India
INDIAN SOIL PROGRAM AIMS TO BOOST YIELDS, REDUCE FERTILIZER USE
02/23/2015
Update Volume
45
Update Issue
6

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an agricultural program to provide soil testing for the country's farmers in an effort to increase productivity and reduce wasteful overuse of fertilizers. The program, which will be available to about 140 million of India's 235 million farmers, will provide agricultural workers with cards containing farm-specific data, which will then be used by government fertilizer suppliers to ensure that the correct type and amount of fertilizer is being used on the land.

INIDIA REVAMPS ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION, PROMOTES INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
12/08/2014
Update Volume
44
Update Issue
34

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new government is reportedly reforming environmental regulations and removing regulatory requirements for industry in order to spur economic growth. A committee tasked with rewriting India's environmental laws released a report last week that recommended removing a layer of government inspection, instead relying on self-reporting and monitoring by industry. The changes are a stark contrast to the previous government's environmental policies that curtailed industrial growth in some regions.

INDIA'S PROTECTED AREAS UNDER THREAT
10/29/2014
Update Volume
44
Update Issue
31

According to data from PADDDtracker.org, an agency that monitors changes to protected areas worldwide, India’s protected areas are rapidly “being downgraded, downsized or even degazetted (relinquished of their protected status entirely) in a phenomenon termed PADDD.” While protected areas in India have faced conservation challenges in the past, the weakening government recognition of protected areas is a new problem.

INDIA: NEW RULE WILL REQUIRE RENEWABLE TARGETS FOR POWER GENERATORS
09/15/2014
Update Volume
44
Update Issue
26

The government of India is preparing a rule that would mandate companies building fossil fuel-based plants to also set up renewable capacity. The rule is intended to accelerate the growth of India's renewable energy capacity, a commitment of Prime Minster Narendra Modi's administration. "A generator will have an obligation to bundle his supplies with a certain share of renewable energy," said Power Minister Piyush Goyal last Thursday.

WHO REPORT FINDS NEW DELHI HAS WORST AIR POLLUTION
Update Issue
14

A recent World Health Organization study found that New Delhi has the worst air pollution of any city in the world. According to the report, New Delhi’s average fine particulate matter reading comes in at 153 micrograms per cubic meter, nearly three times Beijing’s 56 micrograms. Gufran Beig of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology contested the study’s findings, saying that, at least during the summer and monsoon season, New Delhi’s air quality is better than Beijing’s.

SESA MINING OPERATIONS TO RESUME IN KARNATAKA
10/28/2013
Update Volume
43
Update Issue
30

Sesa Sterlite, a mining company controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, may restart some of its iron ore mining operations in India as early as next month after a two year shutdown. Excavation had been banned in the southern state of Karnataka in 2011 due to environmental degradation, but, according to two officials who asked not to be named, Sesa has now met the requirements for a permit to mine in the state.

COAL MAY EQUAL OIL IN TEN YEARS
12/31/2012
Update Volume
42
Update Issue
36

Coal will catch up to oil as the world's leading energy source by 2022, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Economic and population growth in developing countries is largely fueling the push, which will significantly increase carbon emissions. The report came as the European Union acknowledged that it had not been able to fund a single project to capture and store CO2, and earlier this year the IEA announced that, without a major move away from coal as an energy source, average global temperatures could rise by as much as 6C above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

OUTDOOR AIR POLLUTION FASTEST GROWING CAUSE OF DEATH
12/31/2012
Update Volume
42
Update Issue
36

A car boom in India and China has caused outdoor air pollution, along with obesity, to become the world's fastest growing causes of death, according to a study published by Lancet. A record 3.2 million people died from air pollution in 2010, compared with 800,000 in 2000, ranking it for the first time in the top ten list of killer diseases. Most of the air pollution in Asia that killed 2.1 million people prematurely in 2010 was from cars and trucks, with construction and industry being major causes as well.

EU SUSPENDS AVIATION RULE EXTENSION
11/19/2012
Update Volume
42
Update Issue
33

The European Union postponed a planned extension of rules requiring airlines to pay for carbon emissions to and from non-EU destinations. Climate commissioner Connie Hedegard proposed "stopping the clock for one year" due to progress made in negotiations on a global carbon emissions deal, but she added that the tax would be reintroduced if the International Civil Aviation Organization did not make progress by this time next year.

CANADA TO EXPORT URANIUM FOR INDIA NUCLEAR
11/12/2012
Update Issue
32

India and Canada finalized the terms of their nuclear deal, allowing Canadian firms to sell uranium to India. A 1976 ban on the trade of nuclear materials with India, enacted after the nation used Canadian nuclear technology to build its first atomic bomb in 1974, previously halted the trade of Canada's large uranium resources, but India won an exemption in 2008 from the Nuclear Suppliers Group to trade nuclear supplies and technology despite not signing the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

You must be an ELR subscriber to access the full content.

You are not logged in. To access this content: