Phase out plan unveiled
Parks, schools and hospitals in Quebec would soon become pesticide-free. Thanks to the pressure mounted by the public and environmental groups, this Canadian province will ban the use of most
Search Results
-
-
Set immobile
Magnetic wood planks can curb inconsiderate mobile phone use
-
Drastic step
Andhra government mulls draconian laws on rainwater harvesting
-
Controlled flow
The simmering water dispute bet ween Mexico and the us seems to have been finally settled. The border countries reached an agreement under which Mexico will release about 111 million cubic
-
The better choice
Developed by an agricultural institute , electric rickshaws can combat auto pollution
-
World Water Development Report 2018: nature-based solutions for water
<p>Five billion people could be left with poor access to water by 2050 if nothing is done to enhance its supply and quality warns United Nations in this new World Water Development Report. It recognizes water not as an isolated element, but as an integral part of a complex natural process that involves evaporation, precipitation and the absorption of water through the soil.</p>
-
BRAZIL
It was an experiment to clear the air in polluted Sao Paulo, South America's biggest city, so as to allow Paulistanos breathe more easily. Motorists, depending on the last digit of the licence plate,
-
Delhi
On June 7, 2000, the Delhi Jal Board and the Municipal Corporation announcement that they would create 150 ponds for rainwater harvesting. TAPAS, a non-governmental organisation, approached the Delhi
-
Street smart
Karnataka vendors take steps to protect their interests
-
Bihar likely source of polio virus in Capital
Officials with the National Polio Surveillance Programme today said the first polio case detected in the Capital this year could have come from Bihar. The 14-month-old Baby Gulnaaz from Kirti Nagar was detected with the P1 strain poliovirus, known for its propensity to cause large outbreaks. According to government records, Gulnaaz was taken to Moti Nagar Colony Hospital on February 15 when it was found that her right limb was immobile. "She had high fever and investigations confirmed that she has polio. Though we are yet to do any genetic analysis, it seems that that the virus has travelled from Bihar,' said a senior official with the National Polio Surveillance Programme. Till date this year, 106 polio cases have been isolated in India but all of them have been P3 strains. This is the first P1 polio case in Delhi after August 2006. The neighbouring cities of Ghaziabad and Faridabad have been put on high alert, the official said. "If such a case is reported from an area, what follows is an immunisation drive. The government will try to do that as soon as possible,' a Delhi government official said. In the present case, the patient is a resident of Darbhanga jhuggis, a slum populated mostly by migrant labourers from Bihar. Officials said Gulnaaz was administered 11 doses of polio vaccine in the last two national immunisation rounds in January and February this year. While Delhi recorded seven cases of polio P1 virus in 2006, the state government had last year, claimed the Capital was free of the P1 virus. However, there has been an outbreak of the dreaded P1 virus in Bihar this year with 83 cases being reported from the state. Gulnaaz's family reportedly came to the Capital from Bihar six months back. With focus on the polio scare in the country, particularly in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram allocated Rs 1,042 crore for a revised strategy on the crippling disease. India recorded 864 cases in 2007 as against 676 cases the previous year. The poliovirus enters the body through the mouth when people eat food or drink water contaminated with faeces. The virus then multiplies in the intestine, enters the bloodstream and may invade certain types of nerve cells, which it can damage or destroy.
