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There have been many arguments both for and against the World Culture Festival 2016 being conducted on the Yamuna plains. The National Green Tribunal alleges that the event has destroyed the river and the environment.Let us go through a detailed analysis of the various important claims put out by the National Green Tribunal’s (to be referred as NGT hereafter) Expert Committee alleging damage to the Yamuna Floodplains post the World Culture Festival, 2016 conducted by the Art of Living Foundation.I would like to present before the readers a statistically unbiased and scientifically backed representation of this case which is currently sub-judice.Land Description:Before we go further, it is essential that we first geographically define the area over which the World Culture Festival was conducted (From 11th March –13th March 2016)The land parcel is a finite piece of land over the Yamuna floodplain bound by the DND Flyover to its South; Barapulla Drain to its North;River Yamuna to its East and Ring Road to its West.Area ~ 25 hectaresCan be located on WGS (World Geodetic System) 84 coordinates 24 deg 34’55’’N and 77 deg 16’43’’EHere is the detailed image categorically bifurcating the various land sites w.r.t it’s usage for the event(Source: Google Earth, 15th of March ,2016)2. It is very essential to draw the following conclusions from the above satellite images:3-Permanently ramps existed since 2008 (Having bituminous pavement,with potholes and degenerating bituminous overlay).7-Area marked by the purple region previously had mounts of construction waste (malba) solid waste,which has been cleared for the WCF 2016 event by the Art of Living foundation at its own expense.8-Unpaved earthen road running parallel to the Barapullah drain,which is in existence at least since the year 2000,used for vehicles and earth-movers engaged in drain cleaning and slit removal in this section of Barapullah drain.The temporary installations and the make-shift stage are also clearly visible from the satellite imagery.Fig 1:Permanent Ramp 1 having bituminous pavement existed at least since Jan 2008Fig 2:Permanent Ramp 2 having bituminous pavement existed at least since Jan 2008Now, let us go and categorically visit each claim made by the NGTClaim 1: No permission sought from the NGT by the Art of Living Foundation before the eventFacts:The entire site belongs to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA)Firstly,the NGT is a court,a tribunal and an autonomous institute, not a government agency to give permissions.Here is the official permission letter sought by the Art of Living (Vyakti Vikas Kendra India-Trust of the foundation) to use the land site for the event and it no where states that prior permission from the NGT needs to be sought.As you can see, the permission letter is approved by the Honorable L.G. of Delhi and duly signed by the Office of the Chief Engineer (E.P.)Mr.D.P.Singh of the DDA on 15th of December 2015.Apart from this, the Art of Living organization had taken permission from 20 various organizations and competent authorities (Government Bodies)The entire list of the government bodies is elucidated below:Central Public Works DepartmentDelhi Development AuthorityDelhi Fire ServiceDelhi Jal BoardDelhi PoliceDelhi Pollution Control CommitteeDelhi Traffic PoliceDepartment of Irrigation and Flood ControlDistrict Disaster Management AuthorityEast Delhi Municipal CorporationIndian ArmyIrrigation DepartmentMinistry of Environment and ForestsMinistry of External AffairsMinistry of Home AffairsNew Okhla Industrial Development AuthorityPublic Works Department-DelhiPublic Works Department-UPSouth Delhi Municipal CorporationUttar Pradesh Government2. Claim 2: Alleging the presence of wetlands on the eventFacts:To understand this point, we need to first comprehend the difference between a wetland and a floodplain.According to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands ,signed in 1971 (Iran) wetlands are defined as: "areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres"(The Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. Number of Contracting Parties: 169)There are currently 26 Ramar sites in India which are enlisted below:Ashtamudi Wetland,KeralaBhoj Wetland,Madhya ParadeshChandertal Wetland,Himachal PradeshChilika Lake,OrissaDeepor Beel,AssamEast Calcutta Wetlands,West BengalHarike Lake,PunjabHokera Wetland,Jammu and KashmirKanjili,PunjabKeoladeo National Park,RajasthanKolleru Lake,Andhra PradeshLoktak Lake,ManipurNalsarovar,GujaratPoint Calimere Wildlife and Bird Santuary,Tamil NaduPong Dam Lake,Himachal PradeshRenuka Wetland,Himachal PradeshRopar,PunjabRudrasagar Lake,West Tripura DistrictSambhar Lake,RajasthanSasthamkotta Lake,KeralaSurinsar-Mansar Lake,Jammu and KashmirTsomoriri,Jammu and KashmirUpper Ganga River,Uttar PradeshVembanad-Kol Wetland,KeralaWular Lake,Jammu and KashmirBhitarkanika Mangroves,OrissaSo, according to the Ramsar sites (India being a signatory of the Ramsar convention) , the World Culture Festival venue does not come under the wetland category.Wetlands come under Ecologically Sensitive Zones are are protected areas by the government.Now,let us analyse the land area with respect to the Survey of India (The Survey of India is India's central engineering agency in charge of mapping and surveying) mapsHere is the Annexure -1B Portion of 1:25000 Scale Detailed Map of Delhi, published by the Survey of India in the year 1985,Under the direction of Major General Girish Chandra Aggarwal, Surveyor General of India; Titled-’Delhi Guide Map,Third Edition 1985′The map clearly depicts the WCF 2016 event site as an extremely flat “Point Bar” (floodplain deposit) without existence of any wetland or enclosed waterbody. The flatness of this land parcel is to the extent that contour indicating difference in height of the order of 100cm is also non-existent throughout the area.Another important point for record in this map is the existence of natural path of ‘Kushak River – Barapullah Drain’ prior to straightening of its channel traversing straight into River Yamuna and filling of its original channel. The map also depicts the situation prior to construction of Guide Bank and DND Flyway.Looking at the National Wetland Atlas (Published in March 2011 by the Space Application