Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Akhilesh Kumar Vs State of Uttar Pradesh & Others dated 23/05/2025. The matter related to illegal mining activites carried out by Jai Maa Chandrika Enterprises, Rajendra Nagar, village Kabari, district Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh. The applicant also alleged about illegal sale …
The booming prawn industry in Sri Lanka has Worried environmentalists. They fear that mangroves will be destroyed to make way for prawn farms and that prime land will be encroached upon, resulting in the destruction of fish breeding grounds and damaging biodiversity. Besides, the waste from the enterprises will add …
Cheetos, the crispy American cheese puffs, have come to China minus the cheese. Residents of Guangdong province of China, where the $1 million venture has been launched, have reportedly turned up their noses at the "cheesy taste". Pepsico, the maker of Cheetos, is now offering 2 flavors, Savory American Cream …
The one-horned rhino population in Nepal's Royal Chitwan National Park has crossed the 450 mark despite widespread poaching, a recent rhino census carried out in the park indicates. The eradication of malaria strains in the Chitwan valley in the '60s opened it up for human settlement. The casualty was the …
Kulekhani dam, Nepal's only high dam hydroelectricity project, faces the unwelcome prospect of closure in less than seven years if the present high levels of sedimentation continue. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is undertaking topographical and geological studies to identify possible sites for check dams to trap silt. "We would …
With mid-term polls in Nepal due in November, the Arun dam project is set to become a major poll issue. The Nepali Congress government is trying to highlight the $764-million project's employment potential in the eastern hills. The powerful United Marxist-Leninist opposition, however, is pointing to alleged kickbacks and a …
Decades of mining have slopped about 72 million tonnes of lead, zinc and other metal wastes into the Coeur d:lene lake in Idaho state in the US. Now, representatives of the Coeur d:lene tribe and the environmentalist group, Sierra Club, have urged the Congress and the Clinton administration to fund …
BACTERIA are a mixed blessing. On the one hand, they plague us with diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy and on the other, they provide us with such delights as curd and wine. Now, we have bacteria that are miners. In the past few years, these diminutive diggers have become …
Plans are afoot to convert the Bhatti stone mines south of Delhi into a major drinking water source for the water-starved Capital. The gigantic stone mine pits, which were closed last year after protracted protests from environmentalists against the pollution caused by the stone crushers, might be converted into large …
MEGHALAYA faces a new threat: the wholesale degradation of its air, soil and water by coal mining. It is damaging the greenscape through indiscriminate felling, excavations, tunnelling and the dumping of debris. In blind pursuit of black gold, mine operators ignore the essential harmony of the environment and continue to …
ACID rain is playing havoc with buildings and wildlife in half of Great Britain. Scottish heather, and salmon and trout stocks in Wales, have suffered damage due to acid rain, caused mainly by sulphur dioxide emissions from coal burned in power stations. According to estimates prepared for the British department …
The iron ore industry in Goa may be asked to cough up the costs for cleaning up the environmental mess it has made. The Goan government is considering a proposal to impose an environment tax on the state's iron ore mining and ore export industry. The environment cess of upto …
ALARMED by unchecked deforestation, the Thailand government launching an ambitious, three-year reforestation project in May, with backing from the Thai royal family.
THE World Bank has commended the Chinese government's resettlement record - at "well over 30 million", the world's largest - as a "model" for most types of resettlements. A leaked report, in which the bank reviewed its own resettlement policy, said, "Over the past 40 years, tens of millions of …
SCIENTISTS at the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have developed a rice plant that can yield 25 per cent more than existing varieties. The new variety, evolved by combining various samples of germplasm, is being tested and the crop is to be harvested in May. IRRI chief plant breeder …
THREE teams of scientists at the University of Delhi South Campus have identified fungi, algae and bacteria that are natural extractors of metals washed out in mine effluents. Sheela Srivastava, a microbial geneticist at the university, says these microorganisms can be exposed to the polluted water and left to gobble …
AS OF today, 18 per cent of the world"s population is using up 80 per cent of the planet"s capacity to sustain life. Bracketed between the 1.1 billion merry overconsumers at one end and 1.1 billion living in unbelievable squalor and misery at the other is an immense pack of …
Non-governmental organisations have accused the Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF) of succumbing to pressure from the Rajasthan mining lobby and de-reserving a part of the Sariska National Park to allow mining. MEF reiterated the area of the park is 866 ha, 279 ha less than the previous figure …
IN 1993, the seasonal ozone destruction over the polar region of the southern hemisphere started earlier than ever before -- early in August. Record low values of total ozone were registered at Antarctic stations for several days in late September. One extremity of the slightly elliptical ozone "hole" again passed …
A kuccha road leading to village Mallana near Sariska in Rajasthan is blocked by villagers. Faces bright with anger, they say: "We will free Mallana from the miners. We will do or die." A truck approaches cautiously and then turns tail. Harshawardhan Varma's moving documentary, The Slaughter of Sariska, drives …
Ask anyone to locate Papua New Guinea on a map and there are very good chances that he or she wouldn't know where to start. Till recently, Papua New Guinea was a relatively obscure archipelago on the western rim of the Pacific. Portuguese colonisers first landed on the island in …