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Cse In News

IIT Madras to conduct ‘Gandhi and Cities’ webinar on Republic Day

Dr. Sunita Narain, Padma Awardee, will be speaking on ‘Gandhi and Cities’ in IIT Madras Webinar on Republic Day. Padma Recipient Dr. Sunita Narain, Director-General, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, will address a webinar hosted by IIT Madras on Republic Day January 26, 2021. Dr. Sunita Narain will deliver an address on the topic of ‘Gandhi and Cities: Challenges of Affordable and Sustainable Growth.’ Dr. Sunita Narain has also served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change. Recently, she has been appointed as a member of One Health Global Leaders Group on Anti-microbial Resistance which reports to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. IIT Madras SIDDHI webinar series This webinar is part of the SIDDHI webinar series which has a Gandhian theme. Further information about the event is available at siddhi.iitm.ac.in. The webinar, scheduled for 11 am, January 26, 2021, is open to the public. Those interested can register using the following link - https://tinyurl.com/siddhi-26jan Speaking about the webinar, Prof. Raghunathan Rengaswamy, Dean (Global Engagement), IIT Madras said, “The SIDDHI webinar series, hosted by IITM, is proud to feature such an eminent speaker on the theme of sustainable, affordable, and inclusive growth of cities. This is of relevance to all of us, particularly given the massive urbanization that is occurring in India. We hope that the attendees gain an authentic and unique perspective on this topic by participating in this webinar.” Prof. Sudhir Chella Rajan, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and Indo-German Centre for Sustainability, IIT Madras, will moderate the webinar. Students, teachers, Policymakers, Think tanks, government officials, civil society, researchers, the general public, and research groups are expected to benefit from this lecture. SIDDHI is a collaborative endeavour with faculty, researchers, and students involved in projects sponsored by the Government of India under SPARC, VAJRA, and socially relevant projects approved by the Government of India such as Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and New India Internship. The ‘SIDDHI’ (Self-reliant India: Discussions and Dialogues for Humane Innovations) webinar series focuses on the following themes: Socially relevant technologies Technology for self-reliance (‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’) Technology and rural development

Budget 2021: Nirmala Sitharaman urged to announce clean fuel pricing reforms to control pollution

Budget 2021: Nirmala Sitharaman urged to announce clean fuel pricing reforms to control pollution The Centre for Science and Environment has urged Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to include provisions in the Budget 2021 to incentivise clean fuels like electricity and natural gas to make them more competitive compared to coal. The ‘second clean fuel revolution’ is possible only with taxation and pricing reforms in favour of cleaner fuels, the CSE has stated in a letter the finance minister. “Then, the displacement fuel was diesel for the transport sector. Now, the displacement fuel is coal. Its price is so low that natural gas, with its high tax burden, is unable to compete,” the letter said “Natural gas has a high tax burden currently. It is taxed both at the point of sale and purchase, and this means that tax as a component of the final prices can be as high as 18% or more,” CSE director general Sunita Narain wrote in her letter to Sitharaman. Even though the proactive steps taken by the Union and state governments over the past few years have led to a distinct improvement in air quality in Delhi-NCR, a lot remains to be done to meet the clean air benchmark.

‘Lockdown lessons can help govt’

