INDORE: Pollution in the city can be controlled only by curbing the increase in private vehicles and developing public transport system, which should be main mode of transport for denizens, said en

Cars use more space, crowd the road and move far fewer people. Our educated road planners must count people, not vehicles

I write this stuck in traffic. Nothing unusual. But my location makes me realise, once again, how our highway route to progress is going nowhere. The road I am using is newly commissioned and expensive. It is the 28-km Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, which was built just a few years ago to take care of the explosion of traffic between the two cities. It is access-controlled, with a 32-lane toll plaza, and was to provide easy access and a fun ride. The concessionaire – built as it is under the famous public-private partnership model – took all steps to keep it prized for cars. “Slow-moving” traffic like motorcycles, bicycles and even three-wheelers were banned on it.

A panel, constituted by the Environment Ministry, will examine the "severity of the issues" involved in the development of Adani Port and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) at Mundra in Gujarat's Kutch district.

The five-member committee, headed by green activist Sunita Narain, will examine several allegations including the alleged destruction of mangroves and violation of Environmental and CRZ clearance granted for the port development, a source said.

In an off-grid but interactive system, govt would provide feed-in tariff incentives for entrepreneurs to set up local solar energy systems

Supply issues comprise one part of the energy conundrum I discussed in this column last fortnight. The cost of energy and our ability to pay for it is the other. The matter gets vexed because the rise in price of raw material of all energy sources is accompanied by huge inefficiency in distribution and accounting. But importantly, we remain a poor country, where the cost of energy is a factor in its availability and accessibility for all.

India needs to focus on treating waste water from the industries to meet the rising demand for fresh water.

So, why the power crisis? Reasons are deeply systemic & extremely worrying. There is no doubt that supply is constrained

The power outage in northern India on two days should not be dismissed or misjudged. Analysts are jumping to the conclusion that the crisis was foretold. They blame delays caused by environment and forest clearance procedures and demand the winding-down of the regulatory framework, so that we can re-energise ourselves. Their other favourite whipping horse is “free” electricity to farmers, which is said to be crippling the state electricity boards. These explanations are naïve and mistaken. India’s power sector does need urgent reform, but first we need to know what to fix.