Centre,ISRO,Ahmedabad),it fails to indentify a single wetland on the event site.According to the National Geographic Society, floodplains are defined as “A flood plain (or floodplain) is a generally flat area of land next to a river or stream. It stretches from the banks of the river to the outer edges of the valley”A Floodplain does not require jurisdictions of the environmental authorities that a wetland does.Floodplains have a rich history of interacting with the society for civilizations to flourish.The first great civilizations all grew up in river valleys. The oldest, 3300 to 2500 BCE, was along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East; the name given to that civilization, Mesopotamia, means "land between the rivers". The Nile valley in Egypt had been home to agricultural settlements as early as 5500 BCE, but the growth of Egypt as a civilization began around 3100 BCE. A third civilization grew up along the Indus River around 2600 BCE, in parts of what are now India and Pakistan. The fourth great river civilization emerged around 1700 BCE along the Yellow River in China, also known as the Huang-He River Civilization.Many towns have been built across floodplains because of easy access to fresh water,the fertility of floodplain land for farming,cheap transportation, via rivers and railroads, which often followed rivers and ease of development of flat land.Large cultural and religious gatherings taking place on various floodplains across India like the Kumbh Mela and the Maramon Convention.The World Culture Festival venue was thus a floodplain and not a wetland as claimed by the Expert Committee of the NGT.3. Claim 3: Destroying the natural flow of the river YamunaFacts:A comparison of river morphology has been conducted on satellite images for the period between 22nd of December 2000 till 10th of May 2016.Fluvial Geo-morphology of the river (i.e. land form related to the river) and its floodplain (over which the event was organized) indicates continuity of a pattern in channel dimension, sedimentation,bank deposition,bank erosion and flow of the river.On a careful examinations of images between 26th August 2015(month of monsoon in Delhi) to 10th May 2016(Pre-Monsoon Dry Summer Season) no abnormality in the pattern of flow;channel dimension;riverbed;or morphology of both the banks has been noticed.Further,examination by ground verification in a series of field studies found no scientific acceptance of the above mentioned claim by the NGTHere are the satellite images taken that show the continuity of pattern of the river flow:Pic 1: 26th August 2015 (Post-monsoon)Pic 2: 29th October 2015 (Post-monsoon)Pic 3: 23rd November 2015 (Post-monsoon)Pic 4: 15th of December 2015 (Post-monsoon)Pic 5: 27th of February 2016 (Preparation for the event in progress;stage scaffoldings under construction)Pic 6: 15th of March 2016 (Post WCF, Pre-Monsoon)Pic 7: 25th of May 2016 (Depicting the entire area utilized by the World Culture Festival 2016,now evacuated,cleared and all the temporary installations removed)And as I write this answer now (13 th of May 2017, 15:39 hr), I have taken the snapshots from Google Earth of the venue and it is as it was before the event.The above images tell us that there is no change whatsoever in the natural river course of the Yamuna. This again proves the Expert Committee’s claims as false and unscientific.Selection Bias by the Expert Committee members?In the report,the expert committee have replied upon a singular satellite image for the event as opposed to a larger sample size covering pre-monsoon and post monsoon images for 15–20 years despite its availability to the public on Google Earth.The Expert Committee compared the satellite images of the venue dated 5th of Sept 2015 (Peak monsoon season) with that of a mid summer picture of March 2016, post the event (Summer pre-monsoon)It doesn’t take an Einstein to realize that such a comparison cannot be done in the first place.The Expert Committee is basically trying to attribute the negative effect of the lack of rain to the World Culture Festival !4. Claim 4: Destroying the reeds,grasses,natural vegetation on the river bed and the venueFacts:High pollution in the River Yamuna has led to a situation where dissolved oxygen tends to zero (often less than 1), high load of suspended particulate matter, high turbidity almost blocks the sunlight penetration in the water within few centimeters of vertical depth etc.All of the above factors collectively create a situation where no macro flora could grow or anchored within the riverbed of the Yamuna.Reeds and grasses could only grow beyond the riverbed in the riparian zone of the floodplain.The images of the last 15 years,indicate that the floodplain around the venue had some strips and patches of reeds. Those patches have been compared with the images after the event and on a comparison of images, no change in area covered by reeds has been observed.Riparian reeds along the Barapullah drain and small patches behind and in front of the guide bank (near the bridge of DND flyway) are unaltered before , during and the period post the event.Also the number of trees before and after the event were counted using high risk satellite images and they were found to be the same.Pic 1: Regrowth of grasses on over the location where once the stage was raised (17th of April 2016)Pic 2: State of grasses on the event venue (17th of April 2016)Pic 3: Undisturbed riparian reeds along the abandoned channel in front of the Guide Bank (17th of April 2016)Pic 4: Undisturbed riparian reeds along the Barapullah Drain (17th of April 2016)Also, another important to note that the Expert Committee of the NGT accused the Art of Living Foundation for bringing in and dumping the malba (construction debris) and flattening the malba thereby destroying the flood plain.Firstly, as shown by the satellite images of the land parcel furnished earlier, the purple area indicates the unsolicited construction debris that existed since the year 2000.Trucks were seen emptying tonnes of malba on a daily basis when the Art of Living began preparation for the event (circa December 2015)Once the land was allotted to the foundation, the Art of Living sent out a letter the the DDA citing these concerns about the existing construction dump.To which, the DDA didn’t remove the debris whereas told the Art of Living Foundation to remove the malba at its own cost !Here, is the invoice of the contractor ,who was given the duty to remove the debris from the venue site ,under the instructions the Art of Living Foundation (Cost borne by the Art of Living Foundation !)This is how the site appeared before the event:So, why did the NGT falsely accuse the foundation wherein no cementing/foundation work of any sort was undertaken for the event?5. Claim 5: Disturbed the aquatic life of the riverFacts:The river Yamuna (Delhi stretch) is nearly devoid of fish species due to extremely low level ( ~0) dissolved oxygen in the river water.Let us analyze the water quality of the river Yamuna first.Referring to the “Water Quality Status of Yamuna River” report by the Central Pollution and Control Board (erstwhile Ministry of Environment and Forests,Government of India),here is the longitudinal profile of the dissolved oxygen.