NEWS UPDATE #122
Double Whammy On Farmers: On Top Of Demonetisation India Scraps Wheat Import Duties!
Colin Todhunter, Countercurrents
Just this week, the Indian government scrapped wheat import duty (from 10 percent to zero). The logic behind this move is questionable and will surely have a devastating effect on Indian farmers the way cheap edible oils import already have. Cheap imports have already devastated the edible oils sector and ruined livelihoods and global agribusiness is now cynically using the situation to imply Indian agriculture is unproductive in its fraudulent and cynical push to get GM mustard grown in the country. (Related:
Mounting debts, successive droughts push up number of farmer suicide cases)
Adani unveils world’s largest solar power plant in Tamil Nadu
Deccan Chronicle
Adani Green Energy, part of the Adani Group, on September 21 said it has dedicated to the nation the world’s largest 648-mw solar power plant in Tamil Nadu entailing an investment of Rs 4,550 crore. The solar power plant, producing 648 mw at a single location, was formally dedicated to the nation, a company statement said. The entire 648-mw plant is now connected with Kamuthi 400 kv sub-station of Tantransco, making it the world’s largest solar unit at a single location, it said.
India explains plan to expand n-power capacity
New Kerala
As it continues in its attempt for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), India on Monday explained how it will expand its nuclear energy capacity to 60 GW. “I would also like to reiterate at the outset India’s commitment to global nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar said in his address to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Security in Vienna.
Concern Over Air Pollution in Varanasi Brings Political Parties Together
Shwetank Mishra, The Wire
According to the November 2016 World Health Organisation data, PM2.5 levels have been at more than 20 times the WHO’s limit in Varanasi. According to a post-Diwali study conducted by the Whistleblower Trust, a citizens’ organisation that runs a state-wide campaign called Care4Air, air quality data collected from 13 major locations of the city on October 31 showed that “PM 2.5 particles rose much above even the alarming levels, and in certain parts of the city like Sonarpura, Machhodari, Lanka, Godauliya and Sarnath, the levels were 15 to 20 times above the norms set by the government of India.” (Related: Air quality in holy city of Varanasi ‘most toxic in India’)
Kiren Rijiju named in Arunachal hydro project scam involving more than Rs 450 crore
The Wire
Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, his cousin Goboi Rijiju, a contractor in Arunachal Pradesh, the managing director and chairman and some other top officials of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) have been named by Satish Verma, the chief vigilance officer (CVO) of the public sector unit, in a report which alleges corruption in the construction of two dams for the 600 megawatt Kameng Hydro Electric Project, media reports said on Tuesday. (Also read: Cancel all dam projects on Ganga to avoid 2013-type flooding in Uttarkhand: Govt of India committee told)
India’s landmark forest rights law hobbled by conflicting policies – report
Rina Chandran, Thomson Reuters
A landmark Indian forest rights law passed 10 years ago with the aim of protecting indigenous people has been crippled by conflicting legislation, and a lack of political will and funds to ensure its implementation, according to a report. More than a fifth of India’s population were expected to benefit from the 2006 Forest Rights Act covering vast areas of forest land roughly the size of Germany. Instead, only 3 percent of potential community forest rights have been granted so far.
Gujarat environmentalists seek chemical emergency in Vadodara industry cluster, cite high level of water pollution
Counterview
Two top environmentalists from Gujarat have revealed that a recent joint visit of Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) officials in Vadodara’s industrial region has found the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 890 to 1,022 mg per litre of water in channels which are supposed to carry treated, against the maximum norm of 250 mg per litre. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) test is used as a useful measure the amount of organic pollutants in surface water, including wastewater to ascertain of the water quality. (Related: Polluted villages around Gujarat’s cultural capital have brownish red to pale yellow groundwater: CPCB report)
In a First for North India, Organic Farming Enthusiast Sets Up Aquaponic Farm in Gurugram
Aditi Patwardhan, The Better India
Sushant Madaan, an organic farming enthusiast from Gurugram has set up the first-of-its-kind aquaponic farm in north India. Aquaponics is a system of aquaculture, which allows farmers to raise fishes while also being able to grow plants. The waste produced by the farmed fish or other aquatic creatures supplies nutrients for the plants. Madaan decided to pursue aquaponics after exploring different organic farming techniques for a while. Having set up the farm in June this year, he is planning to grow leafy vegetables this season. (Related: Who Should Decide if ‘Hydroponic’ is ‘Organic’?)
Environment Ministry postpones forest policy indefinitely
The Hindu
The Environment Ministry has indefinitely postponed an ambitious plan to update India’s forest policy. It has also decided to abstain from committing to a timeframe by which it would have a third of India’s land under forest or tree cover, a key promise of the forest policy. The MoEFCC had tasked the Bhopal-based Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), an affiliated organisation, with reviewing and revising the existing forest policy.
