Month: December 2025

    Scores of residents gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday to demand clean air as the national capital continued to experience extended periods of “very poor” air quality. Students from Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia joined the demonstration, along with members of the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India. Protesters held placards carrying messages such as “Delhi residents deserve an Air Quality Index below 50,” “Clean air is a fundamental right,” and “All have the right to breathe.” Several local singers performed to encourage the assembled crowd. Neha, aged twenty-six, one of the protesters, alleged that despite the Bharatiya Janata Party being in power at the Centre and in the Municipal Corporatio...

    Amid rising concern over severe air pollution in the national capital, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament P Wilson on Wednesday described Delhi as a “gas chamber” and urged the Union government to reconsider holding the winter session of Parliament during the peak smog period. Speaking during a debate on a resolution to extend the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 2024, to Manipur, Wilson said that pollution has moved beyond a statutory concern and has become a national emergency. He suggested that the government should explore serious measures to reduce congestion in Delhi and distribute administrative functions across multiple locations. Wilson stated that the winter months in Delhi have become a health haza...

    Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday released an official letter to counter allegations that the state government failed to seek central assistance for recent flood damage. The move came after Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) Member of Parliament Omraje Nimbalkar claimed that Maharashtra had not submitted the mandatory crop damage report to secure financial support from the Union government. Nimbalkar had earlier spoken to a regional news channel, stating that a reply he received in the Lok Sabha suggested the state had not sent a flood loss assessment. “If the state maintains it has already submitted the proposal, then why does the official response say otherwise? Farmers deserve transparency,” he said. Responding to this, Bawa...

    Global trade is continuing to expand despite tariffs, geopolitical uncertainty and shifting supply chains. Goods trade grew by an estimated four per cent in the first months of 2025, defying widespread expectations of a slowdown. Shipping routes are being reorganised, manufacturers have adapted to new trade corridors, and companies appear increasingly able to operate in a fractured geopolitical environment. However, the Trade and Development Report 2025 titled *On the Brink* paints a very different picture beneath the surface. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the apparent resilience of trade activity hides a serious vulnerability in the financial system supporting global commerce. The report argues that world trade is bein...

    The Antarctic ozone hole has fully closed earlier than usual this year, creating an unexpected moment of environmental optimism despite record global temperatures and continuing climate risks. Copernicus, the European Earth observation agency, confirmed that the ozone hole, which formed in August, had completely healed by December 1, 2025. The early closure comes at a time when October 2025 recorded a temperature 1.55 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial average of 1850 to 1900. Yet, according to scientists, the ozone layer displayed one of its strongest signs of recovery in recent years. Copernicus reported that the 2025 ozone hole was the smallest in five years. It was the second consecutive year in which the ozone hole remained relatively limited in s...

    Scientists are warning that large parts of New Delhi are sinking at an alarming rate, posing growing risks to buildings, infrastructure and public safety. New research shows that land near Indira Gandhi International Airport is subsiding faster than in any other Indian megacity, driven mainly by heavy groundwater extraction in areas where piped water remains scarce. Published in Nature, the study analyzed satellite radar data collected between 2015 and 2023 by researchers from India, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. The findings identified three major “sinking hotspots,” all within a 12-square-kilometer radius of the airport. Across New Delhi alone, more than 2,200 buildings in a 100-square-kilometer zone are already at risk of structural damage. If...

A new study has raised concerns over forest carbon projects across Southeast Asia, warning that schemes designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are struggling to deliver social protections and biodiversity benefits. Despite their promise as tools to combat climate change, weak governance, insecure land rights and fragmented policy frameworks are limiting their success. Researchers examined 170 social science reports on forest carbon programs, including REDD+ initiatives, and found repeated shortcomings. Projects often prioritize carbon profits over community rights, and in many cases, Indigenous peoples have faced harassment, legal challenges and loss of access to traditional lands. One prominent example is Cambodia’s Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, where communities reported crop des...

Throwing plastic bottles, cups or wrappers into a recycling bin may feel like the right thing to do, but experts say this habit will not solve the world’s growing plastic pollution problem. According to environmental researchers, recycling has been promoted for decades as a solution, yet it has failed to stop the rising tide of plastic waste harming ecosystems, wildlife, and human health. In the United States, less than six percent of plastic waste is actually recycled, a figure that surprises many consumers who have been encouraged for years to separate their trash and believe their efforts make a significant difference. Former officials and environmental groups say this belief was never entirely true. Instead, they argue that major fossil fuel and chemical companies intentionally prom...

New Delhi: Air quality in the national capital deteriorated sharply on Tuesday evening, pushing several parts of the city back into the hazardous category. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board showed a rapid rise in pollution levels over the last forty-eight hours, with nineteen out of thirty-nine monitoring stations recording air quality in the “severe” range. By 9 p.m., Delhi registered an Air Quality Index reading of 390, a steep increase from 304 on Monday and 279 on Sunday. The areas showing the highest concentration of pollutants included Burari, Anand Vihar, Mundka, Bawana, Rohini, Vivek Vihar, Punjabi Bagh, Sonia Vihar, and Ashok Vihar. The Air Quality Early Warning System has stated that no immediate relief is expected. According to its forecast, the city’s air qual...

New Delhi - Groundwater contamination in the capital has emerged as a serious public health concern, with the latest Annual Ground Water Quality Report 2025 indicating that between 13-15 % of water samples collected in Delhi were contaminated with uranium above the permissible limit of 30 ppb (parts per billion). The report, released by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, is based on approximately 15,000 amples gathered across India in 2024. It places Delhi as a key hotspot, ranking it among the states with the highest proportion of uranium contamination after Punjab and Haryana. The contamination is part of a larger trend in northwestern India, with Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and parts of Rajasthan and UP emerging as the main uranium hotspot. The CGW...