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This Time, Last Year: Lessons From Blue Skies

New Delhi: A year ago, the so-called janata curfew on March 22 heralded the shutdown of the nation from March 24 to counter Covid-19’s spread. Vehicles went off the roads, industrial units ground to a halt and construction activity ceased. While the economy took a hit, the air over Delhi reached quality highs. By March 28, the air was in the ‘good’ category with the Air Quality Index at just 45. The city went on to record five such ‘good’ air days in the year, the most since the Central Pollution Control Board launched the AQI readings in 2015. By the first week of April, the capital had azure skies, birdsong was audible everywhere and the Yamuna was visibly cleaner.A year on, all environmental gains of the lockdown have been lost. Dipankar Saha, former head of CPCB’s air laboratory, however, does not write off the positives. He explained, “With next to no emissions during the lockdown, we were able to analyse how significant a role dust pollution played in air quality and what effect reduction in vehicular and industrial pollution could have.” Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, research & advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, said the lockdown showed that reduction in pollutants was possible, but all regions had to clean up their acts and at speed across critical sectors such as vehicles, industries, power plants, waste, construction & open-air burning. “The bouncing back of pollution proves the change can be sustained only with systemic and time-bound action,” she said. “We have to raise the level of ambition to drive compliance with stricter air quality targets.” There are eight key sources of pollution according to source apportionment studies: thermal power plants, vehicles, industries, households, brick kilns, open burning, diesel generator sets and dust. Dr Sagnik Dey, associate professor, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, IIT-Delhi, pointed out that during the lockdown, only four of these were eliminated, namely vehicles, industries, brick kilns and construction dust. “The power plants were still functioning. Household pollution might, in fact, have slightly increased because people were confined indoors. DG sets and open burning were also prevalent,” said Dey. “So clearly, this reduction in pollution during the lockdown came from the remaining four sources. This needs to be taken into account in the National Clean Air Programme. If we can control vehicular, industrial, brick-kiln and construction pollution, we can attain our PM2.5 and PM10 targets.” CPCB data confirmed the improvement of air during that period. The AQI in March 2020 was 128 (moderate) compared with 184 (moderate) in 2019. The average AQI dropped to 110 (moderate) in April against 211 (poor) in 2019, while the average AQI of 144 (moderate) in May was much less than the 221 of a year earlier. August was the cleanest month of the year, recording four ‘good’ air days and an average AQI of 64 (satisfactory). However, by November, things were returning to ‘normal’. Stubble burning from October on and a late Diwali saw 2020 record a more polluted November than in 2019, while the average AQI in December rose to 332 (very poor). As for the Yamuna, CPCB attributed its temporary improvement to an increase in the flow of water, aided by the closure of industrial units. CPCB tested samples from Palla, Nizamuddin and Okhla, while DPCC from nine locations. The major findings were that the water quality at the three stations had improved significantly against the pre-lockdown quality, with the biological oxygen demand at Nizamuddin and Okhla going up by as much as 90% and similar increases in the chemical oxygen demand. DPCC found BOD levels rising by up to 33%. A DPCC official, however, said, “Industrial effluent is only a small portion of the pollution. Household sewage continues to flow into the river and until that is halted, we cannot see a blue Yamuna again.”

Let MGNREGA water climate adaptation

Scheme already shows promise in helping villages go from being water-scarce to water-sufficient, as per DTE report To mark the World Water Day, the Union government announced a water conservation campaign, Catch The Rain. Given India receives more annual precipitation—though temporally and geographically unevenly distributed—than its peak requirement, many parts of the country suffering water insecurity for the larger part of the year is evidence of how inadequate the country’s water storage and management capacity is. While the government—primarily the states, given water is a state subject—will focus on water conservation efforts under Catch The Rain (there is also talk of geotagging existing water-bodies for real-time monitoring), it needs to look at MGNREGA’s role in developing water security over the past 15 years and build on this. Down To Earth (DTE), the magazine brought out by the Centre for Science and Environment, reports that the programme, primarily seen as an unemployment support scheme for rural India, has been a change-driver in terms of bolstering water sufficiency and management of precipitation in many villages. The Act had been amended in 2014 to ensure that at least 60% of the spending was on projects that benefit agriculture and allied activities—though, even before, such projects are estimated to have constituted more than half of all such projects. This focus, the rural development ministry noted in a release in 2019, meant 75% of the activities in the list of those permissible under MGNREGA “directly improve water security and water conservation efforts”. Over the past 15 years, nearly 30 million water-conservation related works—or 50/per Indian village—have been executed under the programme, creating a water conservation potential of close to 29,000 million cubic metres. That is 17% of the capacity of the 123 reservoirs that are monitored for storage by the Central Village Commission. The testimony from the 16 villages covered in the DTE report seems to suggest that the programme has contributed not just as a social security scheme, but also, by increasing access to water and supporting farm-related livelihoods, as a climate-resilience and livelihood support programme. While Bandlapalli in Ananthapuramu district of Andhra Pradesh—the first village in India where MGNREGA was implemented—saw recurring drought and large-scale migration in 2006, by 2021, it had 900-plus water harvesting structures. Thanks to this, it remained unscathed in 2018-19, when the district reported its lowest rainfall in a century. Similarly, Barmani in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district, DTE reports, was virtually abandoned because of distress-migration in 2006, but by 2021, it had 7 big ponds and 39 wells that had perennial water availability. While MGNREGA helped Pookkottukavu in Kerala go from being a water-scarce village to seeing dying water streams getting revived, residents of Himmatpura in Uttar Pradesh saw incomes rise by 10 times with dependence on rains for agriculture reduced. While the MGNREGA saw a sharp fall in allocation in Budget FY22—Rs 73,000 crore, from the Budget FY21 revised estimate of Rs 1.1 lakh crore—it remains, read against the DTE findings, perhaps one of the world’s largest adaptation programmes. Given climate change will increase the incidence of weather shocks—for instance, too much rain over a short period, over a small geography, or scanty rain in areas that were used to abundant rainfall—there is a need to build robust adaptation programmes; more so, with the time to act on planet-warming emissions having all but run out. The government needs to look at MGNREGA afresh, as a multi-purpose vehicle—one that plays an income-support role while creating ecological assets that become the mainstay of climate-support in the decades to come.

