Headlines
It’s Official now. India is not happy with the ‘deal’ that it brokered along with the US and China at the UN conference on climate change at Copenhagen last month.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was party to the last-minute consultations with US President Barack Obama that gave birth to the Copenhagen Accord, used the forum of the science congress on Sunday to publicly air India’s dissatisfaction with the deal.
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Sunday,03 January, 2010 | Hits: 87
Manmohan Singh upset that not much achieved at Copehnagen
The Copenhagen meet made “limited progress” and no one was satisfied with the outcome, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, while observing that taking the path of low greenhouse gas emissions was the only alternative and India “must not lag behind” on this.Inaugurating the 97th Indian Science Congress, Singh acknowledged that results of last month’s climate summit, that saw sharp differences over issues of emission cuts and accountability, had left no one satisfied. However, he said, India should aspire to be among the world leaders in climate-friendly technologies.
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Sunday,03 January, 2010 | Hits: 87
Environmental activists also question SPCB’s ability
At a time when Orissa’s Talcher represents one of 24 pollution hotspots of India and Sukinda has been awarded dubious distinction of being one of the most polluted areas of world, for State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) it seems there have been no environmental “wrongs”.It sounds improbable, but is true. The SPCB has launched prosecution only on two occasions on account of water pollution, three cases relating to air pollution cases and eight cases for violation of Environment (Protection) Act during past five years.According to sources, the number of filing of cases by SPCB seeking penalty against environmental culprits has gradually come down since 1986 under both Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.Insiders further say that the pollution watchdog has hardly acted suo motu to take violators to the task. Recently, the High Court took cognizance of a matter in connection with pollution of Brahmani River due to discharge of ash slurry by Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP). It asked the board to initiate stringent action including criminal proceedings against erring official of RSP.
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The board has issued 373 show-cause notices to polluting industrial units during past five years
SPCB hesitating to initiate legal action against violators, say activists{/xtypo_rounded2}
Similarly, in one out of two cases on violation of Water Act, the SPCB acted only after Supreme Court asked it to do so. In another case, SPCB filed cases against 105 brick-kiln units in 2003-04 when government issued a direction in this regard.It is not that violations of environmental norms are not taking place in Orissa and SPCB does not know about it. As per information obtained under Right To Information (RTI) Act, the board has issued 373 show-cause notices to polluting industrial units during past five years. However, these notices have mostly ended in further slapping of closure notices and then granting of permission to re-operate polluting units on “rectification”. Sources said issuance of show-cause notices are many times intended at forcing operators of polluting industries to grease the palm of authority.Several sponge iron units had been slapped with show-cause notices for more than one occasion that meant these polluting industries had either been let off on earlier occasion by pollution control board or some of the units were habitual offenders of pollution norms.“Although SPCB has enforcement mechanism, it does not have enforcement culture. Pollution control board officials are unable to see the environmental damage ramifications and are lacking in clear understanding between regulatory measures such as closure notice and criminal prosecution,” said senior High Court lawyer Bibhu Prasad Tripathy.Mr. Tripathy said authorities were ‘blind’ to environmental wrong in between the period of show cause notice and closure and hence were unable to use the legislative mandate of punishing an environmental culprit.Environmental activists also questioned SPCB’s ability to curb pollution saying that no culprit of environment was sent to jail so far. They said when SPCB was hesitating initiating legal action against violators one could well imagine how serious the board was in dealing with pollution.{xtypo_info}NAME OF THE CONTRIBUTOR: Satyasundar Barik{/xtypo_info}...
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Friday,01 January, 2010 | Hits: 270
LONG BATTLE Munjal Showa failed to stop discharge of chrome into water: pollution board.
Residents of village Sehraul, abutting Industrial Sector 18 have won a long battle against water pollution.
Officials of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) on Thursday evening finally sealed the electroplanting plant of Munjal Showa ( a well-known automobile company), charged with discharging untreated water effluents into the ground.
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Friday,01 January, 2010 | Hits: 90
The just-concluded United Nations’ climate change summit in Copenhagen generated heat in Parliament here today, even as the Manmohan Singh government rejected the Opposition’s charges of compromising India’s interests and succumbing to the United States’ pressures at the Copenhagen meet, insisting that the Copenhagen Accord will not affect the country’s sovereignty. After the environment minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, made a statement in the Rajya Sabha detailing the outcome of the 7-18 December Copenhagen climate conclave, the Opposition, including the BJP and the Left parties, ripped into the government’s position, charging that the Accord was a “global disappointment” and a “compromise document”.
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Tuesday,22 December, 2009 | Hits: 137
Won’t Commit On Compensation To Poor Nations
With the semifinal round of climate negotiations beginning in Barcelona on Monday, the European Union cocked another snook at developing countries, refusing to put on the table any fixed amount that it was willing to offer as compensation for adaptation and greenhouse gas mitigation. While the five days of negotiations in Barcelona are not expected to lead to a comprehensive agreement, the clamour for a ‘political statement’ has increased in the past fortnight. The call for a statement to be signed by political heads of states took root with the EU as well as the US now adamant that they would not be able to conjure up figures for their short-term GHG mitigation targets or financial support for the developing world.
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Sunday,01 November, 2009 | Hits: 100
Sending out a clear message that India would not abandon its position on climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated. India’s commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Kyoto Protocol and Bali Action Plan. “As we move towards Copenhagen, we must keep to the mandate for our deliberations agreed upon by consensus at Bali. Our objective is to enhance the implementation of the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC,” Mr. Singh said in his address to the High Level Conference on Climate Change: Technology Development and Transfer in New Delhi.
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Thursday,22 October, 2009 | Hits: 92
It’s budget time. How refreshing it was, then, to hear these words: “We cannot continue to ignore the clean energy challenge and stand still while other countries move forward in the emerging industries of the 21st century.”
If only they had come from our own government instead of U.S. President Barack Obama. In his budget address in February, the president said, “Because we know the nation that leads in clean energy will be the nation that leads the world, the budget creates the incentives to build a new clean energy economy.”
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Monday,15 March, 2010 | Hits: 285
Development must go hand in hand with concerns on environment
The environment & forests ministry has held up projects worth Rs 30,000 crore in sectors as diverse as power, cement, sponge iron and steel. Largely, the clearance for coal blocks associated with these projects has come under scrutiny of the forest advisory committee of the ministry. The committee says that over 500,000 trees would have to be chopped down for these projects since the coal blocks are in an area with a thick forest cover.
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Friday,04 December, 2009 | Hits: 121
There is a need to push frontiers of scientific research into the realm of modern medicine by bringing the disciplines of science, engineering and medicine closer together, P. Balaram, Director, Indian Institute of Science (IISc).Inaugurating the ninth annual meeting of the Uveitis Society of India (USI) hosted by the Medical Research Foundation of Sankara Nethralaya, Dr. Balaram advocated building institutions that provided a platform for clinicians, scientists and engineers to collaborate on common problems.
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Friday,04 December, 2009 | Hits: 120
