PANJIM: The mining ban has come as a blessing for people living in mining belts as government records indicate that pollution levels along the mining talukas have shown a drastic decline.

According to the data tabled in the House by Minister for Environment Alina Saldanha, since September 2012, the pollution level has been much below the permissible limit, which was beyond permissible limit from 2011 till September 2012.

Current policies on containing air pollution, particularly in cities, are regressive

Our health is not on anybody's agenda. Or we just don't seem to make the connections between the growing burden of disease and the deteriorating condition of our environment. We don't really believe science, which tells us each passing day how toxins affect our bodies, leading to high rates of both morbidity and mortality. It is true that it is difficult to establish cause and effect; but we know more than enough to say that air pollution is today a leading cause of both disease and death in India and other parts of South Asia.

Stringent environmental clearance rules for mining of minor minerals are set to be relaxed for mining projects involving 'brick earth' and 'ordinary earth'.

The program to combat pollution will place greater emphasis on monitoring, gathering and releasing information and tackling PM2.5, the minister leading the fight for cleaner air told a major anti-p

China's environment minister said on Thursday that emissions of four major pollutants dropped last year and should fall by a similar level this year, but admitted the country faced a tough task in

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Haryana government to ensure no "non-forest" activity is carried out in the forest areas of three villages - Kot, Mangar and Roz-ka-Gujjar — falling under Aravali. The tribunal has also restrained any commercial activity in Sikandarpur Ghosi village in Gurgaon, where green areas have been turned into a marble market.

"We hereby restrain carrying on of any commercial activity by construction of sheds or even the industrial activity including the sale and purchase of marble, liquor and gas warehouses in the village Sikandarpur Ghosi till the next date of hearing (February 7)," said the tribunal bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar that clubbed petitions pertaining to unauthorized activities in the forest areas.

The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to consider reducing the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to set air quality standards, leaving intact a tough new limit on sulfur dioxide emissions

The PM2.5 readings in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, will decrease by more than 6 percent in 2015 compared with the 2010 levels, according to the city's environmental protection plan.