Environment & Ecology
Climate, biodiversity, pollution control and environmental legislation
On Edge: The Great Nicobar project faces a great engineering question
Engineering assessments for the Great Nicobar Island Development Project are examining how to build major infrastructure — a transshipment port, greenfield a...
No blanket amnesty or bar: How SC set ‘public interest’ test for ex-post facto environment clearances
The Supreme Court clarified that its ruling on ex-post-facto environmental clearances is neither a total ban on regularising violations nor an open-ended amn...
India finalising sustainable aviation fuel policy ahead of 2027 carbon rules
Aviation-sector stakeholders have been directed to accelerate readiness for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) use, as India's draft national SAF policy nears f...
Supreme Court bars government from post facto green clearance to projects
The Supreme Court quashed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change's 2021 Office Memorandum (OM) that had laid down a Standard Operating Proced...
India’s rice yields could fall 6.6% for every 1°C rise in global temperature
A study published in the journal *Science Advances* estimates that India's rice yields could fall by 6.6% for every 1°C rise in global mean temperature, more...
Rethinking conservation: India needs a new framework for conserving tigers
Conservation scientists have proposed shifting India's tiger conservation strategy away from maximising raw population counts toward managing tigers at ecolo...
Rethinking conservation: Why India’s approach to conserving tigers is essentially flawed
Wildlife experts have flagged structural flaws in India's tiger conservation approach, arguing that the focus on maximising tiger population counts has outpa...
Rethinking conservation: There is a boom in India’s tigers and most of it is outside protected areas
The National Tiger Conservation Authority's "Status of Tigers 2022" report shows about 23% of India's tiger population (847 of 3,682 tigers) now lives outsid...
Supreme Court quashes 2021 OM allowing ex post facto environmental clearance, but upholds Centre’s power to provide ‘amnesty schemes’
The Supreme Court quashed the 2021 Office Memorandum (OM) that had permitted the Centre and other authorities to grant ex post facto (retrospective) environm...
India’s carbon market targets too weak to drive industrial transformation: Report
An independent climate policy analysis has assessed India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) and concluded that its current emission-intensity targets are...
Lavender helps Jammu and Kashmir farmers adapt to a warmer, drier climate
Lavender cultivation, promoted under CSIR's "Aroma Mission" and popularly called the "Purple Revolution," is expanding across Jammu & Kashmir as a low-water,...
Centre notifies 7th draft for ecological zones in Western Ghats
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) issued its seventh draft notification proposing to declare approximately 56,825 sq km o...
India curtails 8,133 GWh of solar power as grid struggles to absorb excess daytime supply
India curtailed (held back) approximately 8,133 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of solar power during the April-June quarter, as the electricity grid struggled to absor...
Government re-issues draft notification declaring over 56 K sq km of Western Ghats as eco-sensitive area
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) issued its seventh draft notification proposing to declare approximately 56,825 sq km o...
Co-existing with tigers outside reserves
The Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves (TOTR) initiative aims to build a scientifically grounded, landscape-based framework for conserving tigers found outside fo...
Centre reissues notification on Western Ghats eco-sensitive zone amid deadlock with States
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change reissued a draft notification proposing an Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA) along the Western Ghats, ope...
India curtailed 8,133 GWh solar power in Q1 to ‘maintain grid security’: Centre informs Parliament
The government informed Parliament that 8,133 GWh of solar power generation was curtailed (held back from the grid) during the April-June quarter Monthly cur...
As told to Parliament (July 28, 2026): Centre clears Rs 5,520 crore urban flood management programme for 18 cities
Parliament was informed that the Urban Flood Risk Management Programme has been approved for 18 cities in two phases, with a combined outlay of Rs 5,520.07 c...
Mine closure opens opportunities in circular economy but needs coordinated efforts
Over the past two years, 42 mines have been scientifically closed in India, with the Ministry of Coal aiming to scientifically close more than 105 mines [Unv...
Floods, dry spells and a 16% rain deficit: India’s monsoon is becoming harder to read
India's southwest monsoon (which began on 4 June) is running at a 16% nationwide rainfall deficit as of 27 July, even as several regions simultaneously repor...