“Right after we came out of the lockdown, we saw both pollution levels as well as {vehicular} traffic increasing, and quite dramatically so. This was, however, expected because it was a forced change and not because of systemic changes made,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment. Delhi Lessons learnt from the Covid-19 lockdown on the city’s air quality and what contributes to atmospheric pollution need to be put to use by government agencies and policymakers to make sustainable and long-term gains in the battle against dirty air, environmental experts said on Thursday. The lockdown enforced on March 25 led to a drastic fall in the overall emission levels, but the decline in pollution was short-lived and air quality deteriorated when the restrictions were lifted, said Kalpana Balakrishnan, director of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s Centre for Advanced Research on Air Quality, Climate and Health, and Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment. “Right after we came out of the lockdown, we saw both pollution levels as well as {vehicular} traffic increasing, and quite dramatically so. This was, however, expected because it was a forced change and not because of systemic changes made,” said Roychowdhury. Balakrishnan said that the while the coronavirus disease pandemic caught the world unawares, low-grade epidemics have been hitting different parts of India for a long time; air pollution may not kill people immediately, but it makes people more vulnerable to health hazards through prolonged exposure. “Acting to control air pollution is extremely important mainly because of its health impact. The Covid-19 pandemic showed us that it is possible to achieve public transport efficiency by reducing the number of commuters, who don’t need to come to work to earn their livelihood,” said Balakrishnan.

Extreme weather events may surge in near future’

India needs to be ready and come up with specific projection models on how these changes will affect agriculture, health, water resources, energy and other sectors to cope with their impact, M Rajeevan Nair, secretary to the ministry of earth sciences said at a session on Climate Change and the Green Economy. Frequency and duration of heatwaves and droughts; the area under dry spells, flash floods, urban floods, and short, intense rainfall events; and the probability of cyclones turning into severe storms will all increase in the coming years because of climate change, M Rajeevan Nair, secretary to the ministry of earth sciences, said at the Hindustan Times Environment Conclave on Thursday. India needs to be ready and come up with specific projection models on how these changes will affect agriculture, health, water resources, energy and other sectors to cope with their impact, Nair said at a session on Climate Change and the Green Economy. Agreeing with him, Sunita Narain, director general of the New Delhi-based advocacy group, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said the ministry’s study shows that the impact of climate change was intensifying and India needs to emphasise its vulnerability at international negotiations that are expected to gather steam with the US on Monday deciding to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. On India’s vulnerability, Nair said, based on the climate change projections and past data, the Indian monsoon is robust, rainy days were declining and dry spells were increasing. India is warming at a pace equal to global warming elsewhere and cold waves were reducing. “This will have a serious impact on agriculture and farmers as areas under drought are likely to increase from the present 15-20% to 25-30% in future. We need to devise ways to cope with these changes.”

HT Environment Conclave: Prepare for more heatwaves and floods, says Rajeevan Nair

HT Environment Conclave: Prepare for more heatwaves and floods, says Rajeevan Nair Nair said India needs to come up with specific projection models for how these changes are going to affect agriculture, health, water resources, energy and other sectors Based on the climate change projections and past data, it has become evident that though Indian monsoon is robust, rainy days are coming down, dry spells are increasing, India is warming equal to global warming elsewhere in the world and cold waves are reducing. (HT archive) india news HT Environment Conclave: Prepare for more heatwaves and floods, says Rajeevan Nair Nair said India needs to come up with specific projection models for how these changes are going to affect agriculture, health, water resources, energy and other sectors Frequency and duration of heatwaves, droughts, flash floods, urban floods, short intense rainfall events, probability of cyclones to become severe storms will increase in the coming years due to climate change, said M Rajeevan Nair, secretary ministry of earth sciences at Hindustan Times Environment Conclave. At a session on Climate Change and Green Economy, he said India needs to be ready and come up with specific projection models for how these changes are going to affect agriculture, health, water resources, energy and other sectors to cope with impact. Agreeing with him, Sunita Narain, director general of Delhi-based advocacy group, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said the ministry’s study shows that the impact of climate change was intensifying and India needs to amplify its vulnerability at the international global negotiations, which are expected to get steam with the United States deciding to re-join the Paris Climate Agreement.

