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 had the last laugh when US President George Bush announced at an election campaign meeting US $1 billion in subsidies to boost US wheat exports. India, whose request for purchase of one million tonnes of American wheat was rejected in March can now import 1.5 million tonnes of American …
VILLAGERS in Uttara Kannada district are waging a battle against Karnataka Forest Department officials who are allowing contractors to fell trees in the betta lands -- tracts of forests sanctioned to farmers of the region during British rule. The trouble began in March when villagers in Adnalli gheraoed a contractor …
IRONICALLY, trees are now a security problem for the army. The armed forces are seeking urgent permission from the environment ministry for selective tree-felling in the thickly wooded areas under their control, for security reasons. They claim, while trees were earlier planted as camouflage, now the areas have started sticking …
CORAL reefs in various parts of the world are getting bleached and scientists are debating whether this is an early warning of global warming, or simply a local warming of sea waters. Tom Goreau of the Global Reef Alliance says bleaching results from "expulsion by the coral of their symbiotic …
INDIA is lobbying hard and activists are stepping up pressure as the World Bank prepares to take a decision in October on a suggestion to "suspend" but not terminate aid for the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada river. Two Indian delegations visited the US, the UK, Japan, the Netherlands, …
THOUGH only about 10 per cent of rainforest plants -- far less diverse than ocean life -- have been screened, these have still yielded a number of anti-cancer, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory drugs. Research on marine natural products which are far more diverse did not begin until 1973, but according to …
A GOOD night's sleep does wonders -- but not because it rests the tired brain as it has been proved that sleep is yet another form of mental activity. Scientists still have to identify the basic brain mechanism that brings about sleep and wakefulness or the real function of sleep, …
THE FIRST phase of the 220-mw Kakrapar Atomic Power Project (KAPP) near Surat went critical in early September, nearly two years behind schedule, but plant authorities already face allegations of not having complied with safety requirements and must contend with a labour dispute that could delay the second phase of …
THOUGH efforts to rehabilitate Indian crocodiles have been successful and they are reportedly "multiplying in leaps and bounds", the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests insists they must continue to be accorded the status of an endangered species. MEF officials turn a deaf ear to pleas from wildlife conservationists like …
THE DECISION of the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) to invite multinational corporations (MNCs) to set up large telephone exchanges has made domestic manufacturers of indigenously-developed equipment apprehensive of being left out of the lucrative urban market. Fujitsu, Siemens, AT&T;, Ericsson and Alcatel have bid for the contracts which will wipe …
Voluntary agencies, at their September meet organised by the Voluntary Action Network of India (VANI), have declaimed the government's attempts to network NGOs as "a strategy to suppress the growing voluntary sector in India". In April this year, the Planning Commission got together 50 voluntary agencies to discuss "mechanisms to …
THE UNITED States Agency for International Development (USAID) stopped assistance for irrigation development projects in India with effect from September 15. Sources attribute this measure to the gradual shifting of US attention to areas such as health and population control and agriculture -- specifically food processing. Some observers feel irrigation …
THE OLD water works of Burhanpur town is an impressive example of Mughal engineering skills. Named for Sheikh Burhanuddin, the town was built in 1400 on the banks of the Tapti in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. The founder, Nasir Khan Faruqi, established it as the capital of the Faruqi …
THE MEDICINAL and pesticidal properties of neem are beginning to excite interest the world over. In India, medical treatises going back thousands of years indicate that the tree is a rich source of medicinal compounds. The Neem Mission in Pune, set up by the promoter of neem, C M Ketkar, …
TREE SPECIES in arid and semi-arid lands across the developing world are disappearing due to an increasing demand for fuelwood and fodder and by progressive desertification, all of which is threatening plant genetic material. Arid zone trees, especially genera prosopis and acacia, have been identified as priorities for conservation by …
C M Ketkar Neem Mission 471 Shanwar Peth Pune 411 030 The Editor Neem Newsletter Division of Agricultural Chemicals Indian Agricultural Research Institute New Delhi 110 012 T S Subramaniam Conference Secretariat World Neem Conference Agricultural Research Centre International Business ITC (Seventh floor) Amrutha Topaz Somajiguda Hyderabad 500 482 Defence …
THE VILLAGE midwife's claims have been substantiated by recent scientific research on the contraceptive qualities of neem. "The ancient Ayurvedic treatises indicate neem was used to induce abortions," says M R Unniyal, assistant director at the Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha in Delhi. Today, scientists at the …
BELIEVE it or not, water that most people take for granted, is the most researched of liquids and scientists are still trying to determine why it is so fluid and why it has the extraordinary capacity of absorbing heat as its temperature rises. The answer probably lies in water's molecular …
HOW MUCH is 87265 multiplied by 32117? In our familiar method of multiplication, it will take five steps of multiplication and one step of addition to obtain the answer, apart from the rechecking to ensure the answer is correct. Yet, if the relevant formula from Vedic mathematics is known, the …
"A plant in the backyard has no value," says an Indian proverb. This attitude, which has been the bane of Indian society -- and that of the nations of the South -- repeatedly tends to overlook the traditional in pursuit of the modern. These societies often forget that modern technology, …
