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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Tiger poaching by electrocution rising trend in MP
As many as five of the 13 tigers lost in the state till Mid-December fell prey to this method of poaching in 2012 Madhya Pradesh is witnessing a rising trend of tigers being poached by electrocution with five cats falling prey to it in 2012-13, an RTI query has found. "According to government records, 13 tigers lost lives in Madhya Pradesh till mid December 2012, including four due to electrocution," RTI activist Ajay Dube told PTI. However, one of the tigers was not poached, but accidentally came in contact with electric wires.
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CIC pulls up DFO, seeks details on forest land encroachment
JAMMU In response to a second appeal filed by an RTI activist seeking details of the encroachment on forest land in Jammu, the State Chief Information Commissioner has directed the concerned Divisional Forest Officer to provide full information to the applicant by March 6 and also upload the information on its website. The CIC also pulled up the DFO, who is the First Appellate Authority, for neither appearing before the Commission nor informing about his inability for the same. The RTI activist, identified as Mohd Ayub of Mahore in Reasi, has sought information
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No nod for airport plan from MoEF
Action council to intensify agitation Union Minister for Forests and Environment (MoEF) Jayanthi Natarajan has clarified that the Ministry has not given environmental clearance for the proposed airport project at Aranmula, said Kummanam Rajashekharan, chief patron of the Thiruvaranmula Paithruka Grama Karma Samiti (TPGKS). Addressing a press conference here on Friday, the samiti leader said the Union Minister had sent a letter (D.O No-51/2010-IA.III, dated January 31, 2013) to Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha,, categorically clarifying that “environmental clearance for the project has not been granted so far.”
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‘Waste burner released high amount of toxins’
Five non-government organisations working among the survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster on Thursday stated that high levels of Dioxins and Furans were released from the Ramky waste incinerator at Pithampur near Indore during four trial runs between July 2010 and June 2012 and charged the Madhya Pradesh government of being silent spectator to the deliberate and repeated “poisoning of people”. Releasing the documents obtained through the Right to Information Act, the representatives of the NGOs said that because of the high organochlorine content of the Union Carbide waste, they were likely to emit higher volumes of Dioxins and Furans on incineration. This has been corroborated through documents obtained.
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NHRC notice on drug trials at 3 hospitals
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued a notice to the Union health secretary on a complaint alleging that three big government hospitals in Delhi conducted illegal clinical drug trials on 3,479 children during the last five years. The commission’s notice cited illegal clinical trials allegedly conducted on 2,056 children at Safdarjung Hospital, 1,023 children in Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital and 400 children at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital.
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8 infants died within days of vaccination
Directorate Of Health Services Admits More Deaths In Reply To Paediatrician’s RTI The directorate of health services (DHS), which has been defending the administration of the pentavalent vaccine, has admitted that four infants had died within a week of administering the vaccine in the state till June 2012. The admission came in a reply to a right to information (RTI) application filed by paediatric physician Dr Jacob Puliyel, dated July 27, 2012.
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Panel approved all river projects in last 6 yrs
The environment ministry is hardly a “green roadblock ministry” as is being made out by the PMO. The MoEF’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects considered a total of 262 hydropower and irrigation projects in the last six years and green signalled every single one of them. Contrary to the PMO’s claims, not a single project has been rejected. This means that between 2007 and December 30 2012, stage 1 clearance was given for hydropower projects with an installed capacity of 48,456 MW which is 25 per cent more than what India has installed in 66 years of independence.
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No sign of saplings on highways cleared of trees for widening work
Non-planting of saplings along national highways in the State after uprooting several old trees for taking up road widening projects has come to light through a petition filed under the Right to Information Act by tree lovers. Answering a set of questions from a Salem-based resident, officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have replied that a total of 7,214 trees were uprooted for four-laning project on NH 68 in Salem alone.
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Set up national panel to check misuse of government funds by NGOs’
Highlighting the importance of proper audit of the non-government organisations (NGOs), particularly those getting grants from the government, a report based on information received under RTI reveals that the Union and State governments give yearly grants worth Rs.1,000 crore to various NGOs. “At a time when the grants to the NGOs given by the Centre have been increasing — from Rs. 561 crore in 2002-2003 to Rs. 835 crore in 2008-09, we need to have a ‘National Grants-in-Aid Commission’ through which all grants to the voluntary sector by all the Ministries should be routed for transparency and better monitoring of projects,” said Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) Director Suhas Chakma.
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Death knell for Kacharakanahalli lake
The once-pristine 57-acre Kacharakanahalli lake has been turned into a virtual landfill with the Bangalore Development Authority dumping mud and debris into it, gobbling up almost one third of the water body. Another part of the lake has a temple, a dhobi ghat, a slum and small patch of greenery. The Supreme Court, in its landmark judgement in the case of Animal and Environment Legal Defence Fund vs Union of India,1997, and Susetha vs the State of Tamil Nadu, 2006, had pointed out that conservation of a lake was an equal responsibility of both the State and the citizens. But in 2011, the BDA in blatant violation of the top court’s verdict, went ahead and implemented its 1984-85 plan of converting the lake into a civic amenities site instead of reviving it.