Posts

Toxic Water, Toxic Crops: India’s Public Health Time Bomb

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Raw sewage and industrial wastewater contaminated with metals and chemicals irrigate much of the India's food.

Big India Dam, Unfinished and Silent, Could Be Tomb For Giant Hydropower Projects

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Lower Subansiri River construction site was shut in 2011 and never restarted.
A coal-fired power plant under construction near the Mahanadi River in Chhattisgarh

What Can Be Done to Strengthen India’s Natural Resource Management? [Part 2 of 2]

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The good news is that India’s government has started to shift its priorities in terms of how it manages the country’s economy and natural resources.
The cycle of risk produced by the policy of providing free water and free electricity to operate millions of irrigation pumps yields endemic surpluses, drains groundwater, contributes to brownouts and blackouts, and causes uneaten grain to pile up in outdoor storage areas, like this one in Punjab.

India’s Water, Food, Energy Conundrum: Conclusions From a Two-Year Reporting Project [Part 1 of 2]

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For two years, the Wilson Center and Circle of Blue have explored…

Along Fouled Ganga, Fresh Resolve to Make India’s Mother River Clean Again

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Courts and Prime Minister Modi press for new operating system to stem pollution.

Meghalaya’s Coal Shutdown Order Tests Law and New Court’s Resolve

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The big case has huge ramifications for India's water, land,…

India Harvests Sun and Wind to Save Water and Power a Slowing Economy

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In Rajasthan, renewables are a bright spot in a troubled national energy industry.

India’s Treacherous Coal Mines in Meghalaya

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National court orders end to feudal labor conditions, wanton…

Uttarakhand Flood Disaster Made Worse By Existing Hydropower Projects, Expert Commission Says

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Report calls for new Himalayan development policy; stirs political battle in New Delhi.

Uttarakhand’s Furious Himalayan Flood Could Bury India’s Hydropower Program

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A treacherous mountain range unleashes a torrent of water, mud, and boulders that was long anticipated and willfully ignored.

Mismanagement of Abundance: Constellation of Coal Mines Across India Not Enough to Prevent Blackouts

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Despite the push for renewable energy alternatives to address water and climate concerns, India plans to keep coal as its primary source of electricity. But corruption, bureaucracy, slow environmental reviews, and inefficient transmission lines are hampering domestic production and causing unstable power supply.

Scarcity in a Time of Surplus: Free Water and Energy Cause Food Waste and Power Shortage in India

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Farm policies intended to remove risk from the grain-producing economy have pulled India from the perennial fear of famine. But inefficient bureaucracy and rampant corruption also promote the squandering of resources and a glut of food that is not reaching the poor.