Public Infrastructure and Services

Shale gas, like other petroleum products such as oil and coal, is formed from the remains of plants, animals and micro-organisms that lived millions of years ago. However, this natural gas is made up of shale formations, a common name for rock that was once layers of clay or mud. Since these rocks aren't very permeable, gas is trapped in it due to its inability to travel.

45 year old Ved Prasad, a farmer in Amatikra village in Korba district, Chhattisgarh, didn't always have a bent back. 20 years ago, he walked in an upright manner but over the last five years, he's had severe back pain, which has affected his gait. 50 year old Bhola Singh from the same village has an identical story to tell.

The 200 odd residents of Didakhedi, a sleepy village just 13 kms from Sehore town in Madhya Pradesh, never had adequate water. Two decades ago, most of the farming in the village was done during the monsoons. The village had no electricity and a lone diesel pump operated the shallow dug wells to irrigate some lands during the winter.

Sukal Singh is 50 years old and is the only earning person of his five-member family. Suresh Barman works as a labourer supporting a 13-member family. Bhagirat and Gorelal Bhavedi are rickshaw-pullers supporting a 7-member family each.

Money deals mar climate talks in Warsaw

Don't have toilet, can't contest polls

 Every year, we have about 76 disasters in the Himalayas, some 36,000 people are killed and over a million affected by disasters. The loss of life and damage does not need to occur. How people manage the situation can relieve the situation much better.

About a third of these disasters are from floods. In the Himalaya, there are two broad kinds of flooding:

Environment Ministry withdraws amendment to waste rules

Riverside apartments are in great demand these days. This has led to a surge in the number of apartments built along rivers that flow through urban areas. These same 'premium' apartments are encroaching on the river's channel and are therefore most vulnerable to the floods that they help create by constricting the river. This harm extends beyond the apartments in question.

Delhi claims that it is one of the world's ‘green cosmopolitans’ because of the 20% of green cover it has. However, the fact is that 200 full-grown trees die every year because of storms, water scarcity, disease and old age. A large number of New Delhi's neglected avenue trees are 80-100 years old, planted at the time the British built the capital.