Environment

30 items tagged Environment.

• 2026-10-01

  Cabinet approves Rs 1.86 lakh crore Green Energy Corridor Phase III scheme

  The Union Cabinet approved the Green Energy Corridor Phase III scheme on 30 September 2026 to strengthen intra-state transmission systems for evacuating up to 135 gigawatts of renewable energy across states and union territories. The scheme also provides for 50 gigawatt hours of Battery Energy Storage Systems to address intermittency and peak hour demand, at a total outlay of Rs 1,86,405 crore, including Rs 54,082 crore in central financial support. The government said the scheme will support its target of 900 gigawatts of installed non fossil capacity by 2035, with greenfield transmission projects built through competitive bidding and brownfield upgrades funded on a cost plus basis.

• 2026-10-01

  Supreme Court rules out a total ban on firecrackers, favours a time bound approach for Diwali

  The Supreme Court on 30 September 2026 said it would neither impose a total ban on firecrackers nor allow unrestricted use through the day ahead of Diwali, with a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and PB Varale indicating it would instead permit selected firecrackers within specified time windows. The bench said it was inclined to allow joint firecrackers, known as larri, subject to safeguards, and gave the Additional Solicitor General time until 15 October to submit a Central Pollution Control Board report on barium based firecrackers before deciding which categories can be used. The case traces back to 2015, when the Court first began regulating firecracker manufacture, sale and use in Delhi NCR because of severe air quality during the festive season.

• 2026-09-30

  Environment Minister hands over India's first PRAMAAN forest and wood certificates

  Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav handed over India's first PRAMAAN certificates under the Indian Forest and Wood Certification Scheme in New Delhi on 29 September 2026, an event organised by the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, the scheme's operating agency. Certificates were presented to the Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation for plantations over 33,000 hectares and to a farmer associated with the Odisha Bamboo Development Agency, following a rigorous field and management audit. The scheme, launched in December 2023, certifies forest management against the National Working Plan Code 2023 through independent audit by bodies accredited under the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies, rather than relying on self declaration.

• 2026-09-29

  WCCB records link Wildlife SOS to a 2020 elephant smuggled across the Nepal border

  Old Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) case records reviewed by The Indian Express have linked Wildlife SOS, a Delhi based wildlife NGO, to a female elephant smuggled across the Nepal border into Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar in 2020 and later sold on to a Wildlife SOS elephant keeper, with a 2022 ivory seizure chat record referring to the NGO's director of conservation and CEO. The allegation surfaces on top of an existing Madhya Pradesh case in which two Wildlife SOS employees were arrested for alleged involvement in poaching ten leopards, and the NGO's CEO, Kartick Satyanarayan, was directed by the Supreme Court to join the investigation on 28 September after seeking interim protection from arrest. Wildlife SOS has denied the allegations, calling the chat records a concocted narrative.

• 2026-09-29

  Felling of borer-affected sal trees begins in Madhya Pradesh's Dindori forest division

  Felling of sal trees affected by the sal borer beetle began in Madhya Pradesh's Dindori forest division, with about 2,000 of the roughly 146,000 identified trees cut so far, officials told Down To Earth, and the operation targeted for completion by March 2027. Ram Prasad, a retired Principal Chief Conservator of Forests who had refused to sign a similar felling recommendation in the 1990s, questioned the basis of the current decision, saying independent experts and stakeholders should have been consulted and the infestation studied as a wider ecosystem issue involving forest fires, overgrazing, soil erosion and declining natural regeneration. The Forest Department has set up a temporary depot near Gadharsai for the felled timber.

• 2026-09-25

  NGT pulls up Centre and Uttarakhand for failing to restore Chopra Gadhera stream damaged by rail project muck dumping

  The National Green Tribunal, in an order dated 21 September 2026, criticised the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board, the Rudraprayag district administration, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited and Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited for failing to report progress on restoring Chopra Gadhera, a freshwater stream in Jawadi village damaged by illegal muck dumping during the Rishikesh to Karnaprayag rail project. The tribunal noted that its earlier direction to release a penalty of over Rs 2.03 crore to a Committee of Experts for the stream's restoration had still not been carried out, and directed Uttarakhand's Chief Secretary and top forest officer to personally ensure compliance.

