Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of News Item titled "Containers from sunken ship likely to drift towards Alappuzha, Kollam Coasts in 48 hours: INCOIS" appearing in The Hindu dated 25.05.2025 dated 27/05/2025. The original application was registered suo-motu on the basis of the news item titled …
rapped for laxity: The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has received a sharp reprimand from the Delhi High Court (HC) for failing to ensure the closure of polluting units in the capital. The rebuke came when a division bench, comprising Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice B D Ahmed, …
By the beginning of the next financial year, consumers in India would have over 10 companies to choose from while buying petrol and diesel. The new entrants in this segment include private players like Reliance, Essar and Shell, and three psus, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd (mrpl), ongc and Numaligarh …
a contempt of court case has been filed against former Chief Justice of India (cji) B N Kirpal for his remarks against a Kerala High Court (hc) order. The court had recently refused to stay the Kerala government's directive, restraining Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (hcbpl) from drawing groundwater at …
At Down To Earth (DTE) we believe that truth withheld is truth denied. Fresh evidence suggests a web of lies and deceit was weaved to declare that the pesticide endosulfan is not responsible for the horrendous mutations and ailments that many in the villages of Kerala’s Kasaragod district are suffering …
At Padpu, Padre village, Kasargod district, Kerala, there is a ritual every November to honour the snake god. Many in the area also believe that the ritual celebrates the origin of the Kodenkeri thodu (stream) in a patch of sacred forests near Padre, right beneath the cashew plantation-rich hills of …
the onset of summer has again brought into sharp focus a plethora of issues pertaining to groundwater. It has been found that the authorities in Rajasthan have yet to spring into damage-control mode despite the state being parched. The situation is equally alarming in states like Tamil Nadu (tn) and …
Last year, Congress chief minister Digvijay Singh lost the Madhya Pradesh (MP) state elections. Two years before, the Communist-led coalition lost in Kerala. Since both governments had fervently promoted decentralisation, questions naturally come to the fore: Was their defeat a vote against the move towards local governance and devolution of …
In Kerala’s Kozhikode district, there exists a village that doesn’t depend on government dole: Olavanna’s panchayat has been successfully running its own drinking water project since the 1990s. This is completely unlike the way the United Democratic Front (UDF) government functions. The Kerala Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (KRWSSA), …
coke restrained: The bottling plant of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (HCBPL) at Plachimada in Kerala has temporarily stopped drawing groundwater from the area. The company had to fall in line after the Kerala High Court (HC) refused to stay the state cabinet's February 17 order, directing the plant to …
a rejuvenated tender coconut water can now provide stiff competition to aerated soft drinks, thanks to a new technology that increases its shelf-life. Normally, due to microbial spoilage, the beneficial proprieties of the water cannot be retained for more than seven days after the coconuts are harvested, making it impossible …
A failed monsoon brings distress to Kerala; its second longest river, the Bharathapuzha, is virtually dry, and Palakkad district faces the worst drought in its history. Palakkad district is facing one of the worst droughts in its history. The Malampuzha dam, the biggest irrigation dam in the State, has failed …
The Kerala government has forbidden Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (HCBPL) to use groundwater at its Plachimada plant in Palakkad district till June 15. According to chief minister A K Antony, drought in the district has necessitated the ban. On December 16, 2003, the Kerala High Court had ordered HCBPL …
god's own country is on the brink of a biodiversity disaster. A third of Kerala's flora and fauna faces the threat of extinction by 2030 due to the high density of human population. This grim scenario is depicted in the state planning board's Economic Review, 2003. The report observes that …
Who does the water under the ground belong to? Who has the right to exploit it? Are there limits on what can be extracted? Till three months ago, the answers to such questions were simple. Groundwater under Indian law belongs to the person who owns the land. In other words, …
The gains made by Kerala through the land reform measures of the 1950s may be undone if the attempts at changing the limit on landholding and introducing contract farming by multinational companies are allowed to succeed. Kerala often boasts of the most radical land reforms law in the country. The …
Thampi Thomas, an advocate-turned-planter of Kolenchery in south Kerala, sold raw vanilla beans for Rs 500 per kilogramme (kg) in 1999. During the current season, he got Rs 3,750 per kg for the produce. No single plant in his 3-hectare (ha) organic farm has ever fetched him such high returns. …
the Spices Board India (sbi) in Kochi, Kerala, has identified 43 villages in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh to grow residue-free chillies using the integrated pest management (ipm) system. The move is a part of the board's strategy to encourage farmers to totally avoid the use of chemicals in the …
