Global environmental risks

Environmental risks are perceived to be the five most critical long-term threats to the world as well as the most potentially damaging to people …

The blind Court

This is a story of justice denied. On February 13, 1996, the Supreme Court, the highest seat of justice in the country, ruled that five units …

River restoration is not just an ecological act

Despite decades of restoration efforts by a rich ensemble of state-development actors, cultural heritage votaries and rights activists, the …

Investment terror

Since the 1990s developing nations have been on a treaty spree, signing a vast number of bilateral and regional investment treaties to attract …

Pollution pays

Whenever the issue of how to end pollution is raised, it hits a block: technology. Take the case of air pollution: among other things, the issue …

What goes down must come up

It is a crime. Numerous factories deliberately inject untreated effluents directly into the ground, contaminating underground aquifers. Down To …

Stained steel

The iron and steel sector is regarded as the core of Indian economy. Its players are big and powerful. It is extremely resource-intensive and …

Gentle on critical pollution

After declaring 43 industrial areas in India as critically polluted and imposing a moratorium on their expansion, the Union Ministry of …

Secretive tribunals, hidden damages

Canadian academic Gus Van Harten is well known for his efforts to reform the global investment treaty regime through his research papers, …

India’s many investment treaties make it vulnerable

Senior international lawyer Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, who heads the investment programme of the International Institute on Sustainable …

Lavasa exposed

By its looks, the place could be mistaken for Portofino, a fishing village-cum-resort in Italy—multi-coloured buildings crowd a waterfront …

Hyacinth can help remove toxic chromium from polluted water

Researchers from India and Ethiopia have developed low-cost method to remove chromium from water

Not an ideal immersion

Instead of artificial tanks, devotees use lakes and large water bodies for immersion of idols of Lord Ganesh

In Parliament on August 12, 2016

Here is a round-up of debates on environmental and developmental issues that took place on the final day of the Parliament (Monsoon) Session

Carbon dots: A futuristic solution for sustainably managing aquatic environment?

The inexpensive nanomaterial is becoming more popular in applications like sensing and bioimaging

60% European water bodies highly polluted: study

European Environmental Agency, in its study, finds English rivers, lakes and estuaries to be among the worst

Poisoned Punjab: DTE reports from state’s villages wracked by water pollution

Cancer and a host of other diseases afflict people living in the Fazilka, Ferozepur, Ludhiana and Muktsar districts of the state, DTE finds

A story between ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’

Nobody knows (or rather, nobody wants to say) who will regulate the “permissible” and ensure that what is not permissible does not …

A river’s worthy son

Veerbhadra Mishra dedicated his spiritual quest and scientific calling to cleaning the Ganga

The ‘forgotten’ water ecosystems of Mumbai

City’s water systems need urgent attention to build resilience against climate-related uncertainties 

Bleeding blue: Fast fashion is now poisoning African rivers

Untreated or partially treated effluent from textile factories, usually blue / indigo in colour, is killing African rivers

Final diagnosis

Scientists have developed a product that will go a long way in helping standardise measurements of water pollution

Tackling marine plastic pollution

According to a 2017 study, the Odisha coast has the lowest quantity, and Goa coast has the highest quantity of beach debris

Antibiotic resistant bacteria found in river water

Banaras Hindu University researchers collected samples at 5 ghats on the Ganga in Varanasi

Scientists find new system to detect paraben level in water bodies

The research is meant to help develop measures to correct the harmful effects of the organic compounds on the environment