(Report foreword by V. Rajagopalan, Chairman-CPCB)(Notice the graph points near Nizamuddin Bridge ,Agra Canal)The report goes out further to state that“ In Yamuna River low BOD and low DO was observed more oftenly may be due to consumption of oxygen by settled sludge in the riverbed.”(Ref 3.13, page No.42)Other key notations from the report are listed below:“The sources contributing pollution are both point & non-point type. Urban agglomeration at NCT – Delhi is the major contributor of pollution in the Yamuna River followed by Agra and Mathura. About 85% of the total pollution in the river is contributed by domestic sources. The condition of river deteriorate further due to abstraction of significant amount of river water, leaving almost no fresh water in the river, which is essential to maintain the assimilation capacity of the river.”“In the critically, polluted stretch of Yamuna river from Delhi to Chambal confluence, there was significant fluctuations in dissolved oxygen level from Nil to well above saturation level. This reflects presence of organic pollution load and persistence of eutrophic conditions in the river.”“Bacteriological contamination is significantly high in the entire Yamuna River stretch. Total Coliforms are generally well above the prescribed water quality standard even sometimes at Yamunotri also. The microbiological analysis confirms that the bacteriological contamination was predominantly contributed by human beings.”Here are the longitudinal profiles of the Total and Faecal Coliforms in Yamuna River :Not to forget the drains opening up in the Delhi stretch.“Najafgarh drain of NCT – Delhi is the biggest polluter of River Yamuna, which contributes about 26% (year 2001) to 33% 22 (year 2000) of total BOD load and 48% (year 2003) to 52% (year 2001) of total discharge that joins Yamuna river and canal at Delhi by various drains. There are 70 sub drains that join main Najafgarh Drain. The study indicated that the total BOD load received by Najafgarh Drain through sub-drains was 136 TPD, whereas the BOD load at the terminal end of the Najafgarh Drain was 83 TPD only. This reduction may be contributed by biodegradation, deposition of setllable material at the bottom and diversion of drain water for irrigation etc”.“ River Yamuna receives significantly high amount of organic matter, which is generally, originates from domestic sources. For biodegradation, this organic waste requires oxygen, causing significant depletion of dissolved oxygen in river water. The oxygen depletion not only affects biotic community of the river but also affects its self-purification capacity. This problem is critical in the river stretch between Delhi and confluences of river with Chambal. In Delhi stretch, the load of organic matter is so high that it consumes the entire dissolved oxygen available in river water.”Presenting another latest report by the Central Pollution Control Board titled “Water quality status of in Delhi stretch of Yamuna River”Exhibit 1: Water quality of river Yamuna river in terms of Dissolved Oxygen (DO)The above graph clearly shows that the standard DO should be~4–5 whereas near the Nizamuddin bridge and Okhla region it below 1.Exhibit 2: Water quality of river Yamuna in terms of Total ColiformThe report also throws light on the discharge of various drains in the river Yamuna.“There are twenty one major wastewater drains in NCT-Delhi, out of which 18 drains join Yamuna River and rest joins Agra/Gurgaon canal.All the drains join Yamuna River downstream of Wazirabad barrage.These drains are being monitored regularly on monthly basis.The range of total BOD Load of 18 drains join Yamuna river was 105 TPD (August, 2015) to 229 TPD (January, 2016).Total discharge of these drains was varied from 29 m3/s (May, 2016 to 43 m3/s (August, 2014).The collective average of these drains for the year 2015 and 2016 in terms of discharge was about 34.8 m3/s and 34.3 m3/s respectively whereas, BOD load average for these two years was 164 Tons/day (TPD) and 178 Tons/day respectively.Based on the Discharge and BOD load of 18 drains Najafgarh drain was the biggest polluter of Yamuna River followed by Shahdara drain. These two drains alone contributes about 74% of total Bod load and 82% of total discharge of the 18 major drains that join Yamuna river at Delhi.”Exhibit 3: Discharge of major drains joins Yamuna River at DelhiLastly, I wish to produce a report titled “ Restoration and Conservation of River Yamuna” authored by the NGT Expert Committee members itself in the year 2012–13(Authors Prof. C.R.Babu, Prof.A.K.Gosain, Prof.Brij Gopal-All being expert members of the NGT)The report categorically states that“the loss of life supporting potential of the river is the major concern to the public, the Government and the courts”“the flowing water, the river bed, the floodplain forest and grassland ecosystems are locally extinct”Here is a snapshot of the same :The report also states that:“The Delhi urban stretch of 22 km in the downstream of Wazirabad barrage upto Okhla barrage (Section III) is critically polluted and dry weather flow is almost the treated and untreated sewage from 22 drains and the fresh water flow from upstream or lateral connection and it is perhaps one of the most polluted river stretches in the country with zero DO and over 30 mg/l BOD levels”Whereas, the same committee members in its final report