The Supreme Court asked the Union environment ministry to review six specific hydroelectric projects on the upper Ganga basin in Uttarakhand. On Wednesday, the ministry informed the apex court that its expert committee had checked and found the six had almost all the requisite and…
The report also asked for rejection of projects encompassing critical wildlife habitats, high biological diversity and animal movement corridors, as well as projects to be built above 2,500 metres due to unpredictable glacial and paraglacial activities. [more]
As the massive disaster in flood-stricken Uttarakhand unfolds, Himanshu Upadhyaya draws attention to the glaring inadequacies in disaster management preparedness and risk reduction in the state, as well as the nation, as exposed by recent audits. [more]
On 17th June, Uttarakhand witnessed nature’s worst fury, damaging hundreds of buildings and submerging entire village. Over 1000 people are feared dead and thousands are stranded in the state. But was it just nature’s fury or an ecological disaster in the making? Watch the show…
The governments of the day at the Centre or in states (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal) are not interested in saving India’s national river but harnessing its economic potential. Around 60 % of India’s 1.2 billion people live in the Ganga river basin…
Much to the chagrin of the people of Uttarakhand, the issue of hydro-electric projects on the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers have come rom the purview of the sages and sants and pro-hydro project loyalists and now have taken political hues. [more]
If anything, the Wildlife Institute report understates the threat to the state’s ecological balance. A REPORT commissioned by the Union environment and forests ministry warns the Centre against going ahead with 24 hydropower projects planned on the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river systems in Uttarakhand. The…
Some of the intelligentsia, who may perhaps not be remotely aware of the need to preserve the environment, including three recipients of the Padma Shri of this district have come out openly in favour of making hydel power projects in Uttarakhand despite its fragile ecology.…
Uttarakhand tragedy: How we ignored the writing on the wall
As the massive disaster in flood-stricken Uttarakhand unfolds, Himanshu Upadhyaya draws attention to the glaring inadequacies in disaster management preparedness and risk reduction in the state, as well as the nation, as exposed by recent audits. [more]
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