Construction waste in India, one of world's largest solid waste streams: Union Minister Hardeep S Puri

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Construction Waste In India, One Of World's Largest Solid Waste Streams: Minister Hardeep S Puri

by Swati Sucharita

Construction waste in India, one of world's largest solid waste streams: Union Minister Hardeep S Puri

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Addressing an event at Vigyan Bhawan, Puri mentioned the growth in waste reprocessing under the Modi government, saying now 78 per cent of water is being reprocessed and the government plans to increase it to 100 per cent in the next two years.

New Delhi, Feb 19: Pointing out the growing construction industry in India, Union Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday drew concern over challenges related to construction waste and emphasised the need for new technologies to ensure waste reduction.

"The amount of waste we used to reprocess was about 16-17 per cent. Now we are talking about 78 per cent. And I think in the next two years or so, we are planning to take it to 100 per cent. India is becoming an increasingly important destination for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) manufacturing and construction," he said.

The minister was speaking at a Workshop on Recent development with recycling and use of Construction and Demolition Waste
Asserting that the construction and demolition waste in India is one of the largest solid waste streams in the world, Puri said, "It is estimated that the construction Indian industry in India generates about 150 to 500 million tonnes of C&D waste every year. This brings many challenges to the forefront, such as unauthorised dumping, a lack of space for disposal and improper mixing with biodegradable waste. Waste is rarely recycled on a large scale," he said.

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The minister noted that there is a huge demand for technologies that will support waste reduction and recycling of waste material.
"Recycling discourages illegal dumping and reduces the negative environmental effect on groundwater, surface water, air flora and fauna. But I think the most important point here is that once you create an ecosystem that places a premium on incentivization to use that waste for productive purposes, you produce an incentive for people to want to take advantage of this commercially," he added.

(ANI)

Not Going For Two-Nation Dialogue But For Multilateral Event: Jaishankar On His Pak Visit

by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty

New Delhi, Oct 5: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Saturday ruled out any India-Pakistan dialogue during his upcoming visit to the neighbouring nation for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit and said that it was rather a multi-lateral event.

Jaishankar acknowledged that his visit to Pakistan will draw enough media attention, given the nature of the relationship between both nations but clarified that this was not intended for any talks but rather necessitated by the 'compulsions' of SCO Summit.

"It (visit) will be for a multilateral event. I'm not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I'm going there to be a good member of the SCO," he said at the sidelines of an event in the national capital.

"But, you know, since I'm a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly," he added.

Pakistan is hosting the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting on October 15 and 16.

Further elaborating on his visit, he said, "I am scheduled to go to Pakistan in the middle of this month. And that is for a meeting of the SCO heads of government. Normally, the Prime Minister goes to the high-level meeting with the heads of state. That's in line with the tradition. The meeting is happening in Islamabad this year as it happens to be a new member of the grouping, much like us."

Jaishankar, while delivering the Sardar Patel lecture on Governance organised by IC Centre for Governance, explained the reasons behind SCO's 'failure' in realising the grouping's aspirations and also made a veiled attack on Pakistan over its terror factories.

"Terrorism is something unacceptable. Despite the global view on it, one of our neighbours continues to support terrorism and if such is the case, then there must be consequences. It cannot be business as usual in the region. This is the reason why SAARC meetings have not taken place in recent years.

He further stated, "However, it doesn't mean that the regional activities have stopped. In fact, in the last 5-6 years, we have seen far more regional integration in the Indian subcontinent. Today, if you look at our relationships with Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, you will see railway lines being restored, roads being rebuilt, and electricity grids being constructed."

Notably, it's for the first time in about a decade that the country's External Affairs Minister would be visiting Pakistan, even as the two nations share strained ties due to terror emanating from Pakistani soil.

Jaishankar also pitched for bringing reforms to the United Nations.

"The United Nations needs to be reformed because it is 80 years old. When it was founded, there were 51 members, and not all of them were free. We were one of the founding members. Today, there are 193 members. So, if something has changed from 51 to 193, how can the management remain the same? It doesn't make any sense. Additionally, if you look at the global economic hierarchy, that has also changed."

--IANS

10 Species Identified As At Serious Risk Of Extinction In Australia

by Shambhu Datta Mishra

Sydney, Oct 5: Australia is one of the world leaders in mammal extinctions and 10 species have been identified as among the most imperilled, the country's national environmental organisation said Saturday.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has consulted a range of ecologists and biologists and identified 10 species as at serious risk of extinction, the organisation said in a media release.

They are Tasmania's Maugean skate, the swift parrot, the regent honeyeater, a small wallaby called the Top End nabarlek, the Baw Baw frog, Victoria's grassland earless dragon, the central rock-rat, the Kangaroo Island assassin spider and two plants, the Tunbridge leek-orchid and the Coffs Harbour Fontainea, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Without the full reform of Australia's unfit-for-purpose nature law and no sign of an independent agency to enforce the law, these 10 highly imperilled plants and animals are staring down the barrel of extinction," ACF nature campaigner Darcie Carruthers was quoted as saying.

"Some are threatened by particular industries. For example, Tasmania's Maugean skate is under direct threat from intensive salmon farming in its home of Macquarie Harbour," Carruthers said. "The survival of the swift parrot is dependent on the species having suitable nesting and food trees, but commercial logging is destroying its essential breeding trees."

"In virtually every case, destruction of the species' habitat is the defining problem," she said.

As of September 2024, there are a total of 2,245 species on the national list of flora, fauna and ecological communities that are threatened with extinction, according to the ACF's Extinction Roulette report.

(IANS)

Construction waste in India, one of world's largest solid waste streams: Union Minister Hardeep S Puri

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