Budget 2021: Nirmala Sitharaman urged to announce clean fuel pricing reforms to control pollution

Budget 2021: Nirmala Sitharaman urged to announce clean fuel pricing reforms to control pollution CHENNAI: The Centre for Science and Environment has urged Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to include provisions in the Budget 2021 to incentivise clean fuels like electricity and natural gas to make them more competitive compared to coal. The ‘second clean fuel revolution’ is possible only with taxation and pricing reforms in favour of cleaner fuels, the CSE has stated in a letter the finance minister. “Then, the displacement fuel was diesel for the transport sector. Now, the displacement fuel is coal. Its price is so low that natural gas, with its high tax burden, is unable to compete,” the letter said "Natural gas has a high tax burden currently. It is taxed both at the point of sale and purchase, and this means that tax as a component of the final prices can be as high as 18% or more," CSE director general Sunita Narain wrote in her letter to Sitharaman. Even though the proactive steps taken by the Union and state governments over the past few years have led to a distinct improvement in air quality in Delhi-NCR, a lot remains to be done to meet the clean air benchmark. “The next generation transition to meet clean air standards is not possible if access to affordable clean fuels is not scaled up across the region,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director-research and advocacy, while speaking at a webinar by CSE on Friday. "Since the early 2000s, Delhi’s primary air pollution mitigation focus has been to substitute diesel with compressed natural gas (CNG) in the transport sector, and replace coal, furnace oil and petcoke with natural gas in industrial areas and power plants. This has been primarily responsible for bending the pollution curve in Delhi," she said. "This is an important learning for the rest of the country as 122 cities are currently implementing clean air action plans to reduce particulate pollution by 20-30% by 2024 under the National Clean Air Programme," said Roychowdhury. "Such a clean fuel strategy is also consistent with the global trend. Some of the most polluted regions of the world like Beijing have had to replace coal with clean fuels to achieve good air days." To make this critical and necessary transition to cleaner industrial fuels, it is necessary to address the roadblock from cheap coal that undercuts the market for natural gas in India. This has been highlighted in a new CSE study Analysing Industrial Fuel Policy in Delhi and NCR States, which was released in the webinar. The study is based on on-ground surveys of industry clusters in Delhi-NCR. It has uncovered widespread use of coal in industry. In fact, Delhi, even after notifying the approved fuel list that bans use of dirty fuels across all sectors, is finding it difficult to enforce this in dispersed small and medium scale units. “Gas, unlike coal, is not included in GST. The state tax share of natural gas relative to the total petroleum product revenue was roughly 20% for Gujarat and 7% for Maharashtra in the past year. Replacing this for such large industrial states should not be an obstacle," it said. “Our understanding is that with 5% GST (instead of 18% state VAT and other taxes), the price for the industry consumer will reduce by 17%. As gas has a higher calorific value and lower management costs, it will become attractive for industries to switch from coal to this cleaner fuel.” This can help the country fight air pollution not only in Delhi and the National Capital Region, but across India, it said.

Air pollution up in smaller cities last year despite lockdown: CSE

Air pollution up in smaller cities last year despite lockdown: CSE Agra: Though several big cities witnessed reduction in air pollution last year, many smaller towns and cities experienced more “toxic” air quality compared to 2019 despite lockdown and closure of industrial and other commercial activities due to Covid-19. This has been revealed in a new analysis of winter pollution by Delhi-based think tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), in the Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP). The 2020 average PM2.5 level in many cities has climbed up and breached average concentration recorded in 2019. Out of 25 IGP cities' data analyzed by CSE, seven recorded an increase of pollutants from 2019 level. The worst performer was Fatehabad with 34.7% increase from 2019 level, followed by Bhatinda at 17.7%, Agra 9.2%, Khanna 7.1%, Mandi Gobindgarh 5.9%, Moradabad 5.5% and Kurukshetra recorded a 0.6 % increase. Best performer was Sirsa that recorded a 43.5% decrease in PM 2.5 levels, Varanasi 31.2%, Gaya 27.4%, Muzaffarpur 14.6%, Delhi 12.8% and Hisar recorded a 12.3% reduction. Clean air gains of the lockdown and monsoon period were lost with the reopening of the economy and adverse meteorology in winter, leading to an increase in their annual average PM2.5 level, the study says. November was recorded as the “dirtiest” across most cities. As compared to the PM2.5 average in November 2019, last year, it was 310% higher in Fatehabad, 104% in Agra and 57% in Kaithal. Talking with TOI, CSE executive director, Research and Advocacy, Anumita Roy Chowdhury, said the increase in the annual average of PM2.5 level is due to a combination of meteorological conditions when air gets trapped due to low wind movement, stubble burning and local pollutants. This demands regional reforms and action to curb the pollution by adopting strategies like introducing new emission standards for vehicles, industries, scaling up public transport system, and managing waste disposal by burning, she added.