Deaths of land rights defenders treble in a year as violence surges, says report
Rina Chandran, Thomson Reuters
The battle over land and resources turned bloodier in the past year with treble the number of land rights defenders killed, according to a human rights group that fears the violence will get even worse. An average of nearly 16 farmers, indigenous people and advocates of land rights were killed every month through November worldwide, or three times the average in 2015, according to advocacy group PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP).
The Methane Riddle: What Is Causing the Rise in Emissions?
Fred Pearce, Yale Environment 360
The amount of methane in the atmosphere has more than doubled in the past 250 years. It has been responsible for about a fifth of global warming. But it has a confusing recent history. The steady rise of emissions stopped in the 1990s. Emissions were stable for almost a decade until 2007, but then abruptly resumed their rise. What has been going on? Fracking of natural gas in the U.S. and elsewhere has frequently been blamed for the resumed rise in emissions. But new studies are raising serious questions about that. (Related: Methane Emissions Are Soaring, Report Finds, and Agriculture Is to Blame)
An ‘Undeniable Success’: Divestment From Fossil Fuels Passes $5 Trillion
Common Dreams
Marking the divestment movement’s “undeniable success,” a new report shows the value of funds controlled by individuals and institutions who have vowed to dump their fossil fuels assets now surpasses $5 trillion. 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben said the “news is mammoth.” The report by Arabella Advisors for the Divest-Invest Network shows that the value of global funds making the commitment—now at about $5.2 trillion—has doubled in size since September 2015, and comes from 688 institutions and over 58,000 individuals spanning 76 countries.
China risks wasting $490bn on new coal plants, say campaigners
The Guardian
China could waste as much as half a trillion dollars on unnecessary new coal-fired power stations, a climate campaign group has said, arguing that the world’s top carbon polluter already has more than enough such facilities. Even if power consumption grew at 5% a year until 2020 and coal-fired stations were run at 45% capacity, it said, existing plants and those currently under construction would be more than enough. “China no longer needs to build any additional coal plants and therefore should act with conviction to contain its coal overcapacity crisis,” the report said. (Related: China riot police seal off city centre after smog protesters put masks on statues)
Stacking Cabinet With Deniers, Trump Says ‘Nobody Really Knows’ on Climate
Common Dreams
Capping off a week that saw him nominate a known climate skeptic to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and put forth a fossil fuel CEO as potential secretary of state, President-elect Donald Trump said in a Sunday interview that “nobody really knows” if climate change is real. When asked by “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace where he stands on the issue, Trump responded: “I’m still open-minded. Nobody really knows. Look, I’m somebody that gets it, and nobody really knows. It’s not something that’s so hard and fast.” (Related: Internal Memo Sparks Fears of Climate ‘Witch Hunt’ Under President Trump)
Welcome to ‘the Most Toxic Place in America’
Ronan Farrow and Rich McHugh, NBC News
Seventy years ago, the Hanford Site produced plutonium for America’s nuclear arsenal. Today, it’s run by the Department of Energy through its contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions. The contractor is managing a $110 billion cleanup of 56 million gallons of chemical and nuclear waste, stored in 177 underground tanks — a task that’s expected to last the next 50 years.
Sounding ‘Death Knell’ for Reef, Adani’s Massive Australian Coal Project Heads Towards Completion
Common Dreams
Indian energy giant Adani on Monday achieved a “key milestone” in completing its massive and controversial Carmichael coal mine project in Australia—a project, according to a marine conservation group, “that will super charge climate change and sound the death knell for our Reef.” The achievement comes thanks to Queensland’s Coordinator-General giving “the latest, and final, secondary approval” for a permanent rail line and a temporary construction camp. (Also read: Bushfire fears as south-eastern Australia swelters through record heat)
Pesticides stop bees buzzing and releasing pollen, says study
The Guardian
The world’s most widely used insecticides harm the ability of bees to vibrate flowers and shake out the pollen to fertilise crops, according to preliminary results from a new study. The research is consistent with previous work that has shown neonicotinoid pesticides reduce learning and memory in bees. A moratorium on the use of three neonicotinoids on flowering crops was put in place in Europe in 2013 and will be reviewed next year.
On Our Watch, Global Giraffe Population ‘Pushed Toward Extinction’
Common Dreams
The global giraffe population has “plummeted” by nearly 40 percent over the last 30 years, and is now “threatened with extinction,” according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) “Red List” released Thursday. For the first time, the giraffe has been listed as “vulnerable” on the authoritative list, released at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP13) currently taking place in Cancun, Mexico. (Also read: China to set date to close ivory factories)
Arab sheikhs banned from bustard hunts by Pakistani province
The Guardian
One of Pakistan’s four provinces has banned Arab sheikhs from hunting a protected species of bird, defying Islamabad’s longstanding policy of giving hunting licences to key regional allies. Swaths of habitat used in the winter by the migratory houbara bustard are allocated in blocks to the some of the most senior people in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, who come armed with specially modified vehicles and radar systems to track the birds.