This brochure offers decision-makers in the real estate and energy industries, as well as urban and municipal developers, a broad overview of the topics of decentralised energy generation and supply, and raises awareness of the goal of decarbonisation by 2050 at the latest. The advancing digitalization in the construction and …
Following recent disclosures of its newly established projects inspection panel (Down To Earth, November 15, 1994), the World Bank is on the mat again. The panel, established in November 1994 on the insistence of 4 Nepalese NGOs, maintains that Nepal's proposed Arun III dam involves "apparent violations of policy that …
Tiding over tremendous initial resistance from the industry as well as from ministry fifth-columnists, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF) has submitted a fresh proposal with the Union cabinet for involving the industry directly in afforestation of degraded forest lands. But the Kerala government wants the baby killed even …
THE agitation against the upcoming Rs 600 crore Thapar DuPont nylon 6,6 plant in Ponda taluk in Goa took an ugly turn on January 23 when protestors blockading the approach to the site were fired upon by the police, killing 1. Following the incident and the intensification of resistence by …
WHILE Indians hotly debate whether common folk can be entrusted with the management and control of their forest resources, local communities in several other developing countries are already entrenched in their idyllic fortresses. The results have been, to say the least, positive, even dramatic. In Nepal, village communities have been …
FOR environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in India, the recent draft Forest Policy Bill is a depressing indication of their inability to affect policymaking even after years of hoarse activism. More than 10 years after the NGOs exhausted themselves trying to stop the implementation of a similar anti-people forest bill, the …
IT WAS icing gone sour on a cake you can break your teeth on. On January 4 this year, the Madhya Pradesh food and civil supplies minister, Ramesh Solomonand, griped to the press about his disapproval of the state forest department's decision to impose a total ban on the collection …
Salient points • The village or hamlet should be the operational unit for managing their resources • Village communities should haw enough powers and control over natural resources to plan and develop such lands. Community institutions will ensure equitable sharing of benefits • Local institutions for the management of natural …
• The state governments have the right to declare any government land as "reserve forests". The Centre will monopolise the decisions directed towards the state government to constitute reserve forests • No people's rights will be enteriained in the reserved forests • The state governments can bypass procedural necessities in …
THE Rural Development Trust (RDT) , an Andhra Pradesh-based agency, buys a minor asset, a mobike, but forgets to fill up a form and inform the Union ministry of home affairs. Its registration under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) is promptly cancelled. It was Voluntary Action Network India (VANI), …
THE low hum of conversation suddenly gives way to melody as the Banjara women break into song. A voice yells, "Don't sing, shout slogans!" and the air is rent with cries of "Yeh azadi jhooti hai" (This independence is a sham). This was the scene in front of the District …
RAM Chandra Tokas, a 48-year-old rich Haryana farmer of village Chochran, bought 4 ungainly buffalos 7 years ago to start a dairy business. Today, he makes a fat profit: a single buffalo fetches him about Rs 7,000 annually. Tokas owns 9 animals and does brisk business every year in Haryana's …
Indian Council of Agricultural Research Krishi Bhawan New Delhi 110 001 Bharatiya Cattle Resource Development Foundation F-58, Kalkaji New Delhi 110 019 National Dairy Research Institute Karnal 132 001 Haryana Central Institute for Research on Buffalos Sirsa Road Hisar 125 001 Haryana Central Institute for Research on Goats Makhdoom, Farah …
How would you define and explain the mandate of the President's Commission on Sustainable Development? Well, I think the Commission sustains on a mandate rooted in relationship between business and environmental NGOs in America. Both are now inclined to identify areas in which certain common programmes can be explored. This …
NGOs will now be encouraged to invest in minor irrigation projects with the active participation of the beneficiaries, according to Pranab Mukherjee, deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission. Mukherjee was speaking at the release of a study on minor irrigation that was sponsored by the Federation of Indian Chambers of …
BANI Prasad Yadav, 52, a marginal farmer from Patiasa village, 15 km from Muzaffarpur in Bihar, today literally enjoys the sweet smell of success. Four years ago, he began beekeeping, helped by the Vaishali-based ngo, Bibipur Small Farmers and Resourceless Communities' Association (basfarca). Till then, he had been barely subsisting …
For the denizens of Calcutta, Durga Puja is a time for noisy celebrations. But this year in mid-October, the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (wbpcb), with the help of 10 non-governmental organisations, undertook a campaign for a quieter puja. wbpcb teams monitored noise levels at 30 pandals and tried to …
A PROPOSED revision of the Indian Forest Act of 1927, by the ministry of environownt and forests (MEF), has become the focus of a controversy. Non-governowntal organisations say the MEF'S propmed kgislation - to be called the nservation of Forests and Natural ystems Act - does not do much for …
THE earthquake at Latur in 1993, which killed an estimated 9,000 people and rendered many more homeless, drove bipme the point that disaster can strike anvtime, anywhere. Fortunately, there are many organisations working to conuin damage caused by such calamities. Relief and rehabilitation measures undertaken immediately after a calamitv are …
Experts from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have proved to be as lax as other bureaucrats. At the 32nd meeting of Project Tiger's steering committee, held on August 26, members pointed out that the experts detailed to carry out a review of Project Tiger areas were to have completed the task by …
NGOs in India have joined hands to oppose the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) Act, 1992, which, they allege, will further handicap the care of India's 90 million physically challenged. Following a series of meetings, over 100 NGOs and individuals submitted a memorandum to the Union welfare minister, Sitaram Kesri, …
