Down To Earth

Vedanta’s steel plan

Mining giant Vedanta is all set to diversify into steel business. Sesa Goa Ltd in which Vedanta has the controlling share, has begun negotiations with Japanese and European companies to set up a steel plant in India.

Clean city’s air, breathe easy

Keeping the car windows rolled up while driving is a good idea in china, taxi drivers are perhaps the most exposed to air pollution. Cleaning the air of a city might make their hearts healthy, a study reported. Eleven healthy non-smoking taxi drivers of Beijing who worked 12-hours a day were monitored before, during and after the 2008 Olympics.

On the shelf?

Centre’s intent on ambient air quality standards unclear

India’s national ambient air quality standards have hit a roadblock. Revised after 14 years and finalized in May, the standards await the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests’ (moef) clearance.

No concrete plans

The cement industry is India’s ultimate sunshine industry. Up until the 1980s, it was not growing phenomenally. Now it is. After cement was decontrolled in 1989, the industry took off — its growth rate far outstripping that of the country’s gross domestic product.

On paper

The Green Rating Project (GRP) of the Centre for Science and Environment was conceived as a means to track the environmental performance of India’s key industrial sectors.

Backyard mess

You will be apt to find, if you peeked into a backyard of a small-scale papermaking mill — like the one in Meerut shown above — imported wastepaper dumped carelessly.

By hook, crook or vision

The 1980s and early 1990s were a time, the world over, of increasingly stereotypical confrontations between industry and environmentalists.

Caustic-chlorine sector: Under pressure

What would you say of an industry that takes common salt and turns it into one of the most environmentally deadly substances we know of today, namely chlorine?

Unorganized players give e-bike a bad name

For a growing section of riders, e-bikes are a cool way out of increasing fuel costs.

Obama steps on accelerator

Goes for auto emission cuts from far behind in the race