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INDIA

The Karnataka government would come out with a comprehensive Karnataka Forest (Amendment) Bill based on the National Forest Policy evolved by the Centre after incorporating suggestions made by various members of the legislature.

Scientists predict an earthquake in Assam of a magnitude greater than eight on the Richter Scale any time before the year 2010. Studies on the earthquake of this region show that strain is accumulating in some parts of the region.

In India, one tiger is poached everyday and unless effective measures are taken, the big cats may be extinct in the next five years, according to a petition filed before the Supreme Court.

A survey of the Maharashtra government shows a sharp increase in the number of new leprosy cases. The study reveals that Maharashtra's leprosy graph is revised to five per 10,000 cases, as compared to 3.9 that was estimated in 1996-97.

Radioactive waste is being dumped on the terrace of the National Institute of Immunology near Jawaharlal Nehru University's green belt exposing the residents in the area to high risk.

Cases of HIV positive and AIDS patients assumed alarming proportions in the north-eastern states in the last decade. A report of the National AIDS Control Organisation shows that over 108 AIDS patients have died while 6,719 people are HIV positive.

The biodiversity conservation prioritisation project launched by the World Wide Fund for Nature has identified 172 bio species in the country for immediate conservation including 58 species of medical plants.

The Madras High Court has ordered closure of 434 dyeing and bleaching units in Karur, Tamil Nadu, for their failure to check effluent discharge from their units.

The TB control programme has failed and India is sitting on virtual time bomb as it is all set to achieve highest number of tuberculosis and HIV patients by the year 2000, says Zarine Udwadia, consultant Pulmonogist, P D Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Mumbai.

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