Environmentalists concerned over air quality in Indo-Gangetic Plains

Delhi's Air Quality In 'Severe' Category, Visibility Low Due to Fog New analysis of winter air pollution (till January 11, 2021) in the cities of Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP), carried out by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), shows how clean air gains of the lockdown and monsoon periods have been lost with the reopening of the economy and the hostile winter weather. Interestingly, says the analysis, the rise in pollution levels has also been synchronized across the region with varying patterns. While this was expected, the analysis of real-time data from monitoring stations outside the National Capital Region (NCR) in the larger Indo-Gangetic Plains shows newer patterns in winter pollution this year. Even though trapping of winter pollution in the IGP is high compared to other regions, it was not as high as that in the NCR – at the same time, it was alarmingly high and synchronized despite the large distances involved. This is the challenge of this landlocked region. This analysis is part of CSE’s air quality tracker initiative to get a deeper view of the changing patterns of air quality trends in the country. Says Anumita Roychowdhury, CSE’s executive director in charge of research and advocacy: “This brings out the impact of the extraordinary disruption that 2020has caused. Despite the dramatic reduction in air pollution during the lockdown, pollution has bounced back across the region post-lockdown unmasking the high impacts of local and regional pollution with some variation in the pattern. This demands quicker regional reforms and action to curb pollution from vehicles, industry, power plants and waste burning to further bend the air pollution curve on a regional scale.” Higher PM2.5 levels is a typical and predictable winter trend when continuous emissions from local sources including vehicles, industry, construction, and episodic pollution from biomass burning get trapped due to meteorological changes. Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager in CSE’s Urban Lab team of the Sustainable Cities programme, says: “This year, this trend has set in almost two weeks earlier in the season. There is a clear difference in the winter pollution pattern between IGP regions north and south of the NCR. Even though the average level of PM2.5 for the summer and monsoon months in 2020 is considerably lower than the previous year’s due to the summer lockdown, the PM2.5 levels this winter have risen beyond the 2019 levels in almost all monitored cities in Punjab and Haryana (regions north of the NCR).” Somvanshi adds: “Cities in central and eastern UP and Bihar (regions south of the NCR) also show high winter pollution, but the levels are similar or lower compared to 2019.Combination of the reopening of the economy and changing meteorology is responsible for high winter pollution, but this regional variation calls for a more nuanced and robust pollution control strategy. The region cannot rely only on action being taken in Delhi-NCR. This demands speed and scale of action. The analysis is based on publicly available granular real-time data (15-minute averages) from the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) official online portal, the Central Control Room for Air Quality Management. Twenty-six cities –Amritsar, Bhatinda, Jalandhar, Khanna, Ludhiana, Mandi Gobindgarh, Patiala, Rupnagar, Chandigarh, Ambala, Fatehabad, Hisar, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Sirsa, Yamuna Nagar, Agra, Kanpur, Moradabad, Varanasi, Lucknow, Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur and Hajipur have been selected for this analysis because real-time data is available for these cities. Analysis has been done of the data recorded by six air quality monitoring stations in Patna, five in Lucknow, two in Gaya and Muzaffarpur each, and one station each in the rest of the cities under the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) of the CPCB. Weather data for Amritsar, Ambala, Chandigarh, Lucknow, and Patna has been sourced from the weather stations of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) located at the airports in each city. | January 20, 2021

