Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of News Item titled "2 killed in blast at illegal cracker unit in Thanjavur appearing in The Hindu dated 19.05.2025". The application is registered suo-motu on the basis of the news item titled 2 killed in blast at illegal cracker unit …
MUCH of the groundwater in Tamil Nadu's Tirupur town is unusable, having been contaminated by the effluents that the town's prolific hosiery industry churns out. But now, a scheme to set up common effluent treatment plants is getting underway after crossing many hurdles. Tirupur, which has some of the most …
Sandalwood smuggler Veerappan's charter of 10 demands to the Tamil Nadu government as the precondition for releasing 3 hostages may provoke the final offensive against him by authorities. In a message sent through his brother Arjunan, Veerappan has declared his acquiescence to surrender and release of deputy superintendent of police …
INDIAN farmers are cashing in on the Western fad for organically produced food. But before organic farmers can start dreaming of the greenback, it is virtually essential for their produce to get international accreditation or recognition. Kurunji Organic Food India Pvt Ltd (KOFIL), a Tamil Nadu-based agency, was the first …
VEERAPPAN, the legendary sandalwood smuggler, may be nabbed shortly, but putting an end to rampant sandalwood smuggling in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu may prove considerably more difficult. The ban on sandalwood export, in conjunction with anti-people conservation measures, have seen more and more people turn to sandalwood smuggling, with the …
Dense cinchona and silver oak forests covering 3,000 ha in Valparai in the Annamalai hills will be replaced by tea plantations if the state-run Tamil Nadu Plantation Corporation Ltd (TNPCL) has its way. TNPCL was set up in 1976 to rehabilitate Tamil refugees from tea gardens in Sri Lanka. Since …
The Union agriculture ministry's plan to draw up a national fisheries policy for the integrated development of fishing in India has drawn flak from organisations representing coastal fisherfolk in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The fisherfolk have objected strongly to the Union government's policy of supporting …
A unique database on mangroves -- the Mangrove Ecosystem Information Service (MEIS) -- developed by the Centre for Research in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (CRSARD) in Madras, will be operational by December. Work on MEIS is being headed by eminent scientist M S Swaminathan. CRSARD will also set up …
SCIENTISTS at the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI) in Tamil Nadu have found that used tubelights can be recycled into inexpensive laboratory apparatus, which will cost just one-tenth of what such apparatus costs in the market. B V Appa Rao, head of the university's science instrumentation centre and his team have …
CHEMICALLY treated tamarind seeds can provide an adhesive stronger than those commercially available, claim scientists of the College of Agricultural Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore (Kisan World, Vol 28, No 8). Large quantities of tamarind seeds are available in India as a by-product of the tamarind pulp industry. When …
MILK PRODUCERS in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiri district have designed a portable, insulated biogas plant that produces enough gas for three hours of cooking per day. The one cubic metre capacity prototype, developed by the Nilgiri District Cooperative Milk Producer's Union, is a miniature of the now-famous, floating-dome type of biogas …
Ranging behaviour of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) was studied using radio telemetry in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve had home ranges of over 500 sq km. These sizes are much larger than those defined by earlier studies. The study ranged across the three southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and …
IN A poverty-ridden country, particularly in the rural areas, it is legitimate to ask to what extent the public distribution system (PDS) of foodgrains acts as a security cover to the poor. The question becomes all the more important in a country such as India where the PDS involves an …
THE WILDLIFE Protection Act of 1972 made illegal the traditional occupation of the Irula tribals of Tamil Nadu. Consequently, the tribals who specialised in catching snakes, rats and termites and in collecting medicinal herbs, took up agricultural labour and road laying -- jobs that could not sustain them through the …
NUTRITIOUS biscuits made from the leaves of the fast-growing fodder tree subabul (Leucaena leucocephala) can be fed to cattle and increase milk yields, say animal husbandry and social forestry experts. Subabul, which originated in central America, is now grown widely as a fodder crop in India. Subabul biscuit production was …
A SQUABBLE over foreign exchange is holding up India's first bid to commercially harness energy from the ocean. The government has agreed, in principle, to allow Sea Solar Power Corp -- a private US firm -- to set up a 100 mw plant off the Tamil Nadu coast using ocean …
THIS REMARKABLE book transcends the crucial limitations of both Marxist social theory and conventional anthropology by consciously avoiding "economism" and "culturism". While recognising "the independent transformative power of capitalism", Ram places "culture and sexuality at the centre of capitalist transformation and the new division of labour between men and women". …
SCIENTISTS at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in Coimbatore have successfully used viruses to control pests. Mass production units are now being set up to meet the rapidly increasing demand for these viruses, says P C Sundara Babu, head of the entomology department at TNAU. TNAU scientists are using …
"PENGAL ondru serndal mudiyadhadhu," (If women unite, they can solve all problems), says 27-year-old Nagamani, an active member of Srirumallar Mahila Sangha (women's association) of Dhenkanikottai, a densely populated village near Hosur in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. Nagamani's sangha is one of five functioning in Dhenkanikottai, thanks to MYRADA, …
MEDICAL education is suddenly making news. A spate of student agitations in Tamil Nadu; an ordinance banning capitation fee in the state; a petition against private colleges in Andhra Pradesh; and, two ordinances by the Centre making it mandatory for new medical colleges to get prior approval from the government, …
FLIP-CHART presentations, rock concerts and relaxed Sunday-morning conversations at a Madras street corner or over a cup of tea on the highway are some of the strategies being used by concerned volunteers in Tamil Nadu to educate high-risk groups on the steps they must take to avoid contracting AIDS. The …
