News and Articles

Literacy rates have increased sharply between 2001 and 2011; some of the low performing rates have shown strong improvements, the others have not. The dismal picture in the 2011 Census is that even as the overall sex ratio has improved due to better adult female mortality that of the child sex ratio has further deteriorated.

Members of Parliament from Uttarakhand had a meeting with the Hon’ble Minister for Environment and Forests to discuss the matter. The projects have been appraised and approved by the Ministry’s Environmental Appraisal Committees and the Forest Appraisal Committee, after which the decision has been taken.

The projects that have been cleared include:

• Collection of stone, boulders and other minor minerals from 1497 ha area in river bed of Gola river till the end of next working season i.e. till 31.5.2012

A combination of factors, including La Niña and a strange jet stream pattern, caused devastating floods. The Indus River rapidly rose, and a dam failure in Sindh Province sent part of the river down an alternate channel. The resulting floodwater lake lingered for months, leaving crops, roads, airports, even entire communities underwater.

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Delhi
On June 7, 2000, the Delhi Jal Board and the Municipal Corporation announcement that they would create 150 ponds for rainwater harvesting. TAPAS, a non-governmental organisation, approached the Delhi High Court on June 22, 2000, to force government authorities to improve water availability and quality in the national capital. It sought restoration of neglected lakes and depressions in the city as well as the implementation of the announcement made by the authorities.

Hyderabad
The Andhra Pradesh High Court is hearing three different public interest petitions to protect the Hussainsagar lake. One seeks to prevent construction on or around the lake or its catchment area. Another aims to prevent heavy siltation due to annual immersion of idols in the lake during religious occasions.

Satwant Reddy committee: Report of the committee on the pesticide residue in packaged drinking water and packaged natural mineral water.

Setting standards

 Even if an apartment uses as less as 5000 litres of water a day it must have a wastewater recycling system which does such a thorough job that the treated wastewater is reused to replace fresh water and not for simply disposing off into the environment in a safe way. It is simply not good enough for treated wastewater to be used for watering lawns, an unnecessary demand.

Following the invitation of Member of Parliament (Ludhiana) Mr. Manish Tewari, the Hon’ble Minister for Environment and Forests Mr. Jairam Ramesh along with officials of the Ministry of Environment and Forests including the Chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board, visited the site of the Buddha Nala in Ludhiana, Punjab in September of 2010.

The fundamental right to water in rural areas is well-established in India, but the actual content of this right has not been elaborated upon in judicial decisions. There is no general drinking water legislation that would provide this missing content.