Urgent need to desilt Sardar Sarovar, other dams, stop illegal river sand mining, protect wetlands

Paryavaran Mitra director Mahesh Pandya’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on urgent need to desilt Sardar Sarovar and other dams, stop illegal river sand mining, and protection of ponds/wetlands in Gujarat: First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the occasion of 75th anniversary of India's Independence. On the occasion of Azadi …

Coordinated cycling in 9 Asian countries: call for bold action on climate change

By Ashwin Parthasarathy Hundreds of cyclist and  joined climate activists in coordinated biking events held in nine Asian countries on April 28. The biking events called Pedal for People and Planet – held in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan –  called on governments and corporations to step up climate …

Will future scenario of renewable energy sources minimize power blackouts in India?

By Shankar Sharma* Abstract: The grid stability crises that affected millions of people in Texas’s electric grid in US (Feb. 2021) demands us to seriously consider the pros/cons of blindly continuing to rely on an increasingly complicated and vulnerable national grid in India. Such a scenario becomes imperative in the context that such massive blackouts, which …

Governing cities amidst inadequate Constitutional provisions for local self- government

By IMPRI Team The ‘Messy’ and ‘Hidden’ urbanization in Indian cities has led to some very serious problems such as infrastructure gaps, lack of basic amenities, increasing urban poor, and the formation of slums affecting the quality of life of people living in these cities. The pace and pattern of urbanization in India pose enormous …

Justice, equality, peace, harmony, environment protection: Alternative path for India

By Bharat Dogra In the middle of unprecedented world problems and many-sided internal distress, India must find a firm path based on equality, justice, meeting basic needs of all, strengthening creative livelihoods, social harmony and peace. As its present path is far from being such a path, there should be very sincere efforts to evolve …

Digitisation, digital illiteracy and social inequalities in the urban sector

By IMPRI Team IMPRI Team As part of its series, The State of Cities – #CityConversations, #IMPRI Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies (CHURS), IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, organized a panel discussion under IMPRI #WebPolicyTalk on the Regional Futures and the Dynamics of Digitisation-as-Urbanisation. The panel discussion was started by the moderator, Dr Soumyadip Chattopadhyay, Associate Professor …

Lesson from Narmada and Rappahannock: Free flowing rivers better equipped to fight climate change

By Lori Udall When I think back on my work in India in the late 1980s and early 90s, my memory takes me most often to the Narmada River and Manibeli, the first Adivasi village in Maharashtra to be submerged by the Sardar Sarovar dam.  The storied Narmada, with its Hindu temples, landscapes, the mystical …