MGNREGA: Water harvesting, conservation structures starting to pay off

Workers must be allowed to participate in the actual planning exercises of the Gram Sabha, say beneficiaries Bhuban Bag is an MGNREGA worker from Bhuanpada village in Odisha’s Balangir district, a perennially drought-affected region. The district has one of India’s highest rates of distress migration, with lakhs of workers looking for jobs elsewhere every year. “Things have changed in our village because of MGNREGA. We have been creating ponds and tanks to catch water, and digging wells to harvest the recharged water,” he said in a webinar organised by the Centre for Science and Environment on the occasion of World Water Day. He held up an onion plant to the camera, showing off the fruits of his newly fertile land. During the pandemic, most of the returning workers found employment in the village itself, he said. Bhuanpada is not an isolated case. Across the country, the water harvesting and conservation structures that now make up 60% of all new MGNREGA assets are starting to pay off, according to CSE. “The MGNREGA is not simply a social security scheme to generate employment for the rural poor. It may also be the world’s largest climate change adaptation scheme,” said CSE director Sunita Narain. Over the last 15 years, three crore assets related to water-conservation have been created through the rural jobs scheme with the potential to conserve more than 2,800 crore cubic metres of water. On the ground, this has transformed the fate of some villages. However, challenges remain in obtaining timely payment of MGNREGA wages and ensuring village participation in the planning process. Bhuanpada’s sarpanch joined Mr. Bag on the screen. “The payment for MGNREGA workers still comes very late,” he said, adding that distress migration could not be reversed unless timely payment was made. In Palakkad district of Kerala, women workers have managed to revive streams and rivers in the water-scarce village of Pookkottukavu, which gets only 2300 mm of annual rainfall. With hundreds of water harvesting structures being built under the MGNREGA scheme, 200 wells are now planned to make the village water-surplus. “Earlier, people had to walk a long distance for drinking water. These projects have helped to reduce their difficulty to a certain extent and give them the hope that in the near future the village will be free of water scarcity. We can see the groundwater levels rising,” said Vismaya Sukumaran, who works with MGNREGA. In Vasna village of Gujarat’s Sabarkantha district, migration has reduced by 40% because of the extensive irrigation system created through small dams constructed under the programme. “Earlier, the village was completely rain-dependent, but now the ponds and tanks provide surface water for 10 months of the year. Farming is back as the main occupation, and annual family savings are up to ₹2 lakh, preventing the need for migration,” said Ms. Narain. She emphasised the need for village workers to participate in the actual planning exercises of the Gram Sabha, rather than simply be treated as labour. Villages must also be allowed to take control of their own water security, she said, noting that catchment areas for many villages are on land controlled and owned by the Forest Department. “It is important to MGNREGA to measure the sustainability impact, and not just count the number of works created or days of labour provided. The scheme must track and monitor outcomes, measuring the change in groundwater levels and village incomes,” said Ms. Narain.

Ensuring water security

Jal yodhas’ tales of transformation are inspiring WORLD Water Day provides an opportunity to reflect upon the way in which efforts towards ensuring water security are flowing. There are some inspiring stories of determination to conserve the precious elixir that have transformed lives and livelihoods in many places. But, unfortunately, there are many more dry ones that foretell a parched future. Urgent measures are needed to counter the climate change-aggravated scenario that has unleashed catastrophes. A study by Down to Earth (published by the Centre for Science and Environment) on the exemplary use of MGNREGA funds for rainwater harvesting and water conservation by 15 villages — the jal yodhas (water warriors) — across the country since 2006 is illuminating. It shines light on how to stop large tracts of fertile land from turning into barren wasteland. The drought-prone villages of Bandlapalli in Andhra Pradesh, Batka Phala in Rajasthan and Nadia in MP have overcome the aridity with their water harvesting structures, leading to a stop in distress migration. They hold a lesson for Himachal Pradesh that is staring at a drought-like crisis. Equally stunning is how the water-scarce Pookkottukavu village of Kerala, led by its women, has revived dried-up streams and recharged groundwater to become water-surplus. Punjab and Haryana that are grappling with depleting water tables due to unchecked water extraction and water-guzzling paddy cultivation would do well to copy it. Haryana’s own Barokhan village has built a commendable pond system that enables recycling household waste water for irrigation, reducing dependence on groundwater. Importantly, the jal yodhas have shown how investment in water security yields economic gains. Their villages are today thriving and robust units. The range of trickle-down effects of their efforts is excitingly vast and has promising prospects for many a place. They vary from food-surplus (Barmani in MP), manifold rise in income (Himmatpura, UP), year-round jobs (Bhuanpada, Odisha), fighting salinity to reclaim infertile land (Vellapallam, TN) and improving livestock economy (Ramdurga, Karnataka). Communities and local bodies elsewhere must replicate these water management strategies to uplift their sagging economies.