slamming the Art of Living state the following:How could the World Culture Festival destroy something that according to the same committee members didn’t even exist in the first place.Why is the Art of Living blamed selectively for the pollution of the river Yamuna over the past decades?Isn’t this nothing but sheer hypocrisy?From the above data, following points to be noted:Yamuna river (Delhi stretch)is a dead river with almost zero dissolved oxygen, high amounts of pollutants and no fresh water. How can aquatic life survive under these chemically harsh conditions?The discharge of major drains in the Delhi stretch of the river along with industrial effluents and the pollution levels of Yamuna is alarming.Why does the NGT put the blame on the Art of Living Foundation which has done zero damage to the floodplains and the river?What has NGT done to curb the industrial and human pollution which are harming the river Yamuna?There is a strong judgmental bias in the current NGT report Vs the Art of Living and Others6. Claim 6: Alleging compaction and leveling of the floodplainFacts:Before going to analyse the charges of compaction, it is quintessential that we first define the nature of the land where the event was conducted.According to the report “Environmental flow for monsoon rivers in India-The Yamuna river as a case study”, the Yamuna floodplains has alluvial sandy soil (Reference: Rao, S.V.N., Kumar, S., Shekhar, S., Sinha, S.K. & Manju, S. 2007. Optimal pumping from Skimming Wells from the Yamuna river flood plain in north India. Hydrogeology Journal 15: 1157-1167)According to one of the Expert Committee member-Prof.A.K.Gosain’s earlier published research paper titled- “A new scheme for large-scale natural water storage in the floodplains: the Delhi Yamuna floodplains as a case study”, the author says “the river has been bringing sand from the mountains and depositing it along its basin, forming the floodplains. This accumulated sandy layer exists to an average of depth of 40 m”The report earlier furnished in claim 5 by the expert committee members itself (Can be found here) states that the floodplain near the river Yamuna has “sand and gravel”.Hence, it is a well established fact that the floodplain has sandy soil ! So, can sandy soil be compacted ?Now,given the above data, let us go through some scientific studies about sand compaction and verify the allegations by the NGT.For a confirmatory statement on the extent and exact reason of consolidation and/ or compaction in qualitative and quantitative terms, laboratory test of undisturbed soil samples from the land parcel will be required.By comparing the current soil density with the previous records of soil density over the land parcel,the difference could be worked out.But conducting such a test of unconfined sand/sandy soil appears almost impossible due to the established principles of soil mechanics.Referring to the established principles of soil mechanics and geo-technical engineering from the widely accepted and used textbook for soil mechanics by Prof.V.N.S.Murthy tiled “A Text Book of Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering” let us go through the pressure-void ratio curves of sandIn the above curve, it is clearly evident that “ more than 90 % of the compression has taken place within a period of less than 2 minutes. The time lag is largely frictional. The compression is about the same whether the sand is dry or saturated”.“The amount of compression even under high load intensity is not quite significant as can be seen from the curves.”It is obvious that the natural consolidation of this land parcel would have taken place in the geological past immediately after the deposition with some movement of animals and humans over it.It appears from the final report that the expert committee didn’t conduct any geo-technical analysis and not a single report was attached as an annexure to their claim.Verbally saying that they went there and saw the top soil layer become a thick crust is not evidence. There are tests that are legally permitted in the courts of law which the expert committee doesn’t seem to have done.The WCF area occupied ~ 25 hectares of land out of the total 9300 hectares of the floodplain (Approximately 0.26 %)So to exert the high pressure for land compaction it would require numerous heavy weight rollers (which apparently weren’t used by the organizers).Furthermore, the curve for dense sand in ‘Void ratio v/s pressure in kg/sq.cm’ indicates that dense sand (as deposited by the Yamuna and Ganga) does not show noticeable changes with increase in pressure.It is an undeniable fact that this land parcel has been under agricultural practices since decades (if not centuries).Agricultural practices; tilling (harrowing); movement of farms equipment and agricultural machinery; movement of dumpers for unabated dumping of construction waste for years and then the movement for trucks and dumpers for removal of the same has already shaped the consolidation and /or compaction of this land parcel ages before the event of the World Culture Festival 2016 was organized.Moreover, it is important to note that the entire stage for the event was supported by a series of iron scaffolding with raft footing (shown in the figure below)An Engineering Marvel ?Nothing was anchored in the natural stratum to hold the stage, overall the stage had a floating foundation. Can’t believe? have a look at this :Pics: The stage was made of thousands of such scaffolding rods in lattice structure spread across 7.5 acre (stage area)Pic: Scaffolding structure (showing the highest level) used for construction of the stage ; photographed during the removal of the stage.Pic: Steel plate rod used for distribution of the load, without any anchorage in the ground; photographed during the removal of the stage.The stage had negligible impact on the ground. Overall the stage was a floating stage and the impact of a floating stage on sandy soil is insignificant. For the record, no cement foundation was done as can be seen from the pictures.Trivia: The physics behind this stage bears a strong visual analogy with a yogi sleeping on a bed of nails. As a matter of fact, this ancient technique used by hathayogis in India has been a source of inspiration for the design of this stage !Pic: The concept of “Yogi Nail Bed” used