Smog has to be cleared

Losing after winning is the worst feeling possible. This is how I feel looking out of my window at a thick pall of black smog engulfing my city. It was this time of the year, exactly 15 years ago, when Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) began its right-to-clean-air campaign. The air in Delhi was so foul one could hardly breathe. That was a time when air pollution was an unknown curse.

Pollution: the great leveller

A harried parent called a few weeks ago. She wanted to know if the pollution levels in Delhi were bad and if so how bad. The answer was simple and obvious. But why do you need to know? Her daughter’s prestigious school (which I will leave unnamed) had sent a circular to parents, saying they are planning to shift to air-conditioned buses because they were worried about air pollution.

How India is getting gas and coal policy wrong

Two monopolies. One private and the other public; one in gas and one in coal. Both equally disastrous for the environment. I speak here of Reliance Industries Ltd and Coal India Ltd.

Olympics 2008, Beijing - raising the bar

With the Olympic Games breathing down Beijing's neck, the city is racing against the clock to ensure it meets one of the commitments it made when it won the bid for the games in 2001 blue skies. As one alights on the Jingshun highway that connects the airport to Beijing, a question comes inevitably to mind will Nini, the flying swallow chosen as one of the five mascots for the 2008 games, prosper in a city gridlocked by incessant waves of traffic--and the smoke it spews?

Dirty fuel

When Faridabad resident Rajendra Dhankar's eight-month-old Santro began to belch white smoke like a run-down truck, he rushed to the vehicle's manufacturer, Hyundai. What had caused the engine to so wheeze was heavily adulterated fuel. The company replaced the piston and the ring. Dhankar's car was as good as new again. But even as he swore to henceforth buy petrol only from Delhi (Faridabad is a satellite town of Delhi), Hyundai hit the panic button.

Poll posturing

The stage is set for the December 1 assembly elections in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Coming after a healthy monsoon that was preceded by a severe dry spell, the polls offer parties the perfect platform for articulating their stand on matters concerning development. A Down To Earth (dte) team fanned out to the four states to assess first-hand whether there was indeed a shift in political mindset in this direction.

Steering the way

New Delhi, 15 November

No Escape

PACKED off. A stunning US study has clinched the battle of evidence on what tiny particles in the air, mostly emitted by the combustion of fossil fuels do to human health. The industry had refused to admit the mounting scientific evidence that had emerged till now. But this study has come up with conclusive evidence. And has practically put the debate to rest.

Defence of science

"...Distinguished scientists, this session of the Science Congress is taking place at a time when our national security, as also global security, are facing extraordinary challenges from terrorism. The horrendous incidents of September 11 in the United States and the outrageous terrorist attacks on the Jammu and Kashmir legislature on October 1 and Parliament on December 13 are barbaric manifestations of the same challenge.

The CNG sabotage