Issue 8
January 05, 2008
Flagging the issue of waste management as a critical public health and environmental concern, organisations, experts and professionals from across India have urged that the issue of waste management should not be reduced to projection of waste as an economic resource at the cost of the basic principal of waste reduction and its safe management.  A global green labeling system, Better Environmental Sustainability Targets (BEST) certification for lead battery manufacturers was launched at the recent Auto Expo in New Delhi.
Delhi Government hospitals are on the fast track to eliminate toxic heavy metal mercury from the health- care system. After the latest meeting between medical superintendents of 30-odd hospitals and representatives of the health department, it was decided that hospitals would not buy new mercury thermometers anymore. As Delhi grew, pushing its limits to include new colonies and sub-cities, it sat on a huge pile of garbage. The city’s landfills could take no more trash and the government’s waste management strategy was clearly not working. That’s when a few colonies in Delhi decided to act. A few Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) and the environmental group, Toxics Link, have been working towards zero waste management to fill the gaps in the municipality’s system. Issue 7
November 27, 2007
 Toxics Link has released a pioneering study on the e-waste scenario in Kolkata, revealing that not only is the city fast joining other metros in e-waste generation, but is also emerging as a major centre for hazardous e-waste recycling in its residential areas that is being imported from other parts of India and overseas.
 Toxics Link has welcomed the draft guidelines on electronic waste management announced by the Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment and Forests, but added its reservations over the lack of focus on creating systems and institution for management of waste.
It's not just the Left allies and the opposition BJP that are gunning for Congress for stalling and subverting the Forest Rights Act. Fissures are building within the party too on the issue. The environment ministry has received a letter from Congress general secretary V Kishore Chandra S Deo, criticizing its attempt "to negate the very purpose for which the Act was enacted by Parliament". British mining giant Vedanta Resources' plan to operate a US$900 million refinery in eastern India hit a fresh obstacle on Friday when the Supreme Court set new conditions for the project.  A Toxics-Link and CNN-IBN investigation has found that branded toys, many claiming to be non-toxic, in fact, contain dangerous amounts of lead. The Special Investigation Team began the probe by randomly buying toys from across various toy stores in Delhi.
Issue 6
July 23, 2007
 Delhi-based Toxics Link has urged the Indian Government to take a cue from the recent move against mercury by the European Union Parliament through a resolution seeking to ban trade of the heavy metal by 2010 and take some strong steps for replacement and phasing out of mercury here.
 When global climate change seems to have drawn most of the attention on account of rising temperatures across the planet in the recent times, this World Environment Day, Toxics Link, called for an associated focus on the worsening challenge of electronic waste, particularly in India.
 Citizens of Delhi have been voicing concern over the damage that is being caused to the city trees and environment for the mega transport projects, like Metro and High Capacity Bus System. Tired of waiting on the sidelines, residents from some of the residential colonies are now organising themselves to push for a people and environment-friendly implementation of these projects.
 Vegetables grown in semi-urban areas, which use industrial waste water for irrigation, have high levels of heavy metals such as lead, which is neurotoxic brain and cadmium, which can cause cancer, according to a new study by Indian and UK scientists.
Global consumers are increasingly becoming environmentally conscious and this is pushing the demand for organic and eco-friendly products, particularly textiles. Demand for organic cotton is accelerating with brands and retailers continuing responding to consumer choices by increasing the use of organic cotton for manufacturing textiles. The Union Government has urged the Supreme Court it to wind up its Green Bench on the ground that it has outlived its utility and is hurting the objective of preservation of forests.The Bench's orders on the basis of advice given by lay persons have contributed in accentuating poverty, social unrest and a spurt in Naxal activities in major states, the Centre said in what marked an unprecedented display of belligerence. Issue 5
May 08, 2007
 The fact that close to 30,000 trees have been axed in the past few years for moderninsing and decongesting transport in the National Capital Region seems too much to be swallowed without any reasoning. The question that has been haunting people, who are faced with these broad daylight murders and mutilations in their neighbourhood, is whether any thought was given to the trees while planning these projects.
Over 75 people, including scholars, students and staff, from University of Delhi have written to the Vice Chancellor Professor Deepak Pental, stating their deep concern over reports of 1,000 trees on the campus sports facility having been marked for felling to erect a rugby ground, which will be used for the Commonwealth Games.  Close to 40 of JNU's faculty members have drawn Vice Chancellor B.B. Bhattacharya's attention to the fact that the development of campus for addressing the needs of the academic community should be carried out only by integerating a long-term perspective of the environment.
