New Delhi, August 14, 2012: The first-ever official test to find out toxicity level in groundwater around Bhopal's Union Carbide plant since the leak of poisonous gas in 1984 will be soon conducted with the Supreme Court on Monday issuing notice to Lucknow-based Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR) asking it why it had not done the test yet despite being told to do so.

The new e-waste rules notified by the government are an important step forward. However, loopholes which allow producers to evade their responsibility and the informal sector to evade environmental and health controls need to be addressed. It is also important to create mass awareness and make it easier for the consumer to dispose e-waste. Policy should encourage cooperation rather than competition between those responsible for disposing e-waste.

Panjim, June 18, 2012: It’s more than a month that the E-waste Management and Handling Rules, 2012 - notified by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Central Pollution Control (CPCB), Govt of India, has come into force, but till date barely 1% of e-waste manufacturers and users have woken up to the reality of the new regulations.

New Delhi, June 11, 2012: The government is planning to study the consumption pattern of electronic equipment in the country in order to decide targets for their manufacturers on the minimum volume of e-waste — discarded electronic material — they are supposed to get collected from consumers in a year and then get them recycled, as directed by the new e-waste rules that came into force in May.

New Delhi, June 10, 2012: Barely 4.5 per cent of India’s e-waste gets recycled due to absence of proper infrastructure, legislation and framework for disposing off electronic gadgets and products that have reached the dead-end, says a study.

June 5, 2012: Delhi-based Toxic Links, a key campaigner for sound management of E-waste said without monitoring and or evaluation mechanisms in place, nothing is going to change in the coming days.

Chennia, June 6, 2012: Most of us often face a situation where the cellphone we use becomes obsolete thanks to a newer technology emerging. When we give in to this, how many of us really worry about what happens to the older gadget?

New Delhi, June 5, 2012: A controversy over a waste-to-energy plant has seen residents pitted against the government since 2007. When fully operational in a few months, the plant will burn up over 2,000 metric tonnes of the city's solid waste to generate 16MW of power. Ostensibly dealing with two of Delhi's biggest issues, waste disposal and power, the plant found itself in the eye of a storm. Residents from a number of colonies in the plant's vicinity opposed it on the grounds that the plant would expose residents to major health hazards.

Gurgaon, May 14, 2012: The Haryana Pollution Control Board's decision to impose 'performance security deposit' on industrial units has not gone down well with small and medium industries in the city.

Mumbai, March 29, 2012: At 22, Dhwani Bafna, a student, has already accumulated an old DVD player, two mobile phones, a MP3 player and several CDs that she wants to throw away. While she junks the CDs in a dustbin, the electronic gadgets are just lying around.