Trillions of tonnes of water have been pumped up from deep underground reservoirs in every part of the world, says report

Humanity's unquenchable thirst for fresh water is driving up sea levels even faster than melting glaciers, according to new research. The massive impact of the global population's growing need for water on rising sea levels is revealed in a comprehensive assessment of all the ways in which people use water.

Britain's drive to create a low-carbon economy is stalling, because the government is too reliant on voluntary action and the Treasury appears to regard the environment as an obstacle to economic growth, a parliamentary group warned on Monday.

Without a clear policy, Britain is unlikely to attract the billions of pounds of investment needed to develop cleaner energy sources and reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels, the Environmental Audit Committee, a cross-party group of Members of Parliament, said.

National environmental programmes have been seeing no progress since the devolution of the Ministry of Environment two years ago.

All environmental conservation plans were approved by the Pakistan Environment Protection Council (PEPC) – the apex organisation at the national level for formulation and implementation of the national environmental policy and programmes – headed by the prime minister.

The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined a dyeing factory and a housing project in Narayanganj and Savar a total of Tk 37 lakh for violating environmental laws.

The dyeing factory Chaiti Composite Ltd in Sonargaon of Narayanganj was fined Tk 22 lakh for polluting the environment and a DoE team fined Ahmed Karim, owner of Nofel Digital City in Savar, Tk 15 for lakh grabbing public land at Senwalia in the upazila, said a press release.

Chandigarh: Aimed at creating awarness about environmental issues, the first-of-its kind Environment Training Institute at Gurgaon has proved to be non-starter due to resource crunch the Haryana Government. Proposed to be set up during the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12), the institute could not be set up “due to lack of funds”, official sources said. A budget of Rs 2 lakh for environment awareness programmes in the 2011-12 budget had been released for the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), Panchkula.

The Delhi High Court has upheld the Central Information Commission (CIC) order to make the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) public by publishing it on Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) website. The court on May 17 dismissed an MoEF petition seeking not to disclose the report, saying it could affect economic and scientific interest of the states concerned — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The report, prepared by a panel chaired by ecology expert Madhav Gadgil, had been submitted to the MoEF in August 2011. Last year, RTI applicant G Krishnan had filed an application with the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the MoEF to obtain a summary of the report,

The summary of the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), under the chairmanship of Prof Madhav Gadgil, and its report on the Athirappilly hydro-electric project in Kerala will finally be made public — not in piecemeal but in entirety. Dismissing an appeal by the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) against a CIC order, Justice Vipin Sanghi of the Delhi High Court has held: “A policy evolved in the largest public interest and public good can certainly not be said to be against the strategic, scientific or economic interest of the State.”

National panel needed to save Ganga: Govt. The Government is working on a mechanism to monitor the discharge of domestic and industrial effluents into the Ganges and punish defaulters and will soon come to the Parliament to share the plan. This information was given to the Lok Sabha on Thursday when, while replying to an emotive debate on the fate of the sacred river, Environment Minister Jayanti Natarajan said India needed a "National Commission to Prevent Atrocities against the Ganges".

Amid growing clamour to protect the Ganga, Union Minister Jayanthi Natarajan on Sunday said the Centre was committed to saving the river and has sanctioned projects worth more than Rs. 2,500 crore for the purpose.

"The Centre is leaving no stone unturned to ensure a clean Ganga. Projects worth Rs. 2,677 crore have already been sanctioned for the purpose. Of these projects, Rs. 1,342 crore has been earmarked for setting up of sewage treatment plants and other related works in Uttar Pradesh," Natarajan said.

With a reputation for consistently delivering innovative and creative ideas that work, BBDO Lanka, a part of BBDO Worldwide, presented an idea that has the potential to revolutionize the scope of environmental conservation. The launch of Asia’s first mechanical air cleaning hoarding – a hoarding that actually filters certain harmful content from the surrounding air, purifies it and releases the purified air back to the environment.

An Arizona wildfire whipped up by winds and dry conditions threatened to trigger more evacuations on Sunday, just as firefighters were nearly done battling the biggest of four blazes in the state.

Fires in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado have forced the evacuation of several small towns and torched more than 65 square miles (168 square km) of forest, brush and grass in the U.S. Southwest.

In a bid to increase green cover, Odisha government has set a target to undertake plantation in over two lakh hectare ahead of the monsoon at an expenditure of Rs 183 crore.

Compared to plantation undertaken over 1,82 lakh hectare with an expenditure of Rs 160 crore during 2011-12, it has been decided to fix the plantation target for 2012-13 at two lakh hectares, official sources said here today.

