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 …
PEOPLE with strong body odour may probably be carrying a faulty gene, according to researchers from London's St Mary's Hospital Medical School. The researchers say they are close to nailing the gene defect because of which the carriers cannot process a chemical called trimethylamine, a product of digestion that smells …
RECENT newspaper reports have illuminated a very different facet of alcoholism. Agitations spearheaded by women against their alcoholic husbands, which have quite frequently, successfully got them out of their addiction, are making headlines in many states. And, a number of organisations are helping the women in their bold endeavour. Jagori …
The removal of subsidies on phosphatic and potash fertilisers this year has led to an almost three-fold price increase and a sharp drop in their consumption, according to the annual review of the Fertiliser Association of India. Warns an association spokesperson, "If the trend continues, the yield and quality of …
A COMMON parasitic disease of the human nervous system, neurocysticercosis, is often mistaken for tuberculosis of the brain. And, because doctors are unable to distinguish between the two, the disease claims numerous lives each year. But now, scientists at the Astra Research Centre India and the National Institute for Mental …
FEMALE foeticide and infanticide are not unique to India -- they are prevalent almost globally. They were practised in ancient Greece and were prevalent among certain Arabian tribes until recently. The Yanomani Indians of Brazil still practise it. In India, female infanticide is often attributed to poverty, but the rich, …
Despite its highly protected status, the Great Indian Bustard may soon become extinct. The bustard has been fast losing its grasslands habitat -- spread over about 250 sq km -- and is also facing threat from poachers, particularly in Rajasthan. According to grassland ecologist Asad Rahmani of the Centre of …
WHILE constructing a wall, masons ensure with the help of a plumb line that bricks are aligned vertically, for otherwise, the wall could fall. But conventional methods of alignment using instruments such as spirit-levels and plumb-lines are time-consuming and error-prone. They also cannot meet the level of precision required while …
IN A SITUATION where material on environmental law is by and large scattered, the bringing together of case, statutory and analytical material, through careful selection and critique, is of significance to teachers and students of environmental law. The value of this book is greatly enhanced by the fact that besides …
TALKING of environment education in schools, I can't help feeling the painful irony that we, the inheritors of the Vedas, are exploring in 1993 ways to conscientise our young citizenry about our environment. Vedic chants such as Servai Bhavantu Sukhina placed value on balance and equilibrium; sanyam (discipline) and sahachar …
ENVIRONMENTAL education is a major task before this country and future generations have to be prepared to face the extraordinary task of meeting their needs from a degrading environment. Given the growing numbers of people and the desire for a better standard of living, our children will have to get …
ABOUT 5,000 gram panchayats in Karnataka will go to the polls on December 16 this year. But some proponents of panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) argue that the 1983 framework for the operation of PRIs was far more committed to the ethos of democratic decentralisation than the 1993 act. They argue …
Why do you do shramdaan? Because it is holy work. My father used to tell me participation in community work is real service to god. How did you learn to make mojars? From my father. It is in our blood. My grandfather also was a mojar specialist. When I was …
The ability to shift genes from one species to another is revolutionising agriculture and plant breeding. Previously, breeders looking for a gene that confers resistance to a pest, had to restrict their search to wild relatives of the plant. If the relatives didn't have the required gene, the search had …
DO PRICES determine increase in use of fertilisers, which are heavily subsidised by the government, in India? Fifty-six-year-old Madhusudan Reddy, who owns 50 ha in Chaganur village in Karnataka's Bellary district, disagrees. "I use the same quantity of fertilisers I did before the government increased their prices two years ago," …
If transgenic plants are here, transgenic animals can't be far behind. And they aren't. Scientists have been able to alter animals to make them produce proteins, grow bigger and faster, breed in different conditions and also serve as models to study diseases. For instance, instead of using recombinant bacteria to …
Rapid developments in human gene cloning and efficient gene-transfer technologies have opened up the possibility, in a sense, of producing transgenic humans. In the past four years, researchers have cloned and sequenced many defective genes that cause diseases, including those responsible for several types of muscular dystrophy and most recently, …
Despite administrative efforts, financial resources and almost 10 years of research, Indian genetic engineers have been unable to come up with a recombinant DNA product that is commercially viable. The department of biotechnology (DBT) was set up in 1986 when policy makers realised biotechnology had the potential to address the …
"ALTHOUGH India has built many dams that are engineering marvels, traditional water-harvesting methods are still the lifeline for most villages," says A V Chaturvedi, Jehanabad district development commissioner. He cites the example of Motepur dam, an earthen structure that is built every two years over the Punpun river. The Motepur …
SOME WESTERN universities and scientists have formed a consortium -- the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) -- to collect and preserve genetic material from several tribes and communities worldwide that face extinction. Each ethnic community may have a slightly different genetic composition and scientists believe these differences could some day …
