Responding to a question on the issue of felling trees in Mumbai's Aarey forest, in which the Supreme Court has restrained authorities from cutting anymore trees, Javadekar told the reporters that he would not like to comment on a sub judice matter.
The order came after State Pollution Control Board said the indiscriminate use of flags, festoons and banners made of plastic by political parties pose a threat to the environment.\n\n
The government may soon think in terms of charging soft drink companies and others for extracting groundwater and using it for commercial and industrial purposes.
E-waste accounts for 70 per cent of Indian landfills.
The Kerala State Pollution Control Board on Wednesday said its sample analysis showed presence of cadmium in much higher concentration than permissible levels.
Less than six months ago, Delhi was gasping for breath. Authorities said air quality had reached "unbearable levels". Schools were shut, flights were diverted, and people were asked to wear masks, avoid polluted areas and keep doors and windows closed. But during the lockdown that began on Mar 22, the concentration of poisonous PM2.5 particles in a cubic metre of air averaged at 44.18, according to a Reuters analysis of government data, indicating a rare "good" rating, the safest level on the scale.
The air quality had turned 'severe' on Saturday evening with stubble burning accounting for 32 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution, but firecracker emissions and calm winds made the situation even worse.
The smog reduced the visibility to merely 300 meters in the morning affecting traffic, an official of the India Meteorological Department said.
India may soon see a new set of oil barons with lesser-known companies venturing into crude oil and natural gas production. These new kids on the block have come up through a mix of entrepreneurial grit and backing from oil industry veterans. Nippon Power, South Asia Consultancy, PFH (Poddar Family Holdings) Resources and Chennai-based Adbhoot Estates could be the first ones to start production from blocks awarded during the first round of Discovered Small Field (DSF-1) auctions. Adbhoot is in a 50:50 joint venture with the Bombay Stock Exchange-listed Hindustan Oil Exploration Company that has some five oil producing assets and over 10 blocks across the country.
There cannot be a complete ban on firecrackers and the mechanism to stop their misuse has to be strengthened, the Supreme Court said on Monday setting aside the Calcutta High Court order banning firecrackers during Kali Puja, Diwali and other festivals this year to check air pollution amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Doctors have declared the situation as a 'public health emergency', while the government has taken a series of measures in view of high pollution levels.
Report by Greenpeace also presented a grim picture of India's pollution level.
The bench issued notice to the Meghalaya government, the centre and others seeking their response on various issues connected with coal mining in the state and posted the matter for hearing February 19.
Villagers have been protesting against the Sterlite factory since February 12, with an effigy of Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal as the backdrop. More than 75 days hence, the dharna continues, the summer vacation seeing children joining the protest.
Pollution levels in Delhi during the Diwali period are likely to remain in the higher end of the 'very poor' category in the absence of emissions due to fireworks, the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR said.
The national capital stood sixth in terms of air pollution in January, with cities like Muzzaffarpur in Bihar and Varanasi showing worse air qualities.
The air quality in Delhi is turning worse, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.
In December 2016, the Supreme Court directed the central government to have a graded action plan to tackle the menace of air pollution. There are two plans - Comprehensive Action Plan and Graded Response Action Plan.
The Tamil Nadu government had, on May 28, ordered the state pollution control board to seal and "permanently" close the mining group's copper plant following violent protests over pollution concerns.
A CPCB official said a number of factors were responsible for the deteriorating air quality, including vehicular pollution, construction activities and meteorological factors.
For Navy veterans who watched the huge vessel being towed away by a tug boat, it was an emotional moment as they stood near the Gateway of India, waving at the once 'floating town', aboard which they spent the best years of their career.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to expand the eight-hour night-time ban period on bursting of crackers and voiced unhappiness over the government's failure to run a campaign to create public awareness during Diwali time on the ill-effects of fireworks.
"We do not want all children to become ninjas," a senior lawyer told the Supreme Court on Thursday, taking a cue from Chief Justice H L Dattu's reference to his grandson looking like a ninja by wearing a mask to avoid high levels of pollution in Delhi.
Rediff Labs has analysed Delhi region's air quality through its product real-time air quality analyser
The National Green Tribunal on issued notices to Madhya Pradesh government and organiser of three-day event 'Vaicharik Mahakumbh', to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, for alleged violation of environment laws.
Violation of the provisions entails a punishment of a jail term of up to five years or with fine up to Rs one crore or with both.
The national capital on Friday recorded a 24-hour average air quality index of 239. On Thursday, it was 315, the worst since February 12 when the AQI was 320.
The overall air quality index was recorded at 426 which falls in the 'severe' category, according to data by the Central Pollution Control Board.
The CPCB said reduction in PM10 and PM2.5 levels primarily indicate depletion in combustion and industrial sources of pollution which are common to both fractions of particulate matter.
Authorities have suspended civil construction works in Delhi and Haryana as part of emergency measures to improve air quality.
Under the emergency plan, stringent actions are implemented based on the air quality of the city.
Hindustan Unilever, the Indian subsidiary of the consumer goods company, has denied wrongdoing.
Expressing concern over the alarming level of air pollution in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has directed concerned officials for banning 15-year-old diesel vehicles in the state capital among other measures to improve the situation.
The dramatic reversal in the situation caught people and weather scientists unaware.
Thirteen cities of the country had an average Air Quality Index above 400, which falls in "severe" category, with seven of them in Uttar Pradesh, five in Haryana and one in Bihar, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.
Closure has meant loss of Rs 2,000 crore to the public exchequer; around three per cent of Tamil Nadu's Gross State Domestic Product is from the facility
Delhi recorded an air quality index of 315 at 11:10 am. The last time the air quality hit such a poor level was in February.
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