Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
To boost the stagnant demand for solar heating devices, the Union ministry of nonconventional energy sources (MNES), along with the ministry for urban development, has chalked out a scheme to make the installation of solar and air heaters mandatory for all government buildings. This was announced in the beginning of …
MANY GOVERNMENT agencies commission films with alacrity, but as few of these get disseminated systematically, their message rarely gets through. One such agency is the Council for the Promotion of Advancement in Technology (CAPART), which, in the past couple of years, has been making films of two kinds: records of …
ASPIRING doctors, watch out. A 1,600 per cent hike in medical education fees is in the air. The Union ministry of health (MOH), in a bid to recover a part of its expenses, is considering allowing medical colleges to raise fees from the negligible Rs 300 or so a year …
ALL THROUGH the second half of the 20th century, whenever Western governments have seen their industries lagging behind globally, they have resorted to updating their technology policies. The result has been that technology strategies became the key to economic growth not only in the US and in several European nations, …
The Indian government and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) are trapped in a cleft stick because of five million defective copper-T contraceptives given by UNFPA to Hindustan Latex Ltd, a government of India undertaking. The copper-T contraceptives were part of batches manufactured by US-based Finishing Enterprises that …
MANY OF the nation's premier scientific establishments have utilised government funding poorly and failed to meet their 1991-92 objectives, complains the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). The CAG report, placed before Parliament on May 7, made its complaint on the basis of an audit of the working …
• Although the ministry of non-conventional energy sources spent Rs 69 crore -- 62 per cent of its expenditure on solar energy programmes -- on installing solar photovoltaic devices during 1986-92, evaluation studies indicate most of the units are not functioning because of "lack of proper maintenance, poor performance of …
TO ENSURE poorer Indians may not wind up lining the gowns of unscrupulous lawyers, the Free Legal Aid Scheme was introduced in 1980 by the Union government. Since then, many voluntary agencies have complained of the extremely tardy implementation of the scheme, meant to benefit those with an annual family …
In addition to the large-scale loss of life and continuing health problems experienced by the victims of the Bhopal disaster, a major casualty has been the lack of information. Compared to other major chemical disasters in the world, Bhopal has the dubious distinction of not only being the worst, but …
THE GRAND Mughal Akbar, whose 450th birth anniversary was marked this year, once remarked he would venerate the person who could grow two blades of grass where one grew previously. Was he not talking of Appropriate Technology, a term that has come into vogue more than four centuries later? It …
A STRIKING feature of India's economic development has been its deviation from the stages-of-growth pattern that has characterised almost all developed countries. The growth paradigm has been so pervasive, it is now almost an economic law. Countries start out as being primarily agrarian. As industrialisation progresses, the production and employment …
POPULAR demand for informative and entertaining science fare is constantly rising. And, any doubts on this score would be dispelled by the public response to Doordarshan's recent invitation to write in and say what they would like to see on the extended transmission that becomes effective early next year. More …
ORISSA chief minister Biju Patnaik wants to disturb the placid waters of the famous Chilika lake but faces an angry response from his people. A broad-based people's agitation is building up in the state against the Patnaik government's efforts to allow the Tatas to set up a prawn aquaculture farm …
For officials in the power sector, setting targets for electricity generation has become a leap in the dark. Because of environmental considerations, all targets for producing power from conventional sources have been upset and several hurdles have been placed in the way of securing international assistance for power projects. Prime …
The Indian government has once again rejected an allegation that 27.5 tonnes of heavy water produced in Norway was diverted from Romania and Germany to India. Atomic Energy Commission chairman P K Iyengar said in his reply last month to the Norwegian foreign office India produces and even exports heavy …
WITH DEPLETION of groundwater heavy in many parts of the country and rich farmers almost monopolising water resources, the Union government is renewing efforts to get states to control groundwater extraction. Last month, the water resources ministry circulated a model bill on groundwater use, making obtaining of permits compulsory and …
IN A RECENT speech, Prime Minister Narasimha Ra called upon voluntary agencies to participate actively in the country's rural development programmes and gave a categorical assurance it "is not going to be a sarkari programme." Pointing out the Eighth Plan has allocated Rs 30,000 crore for rural development, which will …
1992 (yet to be announced): 1. Compensatory afforestation for plantation along rail, road canal: The revised guidelines would permit the use of protected forest for linear plantation without insisting upon non-forest land for compensatory afforestation. 2. Transmission towers and lines: There will be no need for compensatory afforestation on non-forest …
THE GENERAL reaction to the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) in the UP hill region of Uttarakhand is, "Hum paryavaran shabd se hi tang aa gaye hai." (We are fed up of the word environment.) The cry "Paryavaran murdabad" (Down with environment) first rang across the Uttarakhand hills in 1989, setting …
River Capacity Existing class Desired class Possible source of pollution Sabarmati i) Ahmedabad city to Sabarmati Ashram ii) Sabarmati Ashram to Vautha E E B D Domestic and industrial waste from Ahmedabad Sutlej i) Downstream Ludhiana to Harike ii) Downstream of Nangal Partly D Partly E E C C Industrial …
