Self-reliance and export prospects have contributed to the rapid growth of the Indian chemical industry. But the distaff side of the boom is the gigantic quantities of harmful byproducts: noxious wastes, dumped irresponsibly anywhere you can find some unmonitored space. A bit of foresight brings home the scary possibility that nothing less than a disaster will shake officials and industrialists out of their laidback attitude in dealing with environmental evil.

Overexploitation, increasing salinity and industrial pollution are threatening groundwater resources in several parts of the country

The killer quake struck unexpectedli in the still of the night. Entire villages were flattened and thousands perished. Though rescue and relief were prompt, they were uncoordinated. And, several people just stood around watching...

The Damodar is the most polluted river in the country today, thanks to the several industries that have sprouted on its mineral-rich banks. Experts say the only way to save the Damodar valley is for these highly polluting industries to make massive investments in clean-up technologies or to switch to a new generation of cleaner technologies, but the industrialists exploiting the area's resources are not willing to make the change.

Controversy has dogged the Konkan railway project since its inception. Today, many influential Goans are up in arms against the present alignment of the track, which, they allege, would wreck the state's environment. Railway officials, of course, disagree. Down To Earth examines the pros and cons of the case.

Nepal's controversial Arun III dam becomes the first World
Bank-bankrolled project taken up for re-scrutiny by the Bank's new Inspection
Panel an ombudsman body with teeth

It is getting imperative for green dreamers to marshal together their facts and place hair-tearing emotion on the backburner

To villagers in Bihar, the Dunkel Draft and GATT are not proposals or agreements but a couple of angrez out to play havoc with their lives.

Industrialists in Agra and Firozabad are in a tizzy about the Supreme Court's order to close down more than 200 polluting industrial units near the Taj Mahal.

Unless better management strategies are evolved, water scarcity in the country will only be accentuated by growing industrial and municipal demands.

Extracting minerals and ornamental stone in the Aravallis - despit its environmental costs - is such a flourishing economic activity that political parties are vying with each other to protect it. Because most mine workers have no other livelihood, they refuse to let anything jeopardize their interests, reports, reports Author from Udaipur

An Udaipur NGO has been summoned to court because a community hall it helped the residents of Vasu village set up allegedly encroaches on government land

Despite considerable resistance from developing countries, the powerful pro-forest convention lobby will get its own way in setting up a world forest commission.

Sugar and paper mills in Bihar and tanneries in West Bengal have been penalised by the Supreme Court for continuing to discharge untreated waste into the Ganga and its tributaries.

Urban waste will cease to be a problem if it is treated as a resource rather than refuse from consumption, which requires disposal.

The registrar of trade unions has refused to acknowledge the Bal Mazdoor Union (BMU), an association of working children in Delhi. Though the Delhi High Court has upheld the order of the registrar, the BMU refuses to give up and intends to appeal.

Work on the Madras-Cuddalore stretch of the East Coast Road has been suspended following objections that construction had begun without the required environmental clearance

The government is preparing legislation to regulate the use of tubewells because water-tables in the country are falling rapidly. But the proposal could run into opposition from rich farmers.

Environmental degradation, changing land use patterns and poor administrative planning is resulting in the destruction of a unique agro-system in Goa.

"The story of the Ganges, from her source to the sea, from old times to new, is the story of India's civilisation ..." - Jawaharlal Nehru

Until recently, 14-year-old Daham was just another child carpet weaver. When he left his Bihar village to find work in UP's Mirzapur district, he hoped he could get some odhna kapda (clothes and winterwear) for himself and help make life a little easier for his family back home. He could do neither.

The widely-criticised draft policy on rehabilitation and resettlement has a major loophole -- it does not provide for any legislative backing

Bhajani Behera of Arakhakuda village, feels the lake is doomed unless the government mounts rescue operations quickly. He should know, because he has spent 65 years of his life fishing in the lake for a living.