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 …
"Colour without dyes" is the aim of Indian plant breeders, who have been trying to develop cotton coloured by nature itself. "Our labs have the germplasm of many types of coloured cotton and scientists are trying to develop stable colours," said S S Narayanan of the Central Institute of Cotton …
Traffic police in Delhi will be granted an allowance for breathing polluted air. The compensation amount will be graded according to rank, ranging from Rs 100 for constables to Rs 200 for inspectors. A study conducted by the capital's Central Road Research Institute and the All India Institute of Medical …
The ambitious Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) was dealt yet another blow by a study conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which examined the project's rehabilitation aspects. The implementation of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award, which had listed comprehensive project guidelines, was "far from satisfactory", noted the …
FOR THOUSANDS of years, humans have strived to utilise the sun's energy. Through the ages, the potential of solar energy has been exploited with increasing effectiveness in numerous applications, from small installations to the gigantic solar power stations. Solar energy was perhaps conceived as necessary for survival and as an …
WHEN PETER Sutherland lowered the gavel in Geneva on December 15 to signify the end of the Uruguay round of negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the reaction in India was sharply divided. While an enraged opposition charged the "economic sovereignty of the country had been …
TWO MEMBERS of parliament, Rabi Ray and Kamal Morarka, and the National Working Group on Patent Laws, have each filed petitions in the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of the Uruguay round of negotiations. The petitions, each running into about 140 pages, contend the agreement and the manner in which …
THOUGH India has a record number of cattle, its milk production is low. This is mainly because most of the cattle are of an inferior quality. Worse, the few superior breeds in the country are being neglected and even slaughtered, experts say. One way of increasing milk production could be …
TECHNOLOGY is essential for improved living and working conditions. However, women -- especially those in rural areas -- are often denied access to technology because of discrimination and lack of adequate information. For instance, rural women spend many hours away from home collecting firewood. If the women were provided energy …
AS THE December 15 deadline of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) approached, European farmers occupied centre stage by protesting various points of the agreement and forcing their respective governments to take uncompromising stands. While European and American agricultural negotiators pledged tariff cuts, farmers …
When you wrote your book, scholars used to study aspects like caste or land relations. What made you select science and technology? I wasn"t interested in science and technology at all. I was interested in my society -- in all its aspects. The question was: What happened to us 200 …
World AIDS Day in early December saw a rash of programmes on the battle against the disease, with Doordarshan and the satellite channels doing their bit to publicise the enormous degree of education and mobilisation needed to meet this killer head-on. One drab discussion on Doordarshan's morning show was enlivened …
NEGOTIATIONS on how to structure a more democratic Global Environment Facility (GEF), which will finance the environmental treaties signed at the Earth Summit, broke down once again in Cartagena, Colombia, in December 1993. Participating countries were unable to agree to the proposed changes to restructure the GEF, set up by …
THE STATE of the world continues to deteriorate. Any light at the end of the tunnel is, at best, hazy. Despite the slide, perceptions have changed and the State of the World report could have been a powerful instrument towards this change for the better. However, one feels disillusioned when …
Duplicate samples of the diet of vegetarian adults were analyzed to estimate the residues of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and benzene hexachloride (BHC). The total food consumed by an adult per day was collected and categorized as fatty food, non-fatty food, water, and beverages. Fatty food was the main source of these …
In fifty developing countries, which contain half of the total human population of the world, there is a heavy dependence on draught animals as an energy source. These animals are used for agriculture operations in 52% of cultivated areas of the world, as well as for hauling 25 million carts. …
INDIAN farmers are cashing in on the Western fad for organically produced food. But before organic farmers can start dreaming of the greenback, it is virtually essential for their produce to get international accreditation or recognition. Kurunji Organic Food India Pvt Ltd (KOFIL), a Tamil Nadu-based agency, was the first …
EVER SINCE a 3-km straight-cut was dug into the Upputeru channel to speed up draining of water from Kolleru lake into the Bay of Bengal in 1972, soil erosion has plagued the tiny island of Chinna Gollapalem, situated where the lake waters meet the sea. The gushing waters of Upputeru …
IN TAMIL Nadu, some municipal corporations have begun to sell organic manure to farmers. This not only solves the problem of waste disposal but also supplements their budgets. In 1992-93, the Thanjavur municipal corporation sold 11,790 tonnes of organic manure for Rs 1.69 lakh. The manure consists largely of wastes …
EVERY DAY at 5 am, Sridevi picks up all the pots in her house in the Mandaveli slums of Madras city and places them at the end of the street, as she has been doing for the past 12 years. She must ensure that her pots are among the first …
IN APRIL 1983, the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu governments signed the Telugu Ganga project agreement, under which Madras would get 15 tmc ft of water from the Srisailam reservoir between February and September. Government indifference and lack of funds delayed the project, but it has been revived recently. A …
