Environment

The Judicial Ouroboros: The Vanashakti Reversal & Crisis of Environmental Finality in India

Much comment was made about the obvious conflicts between two verdicts of the Supreme Court of India –the Vanshakti judgements—between May and November 2025 and as India lives with the consequences, it is essential to situate the dispute within the broader evolution of environmental constitutionalism in India.

Catch people’s attention on pollution narrative: “Switching to public transport can lower your heart attack risk by 10%.”

Messaging and communication are key and the Indian people’s lukewarm response to spiralling air pollution is because of this: Will campaigns such as “Wearing an N95 mask reduces your PM2.5 exposure by 95%” or “Switching to public transport can lower your heart attack risk by 10%” change this making people speak out?

K’taka: fisher-folk take to the sea in defiance of Honnavar port project

Amid heavy police crackdown and government indifference, fishermen in Kasarkod stage protests, risking their lives to halt the controversial port survey

Noise Pollution Ban: Unequal standards for diverse practices?

The recent Bombay High Court judgment (23rd January 2025) addresses the contentious issue of the use of loudspeakers at places of worship and their legal standing under Article 25 of the Constitution. The case was initiated following complaints by residents about persistent noise pollution caused by loudspeakers from religious institutions (masjids), particularly during early morning and late-night hours. The court examined whether such practices constituted an essential religious function or merely a cultural practice subject to regulation under existing noise pollution laws. The court ruled that loudspeakers are not an essential part of religious practice and directed the Maharashtra government and police to take strict action against violations of the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000. This ruling aligns with past judicial pronouncements while also raising questions about unequal enforcement of noise regulations across different religious communities.

Can the Swaraj path be India’s answer to climate change?

As climate change intensifies and the inadequacy of the...

From Madrid to Baku: A chronicle of inadequate climate action at UN Conferences

Why are international measures to mitigate Climate Change so slow and ineffective?

River Ganga, communities, cultures & livelihood: will Indians preserve its life-sustaining legacy?

The author’s simple point, addressed to the power elite is to stop destroying the identity of indigenous communities; a destruction of the Himalayas will bring unprecedented crisis to Gangetic plains in India and so, we must not do anything that escalates the crisis we already facing.

250+ activists from across India call for immediate release of Jammu and Kashmir’s environmental defenders

Support democratic and peaceful movements for safeguarding ecology in J&K and the entire Himalayan region says the detailed statement issued today

Detentions and intimidation of social and environmental activists in J&K arbitrary: NAPM

Expressing solidarity with recently detained Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) environmental activists,...

Faith v/s Environment: 17,600 trees felled in U.P. to pave way for proposed Kanwar Yatra route, fact-finding panel tells NGT 

The UP govt. plans to cut 33,776 trees in total for the controversial project, says joint committee; green tribunal directs govt. to clarify if number of trees to be axed has been calculated strictly in accordance with provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Protection of Trees Act reports The Hindu

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Supreme Court asked to intervene as petitions flag “normalisation of hate” in Assam CM’s public speeches

CPIM, Annie Raja, former civil servants and clerics seek FIRs, an independent SIT and binding guidelines on speech by constitutional functionaries, alleging sustained communal targeting and abuse of executive authority

Healthcare in Karnataka: Is a Health Bill the Need of the Hour?

The Karnataka Janaarogya Chaluvali (Karnataka People’s Health Movement/Struggle) has written a strong critique of the draft Karnataka Right to Health and Emergency Medical Services Bill 2025, questioning its rationale and orientation; the critique points how this draft has been mostly borrowed from the Rajasthan Right to Health Act (2022). Besides, says KJC, while some activists in Karnataka have been clamoring for a replication of the Rajasthan Right to Health Act, this demand has been made without investing too much thought into whether this is what Karnataka requires

Suo moto cognisance of repeated hate speech by CM Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma must: Assam’s public intellectuals to Gauhati HC

Close to a dozen public intellectuals including Hiren Gohain, Harekrishna Deka, former DGP, Assam and author, Dr. Indrani Dutta, former Director, Omiyo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, among so many others, have in a letter petition to CJ, Gauhati High Court, Justice Vijay Bishnoi drawn attention of the Court to series of inciteful statements by Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister and urged suo moto cognisance

Assam’s Electoral Rolls in Crisis: CJP flags structural manipulation in Summary Revision

CJP-led memorandum to the Election Commission documents forged objections, misuse of Form 7, and violations of statutory safeguards meant to protect the right to vote

Campuses in Revolt: How the UGC Equity Stay and Criminalised Dissent Have Ignited Student Protests Across India

From Allahabad University to JNU, BHU and Delhi University, students are pushing back against the silencing of caste critique and the suspension of long-awaited equity safeguards

Another Campus, Another Death: Student suicides continue unabated across India

The deaths of Naman Agarwal and several others in recent days reveal a system where inquiries begin only after lives are lost; from IIT Bombay to BITS Goa, a spate of student deaths in just days exposes the hollowness of institutional safeguards and mental-health promises

When Protest becomes a “Threat”: Inside the Supreme Court hearing on Sonam Wangchuk’s NSA detention

From alleged “Arab Spring inspiration” to missing exculpatory material, the case raises stark questions about preventive detention, free speech, and governance in India’s border regions