30 years of liberalisation, but no clean water to drink

30 years of liberalisation, but no clean water to drink Billions of rupees have been invested to remove waste from rivers and provide constant access to safe drinking water. But on the ground, it's still all dirty When the world was wrapping up 2020, looking forward to the delivery of covid-19 vaccine, a news development from a coastal city shook India. An 11-year-old boy in Kerala’s Kozhikode district had died within days after suffering from diarrhoea and fever. Soon, more people were admitted to the hospital with similar symptoms. North Kerala was put on high alert. After an urgent investigation, the state health minister announced the cause: shigellosis, an infectious disease caused due to contaminated water. Waterbodies in the region were immediately sanitised. It’s been close to 30 years since July 1991, when licence-permit raj came to an end, India opened to the global economy and economic liberalisation began life here. A necessity as basic as clean water, whether in our drinking taps or rivers, however, remains a distant dream. Over the years, states, as well as the Central government, has invested billions of rupees to provide water to citizens. Between 2014 and 2019, the investments in water-related infrastructure increased at a 15% compounded rate, reaching $21 billion in the year ended March 2019. Yet, only a little over 21% of Indian households, a majority of them in rural parts, have access to piped water, shows the latest data by the National Sample Survey Office. To put things in perspective, India is home to about 17% of world’s population but has only 4% of the world’s freshwater resources and pumps out 25% of the world’s groundwater. Our country’s main source of drinking water is groundwater, which is being overexploited. Data by the Central Groundwater Board shows the contribution of groundwater is nearly 62% in irrigation, 85% in rural water supply and 45% in urban water supply. Most people in rural areas depend on community wells and hand pumps. Globally, five of the 20 world’s largest cities under water stress are in India, with Delhi being second on the list, according to a study published in the Global Environmental Change journal. What’s more, about 200,000 people die every year due to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. “The irony about liberalisation is that you would want to give people a choice but in water, there’s no choice,” points out V.K. Madhavan, chief executive of WaterAid, a non-governmental organisation that works in rural and urban areas for Clean Drinking Water Sanitation and Hygiene. “The packaged water industry is one of the fastest-growing (reports show it is expected to reach over ?400 billion by the end of 2023, from 2019’s value of ?160 billion). What does it suggest? The failure of the state to provide clean water (water is a state issue).” He points out that the government’s emphasis has consistently been on developing water infrastructure like borewells, but not enough attention is paid to maintenance. “If you look at the number of installations for access to water resources, you will realise it has increased. But nobody checks whether they are working after a year,” adds Madhavan. Hoping for change Last year, when the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in Parliament, she allocated ?115 billion for the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Central government’s ambitious programme to provide piped water to all households in the country by 2024. The allocation was 15% more than in the previous budget. Besides focusing on increasing local water sources, the scheme looks at recharging existing sources and promoting water harvesting and desalination. “Water stress-related issues are now a serious concern across the country,” Sitharaman stressed in her 2020 speech. If India manages to provide piped water to every single house in the country, it will be able to shift United Nations General Assembly’s Sustainable Development Goal 6, which is about “clean water and sanitation for all”. “That’s because we have the world's second-highest population. It will be a huge development in India's water story,” believes Sushmita Sengupta, manager of the water programme at the Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment. Madhavan is also hopeful the Jal Jeevan Mission will be a "massive game-changer but it remains to be seen how they will ensure sustainable source of water and maintenance of the infra.” The river story The Indian government’s work on river management can be perhaps best explained through the Namami Gange programme. More than six years ago, the National Democratic Alliance government launched the ?200 billion project to clean the severely polluted river Ganga, held sacred by millions of Hindus across the world. But the development work has constantly been under the scanner, with the National Green Tribunal questioning authorities for the slow pace of cleaning-related work. In fact, a 2020 report by the Central Pollution Control Board stated the quality of the Ganga water deteriorated owing to the discharge of untreated or partially treated sewage despite curbs on human activities during the covid-19-induced lockdown. “We are not thinking holistically,” Sengupta insists. “We can’t clean rivers till we treat the sewage. The push for more industries will result in even more waste. We need to actively involve communities, whether it is laying down pipes, managing infrastructure. We need to plan with them... work at the grassroots level with them. Water pollution is a very serious problem and it's going to hurt more while we are staring at one of history's biggest water shortage crises.”

