Question raised in Rajya Sabha on charging stations for electric vehicles, 20/07/2022. The number of electric vehicles in the country is 13,34,385 (excluding data of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Lakshadweep, which is not available in Vahan 4) as on 14-07-2022 and a total of 2826 Public Charging Stations …
If there is one thing true about India, it's that it is a diverse country. Economically, technologically and environmentally. Some are very rich, some are very poor. There are some who use modern technologies, and there are others who still use technologies that were used a millennium ago. And, of …
Down To Earth and the Centre for Science and Environment announce that the winner of the 2001 Green Scientist Award is V P Sharma , former head of the Malaria Research Centre. Instituted to recognise and honour commendable scientific efforts in the crucial but ignored area of environmental science, the …
The widespread attack of the mite Eriphyes guerreronis is threatening coconut plantations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. However, according to researchers, trees raised with organic manure or biopesticides have not been affected by the mites. The scientific community has propagated foliar spraying and root feeding of pesticides, but it has …
japanese organic farmer Takao Furuno has hit upon a novel idea to make his paddy fields flourish: soon after the rice seedlings are planted, he releases ducks into the fields. "Well, it has been called a
three decades of pesticide use in the Peruvian highlands has unsettled the balance of the Andean ecosystem. The rise in the number of cases of poisoning among farmers, declining soil fertility and reports of pests becoming resistant to agrochemicals has made the "technological revolution' in Peru far from successful. There …
What is organic farming? In organic farming natural materials are used. It lays emphasis on soil fertility and plant health. The idea is, ‘the heal thier the soil (which includes the health of all the soil organisms such as worms and the micro organisms), the healthier the plant’. In this …
H e came to town to talk about the bees and ants. In the process, he conquered the hearts of the children. Adults, however, were a little sceptical. Georges Brossard, a Canadian national of French origin, is a man on a mission. His message is simple: think small, and see …
the harmless natural oil that gives peaches their perfume can also be used as a pesticide, scientists working for the us government have found. The oil kills fungus and other pests in the soil and could replace methyl bromide, a widely used pesticide that is toxic to humans and harms …
Locusts might become endangered following the recent approval of the world's first bioinsecticide against the insects. Named Green Muscle, the fungal pesticide spray, made by South Africa (SA)-based Biological Control Products has been cleared for sale in the country. The spray contains spores of Metarhizium anisopliae, a fungus that invades …
biological pesticides offer a more sound means of controlling insect pests than synthetic chemicals. A bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis ( b t) produces a crystalline protein that is highly toxic to moth larvae. At a time, when nearly 500 species of arthropods have evolved insecticide resistance to other pesticides, there …
the funnel web spider is feared throughout Australia. One of the world's deadliest spiders, its venom can kill humans. But Glenn King, a biochemist, and Merlin Howden, a pharmacologist from the University of Sidney have concluded that the spider could be the means of a pesticide that does not harm …
A VIRUS that can be used to manage Helicoverpa armigera, the insect whose caterpillars or larvae have long ravaged crops, has been developed by entomologists at the Crop Protection Division of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Andhra Pradesh. Helicoverpa has for long caused damage to …
SCIENTISTS have successfully tested a biological pesticide for the first time on grasshoppers and locusts which ravage crops across Africa. They have developed sprays containing fungal spores which are as effective as synthetic pesticides and harmless for beneficial insects. Researchers from Benin, Niger and Britain spent the past seven years …
Environmental contamination and high production cost could now be eliminated with the discovery of a botanical pesticide using Jatropha curcas (tubang-bakod), say scientists from the Central Development Research Institute> based in Baltac, Ilocos Norte, the Philippines. Pesticide from Jatropha can be easily prepared by farmers themselves. The formulated product is …
Investigators in France have shown that bioengineered plants that disrupt fungal cell walls are resistant to fungal pests and they can reduce or eliminate the need for chemical fungicides. The group has devel oped a transgenic rapeseed ( Brassica napus ) that produces a chitinase gene at high levels enabling …
A DELICATE plant, producing yellow flowers -Calceolaria andina is proving to be the nemesis for a notoriously high-resistant variety of tobacco whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. Two chemicals from the plant, which grows high on the Andean slopes, has been found to be fatal for the B- biotype species of the pest. …
The German chemicals group BASF is using its plastics manufacturing technologies to improve mclicine-making process. The echnology replaces the tradi 3-stage manufacturing se e with a single process in the active ingredients are d and shaped as pliable Is, passed through rollers, and ed into tablets. Drugs, howew ? usually …
Every year, millions of tonnes of food are lost to the most voracious and abundant of animals -- the ubiquitous insects. Whether seeds be present on the plant or stored away carefully, insects worm their way into them, making them inedible. But humans have built up an impressive arsenal of …
THE EXPERIENCE of Kudumbam, a voluntary organisation based in Tamil Nadu's Pudukottai district, shows organic farming is more readily accepted by villagers when propagated by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) than by individual farmers. Kudumbam disseminates knowledge on organic farming through its Tamil monthly, Pasuthalir. With the help of the local …
