Affidavit by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the matter of Sisir Kumar Panda Vs Union of India & Others dated 20/05/2025. The issue pertained to the removal of illegal construction/obstruction caused by the state authorities as well as the private persons in the ecological sensitive zone …
a recent study conducted by environmentalist Banke Behari Das and his team has warned that people living in Orissa's Sukinda valley will be exposed to high levels of toxic pollution. The region has the largest concentration of chrome ore deposits in Asia. Das said stomach ailments, respiratory and heart diseases …
The Supreme Court has called for more powers to be given to the National Environment Appellate Authority to enable it to handle environment cases expeditiously. Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed forest and police officials to arrest all those involved in the slaughter of protected birds in …
one morning, without any prior intimation, the local authorities told Jairam Majhi to abandon her family home and "go elsewhere'. They told Majhi, who lives in Kucheipadar village in southwest Orissa, that it was in the "interest of the nation'. And Majhi was not alone. "National interest', the officials told …
India's ambitious missile programme seems to have turned turtle. Highly placed officials of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Baliapal, Orissa, say they have postponed their testing of an improved version of the Agni missile for the second time. The move, they say, aims to help mass nesting of …
The nesting season of the Olive Ridley turtles at the Gahirmatha beach in Orissa begins in January and lasts till March. However, this year they have still not yet begun nesting. The beach is the largest nesting ground in the world ( Down To Earth , Vol 7, No 2). …
Chilka lake in Orissa has become a poacher's delight. The railway station in the sleepy town of Bhusandpur, the gateway to the lake, has become a thriving market for birds caught in and around the lake. Rafi, one of the traders who has been in business for several years, says, …
According to a recent survey, about 200 dead Olive Riddley turtles are washed away every day on Orissa's coasts ( Down To Earth, Vol 7, No 13). The survey was conducted by the Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO). Between the coast of Paradip and Devi river mouth, nearly 6,000 dead …
KILLING ARTHRITIS: Celebrex, a new type of painkiller for arthritis patients, has been approved by the US government. Celebrex is the first new class of painkillers called "cox-2inhibitors" that promises to cause fewer stomach-plaguing side effects than many current pain relievers. But the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dealt …
The world's largest rookery in Gahirmatha, Orissa, has not witnessed mass nesting of Olive Ridley Turtles for the last two years. The coast once again wafts for the turtle boards with the nesting season in December. This year, between January and May, over 15,000 turtles were killed by fishing trawlers. …
The Union government has fmally woken-up to the danger being faced by Orissa's Olive Ridley Turtles, an endangered species. It will launch a programme, "Sea Turtle Project", on the lines of Project Tiger. Since the beginning of the year, thousands of turtles have died on the Gahirmatha beach of Orissa, …
Harvest of terror Come harvest time and tense villagers begin preparing for the next elephant raid Like the other farmers, Durlabh Rajbhansu is afraid. As harvesting season approaches, the people of Nopam, a tiny village near Tezpur in northern Assam, steel themselves for the worst. For the last 10 years, …
Environmentalists have stoutly opposed the construction of the proposed Dharma port in Orissa. According to Banka Behari Das, an eminent environmentalist in the state, the government should not allow the construction of the port, unless it gets specific clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF). Das has …
• The minsitry of environment and forests is all set to issue a notification banning the use of plastic bags for packing items such as meat, fish and cooked food. • Flood waters have forced hundreds of endangered wild animals to flee from Kaziranga National Park in India's north eastern …
The Orissa High Court has directed the state government to declare the entire forest land within the Bhitarkanike wildlife sanctuary as a reserve forest. The sanctuary, rich with biomass, has been at the receiving end due to intense human activity. This has resulted in the shrinking of mangrove forests, besides …
increasing silt load and spreading nets of prawn culturists are slowly throttling Chilka, Asia's biggest salt water lake spread over 1,100-sq-km. It is estimated that rivers and rivulets such as Nuna, Kusumi and Salia carry about 13 million tonnes of silt into the lake alongwith fresh water every year. The …
in late 1996, the us government imposed trade restrictions on import of shrimp and shrimp products on India, Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia. This was done as a part of measures undertaken by the country to protect and conserve sea turtles, an endangered natural resource. This was based on the contention …
Thousands of Olive Ridleys, an endangered species of sea turtles, are being swept up dead on the Gahirmatha coast since the beginning of the year. This has set alarm bells ringing in the environment community and experts the world over have voiced concern over the issue. Gahirmatha has emerged in …
Orissa chief minister J B Patnaik announced on May 22 that the Gahirmatha beach stretching up to Hukitola in Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary will soon be declared the "core area' where poaching and entry of mechanised trawlers will be strictly prohibited. Expressing concern over the large-scale death of sea turtles, he …