Further, the target for avenue plantation during the current fiscal was fixed at 1,600 km as against 769 km done during 2011-2012, they said.

The Odisha government has decided to take up plantation in 2 lakh hectares of land in the state in the 2012-13 fiscal with an allocation of Rs 183 crore.
This was decided at a high-level meeting presided over by chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here on Sunday. It may be mentioned that the state government has taken up afforestation programme in 1.82 lakh hectares in 2011-12 fiscal with an allocation of Rs 160 crore. However, it has increased its target to 2 lakh hectares in the current fiscal.

Notice Served For Construction In Nathupur Bund. Gurgaon: The district forest department has issued notice to Ambience Group’s Raj Singh Gehlot asking for “retrieval of forest land” in Nathupur bund—a protected forest area—which has been used for developing Ambience Island Lagun Apartment.

The Centre is set to constitute a Minimum Support Price (MSP) commission to fix ‘assured price’ tribals would receive for collecting minor forest produce. The produce includes tamarind, medicinal plants, bamboo, mahua, sal seeds and tendu leaves. The panel, which would be formed under the tribal affairs ministry, would get lists of products that each state has declared as non-timber forest produce or minor forest produce (MFP).

Farmers of 60 hamlets in the 10 revenue villages in Tiruchengode taluk through which the Cochin to Bangalore gas pipeline is being laid have opposed the works. A ‘Vivasayegal Valvathara Pathugapu Kuzhu' (Farmer's Livelihood Protection Committee) to protect the interest of farmers who will be affected by the project, was also formed.

Its president S. Rajavel said that the pipeline runs through fields in Kokarayanpettai, Thokavadi, Karumakavundampalayam, T.Kavundampalayam, Varagooraanpatti, Paapampalayam, Thevankurichi, Yemapalli, Karuveppampatti and O. Rajapalayam revenue villages and affect more than 300 farmers and about 800 acres of cultivation.

JATAH (East Khasi Hills): The proposed Umngot Hydel Power Project has suffered a major setback with majority of the land owners having unanimously decided to oppose the project.

Land owners hailing from the nine villages who are going to lose their agricultural land on account of the proposed hydel power project have taken a unanimous decision to oppose the project during a public meeting held at Jatah village near Mawkynrew village in East Khasi Hills on Saturday.

The farmers are demanding lifting of ban on registration of land in 164 villages in the area that was imposed in 1987 and announcing forest road leading to Sariska as national highway.

"The government did not fulfill its promises which it had made to the farmers earlier. They made the national highway, a lifeline for all the villages in the area, as forest road. This time we will not make any agreement with the government unless they accept our demands," he added.

The Sri Lankan government is to provide the fertilizer subsidy currently granted to paddy cultivation to supplementary crop cultivations as well.

Wild Life and Agrarian Services Minister S.M. Chandrasena has said the Rs. 350 fertilizer subsidy granted to paddy cultivations would be granted to supplementary crop cultivations from today (21).

The fertilizer subsidy is to be granted to corn, soya, green gram, cowpea, chili peppers and vegetable cultivations.

To make judicious use of irrigation water, the Punjab government has launched a mega project costing Rs 36 billion titled "Punjab Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Improvement" under which drip & sprinkler irrigation system would be installed on 120,000 acres along with improvement of 9000 water courses for which farmers will be provided huge subsidy.

Approximately 3000 Laser Land Levelling Units would also be provided on subsidised rates to farmers for land levelling under the project.

Agriculture output topped the target by 7 million tonnes last year, thanks to good monsoon
After clocking a record food grain production of over 252 million tonne in 2011-12, the government now targets 250 million tonne of production in the crop year of 2012-13.

Biotech industry’s propaganda is false

The only transgenic crop grown in India is Bt cotton developed by injecting a toxin from a soil bacterium called Bacillus Thuringiensis [Bt] into a cotton seed through a highly sophisticated process. When planted the seed produces a highly toxic cotton plant. Its roots, stem, leaves and boll continuously secrete Bt toxin.

Community gains from genetic engineering
Genetic modification / Genetic Engineering (GM/ GE / GMO) is a technology. The entire basis for evolution is constant genetic modification by nature. With conventional breeding techniques, several hundreds of genes move from one plant / animal to another and the beneficial outcomes are selected.

New technology helps insert a single or a set of genes, which is beneficial and can be done in a much shorter time. Drug and crop developers have used this technology to come up with new drugs,

Reacting to the US government approaching the global trade body, WTO, against India imposing a ban on US agricultural products, including poultry meat and chicken eggs, the government clarified that it had already revoked the ban on imports from the US last September when it was declared free of avian influenza, a government official said. “We already removed the ban on poultry and poultry products imports from the US in September last year as it was declared free of avian influenza.