as an inspiration for the WCF stage is based on the principle of uniform distribution of weight over a large surface area, therefore the overall impact is extremely low or negligible.Finally, the only court permissible test to determine compaction of soil is the CBR Test (California Bearing Ratio Test). It involves taking soil samples before and after the event and then applying the test. Since the expert committee did not collect any soil samples before and after the event to come up with the alleged 13 cr damage,the Art of Living Foundation themselves requested the NGT to conduct the CBR test at the venue, and the application was duly rejected !Here is the permission letter made by the Art of Living Foundation to the NGT (which was disposed off by the NGT !)The Chairman of the Expert Committee of the NGT Mrs.Shashi Shekhar (IAS) (Ministry of Water Resouces, Govt. of India)even goes out to the extent of saying the compensation of 120 cr put forth on the Art of Living foundation as ad-hoc and unscientific and not based on any scientific assessments. The Chairman does not even endorse the compensation.Also, it is important to see whether the NGT conducted any scientific studies before quantifying the damage if any ?It would be very astounding for the reader to realize that no such thing was done. Only a mere “visual inspection” was conducted by the Expert Committee members of the NGT at the venue on the 6th of June 2016(Singular visit).And no scientific evidence and data samples have been provided by the NGT Expert Committee in the Court of Law.That’s like going to a doctor who after just glancing at your direction hands you a list of ailments he assesses that you suffer from and proceeds to slap you with a fat bill for your future treatments !It is surprising to believe that the Chairman of the Expert Committee Mr.Shashi Shekhar has distanced himself from the committee’s recommendations. The Chairman’s signature is also missing from the final report. And only 4 out the 7 Expert Committee members have signed the final report !7. Claim 7: Going from ecological “restoration” to ecological “rehabilitation” of the floodplainFacts:Throughout the first report, the Expert Committee members of the NGT have used the term “restoration” and in the final report they use the word “rehablitation”Why the sudden switch?Because, the NGT Expert Committee cannot prove any damage that was done to the floodplain and the environment by the event.In their final report this is what they state:It is not possible for the ‘Expert Committee’ to assess the ecological status of the site before and after the event? This was their primary job in the first place !Also, the committee points out that it is extremely difficult to assess the costs of environment damage and degradation accurately because“it requires substantial time, human and other resources to collect detailed quantitative information on the nature, extend and magnitude of various activities listed earlier for restoration”That’s a clever way of saying that they cannot prove the damage quantitatively and qualitatively and hence the question of restoration is redundant.They also go on to state that “estimation of the costs of restoration requires the preparation of a Detailed Project Report that may take several months to a year besides financial resources.”Who can buy that argument? Why was the Expert Panel commissioned in the first place?Moreover, the Expert Committee states that it has now decided to “REHABILITATE THE IMPACTED SITE”.The NGT’s proposed plan includes creating a bio diversity park, two large water bodies, three tier planting of vegetation,and establishing new sewage treatment plants,etcLet’s put things into perspective, firstly, the Committee says that it cannot prove any damage scientifically. Consequently they cannot assign costs to restore damage. Hence, they wish to switch the narrative from being a “restoration cost” to “rehabilitation cost”. And moreover, they wish to build a utopian biodiversity park for which the Art of Living should bear the cost ! (Slow claps !) Wait, I am not yet done !In order to build this dream park, the Expert Committee has submitted a ‘Budget’ for building this park. The budget lists ‘Salaries and Consultancies’ as a cost component to monitor and supervise the construction. This cost component totals up to 7 CRORE RUPEES ! Here is their estimations !That’s not all friends. The NGT Expert Committee even goes on record to state that “rehabilitation” will take a period of 10 years and the expert committee members have nominated themselves to undertake this project as “Consultants”(Indeed a very sly way of pocketing the 7 crore!)In the final analysis,the expert committee members in their final report state that they are unable to differentiate the activities required to restore the floodplain and the activities to undo the alleged damage due to the event. That is a very clever way of saying that they cannot differentiate the damage done to the floodplain before the event and the damage done by the event.As this article says,“The Art of Living case will go down as a test for environment activism in the country. The nation expects the NGT will gather enough courage to call the bluff of the committee and go by the merits of the case”.References:http://delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/55a9380047b2199a9155d5bdc775c0fb/Final_Report_NGT-Yamuna_Restoration%2B(11-4-2014).pdf?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=-287594179https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1306/1306.2709.pdfhttp://www.cpcb.nic.in/newitems/11.pdfDelhi Development AuthorityTextbook of Soil Mechanics and Foundation EngineeringGoogle Earth – Google EarthNational Green TribunalHomepage | Ramsarflood plainCentral Pollution Control Board :::https://www.artofliving.org/in-en/newsroom/press-statement/independent-environmentalist-statement-ngt-reporthttp://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/2edvol3d.pdfWill NGT call the Yamuna expert panel's bluff?Written by:Soham D’SouzaBachelors in Chemical Technology-Institute of Chemical Technology (former UDCT) , MumbaiMumbai

