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  The Indian Express December 21, 2020 HE MINISTRY of Earth Sciences (MoES) is developing an ‘Early Health Warning System’ which is expected to forecast the possibility of disease outbreaks in the country, officials have told  The Indian Express . While the model currently in development, based on the relationship between weather changes and incidence is expected to predict outbreaks of vector-borne diseases, particularly malaria and diarrhoea, subsequently, it is likely to monitor non-communicable diseases as well, they added. MoES secretary M Rajeevan told The Indian Express, “There are certain diseases where weather patterns play a crucial role. Such as malaria, for which particular temperatures and rainfall patterns can approximately predict whether an area is likely to have an outbreak with fairly reasonable accuracy. What we are looking at is an advance warning of around two weeks.” Changes in rainfall and temperature patterns likely play a major role in the increased in...

 Hindustan Times Sep 18, 2020 Prashasti Singh India at UN cautions against linking environmental degradation to peace and security. India at the UN on Thursday cautioned against “securitisation” of environmental issues, saying linking up everything related to environmental degradation to peace and security does nothing to address climate concerns meaningfully nor does it ensure that real perpetrators adhere to their commitments on environmental issues. Environmental degradation can have humanitarian impact or effect just as many other aspects of human activity have humanitarian dimensions, India said in a statement to the UN Security Council’s high-level open debate on maintenance of international peace and security: Humanitarian Effects of Environmental Degradation and Peace and Security. “However, merely to link up everything related to environmental issues with peace and security does nothing to enhance our understanding of the problem; nothing to help us address these issues in...

The Indian Express Jay Mazoomdaar April 04,2020 TO EXPEDITE clearances to manufacturers of bulk drugs and intermediates meant for treating COVID-19, the Environment Ministry has exempted such projects from Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) till September 30 as an interim measure. “All proposals for projects or activities in respect of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), received up to the 30th September 2020, shall be appraised as Category ‘B2’ projects, provided that any subsequent amendment or expansion or change in product mix, after the 30th September 2020, shall be considered as per the provisions in force at that time,” the Ministry said in a notification dated March 27. Rules notified under the Environment Protection Act (1986) classify projects into three categories. Projects under Category A are appraised by the Ministry, and those under category B by states. Projects exempted from EIA and public hearings are classified under Category B2. Underlining tha...

Hindustan Times February 28, 2020 Chhattisgarh mining projects violating forest act: Activists Mining projects in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Arand forests are bypassing gram sabha consent for forest diversion in blatant violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the Forest Rights Act, 2006, some sarpanches and environmental activists have alleged. The latest among several such attempts is a notice sent to four gram panchayats seeking their “no-objection certificate” (NOC) for forest diversion of about 2012.88 hectares (ha). The Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the Forest Rights Act, 2006 make gram sabha, or an assembly of all village adults, consent mandatory for diversion of forests under their jurisdiction.  The forest conservation rules specify that the district collector completes the process of recognising forest rights of people who live in the project area.  The collector is also mandated to obtain the consent of each gram sabha having jur...

The Washington Post February 24, 2020   The anti-Greta: A conservative think tank takes on the global phenomenon For climate skeptics, it’s hard to compete with the youthful appeal of global phenomenon Greta Thunberg. But one U.S. think tank hopes it’s found an answer: the anti-Greta. Naomi Seibt is a 19-year-old German who, like Greta, is blond, eloquent and European. But Naomi denounces “climate alarmism,” calls climate consciousness “a despicably anti-human ideology,” and has even deployed Greta’s now famous “How dare you?” line to take on the mainstream German media. “She’s a fantastic voice for free markets and for climate realism,” said James Taylor, director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center for Climate and Environmental Policy at the Heartland Institute, an influential libertarian think tank in suburban Chicago that has the ear of the Trump administration. In December, Heartland headlined Naomi at its forum at the UN climate conference in Madrid, where...

The Polluters October 09, 2019 Compare details about the fossil fuel firms behind a third of carbon emissions since 1965 1. Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia Ownership: State HQ: Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Sign up to the Green Light email to get the planet's most important stories CEO: Amin H Nasser CEO pay: Undisclosed Revenue: $355.9bn in 2018 Fossil fuel production: 13.6m barrels of oil equivalent a day Investment in renewables: $1.51bn worth of renewable energy projects tendered in 2019 Global emissions 1965-2017: 59,262m tonnes of CO2, 4.38% of global total Projected increase in production 2018-30: 7.2% Projected emissions 2018-30: 27,035m tonnes of CO2 Future projects: $18bn investment in extending Marjan and Berri oilfields off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia to extract another 550,000 barrels per day Q&A What is the polluters project? Show 2. Chevron, US Ownership: Shareholder Advertisement HQ: San Ramon, California, US CEO: Michael Wir...

The Hindu Aug 28, 2019 With 140 cm of annual rainfall, Chennai has no business to ever get into a drought situation. But it did — for over 170 straight days without a drop of rain, the city has slipped into such a horrendous water crisis that even the international media, notably  CNN  and  The New York Times , ran stories on it. Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio highlighted the problem to his 32 million Instagram followers through a post in June. Yet today, though the current water shortage problems is far from solved, the mood in the city is upbeat. There are good reasons to believe that from after a few years, the city will never go dry. Some people are even talking of Chennai, 425 sq km large and home to 10.6 million people, as the emerging ‘water capital’ of India. The city’s Chief Resilience Officer, Krishna Mohan, believes a complete drought-proofing of Chennai could be as near as five years. So, what has changed? Hundreds of the city’s water bodies, long p...

The Economic Times Januay 24, 2018 Union minister Nitin Gadkari today said decks have been cleared for the implementation of the Ken-Betwa river linking project and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would lay the foundation stone within the next two months in Bundelkhand.  The ambitious project of the NDA government aims at addressing water needs of dry swathes in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.  "I assure you that the Prime Minister will come to Bundelkhand within two months and lay the foundation stone of this project (Ken-Betwa river linking). We will try to ensure its implementation within the next three years, though project (completion) time is five years and free the Budelkhand region from the drought-like situation," Gadkari said while addressing a programme here.  Gadkari said the project would irrigate 15 lakh acres of land in Bundelkhand region in Madhya Pradesh and about six lakh acres in Uttar Pradesh.  A plea last year had challenge...