Counter affidavit on behalf of Chief Municipal Engineer, Patna Nagar Nigam in the matter of Saurav Narayan Vs Bihar Pollution Control Board & Others dated May 20, 2025. The report said that the corporation has been diligently performing its statutory duties within the limitations of the available resources and infrastructure. …
A gaily coloured dress might be a visual treat, but the dyes used in them might hide a dark secret. Studies at the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology in the US have revealed that treating azo dyes -- noxious effluents released by textile mills -- with hydroxyl ions …
Connoisseurs who have savoured the renowned French wine, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, for the past 40 years may be surprised to learn that its vintages from the 1950s contained high levels of lead (Nature, Vol 370, No 6484). Belgian and French researchers analysed 19 vintages of the wine and found they contained toxic …
HOSPITAL bathrooms need no longer be breeding grounds for harmful bacteria. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed bathroom tiles and sanitary ware that can convert water into hydrogen peroxide, which has anti-bacterial properties. The researchers coated the tiles and sanitary ware with a thin film of titanium oxide, …
Sulabh International, which has designed and installed over 2,000 public lavatories in slums and resettlement colonies, has just developed a lavatory design that recycles compost to generate biogas for cooking fuel. "We plan to set up 61 such complexes throughout the country," says N D Mazumdar, director (technical research) of …
DELEGATES to the recent international ministerial conference on drinking water and environmental sanitation, held in Noordwijk, Netherlands, on March 22-23, adroitly sidestepped any commitment to deadlines, funding or even a well thought out action plan. Most of the target dates, set in brackets in earlier drafts, did not even come …
ANYBODY reading the national media would have thought that environmental issues had precious little to do with the current round of elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. But the stories that our reporters have brought back show that nothing could be farther …
Metropolitan municipalities can now heave a collective sigh of relief. The Centrally-sponsored scheme for infrastructural development of megacities has brought them a welcome respite, burdened as they were by huge fiscal deficits. Infrastructural development in Calcutta, Bangalore, Bombay, Madras and Hyderabad is to take place through innovative institutional and financial …
IN A LANDMARK judgement in 1980, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam municipality to clean a locality, holding that budgetary constraints didn't justify a municipality neglecting its statutory obligation to provide sanitation facilities. It also made it mandatory for a magistrate to remove a public nuisance wherever one …
SHAKESPEARE was wrong when he described Julius Caesar as "constant as the northern star", because the brightness of the North Star is variable, changing by a few per cent every four days. But the Bard will be right next year when the star's brightness will become constant, predict astronomers (New …
LIFE IMITATES art more than art imitates life, said Oscar Wilde. His statement was borne out recently when US scientists re-enacted in their laboratory the plot of Steven Spielberg's latest film, Jurassic Park, which shows dinosaurs being re-created from their DNA, procured from the blood sucked by mosquitoes and preserved …
Western scientists set the trends RAGHAVENDRA GADAGKAR TO BEGIN with, we must realise there is a lot that is right with it. Even without considering those Indian scientists working outside the country, a significant number of Indian scientists have individually excelled in their fields of research and are easily comparable …
Two British consultants have developed an underwater pump that can irrigate riverside fields without using fuel or causing pollution. The prize-winning turbine is easy to construct and can work continuously (Ceres 141, Vol 26, No 3). Originally designed to harness the energy of the Nile to irrigate the desert areas …
ISRAELI potato growers have dug in for a fight to the finish against McDonald's of Big Mac hamburger fame, which is due to open its first outlet in Israel outside Tel Aviv in autumn. McDonald's says it wants to import frozen fries because irrigation has made the wholesale prices of …
LIKE OTHER countries, India's strategy at global environmental negotiations is to protect its national interests while safeguarding environmental space for future development needs. Climate Change: India played a leading role within the Group of 77 countries in pushing the issue of equity and stressed that the countries that are responsible …
THE COMMISSION on Sustainable Development (CSD), established as a UN organisation at the Earth Summit in 1992, seems bogged down by talk bereft of action. The commission, consisting of 53 countries elected on a three-year rotation basis, was set up as a global forum to coordinate action to implement an …
IT WAS former UK environment minister Michael Howard who proposed to his Indian counterpart, Kamal Nath, that their countries should form an alliance to push post-Rio environmental issues. Britain was especially interested in reactivating discussions to secure a global convention on forests. Final agreement on the convention, incorporating India's positions …
As a follow-up to the Rio summit, the Canadian environment minister set in motion events that have led to a new environmental grouping. The discussions were held for two days and had no formal agenda or speeches, but it set in motion events that have led to a new grouping …
WITH THE end of the cold war, the Group of 77 (G-77) is increasing both in size and clout. Once a loosely-knit association, G-77 now consists of 129 developing countries and its influence, especially in the field of environment, is on the rise. Frequent references to G-77 resolutions in the …
What are India's strong points at environment negotiations? Our main strength is credibility -- our record of conservation of natural resources. We have $600 billion worth of forests and forest products, but we do not use them to raise revenue. Indian negotiators at environmental talks still speak of transfer of …
We are united by a common premise: that human activities are needlessly causing grave and perhaps irreparable damage to the global environment. The dangers are clear to all of us. -- Al Gore, vice president of the United States, speaking at the Commission on Sustainable Development, June 14, 1993. "What …
