The Bikaner Development Authority Bill, 2025, passed by the Rajasthan Assembly, aims to establish a Bikaner Development Authority to regulate development activities in the Bikaner district. The bill was passed by voice vote, with the opposition Congress walking out of the House due to insufficient discussion. The bill was introduced …
it could have been a church, with people confessing their sins. Only, it was a consultative meeting, where wildlife mangers and the conservation fraternity confessed that protected area management under Eco Regional Planning (erp) was an abysmal failure. Held on August 6-8, 2001, in New Delhi, the meeting organised by …
The 2000 monsoon didn’t keep its date with Dulaiben, 60, resident of Thoridi village in Amreli district of Gujarat. Her eyes stare down the road in the hope of the water tanker that brings 5,000 litres of water for the 600 residents once every week. Her two sons migrated to …
The Employment Guarantee Scheme ( egs ) of Maharash tra is said to be the only one in the world that guaran tees employment on demand. This was for the first time an employment generation programme was conceived to create productive works at the village level. The absence of social …
During the 1999-2000 drought, Down To Earth ( dte ) reported that five villages in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had enough water during the drought because of the water conservation activities they had undertaken. dte revisited these villages, reeling under the second successive drought. Unlike last year, some of these …
An analysis of the government's failure at drought relief shows some clear loopholes that are not very difficult to plug for a government that is worried about its political future. The most important thing is to plan decentralised, village-level institutions to both manage drought relief and come up with strategic …
The biggest hurdle in providing the much-needed drought relief is corruption in the government machi nery. Rajasthan has spent almost Rs 6,500 crore on drought relief works like employment generation, fodder distribution and drinking water facilities in the past 45 years. Another Rs 628 crore has been spent in the …
at least 85-90 per cent villagers in the Kachhch district of Gujarat do not want to be relocated. Most of the houses in the district were destroyed by the earthquake that struck Gujarat on January 26, 2001. A survey conducted by voluntary agencies reports that nine out of 10 villagers …
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has drawn up a comprehensive environmental management plan for Panipat. The board, however, has compromised on its standards in the very beginning. It has forgotten some of its clauses for giving the no-objection certificate to a project which entails setting up of new …
the Union ministry of non-conventional energy sources ( mnes ) is planning to increase the output of non-conventional energy sector by 10 per cent. The ministry hopes to achieve its aim till the year 2012. The new policy statement of the ministry also shows a shift of policy for the …
The Sri Lankan government is implementing a Rs 557 million master plan in Wennappuwa for the conservation of the western and south western coastlines. The project is going to be implemented by the fisheries and aquatic resources development ministry. These coastlines are largely exposed to violent sea erosions with the …
Haryana government has set up a multi-discipline panel to identify long-term integrated strategies focusing on improved land, conservation and sustainable management of land and water resources. At least a hundred thousand victims of the Bhopal gas disaster have not been given compensation, even after 15 years of the world's worst …
to evolve a proper and precise methodology for conserving the ecology, a national biodiversity strategy and action plan (nbsap) was inaugurated in New Delhi recently. It will cover areas such as natural ecosystems, wild species and their varieties, agricultural ecosystems and domestic species and their varieties. Issues such as conservation, …
Gram Sabha (rural areas) / municipal ward (urban areas) A miniature planning commission at the ward level. All voters are members. It identifies people's needs in open meetings as well as the beneficiaries of development projects. It has absulute power over 14 sectors including agriculture, drinking water and irrigation. Small …
the administrators of Hong Kong have set 2005 as the deadline within which time they will try and clean the city's heavily polluted air. The region's air pollution index hit an all-time high and its horizon was engulfed in thick clouds of yellow smog in the last week of March …
the Union ministry of environment and forests is preparing an elaborate national environmental management system to cope with challenges of the new millennium. The National Cleaner Production Centre (ncpc) , a wing of the National Productivity Council (npc), has already submitted an action plan and listed priorities, which would serve …
Residents of the Chapai-Nawabganj area have demanded affective steps to check the erosion of rivers, including the Padma. About 25,000 people from different areas in the region have also threatened to launch a massive agitation if the government fails to take positive steps. As many as 18 shops of Basudevpur …
The Nepal government will soon introduce a biodiversity action plan in an attempt to save the country's rich flora and fauna. The ministry of forest and soil conservation is finalising the plan, which officials say, "will help improve the plight of Nepal's endangered wildlife, ecosystems, forests and even the agricultural …