• 2026-09-25

  Vice-President launches Sustainable Urban River Management Framework at 9th India International Water Week 2026

  Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan inaugurated the 9th India International Water Week 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 22 September 2026, a five-day event organised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti on the theme Climate Resilient Water Management. On the occasion, the Vice-President launched the Sustainable Urban River Management (SURM) Framework and an AI and machine learning driven Integrated Reservoir Sediment Management initiative, and noted that 10 inter-State memoranda of understanding have been signed for water sharing, including the Kishau Multipurpose Project agreement among six States.

• 2026-09-21

  Non-ferrous metal scrap EPR rules face CPCB portal delay ahead of October deadlines

  India's Extended Producer Responsibility rules for scrap of aluminium, copper, zinc and their alloys, which came into force on 1 April 2026 under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Amendment Rules, 2025, are facing implementation gaps ahead of their October 2026 deadlines, Business Standard reported on 20 September 2026. Industry sources said the Central Pollution Control Board's online compliance portal, due to become functional by 1 October under Rule 50(3), remains inoperative, while the average life parameter CPCB must specify to calculate each producer's annual recycling target has not yet been published. The rules set the recycling target at 10 percent of the relevant year's non-ferrous product quantity for 2026-27, and the first half yearly compliance returns are due by 31 October 2026.

• 2026-09-20

  Centre grants permission to fell over 156,000 borer-hit sal trees in Madhya Pradesh

  The central government has granted Madhya Pradesh's forest department permission to fell more than 156,000 sal trees in the Dindori and Amarkantak forest divisions after an aggressive sal borer beetle infestation left the trees dead or dying, with felling expected to begin in October 2026. The Dindori forest department had originally sought approval for around 147,380 trees, citing the Karanjia range as the worst affected area. Officials have pointed to the state's last major sal borer outbreak in 1995, when more than 500,000 trees, including many healthy ones, were eventually cleared after early warnings went unheeded.

• 2026-09-18

  India launches Net Zero Portal and NAPCC Dashboard on World Ozone Day

  Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh launched India's Net Zero Portal and the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) Dashboard in Mumbai on 16 September 2026, the occasion of World Ozone Day. The Net Zero Portal is a centralised platform for the voluntary registration and disclosure of Net Zero commitments by Indian entities, allowing them to report greenhouse gas emissions, declare targets and submit annual progress updates. The NAPCC Dashboard consolidates the implementation status of the National Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change on a single platform, intended to support inter ministerial coordination and track sectoral progress.

• 2026-09-15

  India hosts World Circular Economy Forum for the first time in South Asia, at Gandhinagar

  India began hosting the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) 2026 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, from 15 to 18 September, the first time the global forum has been held in South Asia. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel jointly inaugurated the forum, themed Circular Economy: Transition for People and Prosperity, whose main programme of four plenaries and sixteen parallel thematic sessions runs on 15 and 16 September alongside an expo of more than 125 exhibitors. The forum is jointly organised by India's Central Pollution Control Board and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, and is expected to draw more than 2,000 stakeholders from over 65 countries.

• 2026-09-15

  New species of legless amphibian discovered in Maharashtra's Western Ghats

  A multi-institutional team of researchers, including from the Zoological Survey of India, Pune's Wildlife Research and Conservation Society, and the Mhadei Research Centre in Goa, has described a new species of subterranean, legless amphibian named Gegeneophis chandgadi from the Chandgad area of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra's northern Western Ghats. The species, a type of caecilian, was found living in human inhabited residential and agricultural land rather than inside a protected forest, which researchers said shows that critical subterranean biodiversity can persist well outside formally protected boundaries. The discovery brings the total number of known Gegeneophis species in India to 12, of which 11 are found nowhere else but the Western Ghats.

