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What Is India News Service
Wednesday, November 07, 2007



   

India's ongoing population explosion has placed great strain on the country's environment. Deforestation, soil erosion, water pollution and land degradation continue to worsen and are hindering economic development in rural India, while the rapid industrialization and urbanization in India's booming metropolises are straining the limits of municipal services and causing serious air pollution problems.

1984 Bhopal disaster - in which a toxic leak from the city's Union Carbide chemical plant resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 people - environmental awareness and activism in India increased significantly.

Industrialization and urbanization have resulted in a profound deterioration of India's air quality. 3 million premature deaths in the world that occur each year due to outdoors and indoor air pollution, the highest number are assessed to occur in India.

 

Between 1990 and 2001, India's carbon emissions increased by an astonishing 61%. Electricity is one of the keys to both India's economic development and its environmental protection efforts. The Indian government has introduced initiatives aimed to discourage firms from generating electricity using older, inefficient coal-fired plants, and it has reduced subsidies on low-quality coal.  

Nevertheless, despite a greater commitment by the Indian government to protect public health, forests, and wildlife, policies geared to develop the country's economy have taken precedence in the last 20 years.

 

It appears it is the Americans who most fear that the proposed civil nuclear cooperation deal will collapse, if you look at their recent actions. (Us Needs Deal More Than Us, Pioneer, Rajeev Srinivasan, Nov 07, 2007)

When India blasted its way out of nuclear ambiguity on May 11-13, 1998, and caused a major setback to the US non-proliferation policies, the US reaction was immediate and severe. (Strategic Aspect Of N-Deal, Tribune, Editorial, The Tribune, Nov 07, 2007)

Is Pakistan’s sickness terminal? To determine this one needs to diagnose. And what does a diagnosis reveal? Consider, first, the Pakistan army. (Special Article, Statesman, Rajinder Puri, Nov 07, 2007)

The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income. (Beyond Gdp And Progress , Deccan Herald, HAZEL HENDERSON, Nov 06, 2007)

Diwali is here again. Easily among the most popular festivals in the country, Diwali is celebrated by most Indians regardless of faith with people decorating their homes with lamps, exchanging sweets and gifts, and burning firecrackers. (Festival Of Lights , Deccan Herald, Editorial, The Deccan Herald, Nov 06, 2007)

Our home - earth - is in danger. What is at risk of being destroyed is not the planet itself, but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings. (Moving Beyond Kyoto , Deccan Herald, Editorial, The Deccan Herald, Nov 06, 2007)

As Condoleezza Rice jets around the world, she must sometimes wonder where she’s going. Over her three years as Secretary of State, she has squandered great opportunities by putting faith and loyalty above her old worldview. (In Chasing Bush Democracy ‘Agenda’, Rice’S Worldview Flips, Policies Flop, Indian Express, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 06, 2007)

Those living in the developing world regularly face the wrath of nature increasing flood or drought, sea level rise and a deathly level of air pollution. (Shrinking World: Exploitation Of Natural Resources , Deccan Herald, KALYAN RAY, Nov 05, 2007)

German firms are keen on a share of the over 350 billion euros that India plans to invest in infrastructure and other projects in the next five years. Investors from around the world, including Germany, obviously want a piece of the action. (Indo-German Relations Move Into High Gear, Business Line, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 05, 2007)

Backing the India-U.S. nuclear deal, the visiting French Minister for Higher Education and Research, Valerie Pecresse, on Saturday said his country could begin civil atomic cooperation only after India’s agreement with the International . . . . (France Backs India-U.S. N-Deal , Hindu, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 05, 2007)

If the two books are to be believed, the time of reckoning has come in our Faustian Pact with fossil fuels, writes NS Rajaram (Nature Strikes Back, Pioneer, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 05, 2007)

The forest guard at the Bhoothapandi checkpost told me that an uphill drive of less than five km would take me to the Vattaparai waterfalls. (For A Cool Splash, Hindu, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 03, 2007)

The Peace Nobel for Mr Al Gore, former US Vice-President, and Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), brings together the narrator of an “inconvenient truth” and a “climate warrior” on an important platform. (Warming Up To Climate Change, Business Line, Editorial, Business Line, Nov 03, 2007)

A wireless surveillance system that can scan and detect even minute objects within a limit of 50 kms, would be installed at Sabarimala hill shrine which is visited by about 30 million pilgrims a year, Travancore Devaswom Board president . . . . . (Security Ring To Be Installed Around Sabarimala, Singapore Times, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 03, 2007)

China will strengthen supervision of exports and ban those which will lead to environmental pollution, said Zhang Lijun, vice- director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). (China Strengthens Export Norms , Hindu, Correspondent or Reporter, Nov 02, 2007)

India is one of the most favoured grounds for many countries for dumping their highly toxic e-waste. (India Is Favoured Ground For Dumping Toxic E-Waste, Tribune, Vibha Sharma, Oct 31, 2007)

NEGLECT threatens to deprive Lahore of its archaeological heritage. Its magnificent Mughal monuments are fast running the risk of losing their splendour to the fatal combination of pollution, human intervention and a lack of money and expertise . . . (Lahore’S Heritage Needs Care, Dawn, Editorial, Dawn, Oct 30, 2007)

WE are living beyond our means and courting environmental, economic and human disaster. (Do Or Die, Dawn, Editorial, Dawn, Oct 29, 2007)

The forest guard at the Bhoothapandi checkpost told me that an uphill drive of less than five km would take me to the Vattaparai waterfalls. (For A Cool Splash, Hindu, Correspondent or Reporter, Oct 29, 2007)

Children and the elderly in Beijing were advised to stay indoors as thick smog choked the city on Friday, a day after the top Olympic official warned pollution could disrupt next year's Games. (Pollution Threatens Beijing Olympics, Times of India, Correspondent or Reporter, Oct 27, 2007)

 

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