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Himachal Pradesh
MONEYMAKERS
CAN IT: Rotten foodstuff in sealed tin cans will now be a thing of the past. Elbicon, a Belgian company which produces equipment for food processing industries, has developed a new quality control technology which uses laser, infrared or X-ray to detect bone pieces in canned meat, bits of wood …
Himachal cement plants face flak
THE Congress (I) government rode to power opposing the Bharatiya Janata Party's (bjp) plan of setting up 16 mini and 3 big cement plants in Himachal Pradesh. Now the same government under Virbhadra Singh suddenly diverted from its declared policy by sanctioning 3 cement plants of 1 million metric tonnes …
The ground for grassroots technology
FOR the residents of Nari, a village of 700 households in the Una district of Himachal Pradesh, underdevelopment and poverty is losing its harsh edge, thanks to the introduction of a few simple and cheap devices like water seal toilets and biogas plants. The devices are being promoted by the …
Saved from the axe
WRAPPED AND bound in red tape, the 276 obstinate deodars growing near Tutu village in Rampur sub-division of Himachal Pradesh's Shimla district were an uncomplaining target for freewheeling woodcutters roaming the area. This time round, they were saved from the axe by a bunch of gritty village women.
The …
The …
Political see saw
What is good for the environment in Himachal Pradesh seems to depend entirely on political ambitions in the state. HP governor Gulsher Ahmed's decision to revive proposals for huge cement plants in Chamba and Mandi districts has triggered yet another round of political controversy. Ahmed's decision reverses the cancellation by …
The case that closed the Walia mines
IN 1987 Chet Singh Chauhan and a group of residents from Sangraha, a village in Sirmaur district, filed suit demanding the closure of the V K Walia limestone mines near the village. They accused of Walia of causing severe environmental damage because of unscientific mining operations: "Haphazard mining was not …
Quarrying for trouble
WHEN STATE governor B R Bhagat cancelled plans for two major cement plants and banned limestone mining near main roads and tourist sites, he warned, "No one will be allowed to play with the ecology of the environmentally fragile state of Himachal Pradesh."
Now, the environment has become a political …
Now, the environment has become a political …
Himalayan water sharing system endangered
THE SPITI area of Himachal Pradesh is a cold desert, but surprisingly, agriculture is its mainstay. Transforming Spiti's lunar-like terrain into an agrarian success story was made possible by an ingenious system devised centuries ago to tap distant glaciers for water. But short-sighted developmental policies, though well-intentioned, now threaten both …
Afforestation project suspended as anti poor
A SOCIAL forestry scheme in Himachal Pradesh that for long was charged by environmentalists as a state-sponsored land-grab bid in the guise of afforestation has been suspended following the dismissal of the Bharatiya Janata Party government. The van lagao rozi kamao yojana (grow-forests-and-earn-a-living scheme), implemented by the BJP, sought to …
Apple subsidies a political game
ERSTWHILE Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar's refusal to give formal commitment to the World Bank on withdrawing the state's apple subsidy has cost the state Rs 150 crore in World Bank aid on integrated horticulture development.
Though Kumar withdrew the subsidy in spite of opposition from the state's apple …
Though Kumar withdrew the subsidy in spite of opposition from the state's apple …