Nearly 218 people die each year in Delhi from thermal power plant fumes: Study

To arrive at the estimates of annual deaths caused by power plant pollution, researchers took the actual emissions from these 12 power plants in 2018 and assessed their impact on a city’s population. Every year, nearly 218 people die 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, an estimate by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) showed. Sunil Dahiya, an analyst at CREA and the primary author of ”Health and economic impacts of unabated coal power generation in Delhi-NCR”, said the study estimated that the operation of the 12 power plants around the capital resulted in 218 deaths annually in Delhi, and 682 across Delhi-NCR, and more than 4,800 deaths across the country at 55% plant load factor—the ratio of average power generated by the plant to the maximum power that could have been generated in a given time—and more than 8,200 deaths at 100% PLF. “The installation of emission control technologies would prevent 62% of these deaths across the country, which would translate to around 2,976 to 5,084 lives saved annually,” Dahiya said. To arrive at the estimates of annual deaths caused by power plant pollution, researchers took the actual emissions from these 12 power plants in 2018 and assessed their impact on a city’s population. Meteorological conditions were also taken into consideration, CREA said. MORE FROM THIS SECTION Farmers sitting in protest against the new farm laws at the Delhi-Ghazipur border, in New Delhi on Monday, March 22. (ANI) Farmers’ protest: Traffic at Delhi borders remains diverted Representational image. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo) Possibility of light rain in Delhi today, air quality poor A student walks past a wall with the graffiti of frontline workers wearing face masks, in New Delhi on Monday. (ANI Photo) 888 new Covid cases, seven deaths on Monday; highest fatality count in 46 days HT Image Delhi: Man held for floating ponzi scheme, duping over 500 of ₹8 lakh The findings also highlighted that pollution from the 12 plants had economic impacts far beyond Delhi-NCR. The state-wise distribution of economic impacts of power plant operation in Delhi-NCR suggests that the highest cost burden was faced by Uttar Pradesh ( ₹2,301 crore) followed by Rajasthan ( ₹1,125 crore), Madhya Pradesh ( ₹1,100 crore), Haryana ( ₹395 crore), Gujarat ( ₹362 crore), Delhi ( ₹292 crore) and Punjab ( ₹242 crore). Experts pointed out that while pollution had become a conversation starter in the national capital, which forced governments to act on controlling various pollution sources, there was still a lack of awareness about how exposure to power plant emissions impacts health. The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC), in 2015, had notified emission norms for particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, which had to be complied with by power stations in 2017. However, the industry pushed back and committed before the Supreme Court that it will comply with norms by 2022. In January this year, the power ministry asked the environment ministry to dilute norms for SO2 emissions from coal-fired thermal power plants citing “unachievable deadlines and unnecessary norms”. There was also a proposal to extend the deadline for complying with the emission norms from 2022 to 2024. A recent compliance report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) showed that out of the 12 power plants located around Delhi, SO2 control technology was available only in two plants. It was observed that in six of these power plants, work on the control of SO2 emissions was underway, while in the remaining four plants, the work progress was slow. “In India, 58% of the thermal power plants are still not complying or haven’t put out tenders to comply with 2015 emission standard notification. Whether it is a state power plant, state discom or private power plant, nothing is being done to resolve issues. Non-compliance has to be taken seriously, and the onus is as much on the state governments as on the Centre, where there is a need for enhanced transparency,” said Nivit Kumar Yadav, programme director (industrial pollution unit), CSE. Yadav further said, “Old power plants need to be phased out at the earliest as their harmful emissions impact everyone’s health.” They said the only significant work to control the pollution from thermal power plants in the Delhi-NCR was the closure of the Badarpur Thermal Power Station in 2018. “My concern about compliance is that the standards keep changing continuously. We may press for various standards, but the coal plant operators can get the standards changed. What’s worse, the deadline to install emission control technologies seems to be further extended biannually,” said environment lawyer Ritwick Dutta.

Lockdown: दिल्ली ने वर्षो बाद देखी थी इतनी बेहतर आबोहवा, बेहतरी के लिए भी दिखाई राह