Bengal Finally Opens Up Net Metering For Homes, With 5 KW Limit

Bengal Finally Opens Up Net Metering For Homes, With 5 KW Limit West Bengal, a perennial laggard on the renewable energy front, and a huge defender of coal fired energy to boot, has finally started taking its first tentative steps towards more renewable energy. The West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC) has finally allowed net metering for individual households from 1 KW, upto a limit of 5 kw. Earlier, residential category was kept out of net metering purview altogether, with only institutional, commercial, industrial and cooperative housing allowed the benefit of net metering, again with a 5 KW limit. Among large states in India, West Bengal has the worst record on meeting its renewable purchase obligations (RPO), at less than 5 percent of targets. Worst, the state if among the higher users of ‘dirty coal’ in power plants located inside the state, as per a study by the Centre For Science and Environment The WBERC in its recent amendments to the Cogeneration and Electricity Generation from Renewable Sources Regulations 2013 had allowed net metering for individual households from 1 KW but had restricted it to 5 KW. All sanctions over 5 KW came with gross metering, something that served to stifle any possible uptake at a large scale effectively. The few solar plants that have been made for over 5 KW have usually been for captive consumption so far in the state. Allowing net metering for residential category is a good move, although it remains to be seen if it has any significant impact, considering the other conditions. For instance, the state has retained the condition of sanctions equal to or less than original load sanction for a house. Under the net metering rules, the state has allowed set-off of up to 90 per cent of solar power generation for any month. Plus, all such energy will count towards the RPO of a distribution licensee of course. The state has a target of 3 percent from solar energy for 2020-21. The state’s move follows the move by the Ministry of Power last month to limit net metering to 10 KW for all cases, something that has been met with wide resistance from industry and solar bodies. As feared, state regulators have been happy to pick the most ‘convenient’ aspects of the proposed rules, while ignoring more stringent requirements. Another new clause in the new WB rules says that purchase of renewable power through open access will occur at a mutually agreed price or through power exchange at a market price determined by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), instead of the capping price laid down by the regulator.

2020 Air Pollution Report: Smaller Towns At Higher Risk Compared To Big Cities

2020 Air Pollution Report: Smaller Towns At Higher Risk Compared To Big Cities As per the report, bigger cities like Delhi and Varanasi saw a reduction in annual PM 2.5 levels. On the contrary, smaller towns like Fatehabad and Moradabad saw an increase in the levels of air pollution. The 2020 Annual Air Pollution report brought about different revelations about the air pollution levels in the country. While bigger cities like Delhi and Varanasi saw a reduction in annual PM 2.5 levels, smaller towns like Fatehabad and Moradabad saw an increase in the levels of air pollution. An analysis brought about by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) about the winter air pollution in the cities of Indo-Gangetic Plains shows how clear air gains of the lockdown and monsoon periods have been lost with the reopening of the economy and the harsh winter weather. The 2020 average PM2.5 level in many cities in the upper Gangetic plains has spiked to a level that crossed the average concentration recorded in 2019. In northern Haryana, Fatehabad is the worst, with a 35 percent increase from the 2019 level. The continuous emissions from local sources including vehicles, industry, construction, and pollution from biomass have led to higher PM2.5 levels. "Even though the average level of PM2.5 for the summer and monsoon months in 2020 is considerably lower than the previous year's due to the lockdown, the PM2.5 levels this winter have risen beyond the 2019 levels in almost all monitored cities in Punjab and Haryana," said Avikal Somvanshi, programme manager in CSE's Urban Lab team of the Sustainable Cities programme, as reported by The New Indian Express. There were 33 days of standard air days this winter compared to the 41 days recorded last year in Amritsar. Also, standard days have been lesser by 11 days in Ambala and 4 days in both Lucknow and Patna. Not a single day met the standard air day in the state of Lucknow. Also, there were 19 days of 'severe' or 'worse' air quality last year.

