Chhattisgarh awaits SC signal on revenue villages
The Chhattisgarh Government said it is awaiting clearnce from the Supreme Court to convert 425 forest villages of the State into revenue villages to carry out developmental works in those villages.
Forest protection scheme funding pattern for NE
The funding pattern of the Integrated Forest Protection Scheme (IFPS) for the north-eastern region has been changed, with the region's State Governments raising hue and cry.Director General of Union Forest Department N.K. Joshi said here today that under the IFPC, cent per cent grant had been provided by the Union …
Tripura forest area has increased sharply
The total forest area in Tripura has increased sharply during the last five years, according to the Director General of Union Forest Ministry, M.K. Joshi.Joshi, who arrived here yesterday to review the forest development projects in the State, today told reporters that the total forest area was 52 per cent …
Centre may open up forests to plantation
The Union governemnt might allow industry to take up plantations in the forest under joint forest management programme. Director general forest N K Joshi disclosed this to the reporters. He was taking part in the workshop on agar plantation, a special kind of perfume tree available in abundance in the …
Renuka Lake aging slows down
The efforts of the Wildlife Department to slow down the "aging process' of the shrinking Renuka Lake in Sirmaur district have started yielding results. The removal of weeds and measures taken over the past 10 years to check silting, which had reduced the effective area of the lake by over …
Rs 2 crore forestry project sanctioned
A Rs 2.12 crore project has been sanctioned by the Union Ministry of Forests for the Jogindernagar forest division under the National Afforestation Programme. A forest development agency, a federal body comprising 50 village forest development committees, has been constituted under the Societies Act to execute the project.Stating this, the …
Water level falls by 10 m
Surveys conducted by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) suggest the ground water level has gone down by as much as 10 metres over the past year in some south Delhi areas. The lowest level of water was noticed in Lado Sarai. The alarming depletion in the ground water level …
LEAs to help retrieve forest lands from encroachers
Advisor to chief minister Sindh (Pakistan) on forest and wildlife, Syed Ejaz Ali Shah Shirazi, has said that efforts are being made to acquire the help of police and Rangers in removing encroachments from forest lands which are under the occupation of influential persons, so as to bring them under …
Beedi leaf contractors boycott tenders
Beedi leaf forest contractors have boycotted the tenders invited by the forest department in protest against the "targets' as well as entry tax system introduced by the government recently. There are about 500 contractors in Andhra Pradesh State, who have gone on protest demanding changes in government policy. Their main …
Timber smuggling threatens forest conservation
In spite of a series of efforts at the Government and non-Government levels to create mass awareness about the need of conservation of forests for maintenance of ecological balance, illegal felling of valuable trees and smuggling of timber have been going on unabated in forest areas of the undivided Lakhimpur …
State forest policy
A comprehensive policy for forest and environment has become urgent for States like Assam with rich bio-diversity along with other micro-resources. Situated in one of the twenty major bio-diversity spots in the world, this part of the country could boast once for it being blessed with such variety of flora …
CMs call to save forest cover
Mr Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Chief Minister, has called for preserving the depleting forest reserve of the state and warned that shrinking green cover could lead to water shortage in the hills, besides degrading the environment. Addressing a meeting at Sehkhal in Rohru he said that the forest wealth of the …
VW and ADM in alliance for fuel research
Volkswagen and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) agreed a joint research project into biodiesel fuels for the automotive industry. They said it was world's largest carmakers had joined forces with a global agricultural group to develop clean, renewable fuels. Biodiesel fuels combine diesel petroleum with natural substances such as rapeseed or …
Bamboo plantation to protect Majuli from erosion
The Mission Bamboo for Application, in association with the Jorhat district administration, in Assam, has taken up a massive project to protect the world's largest river island, Majuli from flood and erosion. For this, Rs 29 lakh has already been allotted for the project. Stating this, Jorhat Deputy Commissioner Dr …
Tribal chieftain moves court to save forests
For the first time in the history of the State, a tribal chieftain has approached the Kerala High Court to protect the reserve forests around tribal hamlets. The chieftain of the Kurumba tribe of Attappady, Mudda Mooppan, has filed the petition seeking to stop the felling of teak in 500 …
Mettur supply suspended for delta irrigation
Water release from the Mettur reservoir for delta irrigation was suspended today after about 90 days of staggered supply from October 7 last (2003). The possibility of drawing water further is ruled out as the dam level touched almost the dead storage, with the inflow registering a meagre 203 cusecs. …
Cauvery monitoring panel meet on January 19
The Centre has convened a meeting of the Cauvery Monitoring Committee (CMC) here on January 19. The Chief Secretaries of the Cauvery basin States, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and the Union Territory of Pondicherry, are scheduled to attend the meeting that will be chaired by the Secretary of the …
People must help protect forests, says Bordoloi
Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Pradyut Bordoloi stressed on the need for greater involvement of the public in forest conservation measures. The Minister was addressing the 53rd passing out ceremony of trainees at the Assam Forest School, Jalukbari, in the city. Speaking on the occasion, Bordoloi emphasized that …
Wood from paper? Well, kid stuff
The Generation-Next will probably hate Sriram Jayaraman and Srividya Swaminathan for creating another substitute for the teacher's cane. The two 15-year-old students of Modern English School, Chembur, have devised a method to derive a wood-like substance from paper. And their experiment
