, cheaper” real-time testing of food. So far, FSSAI has approved 30 rapid food testing devices/kits under these norms. These Rapid Tool kits must be popularised to ensure they are widely used. Moreover, FSSAI has made sure that National Food Laboratories at Kolkata and NCR remain functional for uninterrupted import of food. e-Inspections for ensuring food security and extensive use of digital technology have made sure that FSSAI delivers services even in the lockdown. Meanwhile, recently, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) conducted an investigation into the quality of honey being produced in India. The results stated that honey sold by many popular brands was adulterated, and, in fact, had been spiked with added sugar. Therefore, they should not be branded/sold as honey. The report stated that adulteration has become so sophisticated in India that it is totally possible to cheat the tests that Indian food testing labs conduct to assess the purity of honey. Bhadri stated that FSSAI has therefore worked on new testing methods for detecting honey adulteration and has recently introduced them as part of its standards. The parameters added in the honey standards help detect the adulteration of honey with sugar syrups, especially rice syrups. “With this, ensuring the quality of honey has been made more robust” he said. Also, the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has forced every nation to buckle up and augment their food safety and security procedures. Food safety in India experienced the same. Going forward, the adoption of food safety and quality assurance mechanisms such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), Total Quality Management (TQM) including ISO 9000, ISO 22000, Good Hygienic Practices (GHP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) by the food processing industry offer several benefits. “It would enable compliance to stringent hygiene and quality norms and in turn, will protect consumer health, enhance product acceptance by overseas buyers, prepare the industry to face global competition and keep the industry technologically in conjunction with the best international practices,” concluded Bhadri.

Crimes increasing, cases piling up: State of India’s environment

33 years to clear judicial backlog, says report Over 50,000 environment-related cases are awaiting trial in India, according to the latest State of Environment report. Environmentalists and advocates worry that if the cases are not given priority and solved at the earliest, it could mean disaster for the environment. Soon after the release of State of Indian Environment, 2021, a report about the current state of the environment in India, public interest litigation was filed in the Supreme Court asking the top court to issue directions for urgently filling up of large-scale vacancies that have been plaguing Indian courts, notably the National Green Tribunal. The plea, filed by Shrikant Prasad, a law student, highlights the long pendency of cases in subordinates courts in India and seeks formal guidelines and rule of procedures for the appointment of judges within the time-bound duration. The absence of judges and other officers of the court is one of the biggest reasons behind the slow pace at which cases, especially environment-related cases are taken up by the courts. The seriousness of understaffing becomes evident from a look at the National Green Tribunal, a special court dedicated to environmental issues. The NGT Act sanctions 10 benches in five zones — northern, southern, central, eastern and western — with two courts in each zone. The NGT should have a chairman and 20 members — 10 judicial and 10 expert — who constitute the benches. However, currently, the NGT has only 6 members, three judicial and three experts, besides chairman, former Supreme Court judge, Justice A.K. Goel. Since its inception, the NGT has never had full strength, leading to a huge pile-up of environmental cases, often very urgent, The annual State of India’s Environment (SoE) report, released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) late in February, says over 50,000 environment-related cases were pending trial in various courts in 2019. “At the current rate, courts will take about 33 years to clear the backlog of cases for violations under forest, wildlife, environment protection and air pollution laws. Courts would have to dispose of 137 cases a day,” the report read. It further said that in 2019, there were 86 cases on average (under all environment and pollution-related laws) that were disposed of by the courts every day but last year, the pace slowed down due to the pandemic. “We do not consider the environment important enough. Unless it is a huge natural disaster or forced displacement of people from a place, we do not think of the environment impacting humans directly. But looking at the current state of crimes against the environment, if we don’t act swiftly, it will only lead to a higher rate of crimes as consequences are too delayed,” Amrish Mishra, an environmentalist who works with Fridays For Future Delhi (DelhiFFF), part of Fridays For Future India NGO, tells Media India Group. According to the latest available data, 34,671 environment-related crimes were registered in 2019. Over 7,000 cases were pending police investigation. A similar number of cases (34,503) was reported in 2018 according to the previous edition of the SoE. Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra accounted for 77 pc of India’s wildlife crimes in 2019. Water, pollution, wildlife & forests cases face delays The SoE report goes on to say that of the total number of pending cases, some categories are impacted more than the others. It says that the worst showing is for the Environmental (Protection) Act and the Air & Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, where it will take over 32 and 33 years, respectively, to clear the huge backlog of pending cases. Over 90 pc court cases remain unresolved under five of the seven Acts related to forests, wildlife, environmental protection and pollution. For instance, under the Forest Act and the Forest Conservation Act, the average number of cases courts disposed of every day in 2018 was 5.56. At that rate, courts will take 9.2 years to complete the backlog. States with the most numbers of offences were Uttar Pradesh (1,436), Rajasthan (471) and Himachal Pradesh (240). Similarly, under Wildlife Protection Act, the average number of cases courts disposed of every day in 2018 was less than one. At the current rate, it will take more than 13 years to clear the backlog of cases. Urgency to resolve environment-related cases Bansagar dam led to the flooding of almost 300 villages in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district To address a large number of pending cases, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) was set up in 2011 to expedite the resolution of environment-related conflicts, preferably within six months. But within a few years, there were 3573 environment-related cases pending in the National Green Tribunal by 2018, according to Press Information Bureau in India. NGT claims that it has disposed of around 28,000 of the 31,000 cases, almost 90 pc, it received between 2011 and 2019, but lawyers dispute it saying cases often do not even come up for hearing. Mukti Gautam is a lawyer and environmental activist practising in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. In 2006, she took up a case of persons impacted by the construction of the Bansagar dam on the Sone river. The 347 m high dam led to the flooding of almost 300 villages and habitations, home to over 125,000 persons. Over 15 years later, the oustees of the project are yet to receive compensation – house, alternative land and monetary payment that was part of the initial agreement reached with the residents of the area. Gautam says that as the victims of most environmental crimes or violations are poor, the governments tend to ignore them. “The only reason that governments in our country and even the common people do not take these cases seriously and let it pile is that does not have a catastrophic effect immediately,” she explains. She goes on to say that even the United Nations has pointed out that environmental crimes have the potential to threaten the security and sustainable development of nations and must be dealt with a heavy hand and urgently. The pending issues reported in SoE range from cases challenging environmental approvals granted to power projects and those questioning governmental permission to use forest land to issues of air and noise pollution. While NGT, environmentalist Mishra says, has started to work in a better way than before, its orders have often taken a cautious approach. For instance, the NGT has refused to stop work at project sites during the pendency of cases, maintaining that companies cannot claim equity at a later stage, or in other words, take the defence of fait accompli. “This is of little comfort for the affected communities, as the environment once destroyed is hard to restore. While it is perhaps too soon to evaluate the NGT, its very existence brings a much-required degree of prominence to environmental legal issues in India,” he adds. There is little one can do except asking questions from the government, he says. “What we as activists and common people can do is to question the NGT and the government, and make sure that voices reach the Centre as well as the courts, both of who have done little to help the environment in our country,” he adds.