India Environment Portal Knowledge for change

About us Contact us
downtoearth-subscribe

Popular Topics

Content Type

Browse by subjects

News

  • Traffic cops being exposed to dangerous levels of lead

    A medical survey has found alarming levels of lead in the blood of police officials controlling traffic at some 400 intersections of the city, which may lead to fatal diseases along with "intellectual and behavioural deficits'. Officials at the police's traffic department said the sample medical tests of some 700 policemen were conducted during the last few weeks through a recognized medical institution, which came up with a common report of higher lead levels among the law enforcers.

  • Matchsticks in storm

    Strong winds, coupled with rain, played havoc with the green cover of the city. Several trees fell, all across the Capital, leaving people to struggle with snapped power lines and blocked traffic Wednesday's storm ripped through Delhi, playing havoc with the green cover in various parts of the city. Heavy winds followed by rain uprooted trees and left people struggling through heavy branches blocking the roads. In certain areas, trees had collapsed on electric lines and transformers, disrupting power supply.

  • Hepatitis detected in blood donors

    A fairly large number of 235 of 1,800 people, who had donated blood for thalassaemia patients at the camps organised by the Thalassaemia Care Centre in different areas of the district during last four months, were found hepatitis B and C positive, said the centre's in-charge Dr Sadiq Siyal on Tuesday.

  • Centre to compensate oil marketing companies

    Faced with surging crude oil prices in the international markets and massive under-recoveries being incurred by the oil marketing companies (OMCs), the government has decided to compensate them by issuing oil bonds to the extent of 50 per cent against incurring under-recoveries during 2007-08 on sale of petrol, diesel, kerosene and domestic LPG at subsidised prices.

  • 100kmph storm kills 5 people, wreaks havoc across city

    Officegoers were caught completely unawares on Wednesday morning when the sky darkened within minutes and a squall lashed the city and its neighbouring areas at a speed of over 100 kmph. The storm uprooted scores of trees and electricity poles and brought down roofs and walls of houses taking a toll of at least five lives in the city. In Greater Noida, poor visibility and rain caused a company bus to skid on the road

  • Toiling through the night in a quake-devastated city (editorial)

    Desperate efforts have been mounted in Mianzhu as rescuers still have some hope of reaching survivors. The roads were black and eerily quiet for a city of such size. But on a street near the centre, floodlights and the grind of cutting equipment announced that rescue workers were toiling through the night. It had been a commercial bank, said one bystander; a Bank of China, said someone else. You couldn't tell any more. All that was left was a great mound where the building had slid forward into the road as if it were melting butter.

  • Mega water project becomes nuisance

    Mega project of water supply and drainage, launched in Sukkur city at a cost of Rs 3 billion federal government grant, has become a nuisance for the people turning the entire atmosphere of Sukkur city dusty, besides causing tremendous difficulties for the pedestrians and as well as motorists. Almost the entire inter-city roads have been dug up reducing the already narrow passages and interrupting the smooth flow of traffic especially in the peak hours of morning and evening.

  • 'BRT review to better project'

    The Delhi Government on Wednesday informed the Centre that it is reviewing the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in view of the public outrage. Senior Government officials, in a meeting chaired by Urban Development Secretary M Ramachandran, said they are working on other modalities so that the concept works albeit in a different format. Some of the Government officials were also at the receiving end for introducing the ill-conceived project.

  • Saving lives after death (editorial)

    The most commonly donated organ is the eye. The other organs often used in India are the heart and the liver. A beneficial fallout of my article "Spare a thought for the donor' in The-Hindu of April 15 has been the interest it aroused in cadaver organ donations. I have had a number of calls from people asking for information on the use of organs after death. This piece should be read in conjunction with the previous article.

  • Pampa river basin authority proposed

    The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to form a river basin authority for smooth implementation of the Pampa Action Plan. It recommended issue of an Ordinance to the Governor for constituting the authority on an urgent basis. The Pampa River Basin Authority, as per the proposed Ordinance, will have powers to take executive decisions on implementation of various projects under the Action Plan. The Plan aims at controlling the pollution of the river.

