Reply by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in compliance to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order dated January 21, 2024 in the matter of ‘News item titled “Feeling anxious? Toxic air could be to blame” appearing in Times of India dated 10.10.2023’. NGT had directed CPCB to file a …
Scientists have genetically-engineered a variety of rice that could end vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. The deficiency results in blindness. Researchers at the International Rice Research Institute in Switzerland spliced three genes to make the rice rich in betacarotene, the source of vitamin A. However, the new crop, which …
The widespread attack of the mite Eriphyes guerreronis is threatening coconut plantations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. However, according to researchers, trees raised with organic manure or biopesticides have not been affected by the mites. The scientific community has propagated foliar spraying and root feeding of pesticides, but it has …
With less than a month left for the beginning of the millennium, organisations and individuals have been rushing to get their computers Y2K (year 2000) compliant. The fertiliser industry is no exception. But according to a Fertiliser Association of India statement, by and large, all the fertiliser plants have achieved …
Indigenous technology to produce biofertiliser and protein-rich animal feed from maize waste has shown promising results with a Secunderabad-based company succeeding in marketing products based on the technology. Developed by the Thapar Corporate Research and Development Centre in Patiala, Punjab, the biofertiliser called "Suryamin' was marketed by Pratistha Industries Limited …
The introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds and the increase in cropping intensity has resulted in a significant rise in the extent of phosphorus removal by crops. Fertiliser phosphorus is, therefore, important in order to meet the crop requirements at various stages of growth. Though maintenance of a high level …
three decades of pesticide use in the Peruvian highlands has unsettled the balance of the Andean ecosystem. The rise in the number of cases of poisoning among farmers, declining soil fertility and reports of pests becoming resistant to agrochemicals has made the "technological revolution' in Peru far from successful. There …
what do you do when the government cannot provide you with electricity, though the country's hydropower potential is a whopping 83,000 megawatts? You get it somehow. This seems to be the attitude of people living in rural Nepal, which comprises some 85 per cent of the total population. In their …
in the 1980s, a few institutional and community biogas plants were set up in some villages by cooperating centres of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research ( icar )-sponsored All India Coordinated Research Project. Islampur village in Bhopal was one of the villages selected. As in any other village, cowdung …
Whenever the issue of urban smog due to diesel exhaust emissions is raised, auto companies vie that diesel is the answer to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), the main greenhouse gas. But the last bastion of the powerful diesel lobby collapsed with a new study saying that …
lapodia is a small village of some 189 families in the Dudu block of Jaipur district in Rajasthan. Located in a semi-arid area, the residents of Lapodia are primarily agro-pastoralists, and their livestock subsists on the pastures in the neighbouring areas. In the past four-five years, the people of this …
government plans have laid a lot of emphasis on research and development of appropriate technologies for rural areas since the First Five-Year Plan. But one shortcoming in making these technologies widely available and acceptable has been the lack of dissemination and communication of the work carried out by several research …
LAND holdings in the hills of Uttar Pradesh are small and scattered, sometimes several kilometres apart. As a result, rehabilitation of degraded or wasteland in these areas has become a problem. Farmers waste a lot of time going from one field to another, which makes cultivation unprofitable. The result: vast …
CAN YOU imagine a self-sufficient village that meets it energy, fertiliser, pesticide and food requirements on its own? And all these from cow dung? The answer may be yes, if cow dung is used to its full potential. Its utility ranges from powering a bulb to repelling pests. It is …
Cotton farmers can look forward to better days, though somewhat bela- tedly. A new technology mission with an outlay of about Rs 700 crore for five years is to be launched by the Government of India. The mission aims at improving the productivity of the crop from the existing 265 …
Bhotiyas are a pastoral-migratory community, inhabiting the high alti - tudes of Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim. Bhotiyas spend the winter in the foothills and migrate to the high hills during the summer. Pasto- ralism is their primary occupation, supplemented by agriculture and trade in medicinal plants. The Bhotiyas of Uttar …
An improved smokeless stove has been found to cause less health complications than the traditional three-stone stove. The Stoves and Household Energy Programme of the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) in Kenya has launched a campaign to promote this stove. A study conducted in rural Kenya has shown that acute …
Researchers at the Magan Sangrahalaya in Wardha, Maharashtra, have designed an efficient charkha (spinning wheel). This three-spindle spinning machine is simple, light and reasonably priced. A team led by expert Narayanarao Khallarkar is working further to improve the technique and management of decentralised spinning and weaving system. The traditional charkha …
SINCE February 1998, four villages in Tumkur district, Karnataka, arc using oil from the Pongamia pinnata seed to fuel alternator engines in biogas plants. Though efficiency of this oil is about 20 per cent lower than that of diesel, countries such as Australia and Fiji are switching over to it …
FOR Santram Dikshit, a paper technologist at the Jan Sewa Ashram, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) near Solan, Himachal Pradesh, even trash is a valued resource and a business opportunity. Today, his organisation is engaged in using discarded plastic bags for manufacturing carpets. About 1.5 kg of plastic is required for …
incessant of power cuts and days without electricity forced them to develop a power generation system of their own. The people who developed the turbine and generator, are no great engineers, just common people from Pathanpara, a tiny village in Kannur district, Kerala. They have set up a unique and …
