Judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of In Re: Zudpi Jungle Lands. A batch of applications involved a peculiar issue concerning the situation prevailing in the six districts of eastern Vidarbha region namely Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli. The issue pertains to the status of the …
IF WE are to have 3 books for every Indian child, there won't be a single tree left standing in the country. We simply do not have enough wood for so many users. If the massive drives towards total literacy and universal primary education are successful, we might soon find …
HISTORY is an open book that generations of bureaucrats have steadfastly ignored. Civil servants have repeatedly tried to deny people -- especially tribals and hill people -- access to natural resources on which their very survival depends and in the process, invariably alienated them and caused the degradation of forest …
TWO steps forward, one step backward. That's the irritating pattern of growth I've been seeing in the past 2 decades in villages within 3 km from the motor road to Kumaon. But even this hobbled dance of development seemed to take on a progressive avatar after a 15-km trek to …
IF HEALTH is indeed wealth... then we Indians are going to get richer. Very soon: announces the advertisement for Depo Provera (DP) in a national daily -- the same Depo Provera (depomedroxyprogesterone) that has been around for more than 25 years, getting into one controversy or the other ever since …
IT'S DARK, almost midnight, and in the darkness a torch flashes light over the dark waters of Paraguay. The global detective is lying in waiting for the crime to take place. All is silent except for the gentle sound of the waves. Then, in the space of a second, the …
INTEGRATED development has changed the Hivare landscape in more ways than one. Check dams have raised the groundwater level, slowed down erosion and helped increase crop yields. Villagers like 67-year-old G D Gurav hope that water and fuelwood problems will be solved shortly. The villagers used to migrate to cities …
Dharwad (Karnataka) Opposition to GATT in Karnataka is spearheaded by the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRSS), which has gained strength over the past 2 years and forced the ruling Congress government to accord comparatively greater seriousness in projecting its viewpoint of GATT. The thrust of the official programme -- to …
A BANK with no minimum deposits, no signatures, ridiculously low interest rates on loans and run by the depositors themselves: "It is not really a bank, but more of a thrift and credit scheme," says Sushma, a housewife living in Shankar Camp near Moti Bagh in the Capital, one of …
WHATEVER the outcome of the byelection in Rajasthan's Rajakheda assembly constituency on May 26, it will be remembered for one thing: GATT as a campaign issue. Previously, elections in Rajakheda were always contested along caste lines: Brahmins versus the rest. But now, Samajwadi Party candidate Mohan Prakash, a former legislator …
On the government's information campaign: We have to deal with a great deal of disinformation about GATT. We have launched a counter-campaign to present the right picture. We are organising seminars, workshops and taking up public contact programmes and distribution of literature on how Indian farmers will benefit from GATT. …
ALTHOUGH commerce minister Pranab Mukherjee maintains that India has good chances of cornering a sizeable chunk of the projected increase in world agricultural trade (up to 7 per cent, according to International Monetary Fund estimates) in the post-GATT era, there are overwhelming doubts about such claims. The increase in trade …
Gatt on TRIPS • Provides for protection of plant varieties. • Microorganism and microbiological processes are patentable. • Countries can either provide for patenting of plant varieties or develop an effective sui generis system of protection or a combination of both. Pro-GATT position • This will not affect farmers' rights …
WHAT do you do when a rapidly exploding population starts an exodus to the cities and chokes up the roads, making commuting a nightmare even at high noon? Go in for more cars and better roads designed to take the load? Or do you promote an alternative mode of transport …
TO EVERY car sold in the Netherlands, the Dutch buy 2 bicycles. To own an automobile is no longer a status symbol. On the other hand, the Dutch are very particular about their bicycles. In a country of 15 million people, there are about 14 million bicycles. Since 1970, people …
REMEMBER the man and boychild in Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thief? In the prewar grump in Europe, a bicycle could get you places and get you jobs just by its mere objective presence. But, subjectively, without a bike, you were man emasculated. In India, the bike is slowly being converted …
WOOD is out, and matt or glossy steel and plastics are in, as far as the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) is concerned. In line with the government of India's decision to promote wood substitution, the ministry of urban development has instructed CPWD to ban the use of wood in …
A SMALL, green caterpillar has proved to be the scourge of the 3 cotton-growing northwestern Indian states of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. Over the past 2 years, the seemingly innocuous American bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) has chewed its way into ripening bolls of cotton, destroying over half the cotton crop. The …
INPUTS such as irrigation, high yielding seeds, fertilisers, agro-chemicals and electrical power should have made life easier for the farmer. But despite the availability of such facilities -- or because of it -- 24 small and marginal farmers of Andhra Pradesh's Guntur and Prakasam districts committed suicide in 1987-88 because …
WITH the limitations of synthetic insecticides and their adverse effects on the environment, scientists are trying to tackle crop pests such as bollworms by integrated pest management (IPM). "IPM is the consolidation of evaluated pest management techniques into a unified programme to manage pest populations to minimise economic loss and …
EXOTIC COTTON (Long-stapled) Advantages • Fibre is fine • Fibre can easily be spun into threads • Fibre is strong and maintains shape • Ideal for mechanised spinning and weaving in textile industry • Definite flowering periods Disadvantages • Susceptible to pests and diseases • Seeds outweigh fibre • Higher …
