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 …
CRATES for one hectare of tomatoes, which is grown as an off-season crop in Himachal Pradesh, require wood from 10 ha of chir pine forest, says R V Singh, former director general of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education. Tomatoes -- as well as peas and beans -- …
BANANAS are thirsty plants, and farmers in the Jalgaon area of Maharashtra -- who produce 10,00,000 tonnes of the state"s annual banana output of 17,00,000 tonnes -- have literally begun mining for water. Groundwater levels in the area have fallen from 22 m in 1970 to 60 m. Baliram Borawale, …
FARMERS in the orange-growing regions of Warud and Morshi in Amravati district of Maharashtra refer to the area as "the California of Vidarbha." According to the directorate of horticulture, of the 36,800 ha under orange cultivation in the state in 1989-90, 29,000 were in Amravati and Nagpur districts. To keep …
GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD Areas earmarked in the Five-Year Plans Mango Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Goa Citrus Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Assam, other NE states Litchi Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh Guava Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, …
WHEN GOD forbade Adam and Eve from eating the apples from the Tree of Knowledgehe probably had environmental interests in mind. But Eve couldn"t resist the temptationand neither could Adam. Too bad. The price for their folly is still being paid. The Indian governmenttooit seemscan"t fight temptation. Encouraged by successes …
THE PRISTINE woods of the Biligirirangan Hills in Mysore district, a reserved forest, are marred by denudation that has left only a few eucalyptus and silver oak patches on the lower slopes. The destruction by contractors has wrought havoc on the Soliga tribals, who have lived in Biligirirangam for centuries. …
Dr Ram Kumar Kutty Lok Swasthya Parampara Samvardhan Samithy Post Box No 7102 Trichy Road, Ramanathapuram Coimbatore 641 045 Dr T N Manjunath Voluntary Health Association of India Tong Swasthya Bhawan 40, Qutab Institutional Area New Delhi 110 016 SAHAJ Holistic Health Centre Bibbewedi Pune 411 037 Dr Arvind Khare …
THE EXORBITANT price of the life-saving, anti-coagulant drug, Acetrome, is enough to give heart patients a cardiac arrest. Between January 1991 and January 1993, the price of a strip of 10 4-mg Acetrome tablets jumped 1,000 per cent from Rs 5.80 to Rs 59.50, effectively putting it out of reach …
SERIOUS differences over biodiversity management surfaced during an Indo-British workshop held recently in New Delhi to prepare a blueprint for conservation of biodiversity in different Indian ecosystems. With the British wanting easy access to information on genetic resources and the Indians doubting the ability of "those from other cultures" to …
INSPIRED by the human sense of touch, robotics engineers are trying to build a mechanical hand that can feel, grab and manipulate objects just like the human hand. Ultimately, engineers trying to design sensitive robotic hands picture their research coming full circle to biology -- by restoring tactile sensibility to …
A SOCIAL forestry scheme in Himachal Pradesh that for long was charged by environmentalists as a state-sponsored land-grab bid in the guise of afforestation has been suspended following the dismissal of the Bharatiya Janata Party government. The van lagao rozi kamao yojana (grow-forests-and-earn-a-living scheme), implemented by the BJP, sought to …
RESORTING to legal redress to get public areas free of defecators may soon become the norm in the Capital. And, given the burgeoning slum population and the dismal state of public conveniences, the entire city may soon be caught in a debate on the tricky issue of allowing public areas …
TWO RECENT climate studies have found that while changes in solar radiation do contribute to global warming, this effect is small as compared to that of human-made greenhouse gases. The increase in the annual average global temperature at the earth's surface was as much as 0.8o C between 1880 and …
The Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF) had several New Year presents for Indian industry. Environment minister Kamal Nath -- for the umpteenth time -- relaxed his schedule for gross polluting industries to clean up or face closure. The earlier deadline was December 31, 1992, but now grace periods …
IT WAS a strange case of politicians taking out their venom on snakes. Angry CPM workers in Kerala vandalised and set fire to the Parassinikkadavu Snake Park in Kannur. The reason for the wanton destruction of what was one of the finest snake sanctuaries in Asia, was the defeat of …
YOU CAN now bank on the environment -- at least at the nine Punjab National Bank (PNB) branches that will underwrite projects friendly to both customers and the environment. In a trend-setting move, PNB branches will encourage ecologically safe projects such as organic farms, fruit and vegetable cooperatives for the …
A US $700 million "nuclear safety account" to reduce the risk of accidents in east Europe - agreed in principle last July - has finally been approved by specialists from the Group of Seven industrialised nations. At least 32 reactors are deemed sufficiently safe for upgrading; 26 are excluded as …
WHEN GUJJAR Zahur Hussain got into a trifling argument with a forestry official who was on his way to a temple in the Rajaji National Park, little did he expect what followed. That evening the official -- a deputy director of the park -- came to Hussain's hut accompanied by …
RUSSIA has offered to trade its cut-price satellite launch potential for a guaranteed number of launches at international prices. Space agency chief Yuri Koptiev said he would accept a quota of three launches a year, one-fifth of the total world market. This would generate US $200 million for the Russians, …