As another answer points out, the only machine big enough to capture and sequester sufficient CO2 to be of use is the world’s carbon cycle. Soil carbon capture is a very important factor. However, the other answer remains incorrect and is a biased read of a low reliability study by someone who does not accept the science of global warming, but instead pretends things will be just fine.The answer references Non-Flat Earth Recalibrated for Terrain and Topsoil, a new study just published in the journal Soil Systems.What does it claim?Although four to six times IPCC’s or NASA/NOAA’s calculated 1500–2300 Gt SOC, this is likely an underestimation. Global biomass and biodiversity are at least doubled (×2–3.5) and net primary productivity (NPP) increases to >270 Gt C yr due to terrain. Rationale for a ‘Soil Ecology Institute’ gains ground.It is asserting a vastly different conclusion than the IPCC so that represents an extraordinary claim requiring extraordinary evidence. Is this study extraordinary evidence as another answer suggests? No.Soil Systems was just established in 2017 and has no impact factor ranking, so the quality of the journal is questionable at this point. This is a red flag for reliability of the study. The paper has a single author, also a red flag for quality just as dozens of authors is problematic. The author Robert J. Blakemore is a PhD and specialist on earthworms, not global soil records, so that’s another red flag. Further, he’s affiliated only with VermEcology Japan, which appears to be a Wordpress blog. The lack of affiliation to a formal research organization such as a university is another red flag. Once again, this doesn’t mean that the study is incorrect, but it does mean that it cannot be considered as credible against the weight of IPCC meta-analyses.There’s an even bigger red flag about the Soil Systems journal. The publisher, MDPI, is regarded as a non-academic publisher of predatory journals. The quality of any peer review is likely very low.MDPI was included on Jeffrey Beall's list of predatory open access publishing companies in 2014 and was removed in 2015. Beall's list was shut down in 2017; Beall later wrote that he had been pressured to shut down the list by various publishers, specifically mentioning MDPI. The publisher has been downgraded to non-academic status (level 0) in the Norwegian Scientific Index from 2019.Even if the study were correct, where I part ways is in the utility of this observation. The best information on how fast soil carbon capture actually removes CO2 from the cycle is that it would take centuries for long term sequestration. While the study referenced shows miscalculation of the surface area of the earth, this isn’t useful in terms of being an area amenable to changes in human management. And soil carbon capture requires changing agricultural and forest management practices globally.It’s worth looking at the scale of the problem and other solutions before returning to soil carbon capture.I recently looked at one of the joyous headlines about a new technology that would work wonders for air carbon capture: Scientists find way to make mineral which can remove CO2 from atmosphere. That was an overstatement, to be polite. I published an assessment of scale and the very poor media coverage: No, Magnesite Isn’t The Magic CO2 Sequestration Solution Either.There are about 3,200 billion tons of excess CO2 in the air that we’ve added since before the Industrial revolution. […] Assuming that the world decided to go all in on this and could achieve the same scale of production of magnesite, it would only take 267 years to remove 10% of excess atmospheric CO2.On Quora a couple of years ago, I reviewed the 20 year history of Australia carbon capture and sequestration investments.About 200,000 tons of CO2 has been captured and sequestered at a cost of over $1 billion AUD since 1998 in various schemes. The cost per ton sequestered was about $4,300 AUD.Note the difference between the 200,000 tons captured and the 3,200 billion ton problem.Also on Quora, someone asked how many trees it would take to capture the excess carbon, so I did the math on that.To cover this year's CO2 emissions alone, we would have to cover 2.7% of the Earth's surface with newly planted trees, just under 40 billion of them or about 5.4 trees for every human on Earth. We would run out of Earth to plant trees on in under 20 years. To bring us back to pre-Industrial Revolution levels of 250 ppm, we would have to plant about 353 billion trees covering 24% of the Earth's surface and stop burning all fossil fuels right now. In both cases, it would take 40 years before the trees absorbed the CO2.Back to soil carbon capture, the pathway to long-term sequestration is through glomalin, a protein on soil fungi.Data taken from 157 soil samples taken from around the world show the average age of soil carbon is more than six times older than previously thought. This means it will take hundreds or even thousands of years for soils to soak up large amounts of the extra CO2 pumped into the atmosphere by human activity – far too long to be relied upon as a way to help the world avoid dangerous global warming this century.The scale of the problem requires that all of the areas humans have altered be changed. It doesn’t matter how much of the earth there is to the point of one of the other answers, but how much we have under direct management that is amenable to change. The land we aren’t changing is already doing what it can. That mostly means agricultural land is amenable to changes in soil management practices. How much is there?At present some 11 percent (1.5 billion ha) of the globe's land surface (13.4 billion ha) is used in crop production (arable land and land under permanent crops). This area represents slightly over a third (36 percent) of the land estimated to be to some degree suitable for crop production.That’s in every country in the world and includes everything from subsistence farming to agribusiness. In order to kickstart the soil carbon capture process, we’d have to change the soil management processes for every crop on all of that land in every country in the world. So what would that do?Let’s make the assumption that all agricultural land globally could be returned to a baseline of the same sequestration as native land over the course of the next 50 years. That means that we’d be at about 1,222 gigatonnes of extra CO2 and the soil would sequester about 150 gigatonnes out of that total, or about 12%.Temporarily. And