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Kids suffer most in one of Earth’s most polluted cities

National Geographic || BETH GARDINER || March 26, 2019

In winter, coal stoves and power plants choke Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, with smoke—and lung disease.

ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIACoal is everywhere in Mongolia’s frigid capital. It sits beneath the towering smokestacks of power plants in piles as big as football fields. Drivers haul it through town in the open beds of pickup trucks. Vendors stack yellow bags of the stuff along roadsides, and jagged pieces spill from metal buckets in the round felt yurts where the poorest families burn it to keep out the bitter cold. Read more

Why we desperately need the Aravallis if we want to survive

Dailyio || Neha Sinha || March 27, 2019

The Aravallis are much more than an aesthetic setting to the National Capital Region. It is the natural entity that protects us from desertification, holds crucial water reserves and protects us from global warming.

Pretty things across the world are replaceable.

Irreplaceability, on the other hand, comes only if something is valued, seen as a unique entity, its own thing, an identity which has sovereignty, a place of dignity. North India’s Aravalli hills are not remarkably pretty. They do not have the sumptuous, plump orchids of the East Himalayas growing from bowers of trees. Nor the flaming red rhododendrons of the West Himalayas. They do not have biodiversity in numbers like that of the Western Ghats. To the untrained eye, the hills could look replaceable, even dry and barren. Read more

Mining dependents in Karnataka protest job losses

Business Standard || Bengaluru || March 26, 2019

Around 6,000 mining dependents from Bellary and Chitradurga districts, as well as surrounding mining belts, protested here on Tuesday against the bad condition of the mining industry in Karnataka and appealed to the government to save their livelihoods.

The mining ban in the state has resulted in large-scale job losses, said members of Karnataka Gani Avalambithara Vedike (KGAV) who gathered at the Freedom Park here. Read more

Contempt petition in SC over illegal mining in Aravalli hills

Tribune News Service || Faridabad, March 25, 2019

The mining mafia is active in the fragile Aravalli region in the district despite a ban on such activities. A local lawyer has filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court alleging unabated mining and construction activities in the Aravalli hills in the Surajkund area.

“Mining of stones on hundreds of acres of forestland covered under the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) for use in construction works has been going on unchecked. The authorities concerned have failed to check illegal mining, posing a threat to Aravalli hills and the green cover,” claims LN Parashar, a senior lawyer. “The ban imposed by the Supreme Court several years ago was being flouted openly, as large-scale mining is noticeable,” he said. Boards stating stones and construction material available for sale could also be seen. Read more

Cost of rising air pollution

By Altaf Patel, Mumbai Mirror | March 26, 2019

Unless authorities soon take corrective measures, people will see their quality of life diminish further.

The right to breath clean air is one of the most fundamental rights in the world. Clean air is critical to healthy human life. Pollution affects our health in myriad ways. From respiratory illnesses to damage to sexual organs to cardiovascular problems, the long-term effects of breathing poor quality air are well documented.

According to a new report, seven of the world’s 10 most polluted cities are in India. They include Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida and Patna. The study, by the software company AirVisual and NGO Greenpeace, ranked New Delhi at 11, making it the world’s most polluted capital, ahead of Dhaka and Kabul. Read more

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