Bhopal Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that protecting forests is necessary to conserve environment. Human race will not survive if forests are not saved. The Chief Minister was addressing
Jatropha would be planted at the peripheries of new plantations to be undertaken by Forest Department. Giving this information, Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah informed that in the coming days this move would ensure livelihood to rural people though Forest Committees and bio-diesel would also become available from jatropha oil in remote areas.
The 210 MW unit at the Amarkantak Thermal Power Station of the Madhya Pradesh Power Generating Company in Anuppur district was synchronised today. The power station aleady has two 30 MW units and two 120 MW units operating. The Union minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh and the minister of Power of MP Dr Gauri Shankar Shehwar were present on the occasion. Jairam Ramesh said that synchronisation on oil of the 210 MW unit was an important milestone. It would be another four months before the unit is scheduled to be in full commercial operation, he added.
With the onset of monsoon in northern Madhya Pradesh, heavy rains lashed Gwalior division and other parts of the state. Although monsoon arrived in the state on time, good rainfall has so far been elusive with most parts receiving light rainfall. A regional meteorological department spokesperson said an upper air cycer built over northwestern Madhya Pradesh was causing rainfall. A cycer built over the Bay of Bengal was developing into a low pressure area following which good rainfall was expected.
In Bihar's flood-prone villages, a cycle of misery is perpetuated - report by Bharat Dogra In a month's time the monsoon will arrive. And I am reminded of my visit to East Champaran district of Bihar four months after last year's "exceptionally destructive" floods. As person after person narrated his/her misery to me, it was clear that the government's relief was inadequate and acute distress did not recede with the flood waters; it lingered for months in the form of gnawing hunger, disease and deprivation. In fact, it is a cycle of misery that repeats year after year.
Missile man and former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, in the role of an environmentalist, has called upon Delhites to be involved in cleaning of the city's lifeline, Yamuna river. The ex-president is a man of his own stature and thinks very deeply. These days Dr Kalam is busy in social works. As regards the river Yamuna, it has been polluted from whereever it is flowing, near Kanpur, Allahabad and Agra by industrial units established there as also the people living there. Near Kanpur Dehat, the dirty water from leather factories is drained in the river.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reviewed the implementation of announcements regarding Panchayat and Rural Development Department at his residence here today. Out of 680 announcements, 521 have been completely implemented or are nearing completion. Rest of the announcements of continuous nature are under various stages of implementation. Those present at the meeting included Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni, Principal Secretary Panchayat and Rural Development IS Dani, Principal Secretary Finance Ashok Das and Chief Minister's secretary Anurag Jain.
The state government has instructed Forest employees to tackle possible flood situations by coordinating with district administration. At the behest of Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah a circular has been issued to all the conservators of forests, officers of National Parks and divisional forest officers to coordinate with the district administration and make available adequate staff, vehicles and boats for overcoming drought situation. They have also been instructed to use telecommunication network for sending assistance to flood-affected areas.
Countdown for the arrival of monsoon in the state has begun. According to Met experts, rain is likely to be better this year in comparison to previous year. Requirement on several level is must seeing the monsoon. Villages and cities have their own problems. This is the time when Kharif, specially sowing of soyabean is started. It is necessary that the farmers may not face crisis of seed and fertilizer. The farmers had to face crisis in this connection last year. Problem of qualitative seeds was prevailing in several areas. So complete preparation for kharif crop should be made.
Madhya Pradesh has targeted an overall growth rate of 7.6 percent during the 11th Five Year Plan. It is envisaged to be achieved through five percent growth in agriculture and allied sectors, ten percent growth in industry and eight percent growth in service sector. The state economy has been growing at an average growth rate of 4.83 percent during the period 2002-03 to 2005-06 and therefore, to achieve the target would require a substantial improvement of nearly 2.8 portage points over the previous plan period.
Scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers have been completely dependent on forests for their livelihood and they have been given rights over forest lands through the new Act framed in this connection. Forest dwellers are friends of forests and play an important role in their development and preservation. The Act would ensure that forest dwellers get forest-based material for living, livelihood and Nistar. They would have natural rights over water, forests and land in the true sense.
