Ambassador (Rtd) to Switzerland , Economic Counsellor, Embassy of India, Beijing. Founder SITARA. Pro-Indigenisation, S & T, Green Planet, Astronomy.
India
Joined July 2010
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Happy to hear this, I just returned from beautiful, green Kaziranga, locals were worried about deforestation and some complained that the hills were being scraped, as in other parts of the country. Trees and the environment must win if India is to survive climate change.
JUST IN | The Gauhati High Court quashes the NSA detention of land rights activist Pranab Doley, who has been opposing a luxury hotel project near Kaziranga National Park. He was arrested in July 2026 for participating in a protest against the hotel, @rahconteur reports.
Smita Purushottam retweeted
Look at Sikkim. A statewide firecracker ban dating back to 2014, reinforced by police action, shop inspections, border checks, seizure of illegal crackers & accountability for violations. Even Rangpo Municipality has reiterated the ban.
Meanwhile, Delhi-NCR gets temporary permissions for green crackers, conventional crackers reportedly remain openly available & enforcement continues to be questioned. All Governments and courts must take this as an example and stop treating clean air as a negotiable privilege & start treating the right to breathe as a fundamental obligation that demands year round enforcement.
@SikkimGovt @SikkimPolice @SikkimIPR 👏👏👏👏
@moefcc @CPCB_OFFICIAL @CAQM_Official @DelhiPolice
Smita Purushottam retweeted
🚨: Colombia bans all new oil and mining in its Amazon rain-forest. The protected area is the size of Sweden and covers 42% of the country.
Smita Purushottam retweeted
Read some really disturbing news today.
Three leopard cubs born at the Transit Treatment Centre in Nagpur have died.
The veterinary officer had repeatedly written to the Forest Department, urging the immediate release of the mother and her cubs into a suitable forest habitat. Not one of those requests was acted upon.
The Forest Ministry is remarkably quick to grant approvals for private projects like Bhimashankar, which will result in the felling of thousands of trees.
So why was there such an inordinate delay in releasing these cubs, even after repeated warnings from the veterinary officer?
The blood of these three cubs is on the hands of the Forest Department.
@MahaForest @NaikSpeaks
Smita Purushottam retweeted
150,000 trees to be cut because of beetles 🪲
Next they will start burning houses when they see a cockroach on the street!
Mind boggling stuff 🤯
Also! Why do we hate trees so much in this country??
Smita Purushottam retweeted
They cannot kill the biosphere fast enough
Old, polluting jet engines are being scavenged to power data centers
AI data centers are burning old jet engines to generate electricity, and the pollution is alarming
greenprophet.com/2026/11/ai-…
Smita Purushottam retweeted
#Opinion | "In September 2015, three toddlers, through their parents, moved the Supreme Court. The three were then between six and fourteen months old. They could not walk properly, let alone speak for themselves. Their parents were left with no choice but to approach the court because Delhi’s air was becoming increasingly unbreathable, and because they feared what it was doing to their children’s developing lungs."
"Their petition was extraordinary in its simplicity. They wanted the right to breathe clean air. The petitioners asked the Supreme Court to prohibit firecrackers, among several other measures to address Delhi’s growing pollution crisis. They argued that their lungs were still developing and that exposure to particulate matter and toxic substances could cause lasting damage."
(@BhavreenMK✍️)
Read More - hindustantimes.com/opinion/r…
📲 For News on the go, Download HT app. Click hindustantimes.com/s/14lS24m…
Smita Purushottam retweeted
87 illegal resorts inside Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve. Let that sink in.
Our forests are being turned into commercial playgrounds while wildlife is left to bear the consequences. Where were the Forest Department and enforcement authorities all this while?
It took the Madras High Court to step in and order their closure.
Forests are not real estate. Tiger reserves are not tourism businesses. Who allowed this blatant violation to continue? And who will be held accountable?
@moefcc @ntca_india @CMOTamilnadu @annamalai_k @jsaideepak @narendramodi @byadavbjp @LiveLawIndia @tnforestdept
#SaveIndianAnimals
The Madras High Court has directed the Erode district administration to immediately close 87 resorts operating without the mandated planning permission and building approval in the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) area and initiate steps for demolition of the illegal buildings in accordance with law.
thehindu.com/news/national/t…
Smita Purushottam retweeted
🚨 DEAL OR DURESS? Midterm Setbacks May Push Trump to Seek a Quick India Trade Deal 🚨
A midterm setback won't shift Washington’s protectionist direction—both parties favor economic nationalism, domestic manufacturing, and strong supply chains.