नई दिल्ली, संजीव गुप्ता। लाकडाउन से आर्थिक और सामाजिक स्तर पर भले जो परिणाम आए हों, लेकिन पर्यावरण के लिए यह किसी वरदान से कम नहीं था। आलम यह रहा कि दिल्ली-एनसीआर सहित देशभर की जिस हवा को देश और राज्यों की सरकारें तमाम उपाय करके भी साफ नहीं कर सकीं, उसे लाकडाउन ने कर दिखाया। वायु ही नहीं, बल्कि ध्वनि और जल प्रदूषण में भी बड़े पैमाने पर सुधार देखने को मिला। इस सुधार ने भविष्य के लिए भी ऐसी राह दिखाई, जिसे विशेषज्ञों तक ने सराहा। केंद्रीय प्रदूषण नियंत्रण बोर्ड (सीपीसीबी), दिल्ली प्रदूषण नियंत्रण समिति (डीपीसीसी), सेंटर फार साइंस एंड एनवायरमेंट (सीएसई) और अन्य तमाम संगठनों की रिपोर्ट बताती है कि लाकडाउन की वजह से दिल्ली- एनसीआर का वायु प्रदूषण 75 फीसद तक कम हो गया। प्रमुख प्रदूषक तत्व पीएम 2.5, पीएम 10, कार्बन डाईआक्साइड, नाइट्रोजन डाईआक्साइड में 70 से 74 फीसद की कमी देखने को मिली। जल और वायु ही नहीं, लाकडाउन के दौरान ध्वनि प्रदूषण में भी कमी देखने को मिली। अस्पताल और रिहायशी कालोनियों जैसे साइलेंट जोन में तो ध्वनि प्रदूषण नियंत्रण में रहता ही है, इस दौरान इसके सामान्य स्तर में भी 10 फीसद तक की कमी देखी गई। वातावरण एकदम साफ हो जाने से दूर दूर तक की चीजें साफ दिखाई देने लगीं। प्रदूषण के कारण ही दिल्ली में यमुना नदी मृतप्राय हो गई है। इस नदी का पानी खेती के लायक भी नहीं है। लाकडाउन में इस यमुना का प्रदूषण भी 33 फीसद तक कम हो गया। यमुना के प्रदूषण के दो मुख्य तत्व डीडी (डिजाल्व डिमांड) में 51, जबकि बीओडी (बायोलॉजिकल ऑक्सीजन डिमांड) में 75 फीसद तक की गिरावट आई। दशकों बाद यमुना का पानी काला नहीं बल्कि नीला नजर आया। दिल्ली-एनसीआर के वायु प्रदूषण में कहां कितनी कमी आई -- शहर प्रदूषण में कमी दिल्ली 75 फीसद गाजियाबाद 65 फीसद नोएडा 60 फीसद गुरुग्राम 56 फीसद ग्रेटर नोएडा 68 फीसद फरीदाबाद 58 फीसद इसमें कोई शक नहीं कि लाकडाउन के दौरान हमें प्रकृति का साक्षात्कार करने का अवसर मिला। यह भी साबित हो गया कि प्रदूषण की जड़ में इंसानी लापरवाही ही है। इसलिए अगर अब भी इंसान लाकडाउन से सबक लेते हुए भविष्य के लिए सावधानी बरते और पर्यावरण का भी खयाल रखे तो प्रदूषण को आगे भी नियंत्रण में रखा जा सकता है। (-सुनीता नारायण, महानिदेशक, सीएसई)

‘Villagers using MGNREGA for drought relief’

Bathinda: A survey by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and its publication ‘Down to Earth’ (DTE) says that putting water conservation at its core, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has the power to transform India’s rural landscape and change the lives of the country’s poor. The unheralded success stories of rural India’s ‘jal jodhas’ (water warriors) were shared in a webinar on World Water Day, which highlighted report on villages that have made the transformation from drought to prosperity. The findings of a countrywide survey of the impacts of MGNREGA after 15 years of its implementation were released on Monday. The reports were filed from 16 villages in 15 states. “Finding the villages which had successfully executed MGNREGA was difficult as no records are kept of the sustainability of the works. The government only keeps a record of the number of works done, and of whether they have been completed. What is not known is if the structure built under MGNREGA has improved the water security of the village or contributed to livelihood improvements,” said CSE director general Sunita Narain The districts covered included Ananthapuramu (Andhra Pradesh), Jalaun (Uttar Pradesh), Tikamgarh and Sidhi (Madhya Pradesh), Balangir (Odisha), Pakur (Jharkhand), Bankura (West Bengal), Kaimur (Bihar), Jalna (Maharashtra), Palakkad (Kerala), Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu), Dungarpur (Rajasthan), Sirsa (Haryana), Chitradurga (Karnataka), Ranga Reddy (Telangana) and Sabarkantha in (Gujarat). Narain said, “With climate change, we will see more rain and more heat, and in this, the management of water will be our make or break. Water security is also crucial for livelihood security. It builds resilience and the ability to cope with weather adversities. The MGNREGA is the world’s largest social security and climate risk management programme.” DTE managing editor Richard Mahapatra said, “One of the big findings of the report is that villages have reaped economic and environmental benefits of water conservation works defying all odds. This has only been possible due to the persistence and diligence of water warriors in villages.” Full report on www.toi.in “MGNREGA is also the country’s largest water conservation exercise. The governments must now measure the potential harvested of these instruments. For this, it must turn its focus to track the impacts of water harvesting structures. As government data shows half of water structures are either left unfinished or turn defunct after a few years due to lack of maintenance. This is a wasted opportunity,” Mahapatra added. Sirsa example Barokhan village in Sirsa district of Haryana has been using MGNREGA labour to build systems to recycle grey water for irrigation. The village has built three-pond system to treat waste water from kitchens and bathrooms. The ponds, built under MGNREGA, are adjacent to each other, along the gradient of the land, and connected via pipes. Grey water of villages Barokhan, Bhavdeen and Jasania gets cleaned due to settlement of impurities as it moves down successive ponds. The villagers manage to save up to 66% on water charges and have reduced their dependence on groundwater too. Water assets created As per government records, since 2006 more than 30 million water conservation-related ecological assets have been created; this comes to 50 water structures in every village of India. Calculations show that these structures have potentially conserved roughly 29,000 million cubic meters of water in this period and have the potential to irrigate some 19 million hectares.

