How India performed in managing forests, water and plastic waste in 2019

PM Modi on many occasions in 2019 announced plans to rid the country of single-use plastic by 2022

Let’s take a look at how India performed in managing its forests, water and waste. India approved 99% of proposals to fell forests for non-forestry uses (until June 2019). It ranked 13th among the most water-stressed nations in 2019. And as the prime minister urged the nation to stop using single-use plastic, states and cities remained underprepared.

Forests

In the first six months of 2019, out of 240 proposals seeking diversion of forest land, the government of India only rejected seven–98.99% of forest land considered for diversion was allowed to be put to non-forestry uses, as per this August 2019 analysis of the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE), a Delhi-based advocacy.

This rate of diversion “is a matter of serious concern”, said the analysis. The forest area approved for diversion till June 2019 was about 92.20 sq km. This, combined with diversion approvals from 2017 and 2018, amounts to 588.20 sq km–larger than the union territory of Puducherry–

About 43% of forest land recommended for diversion in 2019 falls in ecologically sensitive wildlife habitats, the analysis said. Over 500 projects were cleared in India’s Protected Areas and their ‘Eco-Sensitive Zones’ by the National Board of Wildlife over the four years of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government between June 2014 and May 2018. In comparison, the preceding United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had cleared 260 projects between 2009 and 2013, as IndiaSpend reported in September 2018.

Growing wheat in north-west, rice in eastern states can reduce water crisis

While 42% of India’s land area is currently facing a drought, 88.11% of Punjab’s districts and 76.02% of Haryana’s are drought-resilient, according to a 2018 study published in Journal of Hydrology.

Mumbai: Shifting the real piece of rice creation to India’s focal and eastern states like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, while empowering wheat development through manageable water system in the rice-developing districts of Punjab and Haryana, could enable India to forestall a looming water emergency by 2030, as per a recent report by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). Water request by 2030 is anticipated to be double the accessible supply, a WaterAid India report from March 2019 appeared.

Wasteful editing examples have affected groundwater saves, that have accommodated generally 84% of the inundated region included the most recent four decades, said the NABARD and ICRIER concentrate titled ‘Water Productivity Mapping of Major Indian Crops‘. Rice and wheat, two of India’s most significant sustenance crops, are additionally the most water-serious; delivering a kilogram of rice requires a normal of 2,800 liters of water, while a kilogram of wheat takes 1,654 liters, says WaterAid India’s ”Beneath the Surface: The State of the World’s Water 2019’ report.

India’s top rice and wheat makers Punjab, Haryana in the north west- – which contribute practically 15% of India’s whole rice creation, as indicated by the NABARD and ICRIER report- – and western Uttar Pradesh in the Gangetic plain, are likewise among the world’s top water-hazard zones for farming generation, the others being northeastern China and southwestern USA, as per the WaterAid report.

While 42% of India’s property territory is right now confronting a dry season, 88.11% of Punjab’s locale and 76.02% of Haryana’s are dry spell strong, as indicated by a recent report distributed in the Journal of Hydrology. Broad interests in water system and power framework and government sponsorships on water and power utilization have shrouded the way that Punjab was at one time a desert. “Punjab as we probably am aware it today is just 100-150 years of age…

Maharashtra govt approves Rs 79 bn for water projects in drought-hit areas

The jumbo proposal is aimed at the completion of works in Konkan, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati, Nagpur and Pune divisions

The Maharashtra government has approved over Rs 70 billion to complete the drinking water projects in scarcity-hit areas, state minister Babanrao Lonikar said.

The government is committed to provide water to all villages that are perennially dry, the water supply and sanitation minister said in a release issued last night.

Under the National Rural Drinking Water Scheme, the government has approved a proposal of Rs 79.52 billion for completing 6,624 water projects in 10,583 villages, he said.

The jumbo proposal is aimed at the completion of works in Konkan, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati, Nagpur and Pune divisions.

Nearly 6,500 projects have already been completed in the last four years by spending Rs 55 billion, Lonikar said.

During the last four years, the main emphasis was to complete the pending projects, he said.

The water supply department ensured that funds were properly utilised and action was taken against district bodies misusing the money, he added.

Notably, the Marathwada region of Maharashtra is a perennially drought-hit area.

The region received only 86 per cent of its average rainfall last year, a senior revenue official had earlier said.

Article Source : BS