New Delhi, April 25 2012: According to the latest MoEF annual report, by the end of 2012, India would have generated a whopping eight lakh tonnes of e-waste; the dubious distinction has its serious side effects.

New Delhi, May 1, 2012: E-waste handling rules, which came into effect from Tuesday, will not make much difference at the ground-level, as there is no monitoring mechanism or guideline in place, says Toxics Link.

New Delhi, April 26, 2012: At Old Seelampur, an impoverished neighbourhood in Northeast Delhi, rows of hollowed-out computer monitors line a dingy lane. On another street here, room after room on either side is piled high with dusty keyboards and metallic innards of computers and other electronic goods.

Increasing incidents of malpractice involving electronic dumping in the absence of regulation have triggered the need for e-waste rules, which first saw an initial draft in 2010. After much deliberation and some further amendments, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has come out with some new proposals that will go into effect in May 2012.