FUELLING CORRUPTION: THE NETWORK OF THEFT
Adulteration is like corruption. It exists but we do not want to catch it. The Centre for Science and Environment recently undertook an independent inspection of fuel adulteration in Delhi under the Supreme Court order of November 22, 2002. We find current tests and fuel specification completely inadequate to detect adulteration. Check out the findings

http://www.cseindia.org/html/cmp/air/press_20020312.htm

WATER JOURNEY
To understand the role of community-based rainwater harvesting in controlling rural poverty, 21 persons from Bangladesh, Italy, Sweden and India joined the fifth paani yatra (water pilgrimage) to the villages of Gujarat. Details at

http://www.cseindia.org/html/cmp/cmp43_pyatra_update20020314.htm

LOGJAM
Whenever the Supreme Court pulls the trigger, why does it miss the target? Because governments like those of the seven Northeast states work hard to defeat every good intention. The apex court imposed an interim ban on felling in forests on December 12, 1996. Being the custodians of one- fourth of India’s forests, the seven states are worst affected: a large chunk of their population earns their livelihood from forests.

The order has come at a time when the region was losing 31,700 hectares every year, mostly due to the government and timber traders' nexus. The court wanted the golden goose -forests in the Northeast - not to be killed. It also made the ban conditional: to put in place a sustainable way of using the forests. This proposal makes sense for a region, where traditional village institutions control and manage 80 per cent of forests. But state governments are working overtime to derail the order. Instead of using the court order to build a vibrant and sustainable economy of forests, they interpreted the ruling to gain government control over community forests. As governments play their dirty tricks with the court, the people continue to suffer. The result: another round of public anger against the court and its green intentions. Details at

http://www.cseindia.org/html/dte/dte20020315/dte_analy.htm

FIG LEAF FOR THE BUSINESS WORLD
That is what the Montreal Protocol, meant to do away with ozone depleting substances, has become. India's phase out programme under the protocol is only helping the big businesses in the country earn some quick bucks. About US $75 million of public money has been spent 'compensating' them. Where and how they are spending the money is anyone's guess. Is the money only aiding the industry's shift from one set of dangerous chemicals - chloroflourocarbons - to another – hydrochlorofluorocarbons? Is the industry and the government playing into the hands of North- based multinationals? The fate of thousands of small-scale units involved in the trade depends on finding answers to these questions. How is India gearing up to meet the imminent phase out deadline? Find out

http://www.cseindia.org/html/dte/dte20020315/dte_analy1.htm

WHO RULES YOUR WORLD?
Rather than promoting democracy and equality and building a just framework for future governance, environmental negotiations have turned into business transaction, where the rich and powerful often trample on the poor and weak. For a balanced and informed analysis   of the global politics of the environment visit Global Environmental Governance section of the CSE website. Click here

http://www.cseindia.org/html/eyou/geg/index_geg.htm

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS?
Do you have any queries on the services provided by the Centre for Science and Environment? Any doubts on science, environment or development issues? Our newly added Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section has answers to it. Visit our FAQ section

http://www.cseindia.org/html/faq/index_faq.htm

A message from the Editor

SHAMELESS INDIA

Visit our website at www.cseindia.org and check out what's new. Our  website carries our science and environment fortnightly Down To Earth, a daily environment news flash by subject categories, a catalog of books and publications that are available, and all of our recent press releases. We also give regular updates on all of our campaigns on topics like vehicular pollution, climate change, biodiversity, water resources, wildlife, forests etc. Our online library of books, journals, images and videos is searchable through a thesaurus of environmental keywords at

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