Impact of Vibrant Gujarat business summits? 225% rise in most pollution industries in 5 yrs

Number of registered industries in Gujarat

A top Gujarat government insider has disclosed to Counterview that biennial Vibrant Gujarat business summits, sponsored by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, has mainly attracted industries which are in the “most polluted” category. Quoting sources in the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), the state government’s official anti-pollution watchdog, the insider has revealed there has been a massive around 2.5 times rise in “highly polluting” category between 2007 and 2012.
The insider said, for the sake of “internal analysis”, the state government’s environment and forests department has categorized industries into three different categories. There are red industries, which are “high polluting”; then there are orange industries, which are “moderately polluting”; and finally there are industries which are “non-polluting industries.
“In 2007, in all, there were in all 8,013 registered industries in Gujarat, out of which 5,163 industries were in the highly polluting sector and were therefore categorized as red. The number of registered industries jumped in the next five years to 27,892, and so did the industries that were categorized as red. In 2012, there were 16,770 registered industries categorized in the red category, a jump of exactly 225 per cent”, the insider pointed out.
In fact, despite loud the talk of emphasizing on the “non-polluting industrial sector”, as also international pressure to encourage non-polluting industries, there was very little fall in the percentage of highly polluting or red sector industries in five years. In 2007, the “red” industries formed 64 per cent of all registered industries, and after a rise of 225 per cent, they formed 60 per cent of the total in 2012.
During the five years in the question, the orange, or moderately polluting industries, rose from 2,022 units to 6,468, and the green – or non-polluting – industries remained a poor third, despite an increase from 828 to 4,654. Significantly, these facts have come to light at a time when the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has, for the second time, identified Gujarat's chemical industrial hotspot, Ankaleshwar, as the “most polluting” industrial region of India.
The insider underlined, "Examples of industrial pollution are observed along the 400 km stretch between Ahmadabad in Central Gujarat to Vapi in the southern part of the state, though efforts are being made to reduced pollution. This area is dotted with hundreds of small and medium factories that manufacture chemicals, dyes, paints, fertilisers, plastic, pulp, and paper. Untreated waste from these factories is the main cause for the pollution of air, water, farmland in the vicinity of these industrial units."

Comments

Disappearing schools: India's education landscape undergoing massive changes

The other day, I received a message from education rights activist Mitra Ranjan, who claims that a whopping one lakh schools across India have been closed down or merged. This seemed unbelievable at first sight. The message from the activist, who is from the advocacy group Right to Education (RTE) Forum, states that this is happening as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, which floated the idea of school integration/consolidation.

'Shameful lies': Ambedkar defamed, Godse glorified? Dalit leader vows legal battle

A few days back, I was a little surprised to receive a Hindi article in plain text format from veteran Gujarat Dalit rights leader Valjibhai Patel , known for waging many legal battles under the banner of the Council of Social Justice (CSJ) on behalf of socially oppressed communities.

Inside an UnMute conversation: Reflections on media, civil society and my journey

I usually avoid being interviewed. I have always believed that journalists, especially in India, are generalists who may suddenly be assigned a “beat” they know little—sometimes nothing—about. Still, when my friend Gagan Sethi , a well-known human rights activist, phoned a few weeks ago asking if I would join a podcast on civil society and the media, I agreed.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. I don't know who owns this site, for there is nothing on it in the About Us link. It merely says, the Nashik Corporation site "is an educational and news website of the municipal corporation. Today, education and payment of tax are completely online." It goes on to add, "So we provide some of the latest information about Property Tax, Water Tax, Marriage Certificate, Caste Certificate, etc. So all taxpayer can get all information of their municipal in a single place.some facts about legal and financial issues that different city corporations face, but I was least interested in them." Surely, this didn't interest...

Overworked and threatened: Teachers caught in Gujarat’s electoral roll revision drive

I have in my hand a representation addressed to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Gujarat, urging the Election Commission of India (ECI) to stop “atrocities on teachers and education in the name of election work.” The representation, submitted by Dr. Kanubhai Khadadiya of the All India Save Education Committee (AISEC), Gujarat chapter -- its contents matched what a couple of teachers serving as Block Level Officers (BLOs) told me a couple of days esrlier during a recent visit to a close acquaintance.

Whither GIFT City push? Housing supply soars in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, not Ahmedabad

A new report by a firm describing itself as a "digital real estate transaction and advisory platform," Proptiger , states that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has been the largest contributor to housing units among India's top eight cities currently experiencing a real estate boom. Accounting for 26.9% of all new launches, it is followed by Pune with 18.7% and Hyderabad with 13.6%. These three cities collectively represented 59.2% of the new inventory introduced during the third quarter (July to September 2025), which is the focus of the report’s analysis.

The tribal woman who carried freedom in her songs... and my family’s secret in her memory

It was a pleasant surprise to come across a short yet crisp article by the well-known Gujarat-based scholar Gaurang Jani , former head of the Sociology Department at Gujarat University , on a remarkable grand old lady of Vedcchi Ashram —an educational institute founded by Mahatma Gandhi in South Gujarat in the early years of the freedom movement.

India’s expanding coal-to-chemical push raises concerns amidst global exit call

As the world prepares for COP30 in Belém , a new global report has raised serious alarms about the continued expansion of coal-based industries, particularly in India and China. The 2025 Global Coal Exit List (GCEL), released by Germany-based NGO Urgewald and 48 partners, reveals a worrying rise in coal-to-chemical projects and captive power plants despite mounting evidence of climate risks and tightening international finance restrictions.

Varnashram Dharma: How Gandhi's views evolved, moved closer to Ambedkar's

My interaction with critics and supporters of Mahatma Gandhi, ranging from those who consider themselves diehard Gandhians to Left-wing and Dalit intellectuals, has revealed that in the long arc of his public life, few issues expose his philosophical tensions more than his shifting stance on Varnashram Dharma—the ancient Hindu concept that society should be divided into four varnas, or classes, based on duties and aptitudes.

Search This Blog