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Though corruption is a major concern in Goa, the assembly elections were fought on several other issues, including illegal mining, land grabbing and irresponsible tourism that are taking the sheen away from the state. Discontentment is showing in the face of the people who had to bear the brunt of job loss due to a two-year ban imposed on mining activities. The emotive issue of culture protectionism also needs a sensible handling from the next government. Illegal mining This Assembly election, the constituencies located in the mining, tourism belts and rural areas of Goa recorded a very high voter turnout. We can hazard a guess why people are turning up in huge numbers to elect their next Chief Minister. In the first decade of 2000, unprecedented mining activities, often with political collusion, led to several environmental and legal violations. Mining activities were shut down by the government in September 2012 following public protests and setting up of a judicial commission...

The new analysis of global burden of disease (GBD) estimates released by the US-based Health Effect Institute (HEI) has exposed stunning results. Globally, air pollution is estimated to cause more than 4.2 million early deaths—of these, 1.1 million deaths occur in India alone. This is more than a quarter of the global deaths. India ranks second in PM2.5-related deaths in the world, and nearly equals China, which scores the highest number of early deaths due to PM2.5. Worse, India now tops the dubious list of highest number of early deaths due to ozone pollution. The rate of increase in early deaths in India is quite scary. While early deaths related to PM2.5 in China have increased by 17.22 per cent since 1990, in India these have increased by 48 per cent. Similarly, while early deaths due to ozone in China have stabilised since 1990, in India these have jumped by 148 per cent. This demands urgent intervention. With the release of State of Global Air 2017 by the HEI, the GBD esti...