Order of the High Court of Delhi in W.P.(C) 6444/2021 in the matter of Ratiram Ahirwar & Others Vs Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board & Others dated 13/07/2021. The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi in exercise of his power under Section 22 of the Building and Other Construction …
BRITAIN'S Overseas Development Agency (ODA) has washed its hands off Kenya's forest reserves. It has unceremoniously withdrawn a L12 m grant for a forestry convention programme launched in Kenya because it has fallen out with the ruling party on the issue of illegal allocation of protected forest lands. ODA claims …
JAPANESE environmentalists have objected to an Indian press report, which said Japanese non-governmental organisations had welcomed India's resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R;) package for oustees of the Sardar Sarovar Project. In fact, Yukio Tanaka, coordinator of the Narmada Action Committee of Japan, has denied this outright. The controversy erupted on February …
FOR ONCE, Indians can look forward to the sun doing the out-of-character job of cooling them. A new device -- a "suncap fan" that brings visions of a whirligig attached to a dunce"s cap -- that might soon hit the country"s overheated cricket stands will be powered by solar photovoltaic …
BANGLADESH'S Grameen Bank -- a cooperative banking system with easy loan repayment conditions -- has inspired US President Bill Clinton. When he was governor of Arkansas, Clinton launched the Goodfaith Fund, modelled after Grameen. Now, he plans to launch a similar scheme on a national level to extend lending to …
CITIZENS' groups have flayed the World Bank's (WB's) new information policy -- Expanding Access to Bank Information (EABI) -- for keeping information in and people out. In a desperate attempt to shore up its sinking image and secure a $18 billion capital replenishment, WB had recently cobbled together the information …
LOANS FROM the US have helped Pakistan use other funds to finance its nuclear programme, according to the Central Intelligence Agency of USA, reports indicate. The agency is, however, uncertain about whether China continues to provide Pakistan with nuclear weapon technology.
THE ANTI-GOLF movement is gaining momentum almost in tandem with the game's popularity. Anti-golf activists see the sport as "the most serious environmental problem in the world". Tricia Barnett, a British conservationist and supporter of the Global Anti-Golf Movement (GAGM) (Down To Earth, August 15, 1993), thinks the campaign has …
DESPITE being warned about the pitiable plight of the Uru Eu Wau Wau Indians in northwest Brazil, the World Bank (WB) did not stop to consider the effect on the tribals of a road construction project it was financing in the region. And now, unfortunately, the warnings are coming true. …
THE US Congress approval of less than the requested funding for the world's poorest countries has put the International Development Agency (IDA) of the World Bank in trouble. Though the Clinton administration had requested an annual contribution of $1.25 billion to meet its three-year commitment of $3.75 billion, the Congress …
AS PART of the national environment action plan (NEAP), the Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF) is preparing numerous projects, financial assistance for which it will seek from the World Bank (WB). The NEAP was developed at the insistence of WB, which exercises considerable influence over developing countries because …
The American multinational company Cargill Inc has abandoned a proposal to establish a $15-million salt manufacturing unit near Kandla port in Gujarat. The decision came on the eve of a satyagraha planned by Janata Dal leader George Fernandes on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who led the salt protest …
In a severe indictment of the World Bank's (WB) record of resettlement of people affected by its projects in India, the bank's own Operations Evaluation Division (OED) has recommended that funding of projects involving forcible relocation of people should be stopped. OED says a February 1980 policy makes the bank …
IN A CONTROVERSIAL move, the Union ministry of nonconventional energy sources (MNES), has decided to establish a Rs 382 crore, 35 MW solar thermal power plant near Jodhpur in Rajasthan, even though earlier solar thermal units in the country have been beset with problems and found to be prohibitively expensive. …
MORE THAN 50 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from across the world met recently in the sub-Saharan city of Bamako as a prelude to the intergovernmental convention on desertification, which was proposed by African countries at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. When the industrialised countries did not show much interest …
US PRESIDENT Bill Clinton was right when he predicted not everyone would be pleased with his solution to the timber crisis in the northwestern states (Down To Earth, May 31, 1993). Both environmentalists and timber workers are up in arms against his proposal, which calls for reducing logging to 25 …
GOADED by developed countries, the Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF) has prepared the first draft of the India Country Programme, which details the phase-out schedule of ozone depleting substances (ODS) under the Montreal Protocol. According to the programme, the switchover, which will take till 2010 to effect, will …
LIGHTING offers much scope for improving energy efficiency in Pakistan, according to the country's National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON), which says the energy savings potential in lighting exceeds 50 per cent nationwide. Using a World Bank-format for planning, ENERCON is seeking funding to implement a five-year energy efficiency improvement programme …
INDIA'S commitment to phasing out ozone-depleting substances received a fillip when scientists at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology in Hyderabad developed a process to manufacture HFC-134a, an ozone-friendly refrigerant. HFC-134a will be a substitute for CFC-12, which accounts for more than 50 per cent of the harmful CFCs being …
PAKISTAN plans to expand the controversial uranium enrichment plant at Kahuta near Islamabad to provide fuel for a nuclear power reactor being bought from China, according to senior government officials. Abdul Qader Khan, director of the research laboratories at Kahuta, said, "We believe that by the time we have the …
ENVIRONMENTAL NGOs in the US are rushing ahead of their government in both their desire and actions to act as the world's green helmets. A statement issued by the Environment Defence Fund and other US environmental groups at the time of the G-7 Tokyo Summit against the World Bank loan …