120km cycle track planned across Kolkata

120km cycle track planned across Kolkata Kolkata: The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) has drafted a cycle mobility masterplan that has charted out the possibility of a dedicated corridor criss-crossing the city. Covering 14 major roads and aggregating 120km in length, the 2m-wide tracks will connect 114 wards. Based on surveys carried out during the lockdown, and unlock thereafter, by a Delhi-based agency engaged by KMDA, the blueprint has the potential to alter the dynamics of mobility in the city. But it also faces pragmatic issues on safety that Kolkata Police have raised and has made the argument to ban cycling on 64 roads. Cyclists, though, have questioned the ban on a non-motorized and eco-friendly mode of transport. The ban notwithstanding, one out of 10 vehicles on the road is a cycle. According to the KMDA study, dedicated tracks will lead to a huge population embracing it and creating a cycle culture. During lockdown, the cyclist count grew by 400% and nearly 85% cycle trips were less than km. The survey took into account the road width, median, pavement, tram line, bus stop, street light, major attractions, transit nodes and land-use pattern to chart out five north-south corridors totalling 76.3km and nine east-west corridors totalling 44.4km. Significantly, at least a 7.5m motor-vehicle carriageway, 2m pavement and 2m cycle track will be maintained. However, roadside car parking will need to be done away with on these stretches. “The idea is to cover all major transit nodes without conflict with motorized transport,” said a KMDA official at a sustainable urban mobility consultation organized by SwitchON Foundation. Urban mobility expert and Centre for Science and Environment executive director Anumita Roychowdhury has called the cycle an essential component of the resilient transport system and said this mode is important to prevent Kolkata’s roads from getting choked by motorized vehicles.

Union Minister launches Khadi’s cow dung paint in India; check details

Khadi Prakritik Paint has been launched only after it received the certification from Bureau of Indian Standards. Cow dung paint in India: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari recently launched ‘Khadi Prakritik Paint’, a paint made out of cow dung. Developed by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), the paint is being claimed to be non-toxic, having anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, as well as eco-friendly. Moreover, since cow dung is the main element in this paint, the paint is cost-effective. The paint has been made odourless, as well. Khadi Prakritik Paint has been launched only after it received the certification from Bureau of Indian Standards. Minister Gadkari said that the move would aid in increasing the income of the farmers and improving the rural economy. The paint has been launched in two variants – distemper, priced at Rs 120 a litre, and emulsion, at Rs 225 a litre. The price is significantly less than that of other paints. Moreover, the paint, according to a statement by the Union Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, does not contain elements like mercury, lead, chromium, cadmium as well as arsenic. Khadi Prakritik Paint: Why eco-friendly paint matters A study conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment in 2008 and 2009, had found that as many as 72% of the samples tested by them contained lead samples that vastly exceeded the permissible limit set by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The limits set by regulatory authorities in India require companies to self-certify their compliance with these measures, making it more of a voluntary requirement than a mandatory one. Numerous studies have shown that paints contain toxic chemicals, especially lead, which can have serious impacts on the healths of people exposed to the fumes. This is especially true for children, in whom, fumes from lead-containing paints can lead to lower IQ levels. While the study by CSE was conducted over 10 years ago, in 2017, Delhi-based NGO Toxic Link, which has had numerous published researches on the issue, again studied the levels of lead in most paints. Even after nearly a decade, the study found a whopping 73% of paint samples having lead levels higher than the required 90 ppm, indicating barely any change at the ground level in terms of compliance to these standards. The only sliver of hope was a few big companies offering lead-free alternatives, while most still continued to sell paints containing harmful levels of lead. Keeping this in consideration, the paint developed by KVIC would play a very important role in reducing chemical-based paints and the threats to health that they pose.