-
High Winds Kill Eight, Cut Power In Central Europe
Gale-force winds hammered Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic on Saturday, killing at least eight people, snarling transport networks and cutting power lines. In Germany, trains were delayed by uprooted trees and an intercity express collided with a fallen tree between the cities of Cologne and Koblenz, injuring the driver. Nearly 130 flights to or from Frankfurt airport were either cancelled or diverted, a spokesman said. Officials said air traffic in Austria and the Czech Republic was also briefly interrupted when the storm, packing winds of between 155 kph (96 miles) and 180 kph (110 mph) lashed parts of central Europe. The storms left a mounting death toll across the region. Austrian media reported that four people had died as a result of the storm, three of them foreigners on holiday. Two people died when uprooted trees smashed into their cars in Lower Austria province, near Vienna, and Tyrol province in the northwest, police and rescue services quoted by national news agency APA said. One of the two was identified as a 77-year-old German tourist. A 69-year-old German tourist was killed by a falling tree at a Tyrol campground. The fourth, believed to be a British tourist, died when a boulder loosened by high winds struck the taxi he was riding in through a mountain valley near Salzburg. A 72-year-old motorcyclist in Bavaria, Germany, was killed when a gust blew him into advancing traffic, police said. Another man, aged 58, was crushed in his car by a falling pine near to Betzdorf in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Several others in Germany were injured when the storm damaged buildings. In the Czech Republic, an 11-year-old girl was killed by a falling tree north of Prague, and flying metal sheets struck and killed an 80-year-old priest in a town east of the central European country's capital, news agency CTK said. Falling trees and other debris blocked transport routes and cut power in some parts of the region. A fallen high-voltage grid pylon halted traffic on a highway north of the Czech capital, Prague. Several other roads were closed and rail services were interrupted in many areas, Czech Radio reported. In Austria, APA news agency said downed trees had also blocked and interrupted train travel. Power cuts hit tens of thousands of households in Austria; and the high winds also disrupted power supplies to around 150,000 people in Bavaria, utility E.ON Bayern said. (Reporting by Mark Heinrich in Vienna, Jan Lopatka in Prague and Dave Graham in Berlin; Editing by Sami Aboudi) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
-
Five students make car for Rs 11,000
They spent two years sifting through scrapyards to find appropriate material for the car. The creator of the common man's car Ratan Tata might be interested in reading this. Inspired by the cult reality show American Choppers where a father and son team create custom-made motorbike masterpieces out of parts of scrap, a group of five teenagers in Ahmedabad have used otherwise unusable scrap material to create a ready-to-drive four-wheeler for Rs 11,000. The students, Aditya Sen (16), Debanshu Samanta (17), Purna Singh (14), Sukanya Rajgopal (12) and Jaidev Singh (13), who study at Delhi Public School (DPS) and Anand Niketan School, spent two years sifting through scrap yards in the city to find appropriate materials for the car. As opposed to the accepted norm of creating a car design first and building it subsequently, the students had no rough sketch of the vehicle when they started out and built it up according to the materials they could gather. The rear window of the car has been sourced from a Fiat 1965 model. A Kinetic scooter and TVS Scooty's tyres make up the wheels of the car. The petrol tank is an unusable old geyser from a neighbour's home which has been connected to a gutter pipe and stuck with strong adhesive. The tank has a 3-4 litre capacity. A 125cc Honda engine ripped off from a Kinetic scooter is the vehicle's engine. In fact, other than a hydraulic brake, every other component of the car is scrap material. Although the commercial viability of the vehicle is not on the cards at the moment, Aditya Sen said the group had written to Ratan Tata explaining how the car was put together. While RTO regulations prohibit the use of an unapproved vehicle on the road for safety reasons, the car has interested officials of Anand Niketan School who have agreed to fund the groups second venture which is creation of an eco-friendly four-wheeler. "The students are keen to develop a solar-powered car for which I have already ordered solar panels from China which should be delivered within a month,' said Kamal Mangal, head trustee, Anand Niketan School.
