Interim report by board could not identify the source of around one-fifth of Calcutta’s PM2.5 pollution Environmentalists have raised questions about an ongoing study ordered by the state pollution
The survival of the tiger has become a burning issue, one of serious concern because of the rapidly declining numbers, despite the special task force initiated by the prime minister. Alas, the force is headed by a non-tiger-expert. The annihilation of this majestic species is symbolic of the disappearance of the integrity, honesty and majesty of governance in India. As king of the forest, protector of the precise and carefully-spelt-out law of the jungle, the tiger represents the best in rulership and keeps the necessary balance in the food chain as well. We have managed, over the last few decades, to destroy this essential balance of life, and with that the destruction of values such as honesty, integrity, commitment and service, all of which are integral to good governance and inclusive administration. The tiger is the keeper of the law, and as it dies unceremoniously at the hands of defective policies, unthinking, short-term initiatives and an abject lack of understanding and expertise in wildlife preservation, India too contorts with the breakdown of law, drowning under the onslaught of a tsunami of corruption, malpractice, nepotism and anarchy that stems from inept governance, selfish political compromises and the government's continuing status quo in an attempt to live through a full term and remain in power at the cost of destroying the fundamentals. For a ruling coalition to succumb to a barrage of blackmail for three years from a weird partner, who remains outside of the accountability structure and who has been a traditional enemy, rationalizing negative interventions by describing them as imperatives of coalition politics, is no longer acceptable. To hold one billion people to ransom because of a personal need to survive in positions of power is equally inappropriate. Still carrying on Times have changed dramatically and past baggage must be discarded to make way for change, development and growth without the rhetoric of populism. Let's have real commitment and action in areas that have been neglected and rapaciously exploited by our political class for decades. When leaders do not stand by their values and beliefs, citizens reject them as weak and unfit to rule. When leaders buckle under pressure regularly, they are deemed ineffective and are gradually put aside as incompetent and incapable of good governance. Once the public dissects the posturing, the decline is not gentle but definitive. When there is a strong perception that the leader, the face of governance, is manipulated invisibly by some other force, people of a country sense the weakness and opt to vote for an alternative. The pretended innocence about the degradation around us shows up the ruling coalition. The explanations are packed with superficial half-truths that are signalled out to the public. What follows is an overwhelming disrespect for all that the government, and its once-upon-a-time sacrosanct institutions, have stood for and represented over 60 years. This truth is the saddest of all and Bharat is convulsing under this very dangerous reality. Are the various greedy mafia desperate only to serve their personal interests by poaching good, clean individuals and political practitioners, much like the illegal trapping and killing of the king of the many jungles of India? Illegal is the key word, one that has eaten into the foundations of our plural culture. These rapacious, anonymous white ants helped by worms and snakes, and by other scavengers, are thriving with the death of the protector of the law and the fine balance. As the sanctity of the last of our sacred groves is being brutally manhandled, so are the integrity and values of civil society in its finest and broadest definition. Who will bell the Big Cat?
Calcutta is to have a "detailed, scientific plan' to combat the effects of climate changes, courtesy a World Bank initiative. A three-member team from the bank was in town recently to kick off the project, which will use a simulated model to predict Calcutta's vulnerability to climate changes till 2050 and prepare a survival roadmap. "Calcutta is among the 10 cities in the world that are most vulnerable to climate changes. The Bengal government has okayed a World Bank proposal to launch an initiative to predict the changes,' said state environment secretary K.L. Meena.
Asutosh College, in south Calcutta, has become the first college in the state to use solar power. A 73-watt panel, set up on the roof of the college with help from the West Bengal Renewable Energy Resource Development Agency, is powering instruments in the physics, electronics and computer laboratories for the past 10 days. Asutosh College principal Debabrata Chowdhury said: "The use of non-conventional source of energy is likely to increase the life span of sophisticated instruments in the laboratories. This is one of reasons we opted for solar energy.'
The turtle population of India is under threat because Bengal will not stop consumption of turtle meat. The charge was levelled at a meet by officials of the Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) on Tuesday. "Freshwater turtles have become extinct in Bengal in the past 10 years. Now, every turtle consignment seized elsewhere is headed here,' says Biswajit Mohanty, the secretary of WSO and a member of the government's National Board for Wildlife. The NGO works for the preservation of freshwater turtles in the Mahanadi basin.
Come June 5 (environment day), the owners or drivers of diesel vehicles will have to produce a valid "pollution under control' certificate at petrol pumps for a refill. The state environment department has decided on the move to ensure that diesel vehicles
Krishnagar, Feb. 12: Thousands of families in the bird flu-hit blocks of Nadia run the risk of not getting the Rs 500 the government has promised as they had not reported the death of their backyard chickens. Tahamina Bibi had lost 15 chickens a fortnight before the flu was confirmed in Tehatta on January 19. She ate some and threw the rest in a field. The resident of Kanainagar, about 160km from Calcutta, is not sure if she would get the money as it will be difficult for her to prove the deaths.
Had your cereals? Krishnagar, Feb. 12: Two poultry owners starved nearly 1,500 birds to death in Ranaghat, Nadia, because they could not afford to feed and not sell them. The ban on sale and purchase of poultry birds was in force in Nadia from January 20. The district administration today confirmed that the chickens of Swapan Biswas and Ashish Sikdar of Panikhali village, about 70km from Calcutta, had died not of avian influenza but starvation.
A major part of London has recently been declared Low Emission Zone, where heavy-duty diesel lorries violating exhaust norms will be fined up to
Jadavpur University (JU) has once again topped among 11 private and state engineering institutions of Bengal in implementing projects under the World Bank-sponsored Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (Tequip). JU's engineering and technology faculty, following an appraisal of the performance of the 11 institutes, has scored 916 out of 950. Phase I of Tequip ends in March. "For the second phase, JU is likely to get the highest funding, thanks to the assessment report,' said an official in the state higher education department.
Bali Island, Feb. 11: British high commissioner Richard Stagg yesterday inaugurated a mangrove project in the Sunderbans to combat global warming in the tiger reserve. The British deputy high commission in Calcutta, in collaboration with an NGO, will develop the mangrove forest along half a square kilometre of the riverbank in Bali Island, 200km from Calcutta. The deputy high commission is funding the project, estimated to cost around