On World Water Day, celebrate MGNREGA’s role in saving water

In the last 15 years, projects under programme have created conservation potential of nearly 29,000 million cubic metres Similarly, Barmani in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district, DTE reports, was virtually abandoned because of distress migration in 2006, but by 2021, it had 7 big ponds and 39 wells that had perennial water availability. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Catch the Rain campaign on Monday to mark World Water Day, the good news is that, over the past 15 years, the MGNREGA programme has helped bolster water sufficiency and management of precipitation in many villages as Down To Earth (DTE) magazine reports. The rural employment guarantee Act was amended in 2014 to ensure that at least 60% of the expenditure was on projects that benefit agriculture and allied activities; as a result, the rural development ministry had said in 2019 that 75% of the activities in the list of permissible activities under MGNREGA “directly improve water security and water conservation efforts”. In the last 15 years, DTE notes, 30 million water conservation-related works — that translates to 50 works/village — have been undertaken through MGNREGA, creating a water conservation potential of close to 29,000 million cubic metres of water. For perspective, that is nearly 17% of the capacity of the 123 reservoirs that are monitored for storage by the Central Water Commission. DTE reports several benefits from MGNREGA water projects for villagers in 16 villages in 15 districts across India. While Bandlapalli in Ananthapuramu district of Andhra Pradesh — the first village in India where MGNREGA was implemented — saw recurring drought and large-scale migration in 2006, in 2021, it has 900-plus water harvesting structures. The water-harvesting capacity helped it become drought-proof; in 2018-19, when the district reported the lowest rainfall in a century, the village was not impacted. Water harvesting has also helped many villagers to transition into cultivation of cash crops and dairy farming, and has caused a significant reduction in migration. Similarly, Barmani in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district, DTE reports, was virtually abandoned because of distress migration in 2006, but by 2021, it had 7 big ponds and 39 wells that had perennial water availability. While MGNREGA helped Pookkottukavu in Kerala go from being a water-scarce village to seeing dying water streams be revived —the village is also home to the country’s largest group of women well-diggers —residents of Himmatpura in Uttar Pradesh saw incomes rise by 10 times, with dependence on rains for agriculture reduced. The testimonies of the villages covered in the DTE report all speak of improved water and livelihood security because of the MGNREGA work executed. Read against the DTE testimonies, MGNREGA — which saw allocation fall in Budget FY22 (at Rs 73,000 crore, it was almost a third lower than the revised estimate for FY21, at Rs 1.1 lakh crore) — assumes new importance as far as India’s planning on developing climate resilience goes.

Himalayan blunders are ravaging ecology

Over 300 dams are being built across the Himalaya, including in China. They pose a challenge to the future of the mountains. Hydro-projects mean that rivers are cleaned of their nutrients, critical for fish, dolphins and farmlands, and which are carried largely in soil and sediments in the water; otherwise, soil and stones would damage power-generating turbines. China has announced a mega project on Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, the lifeline of Assam and Bangladesh. Sanjoy Hazarika Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative The Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau are under siege across Asia as never before, from governments and humans, from one end of the great mountain range to the other. Time and again, the mountain system thunders out its response, but governments either are hard of hearing or determined not to heed or understand its message. There are many examples of these lessons, from the Garhwal Himalaya, and moving eastward, in an arc, across Nepal, Bhutan and even in Tibet. From the west to the east, the stories are similar and have everything to do with the extractive nature of humans, involving bureaucratic, political and business lobbies. And there is a deep-rooted resistance to learn — even at the cost of massive loss of human life and damage to environment as well as to existing and proposed infrastructure. On February 7, a disastrous glacier event in the Himalaya sent a roaring, massive wall of rock, water and mud hurtling down the narrow valleys of Rishiganga district of Uttarakhand. The tectonic power of that water surge tore apart two hydropower projects, as if they were little more than flimsy cardboard boxes. The final death toll has not yet been announced, though 72 were reported killed and over 100 missing. And, unsurprisingly, at a time of high-decibel elections, this news has vanished from TV studios and the news media. The Ganga is often referred to as Ganga Maiya (Mother Ganges); the Ministry of Water Resources coined the slogan Aviral se nirmal Ganga (continuous Ganga is clean Ganga). Yet the Ganga is being devastated by these projects. It has been seen, whether in Sikkim or Uttarakhand, how road construction and dam projects hurl debris into rivers, choking their free flow and disrupting their nourishing capacity. Last September, during a visit beyond Rishikesh, where dust hangs in the air, the boom of dynamite and the shudder of falling rock were common. One saw debris pushed by excavators and bulldozers down slopes into the Ganga. They were clearing roads which had been damaged by rubble falling from fragile hillsides and caused by this very construction activity. There is a strategic aspect to the ambitious Char Dham project; the criticality of good roads to enable security forces to move to and fro from the border with China, especially in the light of the recent confrontation. Yet, moving in haste can create more problems as the recent Chamoli tragedy has underlined. The Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau are regarded as the Third Pole. After the better-known poles, these are the custodians of the greatest volumes of frozen freshwater on earth. These are at risk due to massive construction, infrastructure boom and climate change. The Himalaya is a vast, delicate and interconnected web of environmental, geographic and social systems. The mountains are still growing as the Asian and Indian land masses grind against each other. The Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya, though different, are umbilically connected to each other. It is no one’s argument that development is not needed. It is. But it needs to be understood that at a time of growing climate change, it can’t be business as usual. That the latest disaster comes eight years after the cataclysmic flood in 2013 which killed some 6,000 people shows that lessons have still not been learned. In 2014, a Central government committee report recommended that the Centre scrap at least 23 hydropower projects in Uttarakhand, especially in the highly vulnerable zones. It concluded that hydropower projects played a significant role in the 2013 floods and that there was an urgent need to improve the environmental governance of these projects. For this to happen, there needs to be a strong element of public consultation which has eroded over time. Before 2020, the Central government needed to conduct what was called an Environmental (and Social) Impact Assessment (ESIA). There was an added social dimension of dialogue with various stakeholder groups. Yet, this critical element of public inclusion is no longer there and undercuts the role of local communities who are custodians of knowledge and hold enormous experience, including a nuanced understanding of climate change. Their views matter for they are the real caretakers of the region. And they demonstrated this nearly 50 years ago with the famous Chipko movement led by women who stopped the cutting of their forests. It is about sustainability and carrying capacity by, as the environmentalist Sunita Narain says, “Keeping the river first and our needs next. Otherwise, the river will continue to teach us bitter lessons; it will be the revenge and rage of nature.” That is why it is important to ensure a minimum environmental flow (e-flow) that will enable the river to replenish itself and be self-sustaining. E-flow is the minimum volume of water that a river needs to ensure that aquatic species such as fish and dolphins can be sustained as well as the farms and communities which depend on it for irrigation, agriculture and fishing. In October 2018, the Centre enacted a law on e-flow which mandated the release of 20-30 per cent water from all major hydropower projects into the Ganga between Devprayag and Hardwar at different times. Experts say these levels are inadequate and an official review of different projects showed that most projects were not even meeting this minimum requirement. This underlines the well-accepted need to strike a balance between ‘growth’ and ecological sustainability. Over 300 dams are being built across the Himalaya, including in China. They pose a challenge to the future of these mountains which, according to Hindu belief, is the abode of Shiva. Hydroprojects mean that rivers are cleaned of their nutrients, critical for fish, dolphins and farmlands, and which are carried largely in soil and sediment in the water; otherwise, soil and stones would damage the power-generating turbines. On the Chinese side, the government there has announced a mega project on the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, the lifeline of Assam and Bangladesh. This is to be located in the deep, daunting and mystical Namcha Barwa Gorge, a huge area of biodiversity. The Chinese dismissal of environmental and downstream concerns should bring India and Bangladesh on a common platform. For, China’s hand will control the quality (not just the quantity) of water that will flow downstream. Indeed, as security analyst Brahma Chellaney has predicted, water, access to it and its control represent the next frontier of potential confrontation. In all this across the Himalaya, the greatest casualty is the river — and rivers have no voice, except when they strike back.

