Kolkata For each wagon of coal that Sajjan Jindal sends to his steel plant in the Bellary belt of Karnataka, it takes four layers of committees at the central government to clear the consignment. But he can consider himself lucky. Had he bought the coal from the market, as hundreds …
Bangalore, The Legislative Council, on Thursday, introduced battery-operated vehicles to ferry its members from the Legislators’ Home and back during legislature sessions. Going green: Legislative Council members travel in the battery-operated ferry service which was launched in Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday. The move is aimed at preventing air pollution in …
Do Indian paint companies continue to produce and market their toxics leaded paints to the neighboring countries, even as they phase it out in India? This latest report by Toxics Link shows exactly this. Its a collaborative effort by Toxics Link, India, CEPHED, Nepal and ESDO, Bangladesh.
Centre approves field trials of 14 GM crops. But some states refuse trials, saying safety regulations are too lax. With politicians joining activists, the issue is likely to take a politically volatile turn. This special report in DTE uncovers the mess in GM crops. As India gets ready to unleash …
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here on Wednesday her government's decision to increase the number of those to whom rice is being made available at Rs. 2 a kg.
Oxfam, an international confederation of 15 human rights organisations fighting poverty and injustice, launched a new campaign here on Wednesday for a hunger-free world even as it announced that the number of hungry people the world over has crossed the billion mark and one in four of the world's hungry …
India’s approach to climate change has shifted dramatically in the span of a few years. Not only has India developed a comprehensive climate change program domestically, it has adopted a new stance in the international negotiations that has earned it the reputation of being a ‘deal maker’. This dramatic, and …
Two important and related Bills are under consideration of the Government of India. These are the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill,2009 and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2009. The first proposes amendments to the Land Acquisition Act 1894, and the latter a statutory framework for Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) of persons displaced …
The WHO has launched a report on health co-benefits of climate change mitigation in the housing sector, the first of a new series of reports on health in the green economy. The series undertakes a systematic analysis of climate change mitigation and green growth strategies in five economic sectors: housing, …
This draft of the National Climate Change Policy for Sri Lanka contains a a vision, mission, goal and a set of guiding principles followed by broad policy statements under Vulnerability, Adaptation, Mitigation, Sustainable Consumption and Production and Knowledge Management. The most demanding challenge for the developing countries today is to …
Report of the site visit by Dr B P Das and Ms Sanchita Jindal as part of the team constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests for issues related to Srinagar 330 MW hydropower project of Alaknanda Hydro Power Company Limited.
Southeast Asia, with its linkages into the larger Asian market that includes China, Indonesia, and India, is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots as well as one of the world’s hotspots for the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife parts. Although demand markets for wildlife, including illegally-traded wildlife are present …
Following the historic forest rights victory on April 27, mood in Mendha Lekha is upbeat. Gram sabha of this village in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district started felling about 90,000 bamboos a day after winning the right to harvest and sell the minor forest produce (MFP). With transit passes in hand, the …
There was a time when people living along the Noyyal river in Tamil Nadu would freshen up by swimming in the river. Now goatherds chase their flock away if they go near the river. The reason is the river water has turned toxic. The dyes and salts from the industrial …
In the early 1990s, hospitals in Sri Lanka’s North Central Province, the main agricultural region of the country, started reporting an unusually high incidence of chronic renal failure. About 5,000 persons reported ill in 1993. By 2009, the disease assumed epidemic proportions. That year over 9,000 patients from North Central …
McDonald saheb, Qureshi saheb, Jivan Singh, Aadal Singh, Udham Singh …. Eighty-yearold Lakshmi Nishad rattles off all the names she remembers of the forest officers who have served in the Gorakhpur range. The display of memory is a desperate attempt to prove that she has lived all her life in …
“This magazine is not a product of a desire to capture share of the information market. It is a product of a need and desire to fill a critical information gap.” Anil Agarwal, founding editor of Down To Earth, wrote this in his introduction to the launch of the fortnightly …
TILL swine flu panic gripped the world, washing hands was considered the best way to maintain personal hygiene and protect oneself from diseases. But as fear of the disease spread, so did hand sanitisers. They became a prefered choice because of their mobility and convenience. All you need to do …
IT WAS in 2001 that scientists in the US first identified the capability of brake fern, or Pteris vittata, to absorb large quantities of arsenic present in the soil or water. Since then biologists across the world have been trying to explore more about the role plant plays in absorbing …
ELEMENTS like nitrogen and phosphorous are required in small quantities by both plants and animals. With increasing agriculture the levels of these fertilisers being released into water bodies has increased. This has led to pollution and depletion of oxygen in water bodies due to excessive growth of some plants. This …