-
MONGOLIA
A massive security cover has been thrown around the capital, Ulan Bator, in a bid to check the spread of cholera that has killed six people and infected 39 so far. Authorities isolated two major
-
Going to town with agriculture
Helped by a proactive government, residents of Havana resort to urban agriculture to solve their food crisis
-
Lack of jobs forces even post-graduates to beg: Survey
While the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government may boast of having successfully implemented the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme across the country, the real story in the national Capital is that graduates and post-graduates have taken to begging due to lack of employment opportunities. They may be indulging in an opprobrium-filled career, but there are the rich and middle-class among them that can put to shame many well-educated people in the country. This news about beggars in Delhi may make the salaried class feel small. A survey conducted by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) of the Delhi University shows that six graduates and four post-graduates are beggars and they earn anything between Rs 200 and Rs 500 daily, depending on where they pick conduct their business. The best areas are religious sites, major red light intersections and markets. That adds up to Rs 15,000 per month, a salary level that is attained by a post-graduate after slogging for a few years in the normal course of events. According to the survey, eight beggars earn between Rs 200 and Rs 500 per day in the Capital. The DSW interviewed 5,003 beggars to take stock of the begging menace in the city following the direction of the Delhi High Court last year. As per the survey, out of the 506 beggar respondents who were literate, 321 (9-10 per cent) were educated up to the primary level followed by 175 (4.56 per cent) beggars who were educated up to the secondary level. The survey reports that beggars earn anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 500 per day. There are approximately 58,570 beggars in the State, and the majority are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with Haryana, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Delhi also making a fair contribution. Interestingly, most of the beggars who were interviewed were aware of the fact that beggary had been made illegal by the Government. Around 54.13 per cent beggars responded that they were aware that begging was illegal while the rest of the others said they did not know It also shows that either the beggars are unafraid of the law or that it is not being implemented properly. For many, asking for alms was a family profession,only a few said they were forced into it by someone else or were part of a gang. A large majority live on pavements (1,082), near temples (644) and under bridges (406). Although the department is still in the process of finding out about those who have a physical deformity, whether someone actually caused it or if it was genetic or due to a disease. That they were opting for begging as the best career option can also be gauged from the fact that their age category was between 13 and 19 years. Surely, they could have done some other work, but chose this particular mode of earning a living as it generated greater cash on a regular basis plus and did not entail much physical exercise.
-
Golf course putting holes in Nal ecology
The 18-hole golf course close to Nal Sarovar, that is driving an unfettered property development near the bird sanctuary, threatens to upset the delicate ecology there. Environmentalists say that the amount of fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and other chemicals required to maintain this vast, artificially created, landscape is a threat to the bio-diversity of the lake. According to experts, the usage of chemicals in maintaining golf courses at times even exceeds the amount used in agriculture. With such intensive use, golf courses threaten to pollute ground and surface waters. Member of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and IIM-A faculty Prof Priyadarshi Shukla says this type of projects causes gradual and irreversible damage which breaks sustainability, putting pressure on the ecosystem. "Our green assets are under threat with a lot of property deve l o p m e n t h ap p e n i n g closer to ecosystems. If special laws are made for SEZs, which are productive assets, special laws are also needed for luxury assets, our ecosystems,' he says. "The golf course is being developed as a private property, but that should not happen at the cost of the ecology of Nal. Development should take place without compromising on the existence and sustainability of the ecology' says Shukla. According to environmentalist Kandarp Kathju, the golf course is more detrimental to the health of Nal Sarovar than any other project coming up there, such as the Film City. "Nal Sarovar and its downstream water bodies are at the heart of the delicate ecological system of the area. Today's golf requires tabletop greenery and this requires pesticides and fertilizers to maintain the course,' he says. Golf courses also require huge amount of water, which can result in depletion of underground as well as surface water levels. The entire area of Nal Sarovar with 360 islets is extremely shallow and seldom more than two metres deep, most of which get submerged during monsoon. Traditionally, farmers in the area have used water from the lake for cultivation. There are around 20,000 buffaloes in surrounding villages that feed on the aquatic plants and grass on the edges of Sarovar eight months of the year."The pesticides are likely to flow into the water bodies, besides percolating into the water table. Not just the aquatic environment, but the entire ecology, of which local communities are an integral part, is facing the risk of toxic chemicals polluting the water bodies,' says Kathju. Shukla says, "Developing a market requires foresight, and it is time the policy makers started