This World Water Day, Let’s Take The Pledge To Value The Precious Resource: Five Things To Know About The Day

As the world marks March 22 as World Water Day, here’s a quick lowdown on things to know about the day - what is the theme and why it is celebrated New Delhi: According to UNICEF, globally, more than 1.42 billion people, including 450 million children, live in areas of high, or extremely high, water vulnerability. UNICEF says this analysis means that 1 in 5 children worldwide does not have enough water to meet their everyday needs. Talking about India, as per Water.org, a non-profit organaisation, working to bring people together to create better policies for the future of water, 88 million people lack access to safe water. As the world marks World Water Day on March 22, here is a quick lowdown of things you should know about the day and why you should take a pledge to save the crucial resource. Also Read: Eco-friendly Toilets Can Eradicate Open Defecation And Help Manage Waste Effectively Why It Is Celebrated? The day is marked every year on March 22 in bid to make people aware about the need to preserve and conserve water. Mainly, the focus of the day is on universal access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in line with the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6. Back in 1992, March 22 was first officially added in the schedule 21 of United Nations Conference on Environment and Development as World Water Day in the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One year later, in 1993, the first World Water Day was observed. What Is The Theme For The Day? This year, the theme of the day is Valuing Water, to make people aware that the value of water is about much more than its price – as water has enormous and complex value for our households, food, culture, health, education, economics and the integrity of our natural environment. If we overlook any of these values, we risk mismanaging this finite, irreplaceable resource. Also Read: Clean Water Is Essential To Eliminating Neglected Tropical Diseases, Says The World Health Organisation How The Day Is Celebrated? World Water Day is celebrated across the world by the United Nations including all the member nations on March 22 by implementing the UN recommendations as well as promoting the global water conservation through the real activities like promotion of clean water conservation, governments’ plan of action for water conservation and publishing critical reports that highlights the statistics and data on water. How COVID-19 Has Put Limelight On Water Crisis When the world was facing the worst pandemic of its time – COVID-19, many experts in India feared access to clean water to maintain basic hygiene as the biggest challenge. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends hand hygiene (washing hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand sanitisers) is extremely important to prevent the transmission of the virus. However, WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund also estimate that 40 per cent of people across the world, that is, approximately three billion live without soap and water and are the most vulnerable and highest at risk of being left behind in the battle against COVID-19. In the recent analysis done by Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), around 20-40 litres of water is used in this new normal, every day, with the assumption that every person cleans their hands at least 10 times a day, instead of a usual average of five times a day. How We Can Save Water? One of the first approaches to start saving water is by taking a pledge of reusing water whenever and wherever possible. For instance, one can start conserving water at home by taking few simple steps – Collect wastewater from the ROs and use it further for the purpose of washing clothes and cleaning the house. One can also reuse the water used for the purpose of washing veggies, fruits and utensils by reusing it in your garden. Make sure, you are turning the tap off while performing daily rituals like brushing, washing your face, doing the dishes and so on is the major reason why around 600 million people are currently living in areas of high to extreme water stress. Another way in which you can prevent the ongoing water crisis is by preventing water wastage from running taps.

