CEPT Profs For Upgradation Without Uprooting People

Ahmedabad: As the proportion of world population living in urban areas has surpassed rural population, cities are facing major challenges in maintaining and restoring the environmental ecology that includes its water bodies. A paper titled ‘Sustainable development of urban water bodies using ESPA approach: A case from Ahmedabad, India’ by professor Neeru Bansal and professor Madhu Bharti of CEPT University’s Faculty of Planning and Public Policy was published in the International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences in November 2012. The paper elucidates collaborative learning and how to do sustainable development of urban water bodies involving local residents.

Aluminium giant NALCO is setting up its second Wind Power Plant in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan with a capacity of 47.6 MW.

The Rs 283 crore Wind Power Project will be executed at Ludarva in Jaisalmer district through M/s Gamesa Wind Turbines Private Ltd, which involves erection of 56 Wind Turbines, each of 850 KW rating, NALCO sources said on Thursday. This is the second green initiative of NALCO towards promoting sustainable development by harnessing unconventional and renewable energy sources, which would credit the 'Navaratna' PSU with incentives from the government.

CHENANI: The Environment Committee of Legislative Assembly visited Chenani to inspect the measures taken by the executing agency at the construction site of the upcoming tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

Led by the Committee Chairman, Mohammad Yousf Tarigami, the committee members went around the construction site and took stock of the construction activities and environment protection measures taken by the construction agency.

Infosys has won the CII-ITC Sustainability ‘Significant Achievement’ award for large business organisations with turnover of above Rs.500 crore.

Environment, in the Indian context, is closely linked to economic and sustainable development, a fact borne out by the winners in the environment category of the Times of India Social Impact Awards 2012.

A company that lights up poor homes with solar energy, an agricultural university that helps farmers improve yields with new technologies, and two non-governmental organizations working with people to revive shared resources were the jury’s picks for the year.

JAMMU: Chief Secretary Madhav Lal today underscored the need for further groundwork on the State Action Plan on Climate Change with clearly outlined areas of focus leading to optimum utilization of the highly valued natural resources of the State in a sustainable manner to meet present and future needs of energy, food and livelihood without negatively affecting its fragile ecology.

Chairing the first Jammu and Kashmir Executive Council meeting to discuss the State Action Plan on Climate Change, Chief Secretary re-iterated Government policy of sustainable development noting that harnessing sources of clean energy whether hydro power or solar power has been on Government focus to meet energy needs along with thrust on improving energy efficiency and minimizing energy wastage.

To align with global prices and curb energy subsidies

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday reiterated his position of “phased rationalisation of energy prices to bring them in line with global prices” for “meeting the target of rapid, inclusive and sustainable development” and curbing energy subsidies. Speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of integrated refinery expansion project of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) here, Dr. Singh recalled his speech at the National Development Council meeting in New Delhi in which he hinted about the pricing of energy.

The world must go back to harnessing the powers of the sun as it was done at the beginning of human civilisation to deal with global environmental changes, Taiwanese Nobel laureate Yuan Tseh Lee said on Sunday.

“We must return to sunshine to develop a more harmonious role with nature,” he said. “Once in history we were the children of the sun and were dependent on it for our needs, but we shifted to fossil fuels. We must dissociate ourselves from them and turn back to the sun to deal with global environmental change,” Lee said at the centenary session of the Indian Science Congress here.

Each of our schemes must incorporate ecological objectives, says Jairam; report, co-authored with UNDP, looks at what needs to be done

To make important rural development programmes more environment-friendly, the ministry of rural development, along with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on Friday released a report defining ‘green’ outcomes for major government schemes and outlined strategies for inclusive and sustainable development. Titled ‘Greening rural development in India’, it looks at improving the quality of ecosystems, enabling sustainable livelihoods, strengthening the resilience of local communities to enable them to recover from extreme weather events and reducing ecological footprint through efficient use of energy, material and natural resources.

India’s Science, Technology & Innovation Policy 2013 will be released at the five-day centenary session of the Indian Science Congress that begins here this Thursday. It focuses on faster sustainable and inclusive development.

The policy document was approved by the Union Cabinet on December 26, said Union Minister of Science & Technology S. Jaipal Reddy here on Wednesday.