hundreds of years later it would be back to normal.But the normal carbon cycle takes a net carbon molecule out in 200 to 300 years regardless. Changing all soil management practices and not eliminating fossil fuel use doesn’t buy us much. It’s a good thing to do regardless because it has other benefits, but it’s no silver bullet.I’ve looked at most carbon capture and sequestration schemes in use today. I’ve done the math. The only answer is to stop emitting greenhouse gases, mostly through burning fossil fuels and leaking refrigerants. Everything else is a very minor wedge. Carbon capture schemes in total might be a 1% wedge at great expense.Ignore ‘lukewarmers’ who pretend that we don’t have to transform transportation, electrical generation and the like. They cling to the pretense that there really isn’t a problem, but their confirmation bias blinds them.References:Non-Flat Earth Recalibrated for Terrain and TopsoilClimate change denier's recent Quora answer claiming global warming isn't a problem due to the studyWikipedia page for Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)No, Magnesite Isn't The Magic CO2 Sequestration Solution EitherSoil Carbon Capture: Great Loamy Hope Or Bandaid?Carbon Capture Is Expensive Because PhysicsHow much has Australian government and industry spent on CCS (Carbon Capture and Sequestration) for power generation and what has been achieved?How many trees would it take to reverse climate change?Google Scholar citation list for Robert J. BlakemoreWorld Agriculture: Towards 2015/2030

Update: added some interesting facts and figures to the existing topics:Sulabh International was founded by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak in the year 1970. It is a social service organization which works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources of energy, waste management and social reforms through education. India is a developing country with a penchant for ritual purity. But oddly enough, sanitation is an area which is grossly under-served. Sulabh works to fill in this void. So far, their achievements include:Innovated a two-pit pourflush toilet called Sulabh Shauchalaya, which does not require manual-scavenging.Innovations in Effluent Treatment (SET) System.Innovations in bio energy1.3 million such household toilets are constructed based on their design.54 million government toilets are constructed.8,000+ community toilet blocks are constructed.640 towns are made scavenging free.15 million people using toilets based on Sulabh design daily.Helped replicate their efforts internationally, in fellow developing countries such as Afghanistan etc.Sources:Sulabh International Social Service OrganisationFrom personal experience in Bangalore, where their presence can be felt all across the city.Child Rights and You commonly abbreviated as CRY is a non-profit organization in India that aims to restore children's rights in India. Led by a 25 year old youth Rippan Kapur, his friends with a initial fund of Rs. 50 and a dining table as their resources and a belief that each one can make a difference in a child's life, they aimed to enable all children to realize their full potential. This was how CRY began. Some of their recent prominent works are:Mission Education 2013-14CRY launched the year-long target driven online fundraising campaign Mission Education towards the issues that keep children out of school, like migration, lack of access to schools and girl child discrimination. They enrolled 4,60,000 children in schools and ensured their right to a happy and creative childhood.Corporate Social Responsibility Summit 2013The 3rd CRY Corporate Responsibility Summit in Mumbai tackled issues and implications on all profit making companies vis-à-vis the implementation of the new Companies Bill. It addressed key challenges faced by companies in creating and implementing CSR strategies.Odisha Cyclone relief works 2013CRY worked with partner NGOs across Odisha beyond to provide immediate relief and ensure long term rehabilitation.Uttarakhand Flood relief works 2013In the aftermath of the torrential rains in Uttarakhand in June 2013 thousands of people were stranded and hundreds of children were left traumatised. CRY along with its partner NGO's in Uttarakhand worked relentlessly to provide a safe haven for children.Sabko Shikhsha Samaan Shiksha - CRY's campaign on the Right to EducationThe Indian government passed The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, for the Right to Education in 2009. The campaign took CRY's demands to the people before submitting it to the then President of India, Mrs. Pratibha Patil.Multitudes of awareness campaigns for child rights from corporate corridors to the common streets.Sources:CRY - Child Rights and You - The Better Indiahttp://www.cry.org/HelpAge India is a non-governmental organisation which works for the cause and care of disadvantaged older persons, in order to improve their quality of life. They have done pioneering works in: Mobile Healthcare: The HelpAge mobile health services are designed to reach free healthcare to disadvantaged elders in rural and urban areas. On-site services include doctor consultation, basic diagnostics, medicines and home visits for bedridden patients.Active ageing centres: The elders who are part of a social or work group fare much better in terms of physical and emotional well-being. The solution seems to lie in like-minded elders forming small groups and working together on socially useful projects which not only benefits society but is of immense benefit to the elders themselves as it keeps them socially engaged and imparts a sense of self-worth. HelpAge India has launched a unique programme that strives to meet these objectives.Livelihood Support: In order to decrease the socio-economic vulnerability of older persons, particularly the disadvantaged in the rural areas, HelpAge works with these elders to set up and build Elder Self-help Groups (ESHGs) into viable and sustainable groups and to facilitate their federation at local and district level.Cancer and palliative care: HelpAge India has been in partnership with number of hospitals and organisations for carrying out treatments which include cancer surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy. These partners also conduct cancer awareness and cancer detection camps. Thus from cancer detection and treatment their partners have been able to deliver quality cancer care for elders in need of such intervention. Ever since HelpAge India began its intervention in Cancer Care for the elders, it has given support of more than Rs. 6.73 Crores to 29 hospitals and institutions in 11 states across the country. 