Children of age group 0-14 years least affected by Covid-19: Govt

New Delhi: It may be news of worth for parents worried about their children from getting infected with coronavirus as Union Health Ministry has on Friday stated that children in the age group of 0-14 years are least affected by Covid-19. In a written reply, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan informed the Lok Sabha that the infections among children are mild and most of these children infected with Covid-19 remain asymptomatic. In reply to a question asked by JD-U members Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh and Dinesh Chandra Yadav seeking details of the action plan to control and minimise the adverse effects of Covid-19 on such children, the Union Health Minister said, "No specific action plan has been formulated in the current response phase to minimise the adverse effects of Covid-19 on such children as the infections among children are mild and most of these children infected with Covid-19 remain asymptomatic." Department of Pediatrics, AIIMS, is documenting the long term effect of Covid-19 infection in children," the minister said. However, the Health Ministry has denied having any information about any report prepared by CSE regarding the effect of Covid-19 on children aged between 0-14 years in the country. In his reply, Vardhan said, "The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a non-governmental organization working in the area of environmental issues and the Health Ministry is not aware of any report prepared by CSE regarding the effect of Covid-19 on children." Notably, the CSE in its annual state of environment report released in February had stated that around 375 million children (aged between 0-14 years) in India may suffer from the long-lasting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including malnutrition to loss of education and work productivity.

The Cities of Woe

By 2050, at least 30 Indian cities will face a grave water risk, according to the WWF. The problems range from poor management of water sources, contaminated supplies, leaky distribution networks and vast volumes of untreated wastewater being poured into India's rivers. In the summer of 2019, Chennai’s reservoirs ran dry, forcing the government to truck in 10 million litres of water a day. For a city that gets an average of 1,400 mm of rainfall a year, more than twice what London receives, this was unprecedented. And not just Chennai, cities across India have been facing acute water shortages due to massive population growth and rapid, unplanned urbanisation. A 2018 study published in Nature projected that by 2050, Jaipur would have the second-highest water deficit in the world, with Chennai at #20. A 2020 report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) projected that 30 Indian cities would face a ‘grave water risk’ by 2050 due to sharp increases in population. The situation is already alarming. In the 91 most important reservoirs tracked by the Central Water Commission, storage levels have never crossed more than half their total capacity in recent years. More alarmingly, the long-term, indiscriminate extraction of groundwater is making water tables fall rapidly in most Indian cities. According to a study by the Centre for Science and Environment, 48 per cent of India’s urban water supply comes from groundwater, and in seven of India’s 10 most populous cities, groundwater levels have dropped significantly over the past two decades. Urban dwellers also face a crisis because of limited supply networks. More than 34 per cent of India’s population lives in cities; however, 31 per cent of urban households, mostly those in unauthorised colonies and slums, lack access to piped water or public tap water. And the existing pipes are in danger of running dry. Most Indian cities can’t meet the per capita water supply limit set by the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation, 135 litres per day. Even the quality of supplied water has been suspect. Samples collected last year from 21 cities across India failed to meet standards. A NITI Aayog report says that nearly 70 per cent of India’s water is contaminated, impacting three in four people. Responding to the situation, the Union ministry of Jal Shakti launched the Jal Jeevan Mission, aiming to expand the piped water network to all households in India by 2024. However, success depends on the states, as water is a state subject. While the WWF proposes nature-based solutions and enhancing the health of river basins, watersheds and wetlands to build resilience to water risks, these would tackle only the scarcity issue, not distribution. Another oft-quoted solution is rainwater harvesting, but progress in this has been abysmal. Most experts, therefore, propose an integrated approach, which includes increasing the efficiency of distribution networks and utilising waste water. Since water sources are finite, cities and citizens must focus on efficient and judicious use. That’s the first step towards a sustainable water conservation policy.

400 Odisha villages near thermal power units hit

Fly ash as one of the major contributors to particulate matter (PM) emission, its poor utilisation has triggered serious health hazards in and around thermal power plants affecting around 400 villages of Angul, Talcher, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda. Fly ash from various thermal power plants is dumped in hundreds of acres of land, near human habitations, roads and pools. In the hotter months, the pool dries out and winds blow the fly ash into homes. The particles of fly ash blow with the wind to surrounding areas of the thermal power plants, causing people in the vicinity to inhale it. This results in several respiratory diseases among the people. The ash enters the house and mixes with the food. It gets deposited on trees and plants and harms the animals. The ash particles also enter eyes, affecting eyesight of the villagers. When there is a storm, the ash enters the house and it becomes difficult to even breathe. The children and old persons are the worst affected. Civil society organisation, JANMAT members after a field visit and intensive study in fly ash affected areas of Odisha and Chhattisgarh expressed concern over massive fly ash pollution and urged the Government to ensure 100 per cent fly ash utilisation target. Recently, a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) study reveals that two decades after the MoEFCC regulations on fly ash and several NGT orders, 50 per cent of power plants still fail to meet the target of 100 per cent fly ash utilisation mandated by the Government. It suggests that enhancing fly ash use in cement and brick making will not only solve the problem of fly ash waste but will also lead to considerable GHG emissions reduction from these sectors. It recommends diverting more fly ash to roads and highway construction sites, which is another prudent method of utilisation. Odisha, Chhattisgarh, UP, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have accumulated the most ash in the last decade due to high generation and poor utilisation rates. These States together account for over 76 per cent of the total residual ash stocks generated over the last decade. The JANMAT urged the Government to strictly regulate the disposal of toxic fly ash from coal-fired power plants to minimise environmental and health risks to local communities. Notably, 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 and cause cancer, lung and heart ailments and neurological damage, and contribute to premature mortality. Coal ash ponds are one of the biggest agents of air pollution .Communities living close by ash ponds are suffocated due to fly ash storms during the dry seasons. The JANMAT formed a high-level committee with Dr Sudhi Ranjan Das as its chairman to further study and take up the matter with various regulatory authorities and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on fly ash pollution.