At a time when the National Capital is witnessing one the greatest assaults on its green cover in its history, a new study has revealed that the Delhiites draw half of their water quota from the groundwater. More concrete areas and fewer trees in and around colonies would mean poor recharge of the groundwater and worsening of water crisis. Environmental and health NGOs have welcomed the results of the 1st reading vote from the Environment and Public Health Committee of the European Parliament on the proposed regulation to ban EU mercury exports and ensure the safe storage of surplus mercury.  Jeevika, South Asia Livelihood Film Competition, is currently accepting entries for its annual documentary film festival. The event that showcases celluloid works on challenges of livelihood faced by urban and rural poor is scheduled from July 20-23, 2007 at India Habitat Centre will receive titles till May 31st 2007.
Issue 4
March 12, 2007
 A recent survey by an industry grouping has claimed that though the National Capital has the largest number of people engaged in the recycling of urban or municipal waste compared to all other metros, yet it is the worst in managing its trash and figures below Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
In a bid to counter the growing problem of municipal waste management in Mumbai and its inability to address this, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will float a tender seeking expression of interest by private firms for generating energy from waste. The city of joy, Kolkata, is peaking a productivity figure that it isn't quite ready to handle. The city is generating 3,000 metric tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste and its only landfill, Dhapa, is overflowing.This has forced Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s (KMC) to look for a second site and if one goes by local news reports, the planned new site would encroach on a wetland listed under Ramsar Convention. In a grim reminder of the increasing environmental and health hazards in India's urban centres, a new study has revealed that Mumbai is not just the leading generator of electronic waste in the country, but also that the rate at which the commercial capital is throwing away electronic goods is far higher than believed so far.  A half-day workshop was organised in the National Capital's National Science Centre to observe the World Wetland Day on 2 February by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and The Energy Research Institute for highlighting their ecological importance, the threat they face today and ways to protect them.
Issue 3
February 08, 2007
 Findings from a recent global study on mercury exposure reaffirms what scientific reports have shown conclusively over and over again, that even low-level exposure to mercury in the womb can damage metal growth in children.
 India's Toxics Link joined a large number of non-governmental organisations to call upon Governments across the globe to place a ban on mercury exports in a bid to check increasing mercury pollution at the 24th United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Governing Council meeting being held from 5th to 9th February 2007.
The death of a 47-year-old man who had worked for a Hindustan Lever thermometer factory for 18 years brought out hundreds of ex-employees, who had also been exposed to toxic mercury, to the streets in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu.  Dangerous levels of mercury have been found in the indoor air of two Delhi hospitals, indicating a persistent toxic exposure to the healthcare staff and those visiting these and similar facilities, according to a new study by Toxics Link, a Delhi-based environmental group.
Scientists from 113 countries issued a landmark report stating that global warming is caused by humans and that hotter temperatures and increase in sea levels would continue for centuries no matter how much humans control their pollution. The UN Development Programme and the UN Environment Programme have launched a joint Poverty and Environment Facility in Nairobi, Kenya with the aim of expanding the world body's environmental work around the world, especially in Africa and Asia. Issue 2
January 06, 2007
 A U.S. research claims that India's rice harvests have been declining since the 1980s owing to polluted clouds shrouding most of South Asia and in the process reducing sunlight and rainfall.
 Stating that the three major challenges the planet faces are the availability of water, food, and energy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called upon those present at the recent 94th Indian Science Congress (ISC) to deliberate on these issues, adding that though we we do not own the earth, but borrow it from our children.
The Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Reserach (PGIMER) will soon undertake a nation-wide study, in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), to investigate the prevalence of respiratory diseases like asthma and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board says air pollution levels in Banglore from vehicular emissions may be stabilising in some parts, but the huge number of vehicles nullify this positive effect. Issue 1
December 06, 2006
 Electronic waste generation is on the rise across the country with the metro cities emerging as the centres for trade and recycling of this new age trash. A trip to the by-lanes Kolkata reveals that like Delhi and Mumbai, e-waste recycling is emerging as a highly profitable pursuit for the traders here as well.
 In a rare gathering of diverse stakeholders, ranging from national and international non-governmental organisations to state pollution control body and software corporates, came together in Mumbai to not just blow the whistle on the emerging threat of e-waste but also to flesh out future directions.
 While most of the e-waste used to find its way into the Asian countries like China and India, tighter environmental regulations imposed by these countries have forced the developed world to look at Africa as the dumping ground. According to a study by the Basel Action Network, a minimum of 100,000 used and obsolete computers a month are entering the Nigerian port of Lagos alone.
 In a move that has been widely welcomed for its potential to make governance more participatory and facilitate dialogue within communities, the Government of India has allowed setting up of Community Radio Stations by non-profit organisations and educational institutions.
The much hyped decline in Delhi's air pollution for the past five years or so may become a short-lived success. As a new research by the Centre for Science and Environment (C.S.E.) claims that the process has been reversed this winter, as the air pollution levels in the city have risen higher than they have been for past couple of years. |
NEWS