Toro Energy won a recommendation from a state agency on Monday to build what would be Western Australia's first uranium mine.

The West Australian Environmental Protection Authority said the environmental impact of Toro's proposal had been meticulously examined.

Toro, 39 percent owned by OZ Minerals, has been looking to make a final decision on its Wiluna project by the end of 2012, and aiming to make its first uranium sales in 2014, assuming it can line up funding for the project.

Large stretches of salmon-spawning streams and thousands of acres of wetlands would be wiped out if a large-scale mining project were to be built in southwestern Alaska's copper-rich Bristol Bay region, according to a report issued Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The report, while not directly addressing it, is a potential blow to the massive Pebble copper and gold mine operation proposed by an international alliance of mining interests, and opposed by environmentalists and local native groups.

BHUBANESWAR: After opposing establishment of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in its present form, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday demanded modification in certain provisions, proposed in the MMDR (Mines and Mineral- Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011, on the ground that these would infringe on the rights of state governments. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Chief Minister said the proposed Bill makes an attempt to transfer certain powers and functions, now being exercised by states, to the Central Government.

SHILLONG: In a major embarrassment for Rymbai legislator Nehlang Lyngdoh (Congress) the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) have accused him of not adhering to safety norms at a coal mine owned by him located on the Ladrymbai-Rymbai road in Jaintia Hills.

The lack of safety measures in Lyngdoh’s coal mine came to light during a visit by the NCPCR team to the coal mine on Friday. As per the letter written to the Deputy Commissioner of Jaintia Hills, the Deputy Labour Commissioner and Divisional Mining officer who accompanied the team, said, “It was noticed that there are no safety measures, labour welfare amenities etc., which may endanger the lives of labourers working in the said mine.”

JAIPUR: As heat is mounting on the state government about its failure in checking rampant illegal mining, chief minister Ashok Gehlot held a meeting with his cabinet colleagues on Sunday. However, the meeting ended up with a few customary words of "strong action" against officials responsible for the menace.

"Take action against the collector or district police chief where illegal mining is taking place and ensure that safety measures for workers are in place in the recognized mines," the chief minister instructed chief secretary CK Mathew after meeting was over.

Illegal stone quarrying near Almatti can have disastrous consequences, fear greens. Stone quarrying goes on unhindered on the banks of River Krishna, even as locals allege that officials of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) are turning a blind eye to the illegality.

The national river policy stipulates that stone quarrying should not be conducted on the banks of any river. It is feared that the quarrying may cause damage to the nearby bridges on the Parvati Katta road (a road bridge and the railway bridge) and the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. The dawn to dusk stone quarrying in and around the Krishna river basin has invited the wrath of environmentalists.

New Delhi The government is set to consider a proposal for a complete ban on private-public joint ventures (JVs) for developing mineral blocks allocated to state-run corporations and public sector undertakings under a special dispensation. The move would hit the plans of Adani Mining, Moser Baer, Vedanta, Monnet Ispat and the Jaypee Group, among others, in the minerals and metals business.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has voiced his opposition to some provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Bill-2011, stating that the bill if enacted in the current form would be a departure from federal structure of the constitution.

Pointing out that regulation of mines and mineral development is basically a state subject, Patnaik said that the MMDR Bill attempts to transfer certain powers and functions being exercised by states to the Centre.

State-owned trading giant MMTC has inked pacts with Japanese and South Korean steel companies including Posco, to supply 2.8 million tonnes of iron ore annually for a period of three years.

"We have signed iron ore supply contracts with five Japanese firms and one South Korean company for a period of three years. The exports are expected to start from July this year,"

PARADIP: Jagatsinghpur district has been witnessing a steep decline in groundwater level. The quality of water also deteriorated. Sources said groundwater level in the district has gone down to a great extent following unrestricted drawing of water by industries in the area. In the last few years hundreds of industries - big and small - have mushroomed in this coastal district. As there is no restriction, industries have been exploiting the situation to the hilt, resulting in the depletion of water table. As a result, water scarcity in the district has become acute.

Govt marks another survey as consultants doubt feasibility of project. Jammu will not be supplied drinking water from the Chenab till 2025, as the government has decided to conduct another survey of the project, after consultants expressed doubts about its success. Sources said fears have been raised over the feasibility of the project after a study was conducted in 2009-10 in a bid to end the water crisis in Jammu and its surrounding districts. The project aimed at lifting 100 cusecs of water from the river to meet the future needs of the city.

