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 …
MERCK and Co's "hair raising" research involves Proscar, its experimental prostate shrinking drug, which holds out a promise of greening the bald heads of men. Scientists believe Proscar might grow hair by blocking the formation of the male hormone dihydrotestosterone. People born with reduced levels of this hormone are rarely …
MANUFACTURERS of hydraulic hammers are being forced to make them quieter, largely following environmental legislation which originated in Germany a decade ago and is rapidly spreading.'Most of them have come up with a solution which involves wrapping the harnmer in a mattress-like material. Krupp's Compact System, introduced three years ago, …
TWENTY-ONE members of Parliament have petitioned the Prime Minister to save Chilka Lake, a major wetland in the country. They have protested against the state government giving advance possession of 400 ha of the lake to the Chilka. Aquatic Farm Ltd for prawn culture to new agri-business company of the …
THE department of power has set up a working group to prepare new legislation to modify the 14 existing Acts that affect energy consumption. The 10-member panel comprises experts in energy, law, industrial development and representatives from the concerned departments and ministries. With this, the government would seem to have …
BRITAIN'S Automobile Association has developed an in-car navigation system that not only locates the nearest car park, but also tells you whether there is enough space available in the facility or if the route is congested, This is one of the several applications of the geographical informstion systems (GIS), which …
A scientist in Nagpur, A S Khalatkar, has claimed to have developed a new variety of mustard - Hoora - that will yield oil cheaply. The improved variety is a low-input crop requiring little iffigation and fertiliser and no weeding. It has a high output of 4 quintals to 4.8 …
SPRINGS in the Himalaya are drying up on a massive scale, says a detailed study of a 59,723ha catchment area in the Kumaon. The study conducted by geologists K S Valdiya and S K Bartarya of the University of Kumaon -claims that springs in as much as 40 per cent …
NEEM is being tested as a contraceptive that can be injected or applied in the vagina. While the contraceptive effect of the injection is expected to last for as long as six months, the vaginal application is for use at the time of intercourse and is 1b believed to be …
SUSTAINABLE development has become the new catch phrase. Every international agency -- from the World Bank to UNICEF -- and almost every country is talking about it. But what does this mean? For environmentalists, sustainable development denotes a radical change from the past. But as a Western joke now goes, …
LARGE parts of India are again in the grip of drought -- from the dry regions of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Marathwada and Vidarbha to the high rainfall state of Kerala. By official meteorological accounts, this was a near normal year. The pundits in New Delhi's Mausam Bhawan have a map of …
THE current drought across central and western India and Kerala is forcing attention once again on how to deal with the problem. Ecologists have always had a deep interest in the problem, their argument being that societal susceptibility to drought increases with ecological degradation. And, through ecological improvement, this susceptibility …
THE morning hours in Barapal, near Udaipur, present a curious sight. Hundreds of headloaders crowd around the national highway looking for vehicles to transport charcoal or firewood to Udaipur. All of them are victims of drought. Selling wood illegally felled from government forests is their last resort for survival. Kesa …
WITH so much worry about the rapid ozone depletion taking place in various parts of the earth, Indian scientists are closely monitoring the ozone layer over India for possible depletion trends. Opinions are many and varied. According to S K Srivastava, head of the National Ozone Centre in New Delhi, …
Vilas Salunke Grain Gaurav Pratislithan Post Box No 1202 67 Hadapsar Industrial Estate Puna 411 013 R K Patil Centre for Applied Systems and Analysis Ganesh Kutir 1st Floor 68 Prarthana Samaj Road Ville Parts (E) Bombay 400 057 Anna Hazare Village Ralegan Siddhi Taluka Painter Alunadhagar district Maharashtra M …
IT is at a time like this that the famous Ralegan Siddhi village in Ahmednagar district -- the handiwork of a social worker, Anna Hazare -- stands out with a difference. It is green and it is surviving. There is indeed stress but no distress. The village has received only …
ADVANCE copies of the World Bank's prestigious World Development Report, 1992, duly printed on recycled paper, focusses on development and environment this year. It came bound with a paper seal bearing the words, "Embargo until May 18". The report, taken in its entirety, is truly an embargo on greening the …
THAT rural Indian women are the worst victims of environmental degradation is well-known. But what happens when women assert themselves? This is the story of the four-year-long struggle of the women of Muvasa village in the Panchmahals district of Gujarat who made degraded common land arable. To my mind, it …
THE misery caused by this year"s drought was unnecessary. Typical of India"s weather, rainfall in several parts dipped below the normal last year but these fluctuations were small. Yet we failed to deal with the problems caused by this shortfall in rain. It is obvious that as India"s population grows, …
IT was in 1989 that we first thought of adapting the traditional Indian form of mass mobilisation - the padyatra - as a means of reaching out to people in Europe. Our Indian friends first gave us the idea and later helped us to develop it. We first "tested" the …
THREE kilometres off the Hoshangabad-Itarsi road in Madhya Pradesh lies the village of Nitaya. If you can't get hold of a bicycle to get to this village then you'll have to walk down. And that was what I was doing one afternoon in early March. On my way to a …
