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 …
The space shuttle Endeavour has used a new earth-imaging radar to photograph the area around the ancient Cambodian city of Angkor. Altho Ugh the main temple complex at Angkor has been restored, much of the'city is hidden in impenetrable Jungle'(Science, Vol 267, No 5200). The radar, developed jointly by the …
The recent shooting of a 12-year-old carpetweaver in Pakistan has been attributed to child labour racketeers. "We know his death was a conspiracy by the carpet mafia," maintains Ehsan Ullah Khan, chairperson of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front. Young Iqbal Masih had recently become a crusader against child labour. Last …
The rodent-like Gilbert Potoroo marsupial, a kangaroo species presumed extinct for more than a century, was rediscovered in south-western Australia by an Australian student who recently trapped a pair. "They are the most beautiful animals, with a long nose and incredibly soft fur, a little tail and long nails," says …
The 120 tanneries in and around Sialkot, Pakistan, offload an estimated 1. 1 million I polluted water daily. A bulk of it flows into seasos lahs, water courses and agricultural land. Medical experts believe that the one way out an tannery-owners and other industrial units to launch an intensive anti-pollution …
FAULTY technology led to a major effluent leak from a multi-million distillery owned by the Kedia group in Durg district, Madhya Pradesh, on March 29. As a knee-jerk reaction, the state pollution control board (PCB), which till date had chosen to ignore the complaints of pollution, ordered the closure of …
Since the '70s, camera makers and photography enthusiasts have dreamt of a 1-chip camera that does everything. Thanks to the efforts of 3 scientists from nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, this dream may soon be a reality. The team, led by Eric …
Take a glass pane that is hit by a cricket ball: it doesn't shatter; it bends, absorbs the impact and snaps back to its original shape. If the recent success of chemists at Du Pont in developing a hybrid material called star-gel is any indication, these panes may soon be …
John Turner, professor of genetics at the University of Leeds, has developed a computer model that can predict how the microclimate of an area will differ from that of another just a few kilometres away (New Scientist, Vol 165, No 1966). Unlike standard meteorological maps which portray the weather as …
NESS Ltd, the Israel-based electronic goods manufacturer, has ushered in glad tidings for the handicapped, especially those unable to function with their hands. It has designed the Handmaster, a noninvasive neuromuscular stimulation device, which will help them drink from a glass, shave with an electric razor and perform other daily …
WHILE scientists debate the reality of global warming, an extraordinary experiment in the Pacific has dredged up impressive evidence in favour of the seemingly preposterous idea that pumping iron into the sea might stave off the heating of the planet. The theory is that many parts of the ocean lack …
WATCHING the Bollywood blockbuster, Deewar, one marvelled at the facial expressions of the angry young man that Amitabh Bachchan portrayed. But in case you failed to detect any emotion on Bachchan's face, or generally cannot identify any human expression, get your grey matter examined: you'll probably find that you have …
Will the ministry of environment and forests (MEF) never let Orissa prosper? Biju Patnaik has been claiming so for years now. Adding more grist to his mill, the MEF has recently put the spanner in the latest of Orissa's prestigious steel projects. The Rs 480 crore plant was to be …
INCREASING population, unplanned growth of human settlements and tourists together appear to have taken a toll of the beautiful lake that gives the hill resort of Nainital its name. According to a recent decade-long study conducted by D K Pandey of the Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute, the water quality of …
An ungulate species belonging to an entirely new genus has been identified in Vietnam and Cambodia's northwestern districts (BBC Wildlife, Vol 13, No 1). German biologist Wolfgang Peter from the Zoological Gardens of Mun-ster found a pair of black horns - 45 cm long, twisted to the side with regular …
Under the unseeing eyes of the city's civic bodies, over 500 factories in North Delhi are severely polluting the groundwater which is used for domestic purposes. Equally reassuring for the errants is the gross inaction by the local pollution control agencies. According to a recent Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) …
THE sight of young forests in a dry desert is a breathtaking sight. Marusthal par vijay is the story of the Haryana Forest Department's afforestation efforts to block the sinister advance of the Thar desert. The film shows how Hissar in Haryana and Jodhpur in Rajasthan sandbag off the assaults. …
YOU are posted as a fire officer in a metropolis. One morning, you receive an emergency assistance call about a firebreak. The hysterical caller does not mention the house number -- he just blurts out that it is in "Jaipur colony", near a dilapidated monument. Because there is also a …
WHAT are the alternatives with us to rectify the imbalance in power generation in the future? To date, we have not only failed to generate power optimally from our existing resources, we have also failed to utilise the energy in an efficient manner. This book says that the situation is …
Texaco, the us-based giant oil company, is in the line of fire as Peruvian rainforest Indians plan to drag it to court on charges of polluting their land and thereby increasing cancer infection risks. The Indians have already filed a suit against Texaco in the US District Court, New York, …
Environmental engineers at the Tampere University of Technology, Finland, have successfully demonstrated an efficient method to clean up chlorophenol-contaminated groundwater without first having to heat it up (Environmental Science & Technology, Vol 28, No 13). Widely used as wood-preservatives, chlorophenols are known to pollute surface as well as groundwater. Conventional …