• 2026-09-14

  Jindal Steel and CSIR-CRRI set Guinness record for longest steel slag road

  Jindal Steel, working with the CSIR Central Road Research Institute, has earned a Guinness World Records title for building the longest road constructed exclusively with processed steel slag aggregates, a 1.85 kilometre four lane divided stretch at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh. The road used around two lakh tonnes of steel slag, a byproduct of steel making, which was processed through ageing, metal recovery, crushing and grading before being used across the pavement's full depth to withstand heavy commercial traffic. Jindal Steel and CSIR-CRRI have signed a technology transfer agreement to extend the method elsewhere, a step that could cut dependence on quarried natural aggregates for road building.

• 2026-09-14

  ICAR study finds severe fodder shortfall across drought hit Bundelkhand districts

  A study by the ICAR Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute has found that several districts of the drought prone Bundelkhand region straddling Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh face a severe shortfall in dry matter fodder availability, with districts such as Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur and Chitrakoot falling below 40 percent of requirement. Farmers in the region depend on dry fodder such as wheat straw that typically lasts only five to six months, after which cattle are set loose to free range graze on depleted common land, a practice that depresses milk yields and often triggers disputes over grazing rights. The India Meteorological Department has forecast below normal rainfall for large parts of the country through September 2026, raising the risk that this year's fodder shortage in already deficient districts could worsen further.

• 2026-09-09

  Lucknow tops Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 among million-plus cities

  Lucknow topped the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 among cities with a population of more than 10 lakh, scoring 198 points to finish narrowly ahead of Indore, which scored 197, and Jabalpur, which scored 195. The Sarvekshan, conducted under the National Clean Air Programme, evaluates cities on measures such as public transport quality, dust control at construction sites and roads, solid waste management and the expansion of green cover, measured against their own past performance. Officials credited Lucknow's improved public bus fleet, stricter dust mitigation rules and continued tree plantation drives for its position at the top of the rankings.

• 2026-09-09

  Supreme Court refuses Aravalli panel's extension request, sets 30 November deadline

  The Supreme Court on 7 September 2026 rejected a six month extension sought by its own high powered committee tasked with defining the ecologically fragile Aravalli hills and range, and directed the panel to submit its final report by 30 November 2026 instead. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, hearing the committee's plea for an extension until February 2027, remarked that it appeared to be waiting for his retirement and said the court would not allow further delay. The Supreme Court had earlier constituted the committee to recommend a uniform definition of the Aravalli range and measures to regulate mining in the region.

• 2026-09-08

  5th Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan awards conferred on Swachh Vayu Diwas 2026

  The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change observed Swachh Vayu Diwas on 7 September 2026, the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, and conferred the 5th Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan awards on the best performing cities and wards under the National Clean Air Programme. All 130 NCAP cities were ranked in three population groups, below 3 lakh, 3 to 10 lakh, and above 10 lakh, through self assessment, approval by a State level monitoring committee, evaluation by the Central Pollution Control Board and field verification by independent committees. NCAP covers 130 cities across 24 States and Union Territories and has provided a performance linked grant of Rs 16,425 crore as critical gap funding, and measured against 2017-18 levels, 108 of the 130 cities improved on PM10 in 2025-26, 72 cut concentrations by more than 20 percent, 26 by more than 40 percent and 14 met the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The event was presided over by National Green Tribunal chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, and a Compendium of Best Management Practices under NCAP was released.

• 2026-09-08

  Environment Ministry holds first large scale clean air dialogue with mayors of 63 NCR cities

  Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on 7 September 2026 urged mayors and urban local body representatives from 63 National Capital Region cities to lead the clean air effort at the grassroots, in what the Ministry described as its first engagement of this scale with elected representatives of local bodies on air pollution. He said urban local bodies are the first responders on air quality, and pressed for effective implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 and the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2025, along with greening measures such as planting drought resistant grass species along roads to contain dust. Yadav said more than 25 review meetings have been held at the Union level with NCR municipal bodies and State governments, and that the Commission for Air Quality Management would extend technical support including its repository and action plans. The meeting closed with a Clean Air Pledge administered to the assembled representatives.