Chennai: After raising the Cauvery water dispute with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has shot off another letter to him, this time over the proposal of the Karnataka government to build check dams and diversionary structures across the Pennaiyar river. The river flows through five districts of Tamil Nadu and irrigates nearly 4 lakh acres.

A day after demanding a meeting of the Cauvery River Water Authority, Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Sunday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ask Karnataka to stop “forthwith the execution of any check dams or diversion structures across the Pennaiyar river”.

“I understand the government of Karnataka has proposed to construct check dams and diversion structures across the Pennaiyar river, which is causing great alarm and apprehension in Tamil Nadu

The Philippine fisheries chief on Sunday said he had ordered a study into a foreign species called the ‘knife fish’ that was posing a threat to the local fishing industry at the country’s largest lake.
The knife-shaped fish are reported to be multiplying in Laguna Lake where they are displacing the native species, said Asis Perez, head of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
‘It is carnivorous. It will compete with our existing natural fish. We have yet to get a full appreciation of the damage caused by this fish,’ he told AFP.

SIVASAGAR: At a time when indiscriminate fishing has caused rapid depletion of the local varieties in the region, a section of unscrupulous traders are thriving in Sivasagar sub-division and other parts of Sivasagar district.

Fish production in the district has depleted to such an extent that the people have not been able to meet the minimum requirement, not to speak of export. The district has to procure huge quantities of fish from outside to meet the local demand. The reason behind the large-scale depletion is not hard to fathom.

The fisheries sector in Jharkhand has been witnessing a phenomenal growth after Jharkhand became a separate state bifurcating Bihar in 2000. When in 2001-02, the production of fish in the state had been only 14,000 metric tones. In 2010-11, eighty government fish firms produced 71,886 metric tones.

The fish seed production was increased from 32 crore to 67 crore, along with construction of 116 new fish seed hatcheries in private and government sector. The department of fisheries aims to produce fish of 1,40,000 tones during 12th plan.

Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere.

The methane has been trapped by ice, but is able to escape as the ice melts.

Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this ancient gas could have a significant impact on climate change.

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after CO2 and levels are rising after a few years of stability.

The health ministry has taken up an initiative to provide training to a group of youths to build them up as future leaders of the health sector of Bangladesh in the context of climate change.

The Climate Change and Health Promotion Unit under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has selected, through an application process, around 100 dedicated youths, all university students, referred to as the 'Youth Think Tank'.

BANGLADESH has been identified as one of the countries to be worst affected by climate change for global atmospheric pollution caused by the rich and developed countries. From this recognition has also come promises from these countries that they would lend substantial resources to Bangladesh as compensation. The challenge for Bangladesh would be to liaison with the donor countries and organisations to obtain these resources free of cost and use the same in time to optimise benefits.

Massive extraction of groundwater can resolve a puzzle over a rise in sea levels in past decades, scientists in Japan said on Sunday.

Global sea levels rose by an average of 1.8 millimetres per year from 1961-2003, according to data from tide gauges.

But the big question is how much of this can be pinned to global warming.

New Delhi: With the small island countries and the least developed states veering towards the European line on climate change, the larger developing economies came together with African countries binding around the BASIC four — India, China, South Africa and Brazil — to demand that principles of equity and ‘common but differentiated responsibility’ be operationalized in the post-2020 climate regime.

Floods triggered by heavy rains left two people missing and damaged homes in Northwest China's Gansu province Sunday, local authorities said.

From 10 pm Sunday to 1:30 am Monday, floods battered several counties and districts in the provincial capital of Lanzhou, leaving two people missing in Gucheng village and destroying a single home in Shengou village, according to the provincial government's general office.

A small earthquake with a magnitude of 2.3 on the Richter scale hit the western province of Kanchanaburi on Monday, the Meteorological Department's Seismological Bureau reported.

The earthquake struck at 11.51am in Sai Yok district.

There were no reports of damage or casualties.

Japan was hit by two shallow earthquakes in the space of just eight minutes on Sunday, one of them measuring a strong 6.2-magnitude, but there were no reports of damage and no tsunami alert.

The 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 4:20pm (0720 GMT) off Japan’s northeast Pacific coast, the national meteorological agency said, followed by a tremor with a reading of 5.7 at 4:28pm.

The US Geological Survey estimated the magnitude of the first quake at 6.0. The depth of both quakes was about 10 kms, the agency said.

A strong earthquake in northern Italy killed at least six people, injured dozens and damaged historic buildings including a famed mediaeval castle early on Sunday, waking terrified citizens and sending thousands running into the streets.

The quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey recorded at magnitude 6.0, struck at 4:04 a.m. (0204 GMT) and was followed by a series of jolting aftershocks. At least two of them reached magnitude 5.1, sowing fresh panic, further damaging already weakened buildings and causing more structures to collapse.

Guatemala's Fuego volcano belched burning lava and black ash into the sky early Saturday, leading the government to issue an airplane advisory and close sections of highway.

The volcano, about 25 miles southwest of the capital, erupted about 2:45 a.m. (0745 GMT), spewing a column of ash up to 16,400 feet above the crater and launching burning red lava nearly 1,300 feet high.

Flood waters ravaged a provincial capital in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 19 people and destroying hundreds of homes, officials said Sunday.

About 60 other people were missing and rescuers were looking for them across Sar-e-Pul, the capital of a province with the same name, said Sayed Faizullah Sadat, the national disaster director in the area.

Northern Afghanistan gets hit nearly every spring by flash flooding from heavy rains and snow melting off the mountains.

An earth tremor was experienced by people in Badulla and Nuwara Eliya districts during early hours yesterday.

Geologist H.D.N. Sanjeewa of the Geological Surveys and Mines Bureau (GMSB) said the tremor had been felt by people in Bandarawela, Badulla, Kandy, Minipe, Wattegama, Maturata, Padiyapelalla, Rikillagaskada, Hanguranketha and Welimada areas around 1.45 am yesterday, but there had been no damage.

State had sought . 2,281 crore for relief measures in 15 drought-hit districts. The union government has approved an assistance of Rs 575 crore to Maharashtra towards drought relief work. “The decision was taken on Friday by a high-level committee comprising finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia,” said an official who was part of the meeting.

Panicked people rushed into the streets when a powerful earthquake shook northern Italy early on Sunday, killing three people and injuring at least 50, emergency services said.

The 5.9-magnitude quake struck around 02:00 GMT and was felt throughout the northeast of the peninsula, from the Emilia-Romagna region to Venice, with its epicentre at Finale Emilia, 36 kilometres (22 miles) north of Bologna.

It took place at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles) and lasted around 20 seconds, followed by several aftershocks.

A coordinated plan of five ministries to accelerate the reduction of maternal and child under-nutrition in the country is taking pace, officials said.

National Planning Commission has recently prepared a six-year plan to improve the nutrition of babies up to two years of age through the coordinated efforts of the ministries of health, education, agriculture, local development and physical planning and works.

Assam is likely to be the first state in the country to expand the central anti-tobacco campaign to all its districts, with Jorhat as the role model. Satisfied with the performance of the National Tobacco Control Programme in Jorhat, the Centre has asked the state government to start the drive in other districts, propping the Jorhat district cell as a role model.

A picture, it is said, is worth a thousand words. What better way then to raise awareness about malnutrition than asking children to express their thoughts on the topic by wielding the brush or crayons. Students of schools from across the city were invited to send drawings and paintings on malnutrition as part of the Horlicks Aahar Abhiyan project launched by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, in association with NGO Child In Need Institute (CINI), The Telegraph and Anandabazar Patrika to provide adequate and better nutrition to children aged three to six.

CHENNAI : As if the spurt of Dengue induced deaths in Tirunelveli region isn’t alarming by itself, the sheer number of cases recorded in 2012 is a shocker.

According to the health department, in just five months this year, there have been 1,632 cases of dengue recorded officially in Tamil Nadu. With over 21 people having already succumbed this year, this is much more than the eight deaths last year.

Escalating costs of commonly used drugs across the country has consumers complaining about health care slowly but surely becoming unaffordable. With costs of drugs used by heart patients, diabetics and those used by persons with high blood pressure and cholesterol levels registering a upward trend, drug market watchers state that the Government will need to intervene fast to remedy the situation.

Millions of Indians are facing a new health risk. Increasing water scarcity is forcing farmers to grow vegetables and fodder using untreated sewage waste water across urban and rural cities.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FAAI) has in the past issued several warnings on pesticide residues and crop contaminants, including aflatoxins, patulin and ochratoxin in Indian fruit and vegetables. These pesticides are known to adversely effect the nervous system and can result in lung damage and cancer

New Delhi: Drawing flak for project delays, the government has decided to set up a dedicated forum to clear bottlenecks such as coal linkages and environmental and defence clearances that are major holdups. Top government officials told TOI that after the meeting of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry last month, the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) has been asked to identify projects and remove bottlenecks in consultation with other departments and ministries.