But needing a quick win to demonstrate strength, Trump may intensify pressure on India for a rapid trade deal.
Here is why it matters for India:
📌 An Asymmetrical Framework
Unlike standard Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) where both countries cut Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariffs, India-US trade deal framework is fundamentally one-sided:
India’s Commitments: Eliminate or cut MFN tariffs on most US industrial and many agricultural goods, commit to $500B in US purchases over 5 years, align security/economic policies, and ease domestic regulatory oversight on American imports.
The US Side: Retains regular MFN duties and offers no direct reciprocal concessions.
⚠️ Major Red Flags & Risks
📉 Coercion over Reciprocity: Washington may be using tariff threats—particularly over India’s Russian oil purchases under the Graham Act and Section 301—to force compliance. Even if signed, India still faces potential additional tariffs of 15% to 18% on top of regular rates.
⚖️ WTO Violation: Trade expert Abhijit Das warns that granting exclusive duty-free access to US exports without extending identical cuts to other partners violates the WTO’s foundational MFN principle, undermining India’s legal standing and negotiating power.
🛑 Lost US Bargaining Tool: After the US Supreme Court (Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump) struck down executive reciprocal tariffs under IEEPA, other nations stopped negotiating one-sided deals. India is currently the only country proceeding on these terms.
🇮🇳 What India Should Do
Relief from threatened tariffs is not a balanced trade agreement. Opening markets and restricting policy choices carries lasting costs while tariff relief could prove temporary.
New Delhi must resist the pressure for a quick announcement, insisting instead on clear reciprocal concessions, WTO consistency, and full freedom to protect its energy security and development priorities.
#IndiaUS #TradePolicy #Geopolitics #Economy #WTO #TradeDeal
Smita Purushottam retweeted
Horrifying.
This 10-hectare pond in Nerul is home to thousands of migratory flamingos every year.
Now, CIDCO wants to build homes there and even puts a cost to it—Rs 3600 crore “loss” if it is not developed.
How can a city planning authority like @CIDCO_Ltd be so utterly uneducated about the environment?
This data must not go digital, that too in hands of private agency with foreign links. It creates huge vulnerabilities with foreign Intel agencies/ Big Tech able to map our demographic profile free of cost. Must be stopped, census data must be stored in secure sovereign centres.
This sort of mapping is what facilitates decapitation strikes. Geo tagged official data at population scale with immense military and intelligence potential.
@PMOIndia @HMOIndia @HQ_IDS_India @adgpi @LtGenHooda @VGK_India @dushy40098 @Ptr6Vb @rwac48 @NEquaker @danvir_chauhan
Smita Purushottam retweeted
The 2027 Census is going digital, and the geo-mapping software has been handed to a single bidder running a proprietary US-owned platform with a known backdoor that Chinese state-backed hackers exploited for over a year. Every household’s location data, on that. Stupid, foolish, or insane? IFF has analysed the procurement and filed RTIs with the Registrar General.
#Census2027 #DataSecurity #DigitalRights #IFF
They are also cutting trees, threatening to cut down the reserved forest area to a tenth its size, and mining away at the hills in Kaziranga. Locals plead helplessness - saying ordinary people get no benefit. I wonder how the Himlayas themselves will withstand this assault.
They are emptying Kaziranga of elephants so they could @Hyatt could build luxury resorts there's like they did in Kenya
Money and power hungry elites must be sent to environment sensitisation workshops the world over. The environment and our fellow creatures are too precious to sacrifice to their greed.
Very moving article, not paywalled
nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magaz…
Smita Purushottam retweeted
U.S. companies use Indian labs for animal testing. Now #India may weaken protections for chicks, pigs, mice, fish & countless other animals. Cruelty doesn't stop at borders, & neither should we! Speak up by Nov. 4!
Act now: bit.ly/4zYTVYX
RT
#WithdrawAnimalTestingRules
