Jaswant Singh keeps up the tokenism

breaking with tradition, Union finance minister Jaswant Singh chose not to conform to the two-part format while delivering his maiden budget speech on February 28. But there was no departure from practice in this year's Union budget as it was at the end of the day another populist document. No sign of long-term planning or any strategy beyond the coming fiscal.

CNG sputters on

the Supreme Court's (sc) order to convert public buses in Delhi from diesel to compressed natural gas (cng) mode has had a snowballing effect throughout India.

Gasping gains

In an unprecedented move, a group of asthma patients dragged Japanese automakers to court holding them responsible for the disorder. They scored a partial victory when a Tokyo district court ordered the central and city governments to pay a compensation of US $638,000 for health problems caused by diesel fumes. It, however, rejected a demand that automakers be made to pay as well.

Auto Fool Policy

New Delhi, November 15

US comes clean

after treating it as a grey area for a decade, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (usepa) has finally declared in black and white that diesel exhaust is a "likely human carcinogen". The usepa officially acknowledged this in the final version of its report, 'Health Assessment Document for Diesel Engine Exhaust', published on September 4, 2002.

Oil's well that ends well

Oil industry heavyweight Pemex had to throw in the towel recently when a group of irate fisherfolk brought operations at its refinery in Salina Cruz, in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca, to a grinding halt. The protesters were demanding compensation for damage which, they claim, was caused by a diesel fuel leak that occurred when a pipeline was illegally tapped last April in Juchitan, Oaxaca.

Elusive cause

THE IRRITABLE HEART: THE MEDICAL MYSTERY OF THE GULF WAR Jeff Wheelwright . W W Norton & Company . New York . 2001 . 427 pages

Generating controversy

in a move that smacks of collusive manoeuvring by policymakers and the industry, diesel engine-driven agricultural pump sets have been exempted from the air emission standards notified by the Union ministry of environment and forests (mef) in May 2002.

Directive dumps diesel

After Delhi, it is Mumbai's turn. Taking a cue from the Supreme Court's directive on conversion of Delhi's bus fleet to CNG (compressed natural gas), the Mumbai High Court has in its final order favoured alternative fuels such as CNG and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). It has almost prohibited the use of dirty diesel engines in taxis and three-wheelers (see box: For a cleaner Mumbai).

The Sherlock principle