With domestic growth and business cycles becoming more and more globally-aligned, policy cooperation among members is bound to enrich global outcomes. Macroeconomic policy cooperation within the group of 20, or G20, has evolved through at least five distinct stages since the first summit in Washington DC held over three years ago.

The Transport Ministry in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has commenced a technical cooperation project to conduct a comprehensive study and formulate an urban transport master plan for the Colombo metropolitan region.

Has Wi-Fi, AC Classrooms & Insurance For All
Ahmedabad: Think of an Indian village and what comes to mind are images of mooing cows, open drains and kids playing ants and frog games.

But, Punsari, a motley village in Gujarat’s Himmatnagar, talks about Wi-Fi and optical fiber broadband network, its children spend best of their times in air-conditioned classrooms with CCTV cameras. The village also boasts of its own mini-bus transport system and there are 25-odd CCTVs located on important junctions to spot litterbugs.

Inter State Truck Terminus also in pipeline

SHILLONG: In a move which could slightly ease the traffic congestion in the city, the Planning Commission “in principle” has approved the much awaited Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT). Informing this here recently, Transport Minister AT Mondal said that following the approval, the State Government has started the process of land acquisition to make the project a reality.

The School of Management Studies, CUSAT, has submitted the interim report on parking at Metro stations to Kochi Metro Rail Ltd.

The report suggests that the need of parking facility is more in the suburban areas and it decreases towards the inner parts of the city. The final report on the same will be submitted in 3 to 4 weeks' time.

New Delhi: At least 87 NH projects are running behind schedule, and in some cases the delay is more than seven years. Unhappy with the tardy progress of highway construction, the highways ministry has started a state-wise review of progress — starting with Uttar Pradesh — to expedite the unfinished task that has led to huge time overrun and cost escalation.

Greater Noida: After missing several deadlines, the Yamuna Expressway is finally set to open around June 15. The state government has asked Jaypee Group to complete work on the e-way by May 31 after which UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will inaugurate it. Recently, a meeting was held between the Jaypee group top brass and the UP government in which pending work was discussed and a deadline set to give final touches to the expressway by May 31.

The plan to convert vast swathes of no development zone (NDZ) in the coastal regions of Gorai, Manori and Uttan into a Tourism Development Zone has come in for severe criticism from activists, who have suggested that the belt be opened up for creation of affordable housing instead.

The Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) has written to the Chief Minister, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) commissioner and the principal secretary of the state urban development department about the ‘flawed’ policy that is currently under consideration.

Dharavi's officer on special duty (OSD) and the committee of experts (CoE) added one more year to the already delayed Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) by coming up with alternative plans in mid-2009. Gautam Chatterjee, OSD, and the CoE, with three of its 10 members from the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centre (SPARC), rejected the existing 5-sector model that had been approved by at least 12 government departments and even the Planning Commission of India.

The Delhi government will convert the shelter homes, constructed last year to provide roof to the homeless in winter, into all-weather accommodation.
In the first phase, 30 homes out of 150 will be upgraded by next month so that the homeless can stay there throughout the year. Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) is implementing the project.

The Korean government is establishing water supply systems in the villages of Phalia, Mandi Bahauddin with a grant of US$4 million.

Around 80,000 population of that area will be beneficiary of the project. Underground water of the region has been contaminated by the effluent of sugar mills in Phalia to cause health issues to the local population and huge damage to the environment conditions.

The water supply to tens of thousands of households in two prefectures near Tokyo was cut off Saturday after local checks found it was contaminated with a cancer-causing chemical.

The city of Noda, Chiba Prefecture, some 30 kilometers from central Tokyo, said it had stopped supplies to a major part of the city. Most of the neighboring city of Kashiwa also has no tap water supply.

Water supplies have been cut to a total of 210,000 households in Chiba, where the two cities are located, according to Jiji Press news agency.

Dhaka Wasa is considering a plan to recharge the underground aquifers with rain water in eight areas across the capital this year to top up the rapidly depleting groundwater table.

As the city's water table is falling by 2.5 to 3.5 metres per year due to excessive extraction of groundwater by deep tube wells, the government agency is also mulling over making water recharging facilities mandatory in the proposed national building code, said Wasa sources.

Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan has said that the State government will soon adopt the benefits of technological advancements including Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance cameras in order to ensure the effective implementation of waste management.

He was launching the Janamaithri Waste-free Town programme at a function held here on Saturday. The awareness programme is being jointly implemented by Kottayam Janamaithri Police and the Student Police.

