Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of News Item titled "2 killed in blast at illegal cracker unit in Thanjavur appearing in The Hindu dated 19.05.2025". The application is registered suo-motu on the basis of the news item titled 2 killed in blast at illegal cracker unit …
RESEARCHERS at the University of Queensland in Australia have developed a chemical process to produce superconductors -- materials that offer no resistance to the flow of current -- in quantities large enough for industrial applications (New Scientist, Vol 142, No 1921). So far, superconductivity has been obtained only in some …
BANGLADESH'S jute industry may finally see better days. In what Bangladesh industry minister A M Zahiruddin Khan calls a technological breakthrough, the country's scientists have developed the knowhow to manufacture packaging papers, hardboard and even a soft fibre akin to silk, using green jute plants. Bangladesh, once the world's biggest …
THE developed and the developing countries were locked in yet another standoff at the recent Asian Development Bank (ADB) meeting in Nice, France. At the heart of the dispute lay the insistence of industrialised countries, led by the US, that the ADB's capital increase be linked to a reorientation of …
THE complaints kept pouring in. For the past few months, residents of Siraspur village in North Delhi had badgered the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) about noxious fumes emanating from illegal cottage lead smelters in their locality. A CPCB team paid a "surprise visit" to the area on May 2, …
THE SPASTICS SOCIETY OF NORTHERN INDIA Balbir Saxena Marg Hauz Khas New Delhi 110 016 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF CEREBRAL PALSY P 35/1 Taratolla Road Calcutta 700 088 Tel: 478 4177/478 3488 CENTRE FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya Campus 36 Venkatanarayana Road T Nagar Madras 600 017 Tel: 442604/442743 NATIONAL …
IS THE Montreal Protocol an international treaty committed to the task of protecting the earth"s endangered -- and getting closer to the point of no return day by day -- ozone shield? Or is it a clever trap to hold the developing world captive to those who created much of …
BICKERING between the North and the South has hindered the phasing out of ozone-depleting substances in the Third World. Although 7 of the 14 members of the Ozone Fund's executive committee are from developing countries, merely 300 tonnes of such substances were phased out in the Third World last year; …
TRADE, environment and labour standards hold centrestage as the countdown begins for the formal signing ceremony of the Uruguay Round of GATT at Marrakesh, Morocco, on April 15. Under pressure from the industrialised nations, the 118-member nations are planning to take the first step towards a "green GATT" by setting …
IN A Bonn marketplace stands a huge wall of 60,000 empty tin cans. This monument of scrap, assembled by members of Germany"s environment organisations, is a symbol of protest against an over-ambitious waste recycling programme that is known by its green dot symbol. "Waste remains waste -- in spite of …
IN A victory for conservationists, South Korea has decided to ban domestic trade in tiger bones and rhino horns from 1995. Although a ban on their imports have been in force -- Siberian tiger bones since 1993 and rhino horns since 1984 -- the goods continue to be smuggled in. …
GREEN is not a popular colour in Europe at the moment -- at least not with industry. Flattened under the weight of over 200 environment protection rules, many European companies are afraid that they may lose the sharp edge of the market wedge. British prime minister John Major clarified Britain's …
NORTH Korea is in the news again. Soon after it agreed to accept international inspections of its nuclear facilities, the South Korean government released a report that said North Korea operates eight chemical weapons plants and three biological warfare laboratories. However, the report gave no details of the chemical weapons …
PANDA Electronics Co, China's leading television manufacturer, has had enough of selling no-frills sets. It is gearing up for a into the satellite dish and telephone businesses. Panda believes that only by expanding into new areas will it be able to keep pace with foreign competitors, who are bound to …
DID you know that the best remedy for jet lag is sunshine? Or that female athletes can outrun males in a marathon? And, if your teenage son drives his mobike at breakneck speed, blame it on an enzyme that regulates brain chemicals. These are not based on hearsay but on …
GIVEN the state of pollution in Indian cities and rivers, most people would conclude that nothing is being done to control pollution. But figures have an unusual knack of belying common thinking. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, in 1992 no less than 5,535 cases were filed against pollution …
US drug companies are responding to criticism of the high cost of prescription medicines by putting out a new message for consumers: "We are not out to fleece you. We are, in fact, toiling hard to 'discover' drugs that will cure terminal diseases". They have kicked off a television advertising …
Spoilt milk Nestle Lanka, the Sri Lankan subsidiary of a multinational food firm, has had to send back a consignment of radioactive milk powder imported from Poland. In November 1993, Sri Lankan customs officials found the milk powder contained more radioactive particles than permissible. Sri Lanka resumed checks on imported …
After the Victoria Memorial, it is the turn of the Belur Math, headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission, to be an environmentally endangered landmark near Calcutta. Air pollution is causing sandstone to peel off from the upper dome, parapets and cornices and discolouring the upper stories of the Math, which was …
In much of the US east coast north of Washington, a salt shortage is compounding a wretched winter. Rock salt, which is dumped by the tonne on roads to prevent the formation of ice, is now in great demand. In Pennsylvania, for instance, 90 per cent of the salt ordered …
