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• CFLs: Board mulls reward for panchayats

  The PSEB is planning to extend cash rewards to the panchayats of those villages that have achieved full conversion to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). At the same time, the board is likely to give a little relaxation in time to over 10 lakh farmers, who have been told to switch over to CFLs by April 15. The board was likely to extend the deadline by June 30. Though the reward amount is yet to be decided, the board is contemplating giving Rs 1 lakh each to the panchayats achieving full conversion to CFLs, sources said.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Tribune (New Delhi)
  • • Energy Efficiency
    • CFL
    • Punjab

• Badal for time-bound action programme

  Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called for chalking out a multi-pronged time-bound strategy to achieve the objective of "safe drinking water for all' through proper monitoring of rural water supply schemes by the application of reverse osmosis (RO), silver ionisation and ultra-violet techniques depending on the quality of water.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Tribune (New Delhi)
  • • Water Pollution
    • Rural Water Supply
    • Drinking Water Standards
    • Industrial Waste
    • Punjab

• French transport minister wants technical cooperation

  French transport minister Dominique Bussecreau, who is currently visiting Delhi, today called on the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at her office at Delhi Secretariat here. Dominique said that France was keen to have technical co-operation and collaborations in various fields with the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Tribune (New Delhi)
  • • Hybrid Electric
    • Public Transport
    • Light Rail Transit
    • Mono Rail
    • France

• PM to visit Bhutan on Friday

  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to announce a fairly large grant to Bhutan when he travels there on Friday on a two-day visit, which is aimed at further consolidation of the bilateral energy cooperation. The Prime Minister will hold wide-ranging talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Jigme Y. Thinley on issues of mutual interest, including India's development cooperation with the Himalayan kingdom. The PM will also meet 28-year-old King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his father, the former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Tribune (New Delhi)
  • • Energy Policy
    • Hydroelectricity
    • India

• Attributing physical and biological impacts to anthropogenic climate change

  Significant changes in physical and biological systems are occurring on all continents and in most oceans, with a concentration of available data in Europe and North America. Most of these changes are in the direction expected with warming temperature. Here the authors show that these changes in natural systems since at least 1970 are occurring in regions of observed temperature increases, and that these temperature increases at continental scales cannot be explained by natural climate variations alone.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Nature
  • • Climate Change
    • Climate Science
    • IPCC
    • Global Warming
    • Climate Impacts
    • Glacial Melt
    • Flora
    • Fauna
• 

  Alert over toxic baby bottles

  The Canadian government has announced that it intends to ban the import and sale of baby bottles that contain a potentially dangerous chemical, bisphenol A. Bisphenol A (bpa) is a common

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Health Effects
    • Plastics
    • Child Health
    • Chronic Toxicity
• 

  Ghana to increase mining royalty

  Ghana's Minerals Commission has come up with a regulatory framework that will ensure that mining companies operating in the country cough up more to the government coffers. The new legislation

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Mining
    • Mineral-Based Industry
    • Finance
    • Legislation
    • Ghana
• 

  Wildlife map via satellite

  Scientists have drawn a conservation map for the world's richest biodiversity in Madagascar, which could fundamentally change the way conservation priorities are mapped across the world. Unlike

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Flora
    • Fauna
    • Biodiversity Hotspots
    • Remote Sensing
    • Madagascar
• 

  European Commission sets up fund for green projects

  The European Commission has launched a fund to mobilize private sector investments in energy-efficient and renewable energy projects. The Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Energy Efficiency
    • Renewable Energy
    • Finance
    • Private Sector
    • European Union (EU)

• Divide and dump waste

  A paper and pulp mill, operating in southern Chile, has pitted a group of fisherfolk against its neighbours and is trying to get away by installing a controversial pipeline to dump waste water from

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • River Pollution
    • Marine Pollution
    • Industrial Pollution
    • Paper and Pulp Industry
    • Marine Fisheries
    • Waste Disposal
    • Marine Fisherfolk
    • Chile

• Rainforest map to assert rights

  More than 600 indigenous people in the Democratic Republic of Congo began mapping their rainforests on April 9 using gps technology. Their effort is to preserve about 2.4 million hectares of

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Congo
    • Tropical Forests
    • Forest Conservation
    • Remote Sensing

• Electricity emergency

  As South Africa struggles with an ongoing power crisis, the state power utility Eskom has said electricity prices need to double in the next two years. In a submission to the National Electricity

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Electricity
    • Power Transmission
    • Power Industry
    • South Africa
• 

  Influenza on the move

  East and Southeast Asia are probably the breeding grounds for influenza viruses. A study has shown that the virus spreads through densely-packed cities in the region before hitching a ride on human

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Medical Research
    • Viral Diseases
    • Influenza
    • Asia

• Liberia resumes logging

  Two years after the un Security Council lifted sanctions on timber exports from Liberia, the government has resumed logging saying that it has fulfilled all measures asked by the un. The

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Trade
    • Exports
    • Timber Industry
    • Liberia

• In Court

  Polar bear not protected yet: The US Department of the Interior wants 10 more weeks to decide whether polar bears should be listed as endangered species. In a court filing, the department said the

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Animal Diseases
    • Endangered Species
    • Farmers
    • Tuberculosis
    • Fauna

• Colour code

  Yellow card

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Development
    • Economic Development
    • Africa
    • India
• 

  Will Indian generosity help Africa?

  The two-day Africa summit in New Delhi last month opened a significant chapter in India's external affairs. Inaugurating the summit, attended by 14 African leaders, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Development
    • Trade
    • Economic Development
    • Finance
    • International Cooperation
    • Africa
    • India

• Enquiry into Salwa Judum

  on april 15, 2008, the supreme court ordered the National Human Rights Commission to appoint a committee to look into human rights violations by Salwa Judum activists in Chhattisgarh and submit a

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Conflicts
    • Supreme Court
    • Human Rights
    • India
    • Chhattisgarh
    • Naxalites

• Petition against petitions

  in a petition filed on April 14, the international bench of the supreme court and bar association asked for judicial guidelines for entertaining pleas against projects of national importance

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Supreme Court
    • NGO
    • India

• Benin bans endosulphan

  Benin, a country on the western coast of Africa, has banned use of the pesticide endosulphan. The decision, taken in February this year, is based on the recommendations of a four-year study

  • 14/05/2008

  • Down To Earth
  • • Pesticides
    • Health Effects
    • Endosulfan
    • Pesticide Use
    • Benin
    • India
    • European Union (EU)