JOWAI: Unscientific limestone mining in War-Jaintia, Amlarem Sub-Division in Jaintia Hills has become a cause of concern for residents of Nongtalang village and its surrounding villages who are facing an impending water scarcity in the area.

A huge quantity of limestone is exported to Bangladesh via Tamabil on a daily basis which has encouraged individuals in the area to start limestone mining. The Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council has so far issued 21 numbers of NOCs (No Objection Certificates) for extraction of limestone, 25 NOCs to exporters and another 12 to transporters.

JAIPUR: A major disaster was averted at the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) depot in Sitapura on Sunday when thousands of litres of oil spilled on to the premises after a "gasket failure". However, swift action by company officials averted a major tragedy.

The nearby factories also witnessed a shower of oil, which created panic among the labourers. They moved out of their units immediately fearing that this could lead to a major inferno like the last one. An FIR has been registered against IOC officials by some owners of nearby factories for putting their life in danger.

The representatives of five Bhopal gas survivor organisations on Sunday urged the Group of Ministers on Bhopal to take a long term view in dealing with the issue of hazardous waste and toxic contamination linked with the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster.

The demand raised by the Bhopal gas survivors acquires significance as the GoM will be meeting on Monday to discuss the issue of disposal of 350MT of toxic waste as directed by the Supreme Court. The Apex Court has listed the matter on May 28 and will be awaiting the decision of GoM on solution for disposal of 350 MT of Union Carbide waste.

Pakistan will finally ink the gas deal with Turkmenistan in Ashgabad on May 23-24 under which it would start importing in 2016 the gas of 1.365 bcf per day under $ 7.6 billion TAPI gas line project at a cost of 70 per cent parity of crude oil at Multan and 50 percent of crude oil at Afghan border, a senior official told Pakistan Observer.

“A delegation headed by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Husain on Sunday left for Turkmenistan to sign Gas Sales Purchase Agreement. India which is also part of the project will also sign its GSAP with Turkmestan.”

Bangladesh has struck its first oil, in two gas fields in the northeastern Sylhet region, the chairman of the state-run Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) said on Sunday.

"This is first time that we have found economically viable oil resources, estimated at about 153 million barrels, in the two gas fields, 280 km (175 miles) from the capital," Mohammad Hussain Monsur told reporters, adding that production could begin within a year.

Uzbekistan has signed a deal with a consortium of foreign banks to obtain loans worth a total of $2.54 billion to build a gas and chemicals complex on its Surgil field, state oil and gas company Uzbekneftegaz said.

Uzbekneftegaz said in a statement the signing ceremony had taken place in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on Saturday.

The United States imposed punitive tariffs on solar panel imports from China, the latest in a series of trade disputes between the world's two biggest economies and sparking accusations by Beijing of protectionism.

The new tariffs of around 30 percent, much bigger than had been expected, were set on Thursday by the U.S. Commerce Department after it ruled in favor of local firms which said Chinese exporters were dumping cut-price panels on their market.

After a decade of promise, advanced biofuels makers are entering a crucial make-or-break period with the first of a new generation of production facilities about to come on line.

The new facilities are designed to take biofuels beyond corn-based ethanol and begin to shift the industry to "advanced" fuels made with a lower carbon footprint derived from products that will not compete with demand for food.

In major development, the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide huge funding amounting to $ 1.14 billion for converting the costly diesel run public sector power plants into coal based power houses owing to which their electricity generation cost would tumble by over 50 percent from Rs 18-20 per unit to Rs 8-9 per unit.

New Delhi: Chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday unveiled the first Renewal Energy Assisted Pump (REAP) system at a function in Mayur Vihar. Developed by discom BSES Yamuna in collaboration with IIT Delhi, the REAP system is an easy-to-install submersible pump connected to a water tank, with a specially designed motor powered by a solar panel.

Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Centre has begun work to set up a community-based cancer registry and carry out health surveys to document the precise occurrence of cancer, birth defects and other illnesses around India’s atomic power plants. The move to study the incidence of the disease comes in the wake of increased apprehension among residents of areas close to nuclear power installations. It is expected to lead to the creation of a large database that will allow continuous monitoring, and help detect any patterns in the occurrence of cancer and other illnesses around the nuclear plants.

The finance ministry will release Rs 38,500 crore from the budget for cash-strapped state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs). Also, the Department of Expenditure has directed state-run upstream firms ONGC, Oil India and GAIL India to shell out an additional Rs 1,640 crore — over the Rs 53,360 crore indicated earlier — as their share of the subsidy burden.

