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 …
AFTER malaria, it is the turn of Japanese encephalitis. Alapuzha and Kottayam districts of Kerala are in severe grip of encephalitis where it has already claimed 3G lives. Though the situation is serious, the local doctors have failed to tackle it. The virus which- spreads through mosquitoes, can be eliminated …
TRIBALS and patent rights activists have something to cheer for. In the first instance of its kind, the Kani tribe dwelling in the Agastyar hills in southern Kerala, will get the rights over an anti-stress drug developed by the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI). The tribe had helped …
The state forest department of Kerala has been ordered by the High Court not to carry on with its proposal for constructing a forest lodge in Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary. Apparently, the proposal had no prior sanction of the central government as required under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The court …
Action councils have been set up in a number of villages in Kerala opposing the proposed Kurumaulloor Major Distribution Canal, an 18.5 km extension canal of the Muvattupuzha Irrigation Project. The Project) begun in 1975 to provide water for raising three crops of paddy, was to be completed in six …
THEY invaded the panchayat offices in several parts of Kerala... teeming crowds of noisy school students demanding, of all things, panchayat maps! This sudden interest in their respective local geographies was sparked off by the Vigyanotsavam - meaning a 'festival of sciences' - conducted by the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad …
KERALA is considered a puzzle in international development debates as it reportedly shows economic stagnation with high social development. Comparative longevity, declining fertility, better infant survival rate and increasing literacy are some development indicators usually projected. With the kind of publicity received within the country and abroad, there are frequent …
Six years ago, Bill Mckibben wrote The End of Nature and became the most prominent literary environmentalist. But writing this book depressed him, and he decided to look more optimistically at the world around. Thus originated his ne book, Hope, Human and Wild. In this book he relates some true …
A MEMORANDUM of Understanding (Mou) between the Tropical Botanical Gardens and Research Institute (TBGRI) and two private companies, the Madras-based Velvette International Pharma Products and Arya Vaidya Pharmacy of Coimbatore, to be signed on July 22, was stalled recently. Last minute political maneouverings from certain sections forced the state government …
Aquatic weeds need no longer be just a nuisance. Kaiser Jamil, a scientist from the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, reports that weeds such as water hyacinth can remove toxic inorganic and organic pollutants from waterbodies. Air pollution ruins medicinal plants, says a study conducted by the botany department …
REPEATING the Biblical parable of the mustard seed growing like a banyan tree, a mini dairy under a social service project has mushroomed into a massive people's dairy network within 2 decades. Begun with 5 cattle in 1973, the People's Dairy Development Project (PDDP) - now spread over the 3 …
The Kerala state government asked the state legislative committee on environment to look into the proposed building of multi-storied buildings, shopping complexes and helipads close to Sabarimala -- a hill-shrine in the Western Ghats rainforests -- by the former. The Committee, headed by the former state minister of forests, K …
Leaves and thorns, a feature film by K P Sasi, will be premiered on Doordarshan on October 1, 1995. The film highlights the unequal status of women in a society. It takes off from a real life incident in Kerala. Three Rebellious women were Ostracised by the community and their …
Environmentalists in Kerala are up in arms against the proposed clearing of 250 acres of thick tropical forests in the Periyar Tiger Reserve, the largest national park in the state. The state government has embarked on the project -- named the Rudravanom project -- supposedly to provide basic amenities to …
Nonsense! most people said, when they heard that the breweries at Pozhiyoor are going to shut down. It seemed an impossibility, for the town had earned notoreity as Kerala's illicit-liqour Capital. However, when they actually did so 3 years ago, a large question opened up : how to survive? The …
SCIENTISTS at the National Research Centre -- Spices (NRC-S) at Kozhikode in Kerala have developed a cure for the quick-wilt disease, which affects the black pepper crops. The disease, which decays the roots of the pepper vines and kills the plant within weeks, can now be cured by biological methods …
THE public meeting was held on a wintry morning. "When the shops were closed, there was peace in our homes. We want that quietness in our ooru (tribal hamlet)," said Shanti, the tribal woman who addressed the meeting. More than 200 villagers had assembled for the January 2nd dharna before …
Four Franciscan Mary Missionery (FMM) nuns who have rebelled against the Church are in the forefront of a struggle for the restoration of tribal ancestral lands illegally occupied, mostly by Christian settlers. "We came here to conscientise the tribals and realised that we needed to be conscientised instead," said sister …
• The Neyyar, a small river in southern Kerala which originates from the famous Agastya hills, has been almost completely destroyed by merciless sandmining over the past few years. • The Bharathapuzha, Kerala's longest river, has been the font of inspiration to several Malayalam writers. Reams have been written about …
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 …
A herbal health kit developed by the Tropical Botanical Gardens and Research Institute (TBGRI) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, might be introduced in the public health system if the kit, based on local herbs, is found to yield positive results. The development of the kit is also a landmark instance as, under …
