Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
the world's second largest freshwater lake is in dire straits. Africa's Lake Victoria, the source of the mighty Nile river, has been beset by innumerable ecological irritants, which threaten to jeopardise the economic well being of the locals of the region. The list of problems haunting the lake - which …
The Supreme Court of India came down heavily on the Manali-based Span Motels Private Ltd for changing the course of the Beas river. The court ordered the owners to shift the motel away from the banks of the river. A recent report prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board alleged …
CARELESSNESS on the part of a worker has resulted in a major oil spill in the Hooghly river at Haldia about 80 km from Calcutta. Marine pollution control vessels belonging to the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) tried their best to control the spill. It occured when an Indian Oil Corporation …
A mining company in Marinduque, 160 kin South of Manila in Philippines, has invited criminal charges from the government for leaking toxic waste into a 25-kni river. The Marcopper Mining Corporation had flouted mining, water and environmental norms by spilling tons of waste into the Boac river in central Philippines, …
Meandering water channels always follow a gently winding path. Why this happens has been explained with the help of a model developed by physicists Taniemola Liverpool and Sam Edwards, University of Cambridge, US. The two main components of the model include 'pinching of a part of the flow to form …
The Himalayan mountains constitute an ecological system naturally primed for disaster. The deep gorges through which the Himalayan rivers flow convey the impression that the Himalayan valleys would never face floods. Yet these very channels often fail to contain the fury of disastrous floods. Among the most affected valleys are …
ENDING over 3 decades of mutual mistrust and hostility on April 5, 1995, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam inked the Mekong River Treaty for "cooperation in the sustainable development of the Mekong River Basin" in Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. Supported by the United Nations Development Programme and after more …
THE Chinese government hails it as the second largest construction since the Great Wall. Premier Li Peng is its staunchest advocate. Environmentalists condemn it as an environmental disaster waiting to happen. This is the Three Gorges, the mammoth hydroelectric dam that will harness the turbulent Yangtze river with a 185-metre …
The Punjab government's proposal to increase the height of the 531-metre Thein dam on the Ravi river by 9 m has created considerable consternation in the Jammu and Kashmir township of Basoli. Residents of the town, which lies at the border of the 2 states near the submergence zone of …
THE residents of the villages at the border of the Pilibhit and Lakhimpur-Kheri districts in Uttar Pradesh are at their are just about keeping afloat. For the 2nd year in succession, they watched in utter helplessness as the Sharda, a tributary of the Ghagra, washed away hundreds of hectares of …
IN AN attempt to pour oil over troubled waters, the Union ministry of water resources (MWR) has prepared a draft national policy guideline for the allocation of river waters amongst states. The guideline, formulated by the Central Water Commission (CWC), has drawn sharp criticism from state governments. Barring a handful …
BREAKING new ground where governments have feared to tread, nongovernmental research groups from India, Bangladesh and Nepal have suggested that an "integrated approach" may be the only way to calm the turbulence over the sharing of river waters. "We have tried to transcend national perspectives and have outlined the immense …
WHEN you live on an island, rapid land erosion can spell doom. It can also mean an irreversible and mind-numbing change in the status of your assets from the time you go to sleep to the time you wake up. If this sounds stretches the limits of understanding, just watch …
IT'S NOW almost taken for granted that if a flood occurs in the plains, then a forest must have disappeared in the mountains. However, this notion, which indicts the land-use practices of the mountain people, is fast losing its punch for lack of evidence. Two recent studies sponsored by the …
THE CREDIBILITY of China's controversial Three Gorges project to build the world's largest dam across the Yangtze river has received a setback. Two US government agencies -- the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers -- said they will sever their involvement in the project after completing work …
THE FLOODING that inundated much of midwest USA in mid-July turned a timid tributary in Iowa into a raging torrent, transforming a nearby transgenic test plot into a small part of a giant river system. The damage to the research programme run by Pioneer Hi-Bred International was relatively small, according …
While the cultivation of paddy in Punjab (and Haryana) does need some curbing, the extreme forebodings of either total groundwater exhaustion in Punjab or of the state turning into a desert of paddy growing is not curbed forthwith are unwarranted.
THE RECENT floods that engulfed more than two-thirds of Bangladesh killed more than 500 people and destroyed one million tonnes of foodgrains, resulting in a loss of $175 million to the government. However, despite Bangladesh renewing demands that India and Nepal control the powerful rivers that flow through their countries, …
Nation in turmoil RIMJHIM JAIN FLOODS are a major source of human misery in India and this year, too, they have wreaked havoc. Agriculture minister Balram Jakhar claims 2 million ha of cropped area has been damaged this year by the swirling waters. Reports from across the country present overwhelming …
