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 …
PHOTOGRAPHS of the recent devastating tornado that swept away five villages near Kandi in West Bengal's Murshidabad district show some high walls still standing amidst surrounding debris -- mute witnesses to nature's wrath. A closer look shows the walls are made of mud and they were part of the double- …
With the resource crunch persisting, won't you find it difficult to raise funds for the revised target of 2,000 mw for power generation from non-conventional energy in the Eighth Plan ? Funds will be mobilised through private sector investments, loans from financial institutions and assistance from international agencies in addition …
WHEN STATE governor B R Bhagat cancelled plans for two major cement plants and banned limestone mining near main roads and tourist sites, he warned, "No one will be allowed to play with the ecology of the environmentally fragile state of Himachal Pradesh." Now, the environment has become a political …
IN 1987 Chet Singh Chauhan and a group of residents from Sangraha, a village in Sirmaur district, filed suit demanding the closure of the V K Walia limestone mines near the village. They accused of Walia of causing severe environmental damage because of unscientific mining operations: "Haphazard mining was not …
KERALA'S coastal waters have become a battleground, putting traditional fisherfolk, who don't have an alternative vocation, against operators of mechanical monsters looking for quick profits from the sea. Linked closely with the dispute is the fate of the marine ecosystem. Conflicts between traditional and mechanised fisherfolk take place all along …
Mini-micro hydel: Indian technologists developed mini-hydel systems more than 100 years ago, but in the post-Independence emphasis on the new "temples of modern India" -- huge dams and power stations -- mini-micro hydel systems were neglected. In 1989, however, hydro projects below 3 mw were transferred from the power ministry …
A typical PALM exercise takes about five days and includes the following: Day 1: Introductory The focus is on understanding the history of the village, its layout and the infrastructure available. Some other exercises called "empathisers" and "equalisers" are also included. These are held in the village and include the …
• A RS 4.5-crore, 100-kw solar photovoltaic power plant -- Asia's largest -- is to be commissioned by Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in May 1993 at Kalyanpur village in Aligarh district. • A Rs 4,000-crore, 100-mw tidal wave power project in the Gulf of Kutch is being reviewed. …
WHEN VISITING a village in Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri or Karnataka's Mysore districts, you may come across a group of about 25 adults busily laying out an intricate design on the ground, using powdered rice, coloured chalk, twigs and pebbles. The designs are not mere patterns in colour; they are diagrams …
SCIENTISTS at the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) in Bombay say they now have the expertise to culture the AIDS virus in the laboratory. "This is a first for the country," adds Robin Mukhopadhyaya, who set up a state-of-the-art AIDS research laboratory at CRI about two-and-a-half years ago. This is considered …
SARISKA was first declared a reserved area in 1955 through a notification issued under the Rajasthan Wild Animals and Birds Protection Act, 1951. Later, parts of it were declared a sanctuary and a national park under Section 35 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Different blocks of the reserved area …
A PROPOSED sewage treatment plant has trapped the 6.49-sq-km temple town of Guruvayur in controversy, pitting its residents against the villagers of nearby Chakankandam, where a 1.5 million litres per-day sewage disposal plant is to be located. Guruvayur residents held a seven-day sit-in recently to press for early implementation of …
FOR THE first time in India's environmental history, a person was imprisoned for contempt of court in relation to the Sariska mining case. The Supreme Court-appointed committee had invited petitioner Rajinder Singh, head of the Tarun Bharat Sangh, to accompany them on a tour of the mining areas. The mine-owners …
THE RATE of work-related accidents in India is nearly eight times that of Western nations and has risen by 20 per cent in the last decade. The 13th World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health, held in Delhi recently, thus rightly focussed on working conditions in the country. Factory owners, …
SCIENTISTS are using the latest equipment and most modern techniques to measure to an accuracy of 10 cm the height of Mt Everest and test the validity of an American astronomer's announcement in 1987 that Mt K2 (Godwin Austen) is the world's highest peak. Giorgio Poretti, who is implementing a …
In a chilling reminder of his prowess as an outlaw, sandalwood smuggler and poacher Veerappan and his gang exploded an electronic landmine, which destroyed a van carrying members of a task force set up specially to nab him. Twenty-two policemen died in the April 9 explosion at, which occurred less …
IF SEWAGE disposal is your problem, try treating the waste with earthworms -- you won't be disappointed. Biotechnologists studying earthworms have evolved a process to convert organic waste water -- like sewage, food processing and paper and pulp industry waste water -- into reuseable water while the earthworms' excreta can …
A pilot project to install energy-efficient, solar lanterns as an employment generation scheme in the northeastern states is to be implemented soon by the Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources (DNES), the Department of Science and Technology and the North-eastern Council. If the programme succeeds, installation will be expanded to a …
WASPS, bees and ants are known to live in highly organised colonies with an elaborate division of labour among the occupants, who are separated into different "castes", each performing specific functions, and who are also physically different and with a rank in colony hierarchy. However, Ropalidia rufoplagiata wasps, studied by …
Practitioners of siddha -- a traditional system of medicine, which originated in Tamil Nadu and uses metals such as iron, zinc, copper, gold and silver in treatment -- assert their therapeutic knowledge could fruitfully tackle AIDS. But medical and paramedical voluntary workers involved in AIDS relief programmes funded by the …
