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 …
ALTHOUGH many believe that he was shortchanged by the mandarins of the Indian technological and scientific establishment, Sam Pitroda still retains a concern for Indian S&T.; He was at his avuncular best last fortnight at the 7th foundation day celebrations of the Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), …
INTERNATIONAL Business Machines Inc, the market leader for the large and powerful mainframe computers, is adapting its machines to the growing demand for smaller, more flexible and less costly computers. The new technology developed over five years by IBM at the cost of over $1 billion, will allow these computers …
AN ANCIENT Egyptian practice of divining a woman's pregnancy by treating wheat seeds with her urine, say scientists, could be used as an efficient, economical pregnancy test for cows. The currently available laboratory methods of diagnosing pregnancy in cattle are laborious and expensive (Current Science, Vol 65, No 12). Based …
MORE films are being made on environmental issues than ever before; films that closely document issues, as well offer different points of view on the growing global environmental crisis. Many NGOs, activist groups and individual filmmakers have been have being driving their points across through the powerful and seductive medium …
TO AID industries in preparing their annual environmental statements, a new concept of waste minimisation circle (WMC), in which member units will share their expertise and experiences in resource conservation, is to be introduced soon by Indian industry associations, institutions and the government. The statements, which are to be submitted …
THE people of Ratnagiri, a coastal district in southern Maharashtra, are a jubilant lot today. A recent report by an expert committee instituted by the state government has vindicated their opposition to a large copper smelting unit proposed in the district. The committee said firmly that such industries would endanger …
EXPLAINING the procedure for an audit, to be conducted by experts hired by the industry or by an internal team, a CPCB official says, "Pre-audit activities include obtaining preliminary information on the industry such as the company's environmental management policies through a questionnaire, so that the main areas of concern …
ABOUT 2 million years ago, deep in the tropical jungles of Africa, a humanoid creaked into an upright posture. This was Homo erectus, our most immediate ancestor; it soon learnt to chip stones into useful tools and weapons, such as handaxes. A million years later, armed with these tools, the …
Not until a machine can write a sonnet or compose a concerto because of thoughts and emotions felt, and not by the chance fall of symbols, could we agree that machine equals brain -- that is, not only write it but know that it had written it. No mechanism could …
A MAJOR bird-smuggling racket was literally uncovered on the tarmac of New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. Just before four "abnormal" packages wrapped in gunny were loaded on to a Pakistan International Airlines flight for Dubai, curious customs officials pounced on them and found that they were packed with more …
THIS is a pond with a difference -- a lifeless, bitter-with-salt body of water that gets hotter as you go deeper and is scalding at the bottom. But for the Kutch dairy in Bhuj, Gujarat, the 6,000 sq metre pond is a gargantuan trap for solar energy and heats about …
"CARRYING capacity" is likely to be the Catchphrase of the Year. The term is liberally sprinkled throughout State of the World Report 1994, like some sort of mantra. To illustrate "a breach of carrying capacity", the report cites the reintroduction in 1944 of 29 reindeer to St Matthew Island in …
What is the outcome of your meeting with the minister? There is a deep sea fishing policy committee. They are now going to work out the final policy. The committee consists of bureaucrats and representatives of exporters. We are not represented in it at all. Are you demanding representation? Not …
A HANDFUL of people gathered together on a cold wintry evening in a remote Himalayan village in Arunachal Pradesh, seeking to conserve the only winter habitat of the blacknecked crane in India. They included two village elders, the headmaster and a teacher of a village school and the deputy director …
MEGHALAYA faces a new threat: the wholesale degradation of its air, soil and water by coal mining. It is damaging the greenscape through indiscriminate felling, excavations, tunnelling and the dumping of debris. In blind pursuit of black gold, mine operators ignore the essential harmony of the environment and continue to …
PERHAPS the most interesting aspect of the speculation in the press about A P J Abdul Kalam Khan's continued association with India's missile development programme was the relatively high degree of public interest evoked by it. Other contemporary gossip about the country's scientific establishment had no such popular appeal. Almost …
The Maldhari community of Saurashtra, reputed to be among the oldest inhabitants of this region, were traditionally livestock breeders, pastoral nomads roaming the wilds in search of the elusive green. This profile of the community exposes the havoc that environmental myths can wreak upon the lives of ordinary people. Pastoral …
LANGUAGE, in any campaign, is as potent a force as logic. In Patent Pending: Indian Farmers Fight to Retain Seed Freedom, a beautifully and cleverly made campaign film by Meera Dewan and Vandana Shiva, the language is so loaded as to render impossible any rational debate on the subject. Even …
VASANTH Futane had left a course in agriculture to join Jayaprakash Narayan's Sarvodaya movement. Karuna Futane spent 20 years at Vinoba Bhave's ashram. The couple are now channelising their energies towards organic farming at their farm in Rawala village in the Vidharba region of Maharashtra. They also established a non-governmental …
