The ministry of urban transport is giving a major push to improve ridership in bus transport services across all major Indian cities by 2020.

Delhi and Pune are targeting a ridership of 80 per cent, while Kolkata and Bangaluru are targeting 90 per cent each. Unfortunately, poor management and operational inefficiencies are resulting in a plummeting of public transport usage. A RITES survey has highlighted that by 2030, 52 per cent of the Indian public across cities will have switched over to cars and two-wheelers. Already, bus ridership in Delhi has come down from 60 per cent in 2000 to 40 per cent in 2008.

The ministry of urban development has released data that states that Indians generate 115,000 million tons of municipal solid waste every day.

Unfortunately, metro cities including Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Delhi and Pune are no longer able to cope with these mountains of trash. Mumbai alone is generates over 5,500 tons of garbage every day while smaller cities are touching the 1,000 tons per day mark. The problem is equally acute across states. Lack of garbage management has driven high-end tourists away from Goa, according to the data.

Two new drugs to treat drug-resistant TB are expected to hit the market in 2013. The drugs, Bedaqiline (TMC207) and Delamanid (OPC6783) are practically the first drugs to be developed in nearly 50 years and are expected to improve treatment of DR-TB.

These two investigational TB drugs are entering phase 3 studies and are likely to be submitted to the regulatory authorities this year. Dr Manica Balasegaram, executive director of Medicine Sans Frontier’s (MSF) Access Campaign has expressed confidence that these drugs will make treatment more accessible and affordable.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned in its 2012 edition of the World Energy Outlook that global energy demands are set to grow with India, China and West Asia accounting for 60 per cent of the increase.

A large percentage of this increase will be in the area of fossil fuels which received subsidies to the tune of $ 523 billion in 2011, up almost 30 per cent from 2010 and six times more than subsidies being given to renewables.

Delhiites will have to settle for a smog-ridden Diwali this year. The thick haze that has settled over the city is not expected to dissipate in the coming week. Dr L.S. Rathore, director general of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), said, “A low density dust-ridden fog has spread its tentacles across the city. A combination of cyclone Nilam pumping moisture into the atmosphere, falling temperature and the presence of pollutants has created this smog cover.”

“With no horizontal or vertical mechanism like long strong winds to blow it away, we expect it to hover over the city for the next 5-6 days,” Mr Rathore explained. Doctors warn that Delhites are choking on Delhi’s air much before Diwali.

Are tiger habitats shrinking in the Western Ghats region which was recently placed in the World Heritage List of the Unesco?

A study conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India had shown that while tiger habitats in the Western Ghats were shrinking, the tiger population had shown a marked increase with the current tiger population being estimated to be 534. The WII study believed this translated into an increase of 32 per cent since 2006. Dr Ullas Karanth, conservation scientist and expert on the Western Ghats, however, insists the WII survey to study tiger numbers in 2006 and 2010 relies on poor methodology. Therefore, the speculation about shrinking habitats coupled to increasing tiger numbers is not reliable,” Dr Karanth said.

A major dengue epidemic is sweeping the country but the health ministry continues to be in denial.

All the leading private hospitals in Delhi, including Fortis, Max Healthcare, Apollo Hospital and Batra Hospital, are flooded with dengue patients and on any one day these hospitals have been handling over 150 dengue patients. Beds have been placed in waiting spaces of the larger hospitals to treat additional patients. But officials insist the number of dengue cases is still inching towards the 1,000 mark and therefore cannot be called an “epidemic”.

Increasing amounts of industrial waste are being pumped into the Ganga river, transforming its waters into killer pollutants.

The Haryana government has chosen to bypass the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) in order to have prime Aravalli forest land transferred to build a golf course.

Instead, they have submitted an application directly in the Supreme Court where they have shown 160 acres of Aravalli forest land to be “barren land”. This, they believe can be converted to build a golf course, waterways and an amusement park. The Aravalli forest stretch that the developers are eyeing is part of a 350 acre Aravalli forest stretch.

India played a leadership role in getting developed countries to double funding for the conservation of biodiversity.

Summing up the outcome of the 11th Conference of Parties (CoP) to the Convention on Biodiversity held in Hyderabad recently, environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan said on Monday that India had succeeded in getting developed countries to pledge $8 billion by 2020 to developing nations to help conserve biodiversity.

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