Saleli quarries ordered to close down
the polluting crushing units in Goa's Saleli village are facing a legal grind. On October 29, 2007, the deputy collector of Bicholim ordered all 13 quarries and crushers in the village to stop
Search Results
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Non Aussie blotch
Under pressure from farmers, Australia is set to adopt new labelling laws that facilitate distinguishing between Australian and "imported' food. Food products with less than 85 per cent
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Argentine firm won't dump toxic waste into Peru's rainforest
ACHUAR Indian communities in northern Peru forests called off their 15-day-long protest after the government and the Argentine oil drilling firm, Pluspetrol Norte, signed an agreement to stop dumping
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Winning the war
Initially, the management of common property and its resources had never been contentious in Bunga. However, the status of the village's HRMS was threatened when the state government passed the
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In Short
danger spilling out: Mexico's oil monopoly Pemex recently confirmed the fifth fuel spill in the past four months, even as authorities quoted a requirement of US $9 billion to repair the country's
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Dreams of empire
Sterlite Industries of India Limited and Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) are subsidiaries of Vedanta Resources Plc, a publicly-traded British metals and mining company owned principally by
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Snippets
• The EU announced on April 25, 2005 that it has approved a method for testing the Bt10 variety of genetically modified corn. The move might end an EU ban on the import of US corn gluten and
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Snippets
• The Seychelles government has banned foreign ships licensed to fish in its territorial waters from cutting off of fins of captured sharks, in a move to conserve marine life. Finning is a cruel
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SNIPPETS
• Ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan and South Korea, who met recently in Cambodia for their annual talks, failed to fix any concrete energy
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UPDATE
With Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on a hunger strike, (as events stood on December 8, 2006), things are bound not to be normal. Banerjee's hunger strike comes as a mark of protest against
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Windfall loss
Tax breaks Public money for private gain
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Protest against survey for Science City
Land survey taken up for construction of a Science City in Amadagur and Obuladevaracheruvu mandals in Anantapur district has become controversial. The survey works were recently handed over to the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC). Eight teams from the APIIC have taken up land survey in Amadagur mandal. While the Congress leaders are responding favourably to the survey, the Telugu Desam leaders are raising several objections. They staged a rasta roko and dharna in Amadagur two days ago, protesting against land acquisition for the project. There are 42,897 acres in Amadagur mandal with 7,000 survey numbers. There are 9,630.26 acres for 1,520 survey numbers in Tummala village, 1,568.83 acres of land in Yerigivaripalle and a similar extent of land in Pulukuntapalli. Survey is also being taken up in Lokojupalli, Karimireddypalli, Dademvaripalli, Amadagur, Sikirevulapalli, Chinaganipalli, Kassamudram, Mahmadabad, J.K.Palli, Koragattupalli and other villages. Congress leaders say that most farmers are ready to sell their lands while TD leaders deny this.
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NLC to pay Rs 5 lakh per acre of land acquired
In a major breakthrough, the district administration has solved a long-pending land acquisition problem plaguing the public sector Neyveli Lignite Corporation. Collector Rajendra Ratnoo has achieved this feat here today at a daylong marathon tripartite meeting, involving revenue officials, NLC management and people affected by the land acquisition. As per the agreement, the NLC management has come forward to distribute Rs 5 lakh per acre of land as compensation to the affected people. People in the peripheral villages were protesting against the NLC move to acquire land in the region where NLC had been distributing a compensation of Rs 80,000 and above for an acre. They wanted the NLC to hike the compensation as land value had increased significantly. Residents had demanded that the State Government intervene and had staged agitations on sever al occasions. Many rounds of talks between the NLC management, local residents and district administration were conducted but in vain. The president of the Federation of Cuddalore District Farmers Associations V Venkatapathi and secretary Karmangudi S Venkatesan have expressed deep gratitude to the district administration for solving the vexed issue pending for over a decade. Among others DRO Natarajan, 18 representatives from 14 peripheral villages and NLC officials including DGM (Land Acquistion) Palani have participated. TRADE UNION POLL:The stage has been set for a major battle among trade unions in the public sector Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) on Feb 28.
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Peta-friendly science syllabus from Board
Students of class VI will dissect cockroaches and catfish instead of rats, birds and toads during life science experiments. The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education decided to modify the experiments after repeated appeals from the animal rights activists, led by the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta). Peta protested that certain portions in the syllabus encouraged students to do cruel activities against animals. For instance, in order to understand the importance of air, students were asked do experiments like suffocating a guinea pig. In a similar experiment, students were asked not to give water to birds to understand the necessity of water for sustaining life. The Board has informed publishers to omit such experiments. While discussing such topics, examples of common pests like cockroaches and common air breathing fish (catfish) should be cited instead of rats, birds and toads. Mr Swapan Sarkar, Board secretary said letters in this regard have been issued to the publishers more than a month back. "The publishers have to make the necessary changes before the publication of new books for the next academic year.' Peta had approached both Mr Arjun Singh, Union human resource development minister and Mr Partha De, state school education minister to make the necessary changes in the life science syllabus over a year back. The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education had gotten rid of dissection of toads in practical examination of class XI and XII in 2005. Instead students have to distinguish between a male and female cockroach, rohu fish and grasshopper. n SNS
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Unfounded fears
Although non governmental organisations have come of age, apprehensions about their work persist
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Go under
Or, follow coastal regulations
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Jharkhand
Most politicians and activists see the Forest Conservation Act as a hurdle towards empowering the tribal population. They want the act amended
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India State of the Environment Report : The Monthly Overview, September 2013
The Kerala government has decided to appeal against two national green tribunal orders that said that the government should take note and adhere to the recommendations of the Western Ghats Expert Ecology Panel (WGEEP) report while approving private and commercial development in eco-sensitive zones. Read more in this September 2013 edition of the Monthly India State of the Environment Report published by the South Asia Environment Portal. Read and Share.
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The parching of India's Venice
Kerala finds its rivers drying up and beginning to die
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Backs to the wall
Kerala's backwaters are one of its most prized possessions. But they are fighting for survival today, with reclamation for the purposes of development and commerce increasingly choking them off