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 …
INDIA is probably the most industrialised developing country in the world today, with more than a million trained scientists. But this has only resulted in creating a deeply divided society. The last three decades have witnessed a proliferation of institutions set up to promote rural development through science and technology. …
THE WILDLIFE Protection Act of 1972 made illegal the traditional occupation of the Irula tribals of Tamil Nadu. Consequently, the tribals who specialised in catching snakes, rats and termites and in collecting medicinal herbs, took up agricultural labour and road laying -- jobs that could not sustain them through the …
SUSTAINABLE development is a growing concern for many grassroots organisations, such as the Mukti Sangharsh Movement (MSM) in Sangli district in western Maharashtra. Over the last decade, MSM has involved peasants and labourers in developing scientific alternatives as part of its anti-drought movement, and more recently, in the Bali Raja …
After being spewed into the atmosphere for the past 30 years, mainly through the use of fire extinguishers, ozone-depleting halon concentrations are now decreasing (Nature, Vol 359 No 6394). Although halons H-1301 and H-1211 are each present in the troposphere at a concentration of two parts per trillion, the gases …
Prof Chhatrapati Singh Indian Law Institute Bhagwan Dass Road New Delhi 110 001 Dr Vasudha Dhagamwar Multiple Action Research Group 113-A Shahpurjat New Delhi 110 016 Mihir Desai / Gayatri Singh / Colin Gonsalves Engineers House, Fourth floor 86, Apollo Street Bombay 400 023 M C Mehta Indian Council for …
EVEN as J R D Tata, the grand old man of Tata Sons Ltd, called upon people to support the shrimp-farm project at Chilika the Union forests and environment minister Kamal Nath nominated scientists D K Biswas, Rajni Warrior and C L Trisal to assess the impact of Chilika Aquatic …
TWICE-DISPOSSESSED Pong dam oustees have urged the Centre to sponsor tripartite talks between their representatives and the BJP governments of Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan to settle rehabilitation issues. At a Congress-organised rally recently, Union minister of state for planning Sukh Ram condemned the Rajasthan government's high-handed and unilateral amendment of …
A bacterium that causes botulism can be used to temporarily banish wrinkles (Asian Wall Street Journal, Nov 9, 1992). While treating a patient with dystonia -- a condition characterised by severe muscle contractions -- researchers at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Centre discovered the patient looked younger after being injected with minute …
THE HIGH incidence of bone cancer and leukaemia in western Rajasthan has led doctors to advocate studies be carried out to ascertain whether the 1974 Pokharan nuclear test is responsible in any way. A retrospective study of malignancy frequency in the region, conducted by R G Sharma and his associates …
A LOW-COST AIDS test is now being manufactured in India. The test, known as the HIV Dipstick, was developed by the Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health, a US-based, non-profit agency, and does not require very complicated equipment, refrigeration or technicians to operate it. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that …
THE INCIDENCE of thyroid cancer among children in the former Soviet republic of Belarus after the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident has increased earlier than expected, placing a strain on the health services of the new country (Nature, Vol 359 No 6390). In the areas most affected, the incidence of …
TRANSGENIC fish may soon be served at your favourite restaurant. Indian scientists are trying to genetically engineer certain fish species to make them grow larger faster. In this controversial technique, an organism is injected with genes from a foreign organism and once the transfer is accepted, a transgenic organism is …
NUTRITIOUS biscuits made from the leaves of the fast-growing fodder tree subabul (Leucaena leucocephala) can be fed to cattle and increase milk yields, say animal husbandry and social forestry experts. Subabul, which originated in central America, is now grown widely as a fodder crop in India. Subabul biscuit production was …
WILDLIFE biologists no longer have to risk life and limb to catch a glimpse of elusive animals eager to protect their privacy. Thanks to technology, biologists can now sit back in the comfort of their offices and track the movements of seals and the rapacious foraging of elephants (Science, Vol …
URBAN air pollution in India has become a cause of concern and alarm and the subject of much writing and debate on measures to control it. Calcutta is reputed to be one of the world's most polluted cities, but its citizens contend the pervasive acrid odours and hazy horizons are …
TWENTY years and crores of rupees after it was begun, the Project Tiger success story is crumbling. Indiscriminate poaching, the disappearance of tigers individually identified by experts and the seizure of tiger bones and skins in metropolitan cities have resulted in this situation. Add to this the resentment of the …
THE SUPREME Court, in its judgement on the controversial Mandal Commission recommendations, upholds "merit" as the preferable yardstick for admission and recruitment to the scientific and technical professions noting these call for the "highest levels of intelligence, skill and excellence". The judgement dispenses with the reservation clause for technical posts …
Karoshi -- death from overwork -- has struck corporate bigwigs in Japan. Now, white-collared workers and women too are being affected and a worried labour ministry has announced a set of initiatives to deal with the problem (The Lancet, Vol 340 No 8819). Karoshi, characterised by sudden death caused by …
FRENCH willingness to share space research and nuclear power expertise with India is considered a welcome and viable alternative coming as it does in the wake of a US ban on the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), following ISRO's decision to buy cryogenic engines from Russia. French minister for research …
The controversial Human Genome Project -- a collaborative effort to decode and understand the human genetic code in chromosomes -- is already showing results and is likely to be completed ahead of schedule (Nature, Vol 359 No 6394). The first maps of two human chromosomes -- the long arm of …
