The City’s rapid growth has come at a heavy price – in the form of the loss of its lakes and ponds, according to a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report.

“These water bodies are now either repositories for sewage or have been turned into prime real estate,” a study conducted by the CSE revealed. “As a result, even with huge investments and projects for bringing water to the City – including the much debated Greater Bangalore Water and Sanitation Project (GBWASP) – the water crisis has become real and regular,” the report said.

The Centre for Science and Environment, in a report, has tore apart the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)’s projection of facade of development with an unrealistic budge. The report brings out the City’s failure to manage its sewage and precious water. CSE director Sunita Narain aptly puts it, “Bangalore is drowning in its own excreta.”

Sunita was quick to emphasise that Bangaloreans were by no means “unique”. At the la­unch of the seventh edition of the CSE State of India’s Environment Report titled ‘Excr­eta Matters’, she said cities ac­ross the country were doing equ­ally bad.

The report of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a part of the World Health Organisation, that diesel fumes are as cancer-causing as asbestos, arsenic, mustard gas and tobacco is the

Absence of a sewerage treatment plant in Bhubaneswar has led to release of urban and industrial effluents into the rivers untreated, in turn polluting the rivers from which Capital sources its drin

The assertion by a section of industry that the coal shortage is due to the ministry of environment delaying mining clearances is not borne out by data

Sixty per cent of people living in India do not have access to toilets, and hence are forced to defecate in the open. In actual numbers, sixty per cent translates to 626 million. This makes India the number one country in the world where open defecation is practised. Indonesia with 63 million is a far second!

At 949 million in 2010 worldwide, vast majority of people practising open defecation live in rural areas. Though the number of rural people practising open defecation has reduced by 234 million in 2010 than in 1990, “those that continue to do so tend to be concentrated in a few countries, including India,” notes the 2012 update report of UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Indian steel companies are getting away with causing grave damage to the environment.

Steel major Essar Steel Ltd (ESL) has received the CSE's Green Rating Award for its efforts towards resource use efficiency and steel slag re-use.

Better regulation of the sector is needed

The environmental performance of the Indian iron and steel industry is poor, according to the latest indices released by the Green Rating Project of the Centre for Science and Environment. On a scale of 10 (the theoretical best), the global best practitioners score eight, while the Indian leaders score only two. The steel industry, if it chooses to ignore this index, will be an outlier.

RINL along with two other companies (Ispat Industries and Essar Steel) bagged the prestigious award with "3 Leaves rating" out of 5 leaves.