• 2026-09-07

  16th National Meet of State Biodiversity Boards held in Chandigarh

  The 16th National Meet of State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils opened in Chandigarh on 6 September 2026, organised by the National Biodiversity Authority over two days to discuss implementation of India's biodiversity governance framework. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said the National Biodiversity Authority has so far shared over Rs 200 crore in Access and Benefit Sharing funds with farmers, local communities and research institutions, and urged states to make the more than 2.76 lakh Biodiversity Management Committees functional and effective. He linked the effort to India's updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for 2024-2030, which is aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's target of conserving 30 percent of land and sea by 2030.

• 2026-09-04

  CAQM in talks with Punjab, Haryana and ISRO to improve stubble fire estimation ahead of winter

  The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas said on 3 September 2026 that it is in discussions with Punjab and Haryana to improve the measurement of stubble burning fires ahead of the winter pollution season. CAQM chief Rajesh Varma said satellite fire counts from overhead passes may not give the most accurate picture of the extent of farm fires, and that the Commission has asked ISRO to develop a basic ground truthing protocol this year to get a better estimate than fire counts alone. The move is part of CAQM's preparation to manage the sharp seasonal rise in Delhi NCR's air pollution linked to paddy stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana each October and November.

• 2026-09-04

  Chhattisgarh tops the Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari 'Catch the Rain' campaign nationally

  Chhattisgarh emerged as the top ranked state in the third phase of the Ministry of Jal Shakti's Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari and Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Catch the Rain campaigns, with close to 78,000 water conservation structures completed, according to an official statement. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai presented the state's water conservation model at the Ministry's departmental summit in New Delhi on 2 September 2026. Five Chhattisgarh districts, Surajpur, Mahasamund, Balod, Balodabazar-Bhatapara and Kabirdham, also ranked among the country's top 10 districts for water conservation. The state credited a community led approach, including a 5 percent model pioneered in Koriya district under which farmers voluntarily set aside 5 percent of their land for groundwater recharge structures.

• 2026-09-01

  National Biodiversity Authority disburses Rs 5.68 crore under Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism

  The National Biodiversity Authority disbursed Rs 5.68 crore to State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils under the Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism, primarily linked to the commercial use of 139 varieties and 28 hybrids of Okra, along with Cucumber and Watermelon varieties. Gujarat received the largest share among states at Rs 88.79 lakh, followed by West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. The Authority also disbursed benefit sharing funds to a CSIR National Chemical Laboratory unit in Pune, linked to an ABS amount received from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited.

• 2026-08-30

  Tamil Nadu notifies three elephant corridors in Hosur Forest Division

  The Tamil Nadu government has notified three elephant corridors in the Cauvery North Wildlife Sanctuary in the Hosur Forest Division, enabling the trans Cauvery migration of elephants and other large mammals between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The notified corridors, the Jawalagiri Ulbanda Thaggatti corridor (18.50 km), the Jawalagiri Panai Anchetty corridor (20.90 km) and the Bilikkal Jawalagiri corridor (2.20 km), were among 41 corridors that an expert committee had earlier identified for recognition. The Chief Wildlife Warden's recommendations followed proceedings before the Madras High Court, which had been informed that the notification was in its final stages of consideration.

• 2026-08-29

  Assam's Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation completes 25 years

  The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) at Panbari, near Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam, entered its 25th year of operation on Friday (28 August 2026), having been established on 28 August 2002 as India's first dedicated facility for hand raising, treating and rehabilitating orphaned and injured wild animals before their release into natural habitats. Jointly run by the Assam Forest Department and the Wildlife Trust of India in partnership with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, CWRC has responded to more than 10,000 wildlife rescue cases over 25 years, with nearly 68 per cent of treated animals successfully released back into the wild. The centre has also contributed to conservation programmes including the reintroduction of rhinos into Manas National Park and the rehabilitation of Asiatic black bear cubs and rescued wild buffalo.

