Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Jagan Prasad Tehriya Vs State of Uttar Pradesh dated 23/05/2025. The applicant has alleged large-scale illegal felling of green trees within the Agra district, Uttar Pradesh. The application revealed instances of illegal tree felling at Fatehabad, Sadar, Kiraoli and Agra …
WHERE do used aeroplane tyres go? Well, at least some of land up in the most unlikely place: the Rajasthan desert. Tyres that once helped giant flying machines to land and take off are being used on camel-carts to transport fodder and water in the desert. The virtual absence of …
• The area being mined has gone up 36.5 times in the past 20 years and as a result, forest cover in the area has declined from 237.8 sq km in 1971 to 127.7 sq km. • In 1971, the entire forest cover of 237.8 sq km was classified as …
IS THE left hand of government truly unaware of what the right hand does? Yes, indeed, villagers of Vasu in Udaipur district would respond. "Otherwise," noted a villager who didn't want to be named, "how else would you explain a junior official issuing a show-cause notice concerning work that was …
IF SHAH Jahan's men were to return today to Makrana, from where the marble for the Taj Mahal was procured, they would have no problem recognising it. Little has changed in the small Aravalli town in Nagore district, which has become synonymous the world over with quality white marble: the …
CONFRONTED with the prohibitive cost of linking remote hill villages to state power grids, the government is pushing small hydro electric schemes as an alternative solution to meet their power needs. So convinced are government experts of the usefulness of these schemes, they have included a total investment of more …
THE POTENTIAL of small hydro power in the country has been estimated at nearly 5,000 mw, but only about 86 mw have been realised. Of this, about 25 mw is from micro hydel schemes. In the Eighth Plan, a capacity of 256 mw is expected to be added, of which …
Coal, oil and large hydel plants have always been associated with power generation, while small hydro systems have been shunned because of a belief that the "smaller the size, the higher the cost". On the face of it, this is true: In some small hydro schemes in the Uttar Pradesh …
ON AUGUST 14, 1991, the residents of Mogji Ka Kheda village near Udaipur woke up to a shocking sight: labourers digging up a part of their 17-ha community pasture. When the startled villagers, led by Godaji Gadari, confronted the labourers they learnt the workers had been employed by Udaipur mining …
WITH SUPPORT from the Ethiopian government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are implementing programmes to create environmental awareness among the people to counter deforestation that has reached crisis proportions in the mountainous country. The central Ethiopian highlands, which support more than 78 per cent of the population, have been virtually deforested by …
THE BOOK focuses on a new environmental agenda for cities, followed by details on environmental problems in the home, workplace and neighbourhood. The treatment of the subject makes interesting reading of a much debated topic. For a change, concrete suggestions emerge for tackling environmental problems, especially health problems. Despite the …
Centre of Concern for Child Labour 247, Akashdarshan Apartments Mayur Vihar-I New Delhi 110 091 Ph: 2252298 Bandhua Mukti Morcha 7, Jantar Mantar Road New Delhi 110 001 Ph: 3329043 Nanban Obula Padithurai Manuchalai Road Madurai 625 009 Institute for Social Education and Development Block No 41/3, 14th Lane, Indira …
CHILDREN comprise six per cent of India's total organised work force; they also contribute an average 23 per cent of a household's domestic savings. Yet, exploitation of children as a social problem has only recently begun to agitate the international conscience. Germany and USA have now refused to import items, …
GOLF ENTHUSIASTS and promoters are heading for a collision with environmentalists in Goa. In a bid to lure Japanese tourists who are keen on the game, the state tourism department has approved in recent years various proposals to set up golf courses. As a result, the state has seen intermittent …
From the dizzy heights of the Rajiv Gandhi days to your apparent sanyas, when everyone else but Sam Pitroda is talking of telecom, your life has been nothing short of a thriller. Today, do you feel politically isolated? I think I have done my work. As a leader, I have …
BIPUL Adak is a puzzled man. "Why does the government flout its own rules?" he asks of the move to set up a thermal power plant on rich, fertile agricultural land near Calcutta. Disregarding environmental guidelines, the West Bengal government allowed the privately owned Calcutta Electric Supply Corp (CESC) to …
BANGLADESH'S massive afforestation programme is fast becoming a people's movement. More than 60 million saplings were planted last year under the programme, partly funded by the UN Development Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation. According to official sources, a countrywide radio and television programme has been started to educate …
The United Nations Development Programme's third and latest report acclaims participation as the cornerstone of human development. This springs from its recognition that "people's participation is becoming the central issue of our time." The emphasis is on people and the "impatient urge that they have to participate in the events …
AFTER struggling for eight long years against the massive Narmada dam, the people of the valley are still caught between the devil and the deep blue sea -- in this case, the threat of submergence on one hand, and a repressive government machinery on the other. The doughty anti-Narmada crusader, …
CONSUMPTION is a constantly evolving process influenced by a multiplicity of factors, of which the major ones are disposable income, level of awareness and standard of living. Different societies go through specific consumption patterns at different points of time. Mahatma Gandhi's statement that "India lives in her villages" was apt …
QUEST, the science quiz on Doordarshan, has jazzed up its act with buzzers. But it is still conducted by a trio of earnest Bengalis and continues to lean heavily for its content on national science museums, such as the one in Delhi. Those who frequent this interesting museum may often …
