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 …
GIVEN Doordarshan's current preoccupation with movies for entertainment, it seems to have cheerfully tossed science and environment programmes out through the window. Nothing notable has been shown on the small screen in recent months except for a film on the Narmada dam, already reviewed in this column. Fortunately, Star Plus …
Howrah railway station is facing closure because the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) says a huge volume of sewage from the station is discharged untreated into the Hooghly river. WBPCB officials say they will serve notice on Indian Railways asking them to suspend station operations, exercising its power under …
THE GERMAN minister for environment, nature protection and reactor safety, Klaus Topfer, is among those who blame the West for a major role in polluting the earth. Or, so he was at pains to establish during a recent visit to India. "The industrialised countries must make a conscientous effort," he …
WHEN THE Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) detected acidic effluents from a Birla sugar mill in a tributary of the Gomati, it thought it could bell the cat easily. But a Supreme Court order in an earlier environmental pollution complaint against the unit has left the board high and …
WHEN ABOUT 200,000 litres of furnace oil spilled into the Damodar river from the Bokaro Steel Plant on April 2, 1990, it took the authorities four days to wake up to the disaster. By then, the oil had travelled about 150 km downstream to Durgapur and for at least a …
NO OTHER region of India has paid a heavier price for India's industrialisation than the Damodar valley, which traverses the poor states of Bihar and West Bengal. Rich in coal resources, the region has been extensively mined for this valuable mineral, which energises domestic hearths and industrial furnaces throughout the …
INSECTS that were introduced to stem the spread of water hyacinth are beginning to avoid feeding on the weed because they are polluted by toxic metals. However, the insects seem to be developing resistance to the toxicity by producing new cellular proteins and synthesizing new ones. In experiments conducted by …
YUGOSLAV engineers are working desperately to ease the pressure on a damaged dam in Montenegro, to prevent the release of millions of tonnes of toxic mining sludge into the Danube and other Balkan rivers. Senior officials working on the dam'say the impact would be "disastrous as it would poison the, …
The Japanese passion for golf is on a new course. Since 1987, 20 districts covering 32,000 sq km were earmarked for resort development. The total area covered by the resorts will eventually touch 60,000 sq km -- 16 per cent of the country's land area. A private study asserts the …
IT may have been this emotive encomium to the Ganga that motivated Nehru"s grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, to undertake India"s most ambitious environmental clean-up programme ever. Launching the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) in Varanasi on June 14, 1986, Gandhi, then prime minister, of India, stated confidently, "We shall see that the …
ONE OF the more innovative ideas that the Ganga Project Directorate (GPD) is pursuing is to revive the use of turtles to keep the river clean. Traditionally, turtles and crocodiles acted as scavengers consuming the corpses and other debris in the water, The once-plentiful soft-shelled turtle (Triunyx gangiticus) is on …
BEFORE the multi-crare GAP was off the blocks, Supreme Court advocate MC Mehta had approached the apex court to slop the appalling pollution of the Ganga by the municipalities and industries along its banks. Mehta first requested the Supreme Court on April 29, 1985, to direct can. carried industries to …
"LAST YEAR's jaundice epidemic in Kanpur highlights the fundamental problems that plague any attempt to clean the Gangs," says social activist Raghunath Singh, commenting on the official tally of 1,200 dead in the 1991 jaundice epidemic, although the actual number is held to be much higher. Kanpur municipal officials deny …
WATER QUALITY CRITERIA Water class Criteria A Drinking water without treatment: Faecal coliforms: 50 MPN / 100 ml (max); DO: 5 mg/1 (min); BOD: 2mg/l (max) B Bathing: Faecal coliforms: 500 MPN / 100 ml (max);DO: 5 mg /l (max) C Drinking water with treatment: Faecal coliforms: 5000 MPN / …
Central Ganga Authority Ministry of Environment and Forests Paryavaran Bhavan CGO Complex Lodhi Road New Delhi 110 003 V Rajamani Chairman, Steering Committee Ministry of Environment and Forests New Delhi 110 003 Vinay Shankar Director, Ganga Project Directorate Ministry of Environment and Forests New Delhi 110 003 INTACH 71 Lodhi …
THE GANGA'S alarming pollution level has inspired both government and non-governmental involvement in clean-up work. While the Union government has created an exhaustive structure to cleanse the river, some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have also been active, though on a smaller scale, in arousing popular consciousness and analysing official clean-up measures. …
IN MANY ways, the Ganga Action Programme is a very ambitious scheme. It aims to clean up one of the world"s longest rivers -- using sophisticated and expensive technologies. But the project does not sufficiently recognise that the Ganga flows through one of the poorest and most densely populated regions …
THE INCREASE in phosphate wastes released into rivers over the last 20 years may in turn have increased the frequency of "red tides" (coloured springtime algal efflorescences) which poison and kill numerous fish in American estuaries. Certain single-celled algae called dinoflagellates , which make up a large part of ocean …
National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources Pusa Complex New Delhi 110 012. National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources Indian Council of Agricultural Research National Dairy Research Institute Karnal 132 001. National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources Indian Council of Agricultural Research 2 Bagambari housing scheme Shivnagar, Allapur Allahabad UP 211 …
GENETICS presents a strange dilemma. Manipulations in this field have greatly increased the yields of crops, animals and trees. Witness the green and white revolutions and the large commercial timber and fruit plantations. Ironically, this cloning threatens the global gene pool itself. It is important to conserve the global gene …
