Citizens' Rights and Duties

UN Environment Assembly adopts resolutions on single-use plastics, nitorgen management piloted by India

Fluoride, arsenic, nitrate, and other chemicals in drinking water pose significant health risks (such as fluorosis and arsenicosis) to our population.

According to the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) website, access to toilets has improved in India and 28 out of 36 states and Union Territories are now open defecation free (ODF). While that’s good news, managing faecal sludge in ODF states in an eco-friendly way continues to be a big challenge. 

The migratory bird season is in full swing and avid bird watchers have flocked to Surajpur wetland to sight the charismatic Common Teal, Red-crested Pochard, Ferruginous Pochard, Bar-headed Goose, Greylag Goose, Northern Shoveler and Gadwall. It is noon and some birds can be seen resting and preening their feathers in the morning while others are skittish and hide in the tall grasses or in the dense thicket of trees. Some other birds can be seen wading in the shallow waters. One can catch a glimpse of nests teetering on the treetops.

Forced eviction ordered for more than one million tribals and forest-dwellers

India is undergoing a major transition with changes in rainfall patterns leading to increased frequency of droughts, floods, heat waves amidst fear of a major water crisis in the years to come. Why are these threats increasing?

People of Ramra, a village in the Kairana block of Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh have warm recollections of river Katha that joins the Yamuna below Ramra. Mustaquim Mallah, a 30-year old river conservationist recalls how his grandfather held many pleasant childhood memories of the river. "My great grandfather fished in this river. Our ancestors fought the British colonialists and the 15-km patch of land in between the Yamuna and the Katha served as a good hidey-hole.

Launched in 2015, Project Raahat, an initiative by students of a management institute, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (SSCBS), Delhi University has been working on eradicating open defecation and providing safe sanitation in urban slums of India. They do this through innovations in management and operations of community toilet complexes and sensitising people on safe sanitary practices. The project is a part of Enactus, a global non-profit organisation.

While India has experienced dynamic growth over the past few years, enormous challenges remain in the water supply and sanitation sector. As a part of the Nation’s vision various national initiatives are currently underway to improve the levels of cleanliness through solid and liquid waste management activities and providing every person in rural and urban India with adequate safe water for drinking, cooking and other domestic basic needs on a sustainable basis.

Jammu and Kashmir is the only state in India where forest fires are reported almost every season. As per Indian state of forest report 2017, India saw a 46 percent increase in the number of forest fires in the last 16 years. Forest fires not only affect the flora and fauna of the region but they also pollute the environment and lead to climate change by increasing greenhouse gases.