Environment

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday called the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi in the toolkit document case an unprecedented attack on democracy .

The 21-year-old activist was arrested on Saturday from Bengaluru for being allegedly involved in sharing the "toolkit" related to the farmer's protest on social media.

Arrest of 21 yr old Disha Ravi is an unprecedented attack on Democracy. Supporting our farmers is not a crime, Kejriwal tweeted.

Tapovan (U'khand), Feb 12 (PTI) Rescue teams battled on against various odds for the sixth consecutive day on Friday to get to the over 30 people trapped inside the sludge-choked Tapovan tunnel amid fading hopes of their survival.

Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar, in Dehradun, said sludge clearing and drilling operations are simultaneously underway at the tunnel to reach the smaller tunnel underneath where they may be trapped.

New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) Melting of Himalayan glaciers has doubled since the start of the 21st century due to rising temperatures, losing over a vertical foot and half of ice each year and potentially threatening water supply for hundreds of millions of people in countries, including India, according to a study published in 2019.

The analysis, spanning 40 years of satellite observations across India, China, Nepal and Bhutan, indicates that climate change is eating the Himalayan glaciers, researchers said.

29 Jan 2021; MEMO: The Israeli army yesterday destroyed a natural reserve and uprooted at least 10,000 trees in a military campaign in the northern West Bank in a move that Palestinians termed a "crime".

New Delhi, Jan 25 (PTI) The government plans to impose green tax on old polluting vehicles soon in a bid protect environment and curb pollution.

Vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles and those running on alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol and LPG will be exempted while the revenue collected through the green tax will be utilised for tackling pollution, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said on Monday.

New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has directed the authorities in Uttar Pradesh to take action against unregulated dumping of solid waste in the Yamuna flood plains, noting that steps taken for handling the waste are not adequate.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said despite monitoring for over five years and also taking coercive measures, no progress is visible.

19 Jan 2021; MEMO: Snow fell in Saudi Arabia and Algeria at the weekend as temperatures plummeted to below freezing. Residents of the southern Aseer region in the Kingdom also saw an extremely rare snowfall on Thursday when temperatures dropped as low as minus 2o Celsius in the mountainous region, the lowest recorded level in half a century.

New Delhi, Jan 19 (PTI) Delhi's air quality turned severe again on Tuesday due to low wind speed and high moisture levels, India Meteorological Department officials said.

The city's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was 404 on Tuesday. It was 372 on Monday and 347 the previous day.

Before that, Delhi's air quality remained in the severe zone for three consecutive days.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".

Kolkata, Jan 16 (PTI) To make solar energy viable for households in Bengal, WBERC has relaxed rooftop solar regulations by allowing net metering starting from capacity of 1 KW against 5 KW capacity criteria required earlier and that too for restricted categories of consumers, an official said.

Earlier no individual or housing complexes except co- operatives, were permitted the benefit of net metering a key driver for rooftop solar adoption. Without net metering rooftop solar projects are not very economically feasible, the official said.

Mumbai, Jan 8 (PTI) Mumbai on Friday once again recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 317 which was worse than that of Delhi, an official of the India Meteorological Department said.

On Thursday too, the city's AQI was worse than that of the national capital.

The quality of air was worst in Colaba in south Mumbai on Friday as per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR-India).

With AQI of 352, the air quality in the area fell in the "very poor" category.