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 …
"How here he sipped, how there he plundered smug And sucked all o'er like an industrious bug." That's how Alexander Pope, the 18th century English satirist, referred to the exploitative tendency of some humans in his poem, The Dunciad. But his lines could well describe the nightmarish feelings of Indian …
AFTER two decades of Project Tiger, conservationists concede it is impossible to protect simultaneously tigers, trees and people"s livelihood. This was the major conclusion of an international seminar in New Delhi in February to assess the highly publicised project. Seminar participants identified the lack of local community involvement in protecting …
"THE SENSE of crisis is behind us," proclaimed Manmohan Singh, presenting the annual Union budget -- his third -- in Parliament. The clarion call of confidence with which Singh put forth his intention to liberalise and globalise the Indian economy confounded both supporters and detractors. Indeed, the finance minister seemed …
Proposals to promote industrialisation in ecologically fragile but genetically rich areas such as the Himalayan states and the island territories have drawn equal flak from both environmentalists and environment and forest ministry officials, who say they will take the issue up with the Planning Commission. The five-year tax holiday lure …
EXPERIMENTAL observations have amply confirmed the Big Bang theory, but some of its shortcomings have led scientists to develop the so-called inflationary theory, to pursue their bid to trace the early history of the universe. Proposed originally by Alan Guth of MIT in 1980, the inflationary theory predicts the density …
INVESTMENT in public services has not kept pace with the health needs of India's growing population. This has resulted in the quality of medical services being poor. The dismal performance of government hospitals has encouraged the growth of private medical institutions, but these are profit-motivated and far too many of …
"IMPORT for export" is the call of Manmohan Singh"s newest budget. The duty on project imports in many areas, including mining, power and petroleum refining, has been cut to 25 per cent and to encourage technical upgradation of the capital goods sector, it has been lowered to 35 per cent. …
ASTRONOMERS are excited about the recent observations made by the satellite ROSATwhich provide the strongest evidence yet that as much as 90 per cent of the matter in the universe is invisiblewhose presence is indicated by its gravitational pull on matter in space. Astronomers have been searching for this invisible …
ECONOMIC reforms launched in India in July 1991 were aimed at bridging fiscal and monetary imbalances and reducing the balance of payments. Associated with these conspicuous disproportions was the environmental imbalance, which economists set aside as externalities. But with increasing global concern about the environment, India, too, has started responding …
FINANCE Minister Manmohan Singh has presented a budget that seeks to push the economy from stabilisation to growth, through structural adjustments. In order to give a boost to exporters, he has moved from partial to full convertibility and reduced customs duties on imports. To ensure there is no resulting threat …
GREEN IMPLICATIONS Though a few proposals in the 1991 budget may be termed eco-friendly, the overall trend remains hostile towards the environment Commodity or item Pre-Budget New Budget Remarks Raw material and items for solar energy and wind-operated power generation 40% import duty 15-20% import duty Definitely positive step towards …
ONE OF the most remarkable and exciting developments in physics has been the interaction between particle physics and cosmology. Remarkable, because it combines the study of the very small, namely, particle physics, with the study of the very large, namely, cosmology. Exciting, because each is contributing immensely towards answering fundamental …
THAT SCIENCE and technology (in the broadest sense) have something to do with development is accepted now almost universally. From the discovery of iron to the harnessing of steam, technology has played a major role in determining the level of economic development of any era. This is as true today …
AFTER 18 years of conservation efforts, crocodiles in India are no longer a threatened species. Unless something drastic occurs in the 20,000 sq km of protected areas (including 8,300 sq km of special sanctuaries), the extinction of the crocodile is only a remote possibility. But though the track record of …
IN DAYS long gone, the bearer of bad tidings was usually put to death unceremoniously. In today's more civilised times, we in the Third World prefer to vilify such messengers as biased agents of neo-imperialists, who never hesitate to point out the mote in our eyes while remaining blissfully oblivious …
GERMANY has demonstrated how economic instruments can be used effectively to promote environmental causes in a market economy. An ordinance on solid-waste management, for example, has resulted in excess packaging in stores being reduced by 98 per cent and the use of recycled material in packaging increasing to 25 per …
It is perhaps a comment on how strident documentary film-making has become that one is puzzled by a film on a newsy, controversial subject that fails to make a point. After watching Chilika -- The Story of a Lagoon, one wonders what the film-maker set out to do. With an …
Students of Hyderabad University's department of communication have tried to highlight the effect industrialisation can have on the quality of life in their film, Companee Lochayee, Gaddu Rojulu Thechayee (With the Coming of Industries, Hard Days Have Come). As the film is part of their diploma requirement, it should not …
PAMPERING APPLES Subsidies for apple growers in Himachal Pradesh, 1985-86 to 1990-91. Rs (in crores) HORTICULTURE DEPARTMENT Medicines against scab disease Foot sprayers Power sprayers Insecticides Transport of timber from outside the state 4.06 0.18 0.41 0.17 1.05 FOREST DEPARTMENT Concessional timber for packing crates 47.32 HPMC Concessions on cartons …
"Hum yahan bahut khush hain. Raat mein restaurant mein hi padhai ki class hoti hain (I am very happy here. Night literacy classes are held at the restaurant itselt)," says 17-year-old Bhagwan Singh. For two years now, Bhagwan has worked at Butterflies, a restaurant in the Inter-State Bus Terminus run …
