Adding diversity to plate
The Government of India has proposed mandatory rice fortification to tackle the issue of malnutrition in the country. The process of fortification includes externally adding nutrients to a food item with
Right To Information (RTI)
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Green panel slaps fresh conditions on Posco
BHUBANESWAR: A high-level committee set up by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to review the mega Posco steel project in the state has spelled fresh trouble for the much-hyped project. The committee headed by K Roy Paul was constituted as per the March 30, 2012 order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which had suspended the environment clearance granted to the project.
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Despite green awards, Vizag most polluted
Visakhapatnam: The famous port town of Visakhapatnam happens to be one of the worst-affected towns in the state, as far as the environmental pollution goes, according to the official data recently retrieved by a city based voluntary organisation under the Right to Information Act. The shocking revelation flies in the face of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust’s tall claims about Vizag being “environmentally the best managed town” in the state. In fact, the situation is so serious that about 44 people died in the town in the past one year owing to the environmental pollution, according a city based voluntary organisation.
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Here all’s not well
A well-building project in Jharkhand has fallen flat on its face with more incompleteor collapsed wells and unpaid wages. More than three years after the Jharkhand government ordered that 50 wells be built
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Tribals resort to RTI, fight against Forest Protection Act
The Act grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities The Additional Collector’s headquarter here was abuzz even before its gates opened on Monday morning. Around 100 tribals from various villages in the Jawhar tehsil had already queued to begin what they had aptly named as first of its kind ‘RTI Satyagraha’ against the alleged unlawful implementation of The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
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HC asks state to reply to new PIL on parking policy
Mumbai: The Bombay HC on Monday asked the state’s lawyer to take instructions from the Urban Development Department (UDD), headed by CM Prithviraj Chavan and reply to a new PIL that raised issues about “lack of transparency” in the state’s public parking policy on May 2. The PIL moved on Monday by Thane-based activist Pravin Wategaonkar, who had earlier filed a PIL on the Adarsh housing irregularities, said that an RTI query he made last month showed that no new approvals were given to public parking lots after June 2012. The files before June 2012 got burnt in the Mantralaya fire, the department had said. The query was to find out how many public parking lots were allowed since November 2010.
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Be the change
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is launching a new course — capacity for change — which will be conducted from April 15 to 20. This is a programme offered by the Anil Agarwal Green College,
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83% mid-day meal samples fail lab tests
The food being served to Delhi’s children under the mid-day meal scheme is far from being healthy with 83 per cent of the samples lifted for testing failing in the current fiscal. In a response to Right
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In Pimpri Chinchwad, only 47 urinals for 9 lakh women
Civic Body To Take Steps For Construction Of Toilets: Mayor Pune: There are just 47 public urinal blocks in Pimpri Chinchwad for about 9 lakh women, reveals a Right to Information (RTI) application. Vikas Bhumbe, president of Aadhar Social Foundation, who sought the info under RTI, said, “Women face hardships when they travel to the city for work. There is an urgent need for the civic body to construct more toilets for women. The population of Pimpri Chinchwad city, as per the 2011 census, is 17.5 lakh and about half of them are women. This is shocking because the city has a woman as the mayor and the leader of the ruling party.”
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Private telecom towers okay, but where are the rules?
Almost 15 years after the Karnataka Urban Development Department issued a circular to the municipal bodies in the State to frame rules for installing private telecom towers on residential and commercial buildings, the Karnataka Directorate of Municipal Corporations (KDMC) has now suddenly woken up to frame the rules, including on radiation levels emanated from a tower. The directorate is in the process of framing the draft rules, which will be sent to the Additional Chief Secretary for approval. The State government initiated the process of framing the draft rules following the Centre’s direction to the Urban Development Department.
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Industrial pollution took 110 lives in 10 months
Kochi: The pollution in the industrial belt of Eloor-Edayar is impacting on its population with four major non-communicable diseases claiming as many as 110 deaths in Kadungallur grama panchayat in just 10 months up to October 2012. The Pathalam bund in Periyar is located in Kadungallur and 85 chemical industries are also situated above the bund. The KWA Muppathadam pump house in the Periyar which supplies drinking water to one lakh popupation in Alangad, Karumaloor and Kadungallur panchayats, is also situated in Kadungallur panchayat.