Approval for vehicle scrappage policy likely soon: Nitin Gadkari

Approval for vehicle scrappage policy likely soon: Nitin Gadkari There could be some good news coming India Auto Inc’s way soon. The much-delayed Vehicle Scrappage Policy is likely to get the green signal from the government. This is according to Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari, who was speaking at the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Innovation Challenge 2020-21’ event yesterday. In an effort to spur adoption of electric vehicles and also reduce pollution levels, on July 26, 2019, the government proposed amendments to existing motor vehicle norms to allow scrapping of vehicles older than 15 years. As per a PTI report, Gadkari said: "We have submitted the proposal and I am expecting that we will get approval as early as possible for the scrapping policy," A final call in this regard, however, will be taken by the Prime Minister's Office, which had earlier sent the proposed policy for a fresh round of consultation with stakeholders. In May 2016, the government had floated a draft Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme (V-VMP) that proposed to take 28 million decade-old vehicles off the road. A committee of secretaries (CoS) recommended to the ministry redesigning of the scheme for greater participation of states with partial support from the Centre. The CoS had suggested that the scheme may dovetail a calibrated and phased regulatory approach for capping the life of vehicles together with stricter implementation of emission norms and accordingly a revised consultation paper got in-principle nod of the PMO. Scrappage as a growth accelerator Vehicle scrappage essentially gets rid of old, polluting vehicles on road. Adopted by a number of developed markets, a vehicle scrappage policy is usually mandated by a government to accelerate the replacement of old, polluting vehicles by new vehicles. Such a policy also enables dual gains — stimulating the domestic automobile and automotive industry and importantly, removing inefficient, polluting vehicles from the road, paving the way for greener motoring and cleaner air. As per government estimates, over 28 million end-of-life vehicles or ELVs (older than March 31, 2005) across categories were ready to be discarded by April 2020. This would translate into a massive opportunity for players in the organised scrappage and recycling industry. The Indian automobile industry, which has been witnessing a sales slowdown since the past two years and is down 24% as per the latest April-December 2020 numbers, has been urging the government to introduce a vehicle scrappage policy since long. The M&HCV segment, is down 54% year on year, and will hugely benefit from such a policy. High pollution potential of older vehicles According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), by 2025, India will have a monumental load of over 2 crore old vehicles nearing the end of their lives. These, along with other unfit vehicles, will cause huge pollution and environmental damage. Even though the older legacy vehicles are smaller in numbers, their contribution to the pollution load from vehicles can be disproportionately high. In its consultation note of 2018, MoRTH had mentioned that although CVs (such as trucks and buses, taxies and three-wheelers) constitute only about 5 percent of the total fleet, they contribute nearly 65-70 percent of the vehicular pollution. Of these, the older commercial vehicles, typically manufactured before the year 2000, account for 15 percent of the total vehicular pollution as these pollute 10-25 times more than a modern vehicle. Another 2013 study from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) estimates that in 2011, pre-2003 vehicles were about 23 percent of the fleet but were responsible for about half of the particulate emissions from vehicles. IIT Bombay’s multi-city study in 2014 estimated that pre-2005 vehicles were responsible for 70 percent of total pollution load from vehicles. In fact, old heavy-duty vehicles have higher impact in smaller cities and towns and contribution of old diesel cars and two-wheelers can vary between 8-23 percent across cities. Fleet renewal of heavy-duty vehicles based on BS VI emissions standards can give significant benefits. For example, an old BS-I heavy-duty diesel vehicle is designed to emit 35 times higher particulate matter compared to a BS VI vehicle. As cities

छोटे शहरों की हवा बड़ों से ज्यादा खराब

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