• 2026-08-29

  NGT issues notice to Centre over dilution of 'construction free zone' status for Ganga floodplains

  The National Green Tribunal's Principal Bench, comprising Chairperson Justice Prakash Srivastava and Expert Member Afroz Ahmed, issued notices on 25 August 2026 to the central government and other respondents over a notification that amends the definition of Ganga floodplains. The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti's notification of 7 August 2026 amends the River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authority Order, 2016, replacing the earlier blanket mandate that floodplains 'shall be construction free zone' with a formula requiring them to be maintained only 'to reduce pollution sources' and preserve groundwater recharge functions, while also introducing a graded definition of active, regulatory and warning floodplain zones based on one in five, twenty five and hundred year flood return periods. The tribunal has not stayed the notification, which remains in force, and has listed the matter for its next hearing on 27 October 2026.

• 2026-08-28

  Karnataka to call special legislature session against Kasturirangan report notification

  Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on 26 August 2026 announced that the state would call a special session of the legislature to discuss the Centre's draft notification implementing the Kasturirangan committee report on ecologically sensitive areas in the Western Ghats, and to pass a resolution opposing it. He said the draft would affect livelihood and farming activity in 1,449 villages across 33 taluks and 10 districts, spanning about 20,668 square kilometres, and imposes conditions on infrastructure, mining, power, construction, tourism and road development in the area. Shivakumar noted that the state Cabinet had already rejected the Kasturirangan report in September 2024, but that the Centre had now notified the draft unilaterally.

• 2026-08-25

  Supreme Court bars construction within 100 metres of Rajasthan's Jojari river

  A Supreme Court Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta on Monday (24 August 2026) banned any construction or development within 100 metres of the Jojari river in Rajasthan, hearing a suo motu case on contamination in the river. The Bench also prohibited hazardous industries within 500 metres of the river's flow path, pending scientific determination of the high flood line and ecological buffer zones. The order follows earlier directions in the case, including one on 7 August asking the Rajasthan government to set up an Integrated Coordination Group to address pollution in the Jojari, Bandi and Luni rivers. The matter is listed for further hearing on 22 September 2026.

• 2026-08-25

  Study flags gaps in India's bioinvasion policy through African Bermuda grass spread

  A study published this month recorded the naturalisation of African Bermuda grass (Cynodon nlemfuensis), a globally known invasive species, along roadsides and disturbed grasslands in the Himalaya and the Western Ghats, two of India's biodiversity hotspots, based on field surveys conducted between 1995 and 2024. Researchers found the species colonising these habitats at an early, localised stage rather than in landscape scale infestations, which is exactly the stage at which an Early Detection and Rapid Response strategy is most effective and least costly. The study highlighted that delays in identifying such biological invasions allow invasive species to spread unchecked, pointing to gaps in India's current bioinvasion monitoring and management policy.

• 2026-08-22

  NGT flags delay in Gorakhpur effluent plant meant to protect the Ganga

  The National Green Tribunal was told on 19 August 2026 that a common effluent treatment plant meant to stop untreated industrial effluent from Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority's units reaching the river Ami, a tributary of the Ganga, remains delayed because Uttar Pradesh has not forwarded the revised detailed project report to the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). NMCG's report to the tribunal said it is pursuing the state government and implementing agencies for expeditious processing of the report. The proposed plant, to be built in phases with an initial capacity of 2 million litres a day, would treat effluent discharged through the Saraya drain near Gorakhpur's Adilapur village.

• 2026-08-17

  Three new cascade frog species described in Northeast India

  Researchers led by Professor S.D. Biju of the University of Delhi described three new cascade frog species of the genus Amolops after more than 15 years of fieldwork: Amolops ammachi from Tripura's Jampui Hills, named after Kerala social worker Padmini Varkey, Amolops sendenyo from Nagaland, and Amolops bella from West Bengal. Cascade frogs are typically found around rocky waterfalls and fast flowing forest streams.