India’s fossil-fuel-based energy dependency is up to 68%, with the commercial and residential sectors contributing to the rise of building energy demand, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. Several studies have shown that the increasing building energy demand is associated with increased space-cooling ownership and building footprint. The energy demand is predicted to grow further with the conditions of global warming and the phenomenon of urban heat islands. Building designers have been using state-of-the-art transient simulation tools to evaluate energy-efficient envelopes with present-day weather files that are generated with historical weather datasets for any specific location. Designing buildings with historical climatic conditions makes the buildings vulnerable to the predicted climate change impacts. In this paper, a weather file generator was developed to generate Indian future weather files using a geo-filtering-based spatial technique, as well as the temporal downscaling and machine learning (ML)-based bias correction approach proposed by Belcher et al. The future weather files of the three representative concentration pathways of 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5 could be generated for the years 2030, 2050, 2070, 2090, and 2100. Currently, the outputs of the second-generation Canadian Earth System Model are being used to create future weather files that will aid architects, urban designers, and planners in developing a built environment that is resilient to climate change. The novelty lies in using observed historical data from present-day weather files on the typical meteorological year for testing and training ML models. The typical meteorological weather files are composed of the concatenation of the monthly weather datasets from different years, which are referred to for testing and training ML models for bias correction.

Over the past two decades, climate change and climatic variability have received significant attention from the scientific community. The present study investigates the impact of future climate change on irrigation water requirements in the coastal districts of Odisha, Eastern India, specifically within the Phulnakhara distributary’s command area of the main Puri canal system. Field investigations were conducted during the kharif and rabi seasons of 2019–2020 and 2020–2021. The study offers a new perspective involving a future climate data-driven model with water requirements of RCP 4.5 for this canal command area, and after integrating this with the optimal cropping area, the optimal future irrigation water needs for the kharif and rabi seasons were determined. The study focused on assessing future irrigation water demands under changing climatic conditions, with an emphasis on the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources. Projections indicate that peak irrigation demand will occur in the kharif season of 2042–2043 and the rabi season of 2044–2045. Furthermore, a significant decline in groundwater levels is anticipated, ranging from 1.23 to 1.42 m below ground level (BGL) during the kharif season and from 1.46 to 1.64 m BGL during the rabi season, over the next 30 years (2021–2022 to 2050–2051). The most pronounced groundwater table decline is projected for the years 2042–2043 (kharif) and 2044–2045 (rabi), highlighting the need for sustainable water resource management strategies in the region. Based on this study, integrating the optimal crop area with future irrigation water needs will result in groundwater table fluctuations under the permissible limit.

The exponential growth in plastic consumption and subsequent waste generation in India has emerged as a significant environmental and socio-economic challenge. Among the various concerns, microplastics tiny plastic particles resulting from the breakdown of larger plastic debris pose serious and often overlooked risks to ecosystems and human health. These pollutants infiltrate air, water, and soil systems, accumulating through food chains and impacting biodiversity, agriculture, and public well-being. This review critically examines the current plastic production and consumption patterns in India, tracing the sources, pathways, and impacts of microplastics. It highlights the multifaceted challenges posed by microplastic pollution, ranging from environmental degradation to economic losses and public health threats. The manuscript underscores the urgent need to transition toward a sustainable, circular plastic economy. It evaluates key strategies such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), waste valorisation, technological innovations, and robust policy frameworks. By integrating global best practices and Indian case studies, the review presents actionable insights for policymakers, industries, and civil society. A well-structured circular economy can significantly curtail microplastic proliferation while fostering economic resilience, resource efficiency, and long-term environmental sustainability in India.

In the eastern part of India, specifically in the coastal districts of Odisha, the Puri central canalsystem’s Phulnakhara distributary command, which is split between the districts of Cuttack and Khurda, is where the study was taken up during 2020 and 2021. The flow modelling of the Phulnakhara distributary command, covering a 49.03 km² area, was done by Visual MODFLOW (VMOD). The command area’s conceptual model was created by assigning various input data, and the developed model was calibrated with 1-year data (2020) and validated with 1-year data (2021) on a fortnightly basis for simulating the groundwater flow using VMOD. Both steady state and transient state circumstances were used to calibrate the hydraulic conductivity and storage coefficient for the various layers in 2020. The calibrated hydraulic conductivity values vary from 1.16 × 10⁻³ ms⁻¹ to 4.86 × 10⁻⁴ ms⁻¹, and the calibrated values (2.00 × 10⁻² m⁻¹ to 4.00 × 10⁻⁶ m⁻¹) of specific storage varied from the first to third layer in both state scenarios. The validated model could forecast the groundwater condition and the flow head for the following ten years, assuming a 0.5% annual drop in recharge by increasing the pumping rate five, six, and seven times throughout the validation period (2021). The modelling study suggested that the command area will not remain safe for 10 years from the point of future groundwater development. The model performance showed strong agreement between simulated and observed groundwater heads, with R² values ranging from 0.68 to 0.91 and NSE values between 0.64 and 0.88. Predictive simulations indicated groundwater drawdowns of 4.82 m, 5.72 m, and 6.11 m under 5×, 6×, and 7× pumping scenarios, respectively, over the next decade, highlighting a significant risk of depletion unless conjunctive use strategies are adopted.