Judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of In Re: Zudpi Jungle Lands. A batch of applications involved a peculiar issue concerning the situation prevailing in the six districts of eastern Vidarbha region namely Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli. The issue pertains to the status of the …
THE RIVER dolphin (Platanista gangetica), once teeming in the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi and Karnaphuli rivers, has had its numbers reduced drastically because of river diversion for irrigation, dam construction, river traffic, increased fishing, poaching and pollution. As a result, the river dolphin is not to be found now in the …
ZIMBABWEAN authorities at the Gonarezhou National Park are going ahead with their plan to cull elephant and impala herds by as much as one-third to ensure the survival of other species, including people living in the area. Describing their plan as a "grim but essential" step, the authorities disclosed the …
A NOTED cetacean expert, Randall R Reeves, has pleaded for another dolphin sanctuary in Pakistan's Punjab province to protect the endangered blind river dolphin on the basis of a study on the likely impact of a hydroelectric station at the Tunsa barrage conducted in 1990. The power station, according to …
A NEW cryogenic system for industrial cleaning, using "dry ice" or solidified carbon dioxide, has been developed by Distillers MG, which is part of the German Messer Griesheim industrial gas group. The "cold jet" cleaning system, as it is known, uses small pellets of dry ice, which are blown in …
YET ANOTHER World Bank-funded dam project is under fire. The Visthapiti Mukti Vahini (VMV) has challenged the rehabilitation of people displaced by the Chandil dam on the Suvarnarekha river in Bihar, in the Supreme Court. The VMV holds that a decade after the initiation of the land acquisition proceedings, rehabilitation …
RESIDENTS of Domiasiat and Wahkaliar villages near Cherrapunji in Meghalaya have formed village action committees to resist a proposed uranium mine in the region. Students, welfare organisations and opposition parties in the state have joined hands to form the Khasi Jaintia Environment Protection Council (KJEPC) to support them. KJEPC convener …
RECENT studies by four independent teams of astronomers indicate that planetary systems resembling the young solar system may exist in nearby parts of the galaxy. Three of these studies, presented at a recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society, focussed on a star called Beta Pictoris, which is visible from …
THE REFUSAL of the Union railway ministry and the Goa administration to participate in the Kamla Chowdhury committee, set up by the Union ministry of environment and forests to review the Konkan railway project, has rendered the work of the committee both difficult and meaningless. The railway ministry, in fact, …
SCIENTISTS are now looking for a defective gene that leads to over-production of uric acid, a condition that may lead to gout-related disorders and kidney complaints. Recent research shows that gout is not confined to overweight, elderly people with a penchant for alcohol. Children can also develop gout and kidney …
IN TIBET, solar energy is being used increasingly to heat homes, cook food, run television sets, milk cows, shear sheep and, of course, provide light. Tibet gets 3,000 hours of sunshine each year, compared with New Delhi, which gets 2,525 hours annually. In an area slightly in excess of one …
FISH TRADERS of Andhra Pradesh have a good market in far away Assam. Even after paying transportation charges of upto Rs 8 per kg of fish taken to Assam, the traders get to put away a tidy sum for themselves. The irony is that Assam itself abounds in wetlands, but …
IN A RADICAL departure from earlier policy, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) will now look beyond the Hindu Kush region and establish links to study other mountain regions of the world. This is in line with its strategic plan for the 1990s, titled "Towards 2000", which also …
Drip irrigation brought honours and money to Javerilal Kapurchand Kanaria of Nashik district when he ventured out of his cloth business and began growing pomegranates, each weighing more than a kg. Two years after Kanaria started his scientific farming in Taharabad, his balance-sheet -- Rs 6 lakh annually from a …
Imperial Chemical Industries of England and Calgene of the USA are at war over who owns the patent rights to a "fresh" tomato. Both companies have developed a genetically improved, longer-lasting, non-squishy tomato that retains its flavour and firmness longer. Each pinpointed the enzyme that causes tomatoes to rot and …
INDUSTRIAL towns with a high growth and, therefore, high pollution potential will come in for special attention from the Punjab Pollution Control Board, under a new initiative to deal with pollution in the state. Amritsar, Batala, Gobindgarh Mandi, Jalandhar, Khanna, Ludhiana, Nangla and Phagwara have already been earmarked by the …
PEOPLE who want to put their money in teakwood plantation schemes that look attractive on the surface should think twice, advises D N Tiwari, director general of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education. He also cautions investors against corporate plantations which promise to raise teakwood and yield high …
TIMBER worth crores of rupees is being stolen from the UP forests. Trees are cut either without permission or with the connivance of those in authority. Timber worth Rs 30 lakh was seized in a single seizure recently, reflecting the magnitude of the problem, which is complicated further by terrorist …
AND NOW, it's the turn of the Orissa Maritime and Chilka Area Development Authority (OMCAD). OMCAD has stepped into the Chilka leasing controversy with an advertisement for leasing three plots around the Chilka lake for prawn culture units. While those fighting against the Tata project have been quick to take …
AT THE rate at which the world's forests are disappearing, it would appear that the price for human development is the destruction of forests. This is true wherever civilisations have risen and flourished, observes author and amateur explorer John Perlin, in his new book A Forest Journey, brought out by …
IF SO-CALLED ecological subsidies were halted in India, the true cost of paper would double immediately and the price of thermal power would soar an electrifying 60 per cent. These are the findings in a study __ the first of its kind in India -- sponsored by the Administrative Staff …