CIL’s FSAs may not be diluted despite reservations of power producers, including NTPC, to sign them
NTPC's reservation in signing the Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) with Coal India (CIL) will not impact the country's largest power producer as CIL will not restrict supply of fuel in the current financial year 2012-13 even if the agreements are not signed.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) expects to expand the Vizag Refinery plant to 15 million tonnes by 2015-16, a top official of the state-run oil firm said. According to HPCL director (refineries) K Murali, Engineers India (EIL) has been appointed as consultants for the project and they are expected to submit a report on that. “They (Engineers India) are expected to complete the feasibility report in few months’ time. Then we will have to take it to the board for approvals.

Dismissing the perception of policy paralysis surrounding the Union government, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia feels the government should raise petroleum prices as part of tough decisions and to attract international investment.

The Indian government is driving the country on the road to fiscal perdition. It missed its target of fiscal deficit by a mile in the last budget. It has transparently under-provided for fuel subsidies in the budget for 2012-13, suggesting that it plans to reduce those subsidies with active measures. However, in its desire to cling to power, its pusillanimity in political confrontation with its allies, and its fear that the opposition will oppose what it would itself do if it were in power, it is frozen into inaction in increasing diesel prices.

New Delhi: Even as the central government is pushing states for mandatory implementation of open access (OA) for bulk power consumers, an analysis by a regulators’ body has revealed that contrary to expectations, the consumers in 12 states have had to pay more for power under the new regime.

OA at various levels is the hallmark of electricity reforms and the regime has been effective in 20 states since January 2009 on an optional basis. Under the OA regime, bulk consumers enter into bilateral deals with discoms and stay outside the ambit of the regulated tariff system.

New Delhi Power companies may soon be allowed to produce bank guarantee for duty-free import of equipment based on the provisional mega power certificate issued by the finance ministry.

Currently, developers furnish a fixed deposit receipt (FDR) of an amount equivalent to the duty on equipment import for getting tax relief. However, companies feel the current practice locks in a large sum of money that could, otherwise, be used for projects, especially at time when it is difficult to mobilise cheaper credit.

EGoM fixed the price for 5 years and it needs to decide on RIL’s revision demand, says Vahanvati

The government’s top law officer has said deciding on revising the price of gas from the D6 field of the Krishna-Godavari (KG-D6) basin before April 2014 is a matter of policy, not law. In his advice to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who chairs the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on the subject, Attorney General G E Vahanvati has said one cannot ignore the fact that the price has been fixed and the fixation is effective up to April 2014.

NTPC’s reservation in signing the fuel supply agreement (FSA) with Coal India Ltd (CIL) will not impact the country’s largest power producer, as CIL will not restrict supply of fuel in the current financial year, even if the agreements are not signed.

“NTPC will continue to get coal whether FSA is signed or not, as the government has asked us to extend the same for the current year, even though memorandum of understandings expired in March,” CIL Chairman and Managing Director S Narsing Rao said.

On the 20th anniversary of the saola's discovery, conservationists say the population of the reclusive species has dropped dramatically

Wild saola caught on a camera-trapped in Bolikhamxay Province, central Laos
An 'Asian unicorn' or saola caught on a camera-trapped in Bolikhamxay Province, central Laos in 1999. Photograph: William Robichaud/WWF International

Poaching in Vietnam and Laos may be driving the "Asian unicorn" to extinction, warns the WWF on the twentieth anniversary of its discovery.

In a move to address the lack of strategic roads abutting the India-China frontier, India will bring in a legal provision to do away with self-created hurdles which are holding back progress on the much-needed roads used for movement of troops and equipment. Even as India struggles to construct roads along the India-China frontier, such desolate places in eastern Ladakh have been designated as wildlife reserves.

Jorhat, May 20: A forest guard, Ananta Dev Sarma, in-charge of the Pichhla anti-poaching camp in Orang National park, was suspended today for alleged dereliction of duty after an adult female rhino was killed by poachers last night and its horn and tail taken away.

With rich forest and wildlife the Northeast is known as ‘Green Lungs of India’.

The region is one of the seven original biodiversity hotspots in the world, but most of its animals and birds are increasingly ending on food tables not only of the tribals who traditionally take such food but also of others including the large number of forces posted there.There are startling revelations that armed forces also indulge in hunting for food and sports in the border region.

Reliance Infrastructure has given an assurance to the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) that low hanging power lines that had resulted in the electrocution of 99 elephants in Orissa will be improved upon. A meeting to this effect was held last week in New Delhi and was attended by officials from the discom, MoEF, Orissa state government, the Wildlife Society of Orissa and the Wildlife Protection Society of India.