25,000 Elderly have been screened for cancer and over 10,000 treatments provided. The target for next five years is to provide cancer treatment for 2000 needy elderly cancer patients.Source: http://www.helpageindia.org/Teach For India is a nationwide movement of outstanding college graduates and professionals working towards eliminating educational inequity in India. Teach For India recruits the most outstanding college graduates and professionals to teach in low-income schools for two years. Fellows go through a rigorous selection process where they are evaluated for academic excellence, demonstrated leadership, a commitment to the community, critical thinking and perseverance, amongst other qualities.The notable impacts:910 Fellows in totalTeach For India has 271 schools at the start of 2014-15, 209 partner placement schools in 2013-2014. Which grew from 164 partner placement schools at the start of 2012-2013, 122 schools at the start of 2011-2012; and 63 schools at the start of 2010-2011. In our first year of operations, we had 33 partner placement schools. In 2013, we placed Fellows in 633 classrooms, having grown from 443 classrooms in 2012, 310 classrooms in 2011 and 160 classrooms in 2010.More than 13000 completed applications to the 2014 Fellowship program with 7.2% of the people who applied getting selected.Source: http://www.teachforindia.org/about-usAaranyak is a leading wildlife NGO based in Guwahati. It works all over the eastern Himalayan region on nature conservation, natural resources management, climate change, disaster management and livelihood enhancement of marginalized communities through research and advocacy. Governed by few serious minded ecologists and educationalists, this organization seems to be rather publicity-shy. Being located in a region of rich bio-diversity with a record of volatile politics they have done a lot of commendable jobs in the filed of conservation, advocacy and research. It wont be an overstatement if one calls them the face of conservation efforts in North East region of the country. But for outsiders they are a relatively unknown organization even having minuscule online presence. But their grass-root level works are frequently reported in the native media and dailies.Some of their projects include:North East Threatened Species Conservation Programme (NETSCOPE):The NETSCOPE aims to raise the required resources over years to advance threatened species conservation initiatives in the North-East India. The fund will be directed primary to expedite assistance where it is needed most and when it can do the most good- before a threat escalates into permanent devastation of threatened species population in North East India.Tiger Research and Conservation Initiative (TRCI)The Tiger Informatics through Geospatial and Ecological Research (TIGER) is a unique project developed by Aaranyak for long term monitoring of tigers (using photo trapping) in the Northeast India.Rhino Research And Conservation InitiativeThe conservation of Rhinoceros unicornis in its range countries, specifically India and Nepal has become a challenge in recent decades as the habitat the species occupy has been facing socio-political and insurgent induced unrest. Assam harbours about 70 percent of the wild Indian Rhino population of the world while Nepal shelters about 25 percent while North Bengal and Uttar Pradesh in India shelters the rest 5 percent of the population.One of the key projects that Aaranyak has taken in association with the UK based The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) and the state forest department is a Ten Year Wireless Communication Enhancement Project for Kaziranga National Park that started in the year 2003. Till date over 190 walkie talkie sets and over 40 wireless base stations were given to Kaziranga NP authorities to enhance communication among the anti-poaching camps and officials of Kaziranga NP authorities.Two anti-poaching floating boat camps were sponsored by Aaranyak and The DSWF to enhance vigilance in river Brahmaputra along the northern part of Kaziranga NP.Gangetic Dolphin Research And Conservation InitiativeThe project aims in the evaluation of conservation status of Gangetic dolphin in the entire Brahmaputra river system through research based investigation and formulation of site and factor based conservation strategy and initiation of effort for the conservation of the species. At present the investigating team is conducting riverine survey in the Brahmaputra river and its major tributaries fora) Identification of microhabitats of the speciesb) Determination of the population status and distribution pattern of dolphins in each dentified microhabitats andc) Identification and determination of anthropogenic pressures, especially poaching and by catch killing in each such identified microhabitats.Wildlife Crime Monitoring Programme (WCMP)The Wildlife Crime Monitoring Project based on intense investigation was initiated in small scale in 1998 with support from the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation of UK. Since then the project has been able to collect intelligence for data base for about 100 poachers with photographs. These databases have been made available to concerned law enforcing agencies to nab the poachers whenever needed. The project team work closely with the protected area managers and with concerned police offices and contribute more as facilitator to strengthen the networking and sharing of intelligence among the law enforcement agencies.Wildlife Genetic Program:The major objectives of the proposed programme will be:To build up a reference genetic database of the rich biodiversity of North East India.To standardize DNA based techniques for the identification of species from various wildlife samples.To undertake genetic research in prioritized areas to provide answers to the questions of pressing wildlife management needs.Source: 1. http://www.aaranyak.org/2. I have visited their research centre.