  • Shrimp can see beyond rainbow

    A giant shrimp living on Australia's Great Barrier Reef can see a world beyond the rainbow that is invisible to other animals, scientists said on Wednesday. Mantis shrimps, dubbed "thumb splitters' by divers because of their vicious claws, have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom, capable of seeing colors from the ultraviolet to the infrared, as well as detecting other subtle variations in light.

  • Adequate medical facilities for North-East assured

    Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are paying special attention to the north-eastern States and all developmental projects will be taken up expeditiously, said Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. He was addressing the staff of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) which had been taken over by the Central government. Mr. Ramadoss was accompanied by Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaka Lakshmi on his two-day visit to Manipur that ended on Wednesday.

  • France keen for technical cooperation with Delhi

    French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau called on Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in her office here on Wednesday and expressed his country's keenness to establish technical cooperation and collaboration with Delhi in various fields. Pointing out that tramways have been successful in various French cities, Mr. Bussereau offered possible funding assistance to undertake a detailed survey and study for commissioning of tramways in Delhi, which he said would go a long way in making the public transport system here more reliable.

  • Rocket salad' to tackle global food crisis

    FOOTBALL-SIZED tomotoes, carrot-sized chillies and pumpkins that look like huge round rocks are what Chinese are growing to make a

  • 73pc street children face chronic malnutrition: study

    About 73 per cent of the street children in the Dhaka city suffer from chronic malnutrition while mortality and morbidity status among the street dwellers has reached an alarming level due to lack of basic healthcare services. This was revealed at a seminar organised in Dhaka on Wednesday by ICDDR,B to release the findings of a study on

  • SMC launches micronutrient programme

    Social Marketing Company (SMC) launched its micronutrient programme in the city yesterday through introduction of 'MoniMix' -- a micronutrient powder which can be easily mixed at home to fortify foods to address childhood Iron Deficiency Anaemia (IDA), says a press release. Sheri-Nouane Johnson, director of PHN Team, USAID, Dhaka and Jalaluddin Ahmed, chairperson, Board of Directors, SMC, were present at the launching ceremony at SMC Head Office.

  • India inks MoU with France to modernise rlys

    THE Indian Railways has signed an MoU with their French counterpart SNCF International to modernise railway infrastructure in India. The French are looking to bring investment and technology for developing high speed trains in India and providing training to employees of Indian Railways. The MoU was signed was signed by R K Goyal, additional member in charge of planning at Indian Railway Board, and Jean-Pierre Lubinox, chairman of SNCF. Under the MoU, a steering committee composed of two representatives of each country will be set up.

  • Monsoon to hit Kerala coast on May 29: MET

    THE much-awaited monsoon is likely to hit the Kerala coast on May 29 this year. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), using an indigenously developed forecast model, maintained on Wednesday that the forecast implied a model error of +/- four days from that date. The mean monsoon onset date over Kerala is June 1, two days later.

  • Nutrition situation deteriorates with outbreak of diarrhoea

    Nutrition situation is deteriorating in the country with the outbreak of diarrhoea when 12 to 15 percent of children are already suffering from malnutrition due to poverty, food insecurity, low birth weight, lack of awareness and hygiene practice. Diarrhoea is a major cause of malnutrition and morbidity of children aged under five years across the globe, and 17 percent of children below five years die every year globally due to diarrhoea, of which 95 percent children are in developing countries, says World Health Organisation.

  • Cement cos to reduce rates by Rs 3-7.5/bag

    CEMENT companies agreed on Wednesday to reduce prices by Rs 3-7.5 per 50 kg bag with immediate effect in most states. The reduction will be on the price prevailing on April 1, 2008. The move comes close on the heels of price cuts announced by the steel industry. The government, on its part, has promised to look at the issue of abatement of excise duty on cement.

  1. 1
  2. ...
  3. 10630
  4. 10631
  5. 10632
  6. 10633
  7. 10634
  8. ...
  9. 22153

By Location