Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item Titled "Neglected Katora Houz in Hyderabad’s Golconda Fort Cries for attention appearing in ‘The Siasat Daily’ dated 25 May 2025". The application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled “Neglected Katora Houz in Hyderabad’s …
A group of scientists studying salinity levels in the aquifers of Haryana stumbled across a bigger problem. The team from the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (cssri) found arsenic in the groundwater of Gohana block in Sonepat district of Haryana. Worse still, the levels of the contaminant were well above …
recently the Punjab government along with Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (pscst) launched a programme to clean village ponds using duckweed technology. The technology entails treating contaminated waterbodies with the help of tiny aquatic plants known as duckweeds (Lemnaceae). These plants have microbes in their roots that have …
A study carried out by a number of Belgium universities has shown that even a moderate exposure to pollutants like polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons (pahs) can retard sexual maturation in children. Till date only occupational or accidental exposure had been implicated for such problems. The study was conducted on 200 adolescents …
The backwater islet of Kaavaalam has settled into an uneasy sleep. Some time past midnight they wake up to a much-awaited call: " Vellam vannoo, vellam vannoo
the mechanism by which inhaled anthrax disarms and evades the human immune system, enabling the potentially lethal bacteria to rapidly spread throughout the body has been discovered by researchers from the University of California, usa. Their research describes how a complex of the anthrax bacteria's proteins called lethal toxin (lt) …
scientists from the Dhaka-based International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b) have recently initiated clinical trials to study the efficacy of an oral diarrhoea vaccine in Bangladesh. The vaccine is being manufactured by the international pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. It has been developed by Baltimore-based John Hopkins University. The vaccine would …
A controversy seems to be brewing up in Lucknow, with the reporting of high levels of arsenic contamination in many parts of the city and government officials denying the same. Tests carried out by Environmental Research Laboratory (erl), a Lucknow-based non-governmental organisation, has shown that groundwater in many areas of …
even as Coca-Cola draws a generic link with all things cool in its latest ad, the soft-drink giant is feeling the heat of a two-month-long agitation by local villagers against its bottling plant in Palakkad district of Kerala. Their grievance: excessive groundwater extraction by Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (hcbl)
Residents of Chajjupur, Shahdara, New Delhi, are very angry. But they are also scared. Although they have been fighting the polluting industries in their area, they refuse to come out in the open with their struggle. "We do not want to take on the industry,' explains a local shopkeeper. Residents …
> Food is more than what lies on your plate. It"s someone"s labour. It"s someone"s export to meet your off-season demand. It"s what keeps the pesticide machinery well-oiled. It"s the wish for many. > Way back in 1970, the US spent about US$6 billion on fast food; in 2000 it …
Every once in a way, one comes across an instance that reestablishes faith in the tools of the establishment. Take the case of the Behala public interest litigation (pil), for example. About a hundred housewives from Behala, situated in the southern part of the city of Kolkata, approached the green …
battlelines are drawn over the setting up of a polyvinyl chloride (pvc) plant at Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. While environmentalists and local residents are pitted against the project promoter, the state authorities are yet to make their stand clear on the issue. The plant, being set up by Chennai-based Chemplast …
has the time come for paper and pulp industry to go green? If one is to go by the latest research on genetically modified trees, perhaps yes. Scientists have tested genetically modified (gm) poplar trees and given them thumbs up for their regular use. Using gm poplar trees, they claim, …
Starting September 2002, about two million children would be vaccinated free of cost against Hepatitis b in 15 cities and 32 districts in the country. The move follows the inclusion of the vaccination in the Universal Immunisation Programme (uip) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (mhfw), which took …
Under siege • 38 per cent of Africa's coastal ecosystems are threatened by development-related activities. Population densities reach 500-1,000 inhabitants per square km along the Nile delta • Almost 25 per cent of Canada's and about 55 per cent of the USpopulations live in coastal areas. The US coastal population …
on june 13, death deluged the banks of Yamuna river in Agra. The Sikandara-Taj Mahal area along the water body was covered with thousands of dead and dying fish. Less than a week later, reports of more fish deaths poured in from Bateshwar
the Native American tribe of Sokaogon Chippewa in the us' Wisconsin state is a happy lot today. Now, its members can have safe water for themselves and their fields. Thanks to the us Supreme Court, the community has secured the right to lay down its own water quality standards. Significantly, …
oil spills could mean far worse for the environment than they have been blamed for till date, shows a recent study conducted in the Galapagos Islands located off the coast of Ecuador. In January 2001 the tanker Jessica, belonging to Petrocomercial, an arm of the Ecuadorian state oil company, had …
working along the same lines as air pollution control programs, the us Environmental Protection Agency (epa) has proposed a water quality trading policy that the agency says will make wastewater systems faster and more efficient. The idea is to grant
Mothers to-be, infants and children: beware of eating shark, swordfish and marlin! This alert has been sounded by the uk Food Standards Agency in the wake of studies which reveal that these types of fish carry high levels of mercury in them. The agency carried out a survey that analyzed …
