Column – English
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We have been barking up the wrong tree on air pollution
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Times of IndiaOn its 46th foundation day, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) released two reports that should force us to re-examine our approach towards controlling air pollution. The first report is the ‘National Ambient Air Quality Status & Trends 2019’, which contains air quality data for 344 cities/ towns from 28 [...]
Rebuilding a sustainable economy post COVID-19
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Times of IndiaThe global economy is in recession, and it is predicted to be more destructive than the Great Depression of 1929 and the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007. India too has been hit hard – tens of millions have lost their jobs, and the economy is projected to shrink by [...]
Breaking the lockdown chakravyuh
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Times of IndiaSet realistic health goals and use latest scientific data to reopen the country, save lives and the economy One of the most endearing episodes of Mahabharta is that of Abhimanyu and his heroic battle to break the chakravyuh. While we celebrate his valour, we mostly ignore a fundamental lesson of [...]
The clean environment we’re enjoying currently will only be short term, without fundamental changes
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Times of IndiaPandemics and environment have a close relation. Throughout history epidemics have caused large scale deaths, reducing human influence on the environment. Europe’s Black Death, which killed about 20 million people during 1347-1351, led to a drastic reduction in toxic lead pollution in the air for the first time in over [...]
Zoonotic diseases are rife this century
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Times of IndiaA crisis does not emerge out of thin air; it has underlying causes. And most of the underlying causes, if not all, are in front of our eyes; it’s just that we refuse to see and act on them. The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis is not a black swan; [...]
To reverse mass extinction of species, set quantitative goals for wildlife, biodiversity protection
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Times of IndiaThe International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), has systematically divided and named all of Earth’s 4.5 billion year history. The length of time has been split from the longest to shortest as eons, eras, periods and ages. According to IUGS, we are currently in the Phanerozoic eon, Cenozoic era, Quaternary [...]