-
Sex ratio in J&K disturbing
Experts at a two-day workshop organised by the Post Graduate Department of Community Medicine (P&SM) under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) at the Government Medical College here expressed concern over the disturbing sex ratio in some parts of the State. Data compiled by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics of the State government shows that the population of female child is fast deteriorating. In Kathua district, the latest ratio is 796 girls to 1,000 boys in the urban side and 847 females to 1,000 boys in the rural part. The trend in Jammu district, which includes Jammu city, is no different. It is 820 girls to 1,000 boys in Jammu district (urban-rural combine). Udhampur with 873 girls, Rajouri with 901, Poonch with 906, Kupwara with 953, Budgam with 931, Baramulla with 927 and Leh with 934 girls present a grim scenario. Dr. Sabu George, one of the participants in the meet, said: "The latest figures in some pockets of the State are simply alarming, and a cause of concern for the progressive society of the State as well the whole country.' He traced the origin of the malice to the machines used for sex determination. Dr. Yogeshwar, nodal officer, National Rural Health Mission, J&K, however, rued the lack of people's support for the cause. "Though we did start a helpline and issued advertisements in both electronic and print media, seeking the support of people to register complaints against the offenders, no positive response has been received so far,' he said. In the late 90s, just few 100 ultra-sound machines were sold across the country but now around 5,000 such machines are sold every year. Experts also exploded the myth that that the incidence of female-foeticide and abortion of female foetuses after pre-natal sex determination occurred mainly in the rural areas and among the illiterate population. Preference for boy The phenomenon is evenly spread in all sections of society irrespective of caste, colour, region and religion. Shockingly, the preference for a boy is stronger and deep entrenched in the elite, educated, prosperous and urban sections. Hence, the incidents are more frequent in these sections, the experts said, quoting various studies.
-
In 4 months, work will begin on 2 more Metro corridors, says Deshmukh
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Thursday announced that work on two more corridors of the Metro rail will begin in four months and the government will explore sky rail and water transport options too to lighten the existing load on the local trains. He was speaking after inaugurating the first new generation rake of the Central Railway at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. The work on the first Metro rail corridor is going on. "The capacity of a 9-car rake is only 1,700 commuters, but during peak hours around 5000 people travel in such a rake. With the introduction of new rakes and the completion other works under the MUTP, things will improve. I hope that second phase of the MUTP will be approved soon,' he said. Talking about encroachments on railway land, Deshmukh said, "In line with the state government policy, the Railways should rehabilitate those who were staying on its land before 2000. Often, railway officials say that they cannot do so as their policy doesn't allow it. The Railways should change its policy according to the state's policy.' Deshmukh asked the Railways to construct tracks in remote areas so as to benefit the people. On Deshmukh's demand for rehabilitation of encroachers, Union Minister of State for Railways Narain J Rathwa, who was the chief guest, said: "We will have a meeting with Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and the state government officials, and will take a decision on the issue. Before that, no encroachments will be removed.' State Finance Minister Jayant Patil also attended the function. THE NEW RAKES HAVE FOR YOU * Colour and signage scheme designed by National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad * Air springs in secondary suspension for improved riding index. *n Recron thermal wadding coach insulation to reduce transfer of heat from atmosphere *n Fiberglass Reinforced Polymer (FRP) panelling for better 'aesthetics * Polyurethane cushion/poly carbonate seats in first/second class with stainless steel frame *n Stainless steel handholds & luggage racks * Bigger lift-up type windows with polycarbonate louvers * Stainless steel roof paneling, flooring and doorway partitioning * Powder coated aluminium doors with polycarbonate window DC-AC conversion According to the Railways, the DC traction system currently being used in the city's suburban train network, cannot keep pace with ever increasing number of commuters and the phenomenal expansion of the metropolis. Hence, the Railways has embarked on its ambitious DC-AC conversion plan. The conversion is possible only with the use of Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) stock which can run both under DC and AC traction, the Railways said.
-
CHINA
Villages situated on the banks of the Shenzen river in south China are at the receiving end of the booming development in Hong Kong, as thousands of tonnes of industrial, livestock and human waste
-
JAPAN
Alarmed and feeling helpless, Japan is seeking external help for containing the food poisoning crisis which has till now claimed seven lives and affected nearly 6,400 people (Down To Earth Vol 5, No