India Home To 22 Of 30 Most Polluted Cities In World, Study Claims

PUNE, India — India, which was under stringent lockdown for most parts of 2020 to stop the spread of Covid-19, saved itself from topping a list of the world’s most polluted country — the tag for which was claimed by neighboring Bangladesh. But India could not save New Delhi from being tagged the world’s most polluted capital city. What’s more, the report “World Air Quality Report, 2020,” states that India is home to 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities. Prepared by IQAir, a Switzerland-based organization, the report states though New Delhi’s air quality improved by 15 percent from 2019 to 2020, it is among the top 10 most polluted cities. The most polluted city in 2020 was Hotan in China. “India has observed markedly improved air quality in 2020, but is still experiencing dangerously high pollution levels with severe health consequences,” states the report. “Every city in India observed air quality improvements compared to 2018 and earlier, while 63 percent [cities] saw direct improvements against 2019.” The air quality improved in 84 percent of all monitored countries due to Covid-19-related lockdowns in 2020. The cities which saw major improvements were Paris (-17 percent), Seoul (-16 percent), New Delhi (-15 percent), Chicago (-13 percent), and Beijing (-11 percent), according to the report. “The overall pollution levels are on a declining trend in India, especially New Delhi, for the past five years,” Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at Centre for Science and Environment, told Zenger News. “However, even after the decline, the levels are high, and more reduction is needed to meet cleaner standards. The current action plan underway in Delhi has restricted the problem and pulled the pollution curve downward, but the challenge is big in India.” “Progress is only marginally attributable to India’s flagship National Clean Air Programme introduced in January 2019, which targets Particulate Matter 2.5 reductions between 20 percent and 30 percent in 122 selected cities by 2024 from a 2017 baseline,” the report states. Particulate Matter 2.5 refers to fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. Exposure to it is considered the most important environmental risk factor for deaths globally, and it led to 4.2 million premature deaths in 2015. Stricter measures to fight air pollution in New Delhi and the National Capital Region were also laid down in a Graded Response Action Plan, which was put into action in October 2020. The action plan was first introduced in 2017. The report notes that “Delhi, the world’s second most populous city, is located southeast of India’s agricultural breadbasket, where open burning is common. It is estimated that as much as 20-40 percent of Delhi’s air pollution originates from Punjab farm fires.” Of the 22, apart from Bhiwari in the western state of Rajasthan and Muzaffarpur in the eastern state of Bihar, the rest are located in the northern parts of India. Apart from New Delhi, the other Indian cities on the list are Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar, Bisrakh Jalalpur, Noida, Greater Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Agra, and Muzaffarnagar in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Faridabad, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad, Bandhwari, Gurugram, Yamuna Nagar, Rohtak, and Dharuhera in Haryana. Chowdhury said that a multi sector effort is needed to reduce air pollution in India, with the availability of the latest technology to meet the emission standards. “Vehicles, industries, power plants, waste burning, and construction activities are the main sources of air pollution in India,” she said. “We must use clean fuels to reduce the pollution and scale up the usage of cycles. The waste burning can be prevented if there are strong municipal systems for waste collection, segregation, and disposal.” In 2019, a study published in the peer-review scientific journal “The Lancet” reads that deaths and disability caused due to air pollution cost India $36.8 billion. The study, “Health and economic impact of air pollution in the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019,” reveals that 1.67 million people died in India due to air pollution. The majority of these deaths were from ambient particulate matter pollution (0.98 million) and household air pollution (0.61 million). The deaths due to indoor air pollution caused by household items for cooking decreased 64.2 percent between 1990 and 2019, those due to outdoor air pollution went up 115.3 percent, and that due to ambient ozone pollution increased 139.2 percent. “The Particulate Matter 2.5 when gets inside the lungs is harmful because there is an inflammation of the lungs,” Sandip Mondal, a Kolkata-based consultant pulmonologist and independent medicinal practitioner, told Zenger News. “There are various dust and chemical particles in Particulate Matter 2.5 emissions that heavily react with the fluids of the lungs.” Mondal claimed that there are not many deaths due to direct air pollution. Still, it can act as an add-on factor that makes the lungs more vulnerable to certain diseases such as lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. “World Air Quality Report, 2020,” states that India is home to 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities. (Alexander Tsang/Unsplash) “In India, we observe that lung-related diseases are more due to air pollution than smoking cigarettes,” he said. “Pollution must be controlled, especially in the densely populated area. People living in cities should wear a mask to avoid such congestion in lungs.” South Asia was the most polluted region globally, with India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh comprising 42 of the 50 most polluted cities, according to the IQAir report. The response to tackle air pollution in low-economic countries has not been sufficient. As per IQAir, many countries in the Middle East, South America, and Africa lack the equipment to monitor and report air pollution. “Breathing should not be deadly,” said Frank Hammes, chief executive officer of IQAir, in a statement. “The fact that poor air quality claimed an estimated 160,000 lives in the five largest cities alone should give us pause, especially in a year when many cities were seeing lower air pollution levels due to less economic activity. Governments, corporations and individuals must do more to eliminate the sources of air pollution and make our cities better places to live.” The report is based on the Particulate Matter 2.5 data measurements from 106 countries measured using ground-based monitoring stations from 2019-2020. Of the data sources, 66.6 percent were operated by governmental agencies, while the others were managed by residents, non-profit organizations, and companies.