A decade after Pokhran and Chagai
There is unfortunately little questioning of the need for nuclear weapons in India and Pakistan. (Editorial)
News
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China on alert against radiation leaks
China is on precautionary alert against possible radiation leaks from the deadliest earthquake to hit the country in three decades, according to a government website. The disaster area is home to China's chief nuclear weapons research lab in Mianyang, as well as several secretive atomic sites, but no nuclear power stations. Minister of environmental protection Zhou Shengxian convened an emergency meeting late on Monday, hours after the 7.9 magnitude tremor rocked the southwestern province of
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SC stays puncturing of Bhakra canal
The Supreme Court today did not allow a plea of Haryana to "lift' water from the Bhakra main line (BML)canal and pump it into the Hansi-Butana. The stay on puncturing the BML to connect the Hansi-Butana canal will continue and the matter will be now heard on July 18. Notably Haryana had submitted a proposal in the apex court to lift 500 cusecs of water through pumping and send it down the Hansi-Butana canal. This is a significant move as by-elections are due in Haryana on May 22.
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Conceptual errors
It was interesting to read the article 'Rural Short-term Cooperative Credit Structure' by Mandira Sharma and Rajiv Kumar (March 1, 2008) but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. The authors would have done well to fist understand some basic concepts like capital, non-performing assets, majority shareholding, etc, before commenting at such length on the Vaidyanathan Committee recommendations and implementation of the government of India's revival package based on it. (Letter)
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Drive to check anaemia
A large number of students of primary schools in the district are suffering from anaemia and worm infection. To tackle the problem, a campaign to "de-worm" primary schoolchildren of the state has been started with a target of giving oral pills to 13,63,466 students. The children will be given a tablet of albandazole (400 mg).
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CNG incentive scheme finds no takers
There was not even a single voluntary response to the Delhi government's ambitious scheme of persuading operators of old diesel-run light goods vehicles (LGVs) to switch over to new CNG-run vehicles by offering them a whopping Rs 80,000 (12.5 per cent) tax incentive per vehicle. Out of a total of 38,500 diesel-run LGVs registered, over 5,000 are between 14 and 15 years old The scheme which was announced in February this year to persuade owners of 14 to 15 year old diesel-run light goods vehicles to switch over to more eco-friendly CNG-run ones, closed on April 30.
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Irrigation scheme in shambles
Non-functioning of the Sonahat
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CYG team holds green friends day
The Prayavaran Mitra Program by CYG Pune, 2008 in association with United Nations Environment Program ( UNEP ) and Indian Medical Association (IMA) had on Thursday organised the "Paryavaran Mitra Din " at Bhairavnath Mandir-Baner especially to educate the residents of the fringe villages. The programme has support from University of Pune, Sarathi, Dada Kondke Foundation, Vasundhara Swatchta Abhiyan and Jetking Info, stated a press release.
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BMC's flood forecast plans hit high-security roadblock
Defence Ministry denies permission for low-flying photos, necessary for contour mapping of city The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's grand plans to arm itself with a mathematical model that will help predict a deluge like the 944-mm deluge of July 26, 2005, just received a huge setback. Looking to prepare a flood modelling system, the BMC had sought permissions to shoot a series of low-flying photographs of the city's surfaces for a contour mapping exercise, but were rebuffed. Last week, the Ministry of Defence rejected the plans for
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Tillari water to flow in State soon
Nearly thirty years after Goa made the first payment towards Tillari project, engineers in Maharashtra say that it is little more than a year away from completion even as the cost has jumped to Rs 1390 crore from the first estimate of Rs 45 crore in 1978-79. The joint venture of Maharashtra and Goa is scheduled to cater to the needs of irrigation, domestic and industrial water supply and power generation, officials told media persons who were on a tour to Konalkatta on Friday.
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Kadapa to get 1st vet SEZ
A veterinary Special Economic Zone will be set up at the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy's native Pulivendula Assembly constituency in Kadapa district. This is the first of its kind in the country. The SEZ, which will be developed under the public-private partnership mode, will also have Icrisat and South Africa-based International Livestock Research Institute as promoters along with the state government.
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Cutting energy bills the Victorian way
Modern facades on Victorian buildings in Chicago and other industrial cities of the American Midwest often hide a secret. Scattered through old drugstores and boarded-up banks from Madison to Fort Wayne, curiously shaped glass tiles known as Luxfer prisms lie just a few centimetres behind the paint and plaster. Luxfers were one of the 19th century's greatest innovations in lighting, and an idea that is beginning to make a comeback in our own energy-conscious times.
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At the heart of conflict
We've all heard about the deforestation of the Amazon, but what's it like to be caught between the loggers and the people living in the forests? Mauricio Torres is employed by the Brazilian government to monitor this front line. He tells Adrian Barnett how he has come up against corruption and violent aggression - and how his faith lies with the rural poor, who have nothing to lose but the trees.
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Burma shows the importance of farming science
News from Burma keeps getting worse: dire poverty, murderous repression and now cyclone Nargis has killed some 100,000 people. Disease and starvation could push the toll over the million mark as the country's despots, unbelievably, impede emergency aid while exporting rice - literally making a killing on inflated international prices. Burma is suffering even more than it might because it neglected its farms.
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To make the most of wind power, go fly a kite
While green campaigners push for ever more wind turbines, a new wave of environmentally motivated engineers is already considering turbines to be a little old-school. One of the pioneers of the concept of a kite as a renewable energy source is Peter Lynn, a New Zealand kite designer.
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When burning gas is good for the planet
Gas from rotting manure could fuel the future. Biogas digesters, devices that turn decomposing manure into fuel, are cost-effective, environmentally friendly and improve the health of rural people who use them.
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Two new districts and 13 new Tahasils constituted in state
State government has constituted two new districts Alirajpur and Singrauli and 13 new Tahasils. New Tahasils have come into existence right from today while Alirajpur and Singrauli districts would come into being on May 17 and 24 respectively. Entire Alirajpur, Jobat and Jhabra Tahasils have been included in the newly-constituted Alirajpur district with its headquarter at Alirajpur. In the new Singrauli district, entire Devsar, Chitrangi and Singrauli Tahasils have been incorporated.
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Air pollution causes dangerous blood clots
It's the latest in a growing list of health problems linked to air pollution: dangerous blood clots triggered by smog from traffic and factories. If a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) breaks loose from where it forms in the lower leg or thigh and travels to the lungs, it can cause breathing problems and sometimes death. Andrea Baccarelli and colleagues at Harvard School of Public Health monitored the air quality in different parts of the Lombardy region of Italy.
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A sprinkle of limestone could help oceans absorb CO2
Grind it down, pour in a sprinkle here and a dash there, and wait for results. That's the recipe for helping the oceans to absorb more of our carbon dioxide emissions: add limestone. It may not only help reduce global warming but could even reinvigorate ailing coral reefs.
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Life feels the effects of a changing climate
Climate change is already altering our planet's biology, with only life in Antarctica so far spared its influence. That's the conclusion from an analysis of tens of thousands of individual local studies covering shrinking glaciers, changing river flows, melting permafrost, increased coastal erosion, and warming lakes and rivers. The study, published in Nature (DOI: 10.1038/nature06937) this week, is based on more comprehensive data than any previous investigation of the biological effects of climate change.