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 …
Between 1968 and 1978, anthropologists and missionaries petitioned the Brazilian government 11 times for a protect- ed ayea for the Yanomami, but to no avail. Finally, in 1978, outraged by the ever-worsening situation of the Yanomami people, a group of concerned citizens in Brazil (including anthropologists, ecologists, lawyers, clerics, and …
RESEARCHERS in theus areexcited abouta recent breakthrough which links the BRCA-1 gene to most cases of breast cancer. The finding provides clin- ching evidence that establishes a connection between abnormalities in the BRCA- I and the occurence of breast cancer. just last year the scenario was quite different because scientists …
Film director Ashish Chandol was in Bandhavgarh with his camera to capture the natural history of the dense forests of Madhya Pradesh. What he found difficult to ignore were the tigers, As a result, his new film is entitled Tigers Next Door. But this is not a pure wildlife film …
Orans are tracts of village land believed to be protectea by local deities, They are much more than just 'sacred groves; they are the ecological core of the area, supporting a storehouse of biological diversity, both in terms of numbers of individual species and micro-ecologies or communities. Thick trunks and …
THE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the us is elated at unveiling the first scientifically satisfying map of the ocean floor. The map unveils 71 per cent of the earth that lies beneath the oceans, but was until now not as well mapped as the surface of Venus. Among …
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 …
THE pharmaceutical giants in the industrialised world are seriously hindering progressive research by refusiDgto share significant scientific data with the academics. They are jealously keeping information - garnered by their individual R&D; units - to themselves in a bid to prevent the rival companies from cashing in on it. For …
THE Swedes, known to have a scalpedearth policy for a long time, have now come up with a ecologically sound way of logging which is also profitable. Earlier, the woodcutters used to bare almost 300 ha of the vegetation completely. But the new 'ecological cuts' have brought it down to …
IN A dozen villages in the Khem Karan sector (Amritsar district), bordering Pakistan, August 5 was a day of festivity. That day the villagers had completed a kind of dream project: a 2-km-long anti-flood bund on the Sutlej with their own labour. "We have done in 4 months whht the …
IMPATIENT shifting sand dunes and acacia shrubs dot the desolate landscape of Churu district, the gateway to the Thar. Almost invariably, the highest summer temperature is recorded here. Drinking water sources are scarce. The wells are very deep and the water saline. The erratic piped water supply doesn"t even meet …
The special committee of ministejrs appointed to take care of the Ministry of environment and forests' (MEF) proposal to provide 2.5 million hectares of degraded forest lands to the paper industry for captive plantations seems to have taken note of the NGO lobby's demands not to support the decision. Sources …
From the lush jungles to the marshes, Krishnendu Bose is travelling fast in the field of wildlife filmaking. Having made his debut in the world of wildlife documentaries with his Elephant - Last Giants on Earth he is now on to his second venture. This time he is trying to …
DOES "Ghivali" sound familiar any longer? Hardly? The tragic truth is that people are already starting to forget that this semi-pucca village, sitting rather uneasily just 1.23 km from the barely-year-old-but-already cranky nuclear waste immobilisation plant at Tarapur, had only recently seen 30 cattleheads die due to a nuclear leak. …
LISSOME Seeta Mahato, 21, married last year, is the healing and humane touch in down and out Hiramiya village, tucked away in the backward Samastipur district of Bihar. Lissome is a lady health worker (lhw). And her team has worked wonders. "In just 6 months, we reduced the spate of …
The Central government's recent announcement that an action plan has been formulated to safeguard the pristine forests in the north-east -- in collaboration with the states of the region -- has not made any dent in the ongoing devastation in the picturesque valley of Barak near Silchar in Assam. Deforestation, …
PALAMAU, a district in south Bihar, is the archetype of an unfair and increasingly common socioeconomic paradox: rich land, dirt poor people. Despite its vast natural resources, forest cover, rainfall and low population density, Palamau has a dismally low development index, further lowered each passing year under the double trouble …
IT is just an earthen pot inside another. But it can preserve raw vegetables for up to 72,bours in the sweltering heat of MaIda's villages. Cooked vegetable survives the heat for 12 hours. It. costs just Rs 30, this "rural refrigerator" as some call it, and the village potter can …
The micro-vision of the lecturers of the Community Polytechnique Cell, Malcla, with the village as the focal centre, is supplemented with their district level concerns. They are especially worried about the mango industry, Malcla's pride and economic backbone. A K Das and Chaki explained, "We are trying to experiment with …
WALTER FERNANDES: Indian Social Institute, New Delhi RAJIV BUDDHIRAJA: Secretary, Indian Paper Makers" Association RAJ CHAURASIA: General Manager, Ballarpur Industries Ltd., in-charge of raw materials co-ordination PIARELAL: Vice-president, (Plantations), iTc Bhadrachalam Paperboards Ltd; also, chairperson of the Raw Materials Subcommittee of the Indian Paper Makers"Association UDAYAN BANERJEE: Chiefforestry Advisor, Titagarh …
Take a look at this scenario: researchers trying to trace the causes of the Bosnian war, in deficiencies in seratonin-reuptake mechanisms, in the brain of the Radovan Karadzic(Bosnian Serb leader), or studying a corrupt politician in a bid to identify the genes that make him corrupt. The emerging synthesis of …
