Reply affidavit on behalf of the Central Ground Water Board in the matter of Suo Moto case titled "Haryana 60.48% groundwater over exploited Kurukshetra worst Jhajjar best says" appearing in the Tribune, January 8, 2025. The CGWA report, May 3, 2025 addresses the issue of groundwater exploitation and violation of …
THE Hubble space telescope has continued to puzzle astronomers ever since it soared off, by sending one intriguing information after another. The latest images from the telescope suggest that the Milky Way and other neighbouring galaxies are filled with 'rogue' planets, which were never observed before. These planets have escaped …
The origin of greenhouse gas emissions is an important issue in relation to the need for devising policy options to minimise potential global climate change and its impacts. The best known of the greenhouse gases is CO2, which is emitted into the atmosphere in large amounts -the equivalent of more …
IT COULD be the key to unlocking the mystery of the AIDS virus. Scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Maryland, have found a protein that enables the entry Of HIV, the AIDS virus, into human immune system cells, signalling a deadly cycle of destruction. …
The oil boom in the Gulf has taken a toll of the wheat farms of Saudi Arabia. Large tracts of rich, arable land are slowly drying up in the Saudi Arabian desert as the once lucrative wheat farming has lost its appeal. The oil boom of'70s- '80s saw the country …
That the grass seems greener on the other side rings more true for Africans. They have been relying heavily on food imports to combat famine, drought, starvation and malmarition and ignoring native grains, vegetables, and fruits. A report by the National Research Council of the us has revealed that the …
Under the onslaught of international criticism, Shell Nigeria, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant which had perpetrated one of the worst environmental crimes in Ogoniland, is trying desperately to redeem its image. As a first step toward reconciliation with local leaders, It has proposed to clean up all oil spills in Ogoniland …
British scientist Chris Hill discovered the world's oldest flower recently in 130-million-year-old clay rocks in the south of England. Christened Bevhalstia pebja and belonging to the Cretaceous period, this plant fossil is a 25-cm high herb and has aquatic roots. It combines a primitive fern-like anatomy and leaves with more …
A CURIOUS dichotomy in the development of higher animals (plants are exceptional in this respect) has come to light following recent research. During the course of embryogenesis, a fertilised egg goes through a series of multiplications that, along with growth, are responsible for a tremendous increase in the number of …
THE us police is developing a 'safe gun' that will fire only when held by its rightful owner. Several police and army personnel who are killed on duty, are often accidentally killed by their own gun or by one belonging to a partner. Two years ago the us department of …
A SMALL group of proteins, collectively known as heat shock proteins (HSP), have been the cause for considerable excitement lately. These proteins had initially attracted attention because they seemed to be generated in an extraordinarily large variety of organisms - ranging from bacteria to humans -in response to an increase …
In order to take crucial decisions on germplasm access and management, an honest accounting of the geopolitics of 'where does it come from' is needed. With 75 per cent of the ex situ collections, that is, resources preserved in laboratories and gene-banks, in the North, and 83 per cent of …
A CRUSHING blow has been dealt to Argentine President Carlos Menem's grandiose plans to build a huge hydro- electric project along the Argentine- Paraguayan border. Residents of Misiones province in Argentina, in a near unanimous move, voted against the building of the 3,000 mw Corpus project on environmental grounds, The …
WILDLIFF conservation in the us received a jolt after the [louse of Representatives passed on April 24, what has been mis- named as the National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act. For it seeks to do precisely the opposite. One of its notorious features is that it allows the country's 500 odd …
Farming in desert, and that too fish farming, would seem an impossible task to most. But a team of enterprising farmers led by Yitzhak Levy has developed a super intensive technique to produce yields which are not only profitable but also much higher than those of fish ponds in favourable …
The country's remote north-western province could serve as a model for Africa's poverty-ridden, famine-stricken areas. The province has been transformed from a food-deficit to a food-surplus area in the past 10 years. The soil in the province has a high acid content. Traditionally, people have grown cassava, maize, millet, sorghum …
A team led by B Phillips and Paul Lett at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Maryland, US, have observed the retardation effect, that is, the small but finite delay between the time an atom sends out an electromagnetic field and another feels it. They used a small sample …
A SMALL drop is threatening the whole ocean of thought that physicists have nourished for quite some time now. Most particle physicists believe that the theory which governs the interaction of matter at the smallest scale, the so-called Standard Model of particle physics, has Deen tested to a reasonable degree …
Japanese scientists have devised a novel way to process silk yarn into a fine powder. Raw silk is first boiled in an alkali solution of sodium carbonate to decrease its strength. The crushing is done in two stages. Preliminary crushing produces a coarse powder with particles about 20 I-t m …
DETERMINATION of the atomic configurations of materials is of great relevance in studying their properties. From x-ray diffraction to electron microscopy, many tools have been used over the years. But now comes a new technique of x-ray holography which promises to revolutionise the study of materials. Miklos Tegze and Gyula …
THE National Front (NF)the opposition alliance (between the JanataDal (it)) and some regional parties)led by V P Singhcame to power atthe Centre in 1989. The JD'S environmental concernsone of themost 'politically correct' of ourtimesprojects village-friendlygreen image for the party. 1989: era of no consensus The party's 1989 manifesto said: "With …
