The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
Amid starvation deaths, overflowing granaries and a persistent Supreme Court chasing the government to explain these paradoxes, the recent Union cabinet clearance to the Rs 10,000-crore food for work programme should on face value be good news. But given the fact that the government wants to use the scheme to …
people in West Bengal are highly susceptible to arsenic poisoning because of their food habits, states a report of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (unido). According to it, the chemical gets concentrated in the roots of vegetables that form a big part of Bengalis' diet. "Liquid pulses and potato …
to help implement and monitor its sector reform pilot programme more effectively, the Union rural development ministry recently signed an agreement with the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Programme. The Union government's programme, which covers 70 million rural people, has proved ineffective till now. The major drawback has been monitoring …
the Punjab government has introduced reed-bed system ( rbs ), an ecofriendly way of treating sewage with the help of reed plants in Roorki village of Fatehgarh Sahib district. T he system is a specially engineered simulation of a natural wetland ecosystem for the treatment of sewage, sullage and industrial …
The Maharashtra government has decided to shelf its much-hyped devolution of power to the gram panchayats , a promise that the ruling Democratic Front government has been making since it assumed office. The chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, announced the proposal last September at a public meeting and subsequently the governor …
T he merit of kat-ki-kunni (timber-cornered building) of Himachal Pradesh can be traced back to 1905, if not earlier. A massive temblor levelled every village from Dharamsala to Kangra. Measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, it lasted two minutes and was felt over 416,000 sq km. But, buildings with kat-ki-kunni …
At 2.53 am on October 25, 1991, a moderate earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale affected more than 425,000 people of about 2,100 villages in the districts of Uttarkashi, Tehri and Chamoli in what was then Uttar Pradesh and is now the hill state of Uttaranchal. Traditionally built timber …
Despite the shortcomings of the Neeru Meeru (water and you) programme reflected during its first and second phase, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, has decided to launch the third phase of the programme from May 2001, with a new name
With the emergence of vector-borne diseases, population pressure and unhealthy living conditions, a very focussed approach and long-term planning is needed in disease control. If all human-made changes and pressure of unscientific exploitation of natural resources are not halted, the planet Earth will not remain a habitable place. The case …
india lives in its villages, said the Mahatma. But sadly very few of our political leaders acknowledge this. And while they look the other way, a few committed individuals have sacrificed the good life to strive for a better living for the rural folk using their knowledge base and information. …
the National Human Rights Commission (nhrc) has directed the Union rural development ministry to include provisions for the resettlement and rehabilitation of people displaced by land acquisitions for various projects in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. They could also be formulated by a separate legislation, said nhrc . In 1994, …
The government of Niger is modifying the country's forestry policy to evolve sustainable ways to harvest wood. It is launching a project, Domestic Energy Strategy (des), that aims to make rural population responsible for the management and sustainable development of wood supplies. "Rational and sustainable forests development to meet firewood …
on december 10 , 2000, about one million people gathered on the banks of the Narmada, near Shukalteerath in Bharuch, Gujarat, to express gratitude towards the man who changed their lives, Pandurang Shastri Athavale, or Dada (elder brother), as he is fondly called, who turned 80. Athavale founded the social …
As the world wakes up to a depleting finite sources of power like coal and the growing opposition to big dams, countries all over the world with water resources and difficult areas to electrify are opting for the community mode of electricity generation and distribution. "Today, a confluence of technological, …
In India, the Central Electricity Act, 1948, does not allow individuals, communities or cooperatives to take up electricity generation and distribution. Only a private company bound to sell power to the government can do so. Of course the company has to sell power at rates the government fixes. Since such …
Three years ago, when Chija Maya, a resident of Piughar, spoke about a run-of-the-river microhydel power station in her village, many people thought that she was whistling in the dark. Though hydro-electricity first came to Nepal in 1911 to light the King’s palaces, it still remains a dream for 85 …
