Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
We attempt to synthesize available quantitative, precisely dated and high-resolution palaeorecords of the South Asian summer monsoon from different natural archives, highlighting their similarities and differences. We distinguish between the palaeorecords of monsoon winds and monsoon rainfall and underscore the importance of quantitative rainfall reconstruction using the amount effect in …
The rivers draining the Gangetic plains exhibit remarkable geomorphic diversity, and this has consequently characterized the rivers to be dominantly aggradational in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) and degradational in the Western Gangetic Plains. We suggest that steam power and sediment supply are the two main fluvial parameters which govern …
Measurement of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity in vadose zone is a very difficult task. It is estimated using mathematical or empirical relations. The unsaturated hydraulilc conductivity with respect to water content or suction is estimated using standard empirical relations. These empirical relations use saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) as one of the …
Feasibility of harvesting roof top water in an engineering college campus is studied using a stochastically generated daily rainfall series. It has been shown that even though sufficient amount of water is available, possibility of harvesting rainwater is limited because of limitations in the storage that can be provided. It …
Water is important for economic development, and many parts of India already face issues of water scarcity. This study predicts that intensity of rainfall will increase under climate change. Issues such as water scarcity may also become more prevalent. The marked rise in precipitation intensity and variability in extremes will …
Further indication has been received about the existence of water on Mars, intensifying expectations of the possibility of finding life on the planet. The High Resolution Stereo Camera (hrsc) on board Mars Express, the European Space Agency (esa) probe exploring the planet, shows a giant patch of water ice nestled …
the Bangladesh Cabinet is to decide on a crucial draft bill to conserve the country's rivers, canals, other waterbodies and floodplains from encroachment, ensure better drainage of storm water from cities through natural outlets and provide for safe conveyance of floodwater through rivers. The bill will subsequently be presented in …
heady odour: US scientists have found how odours generate signals that eventually travel to the brain. As per the current knowledge, our sense of smell converts odours into brain signals, just as our vision converts light into brain signals. But the researchers at the Johns Hopkins' Institute for Basic Biomedical …
about one month ago, there were reports in the media that Gujarat is not getting adequate water because the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam can't be raised. Such reports appear with a striking periodicity. Within a month, the same newspapers were reporting floods in Gujarat. Daily newspapers have a …
What are the new challenges for scientists who research on rice? We don't have much water for agriculture today. So, we have to produce more rice using less water. Then, agriculturists have also diversified into other crops, so we need rice varieties that take up less land. There are also …
On 7th April 2005, the Kerala High Court permitted Hindustan Coca-Cola Limited (Coke) to draw 5 lakh litres of water a day at its humungous bottling plant at Plachimada in Kerala's Palakkad district. This reversal to status quo means that the cola multinational (mnc) can now continue the activities that …
The much-opposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (cafta) was approved by the us Senate on June 30, 2005, after a heated debate. The treaty will remove most restrictions on the nearly us$32 million trade of the us with the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. cafta …
Close on the heels of Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf announcing a three-year target to make potable water available to all, six people died due to water contamination in Lahore, Punjab's capital. At least 500 others fell sick. The mishap was caused by the mixing of sewage into the drinking water …
a project to turn a 145-year-old surface irrigation canal in Uttaranchal into an underground canal is threatening livelihoods in over nine villages of Dehradun district. The two-year-old proposal of the Irrigation Department (id) regarding the Dhakrani Canal, which supplies water from Ambadi to Herbertpur crossing, was accepted recently. The project …
This issue of Down To Earth examines a crisis forest-rich states in India find themselves in: conserving forests is a burden states are no longer able - or willing - to afford. This has happened because in India, as concern for natural resources grew, the harvesting of forests stopped. For …
The Environmental Impact Monitoring of the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP), carried out by experts of Alagappa University, Karaikudi, on physico-chemical parameters of dredging shows there is no threat to the marine eco-system, Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T.R. Baalu said on Saturday.The second review meeting of …
Aggressively claiming its right over its natural resources post tsunami, Indonesia recently adopted a new law that requires all foreign fishing vessels to give 70 per cent of their catch to the domestic processing industry. These vessels also have to ensure that at least 40 per cent of the crew …
Theus stringently monitors scientific practice and even has an Office of Research Integrity to track adherence to scientific ethics. Yet, a third of practising American scientists indulge in malpractices in their work . This was revealed in a study conducted among 3,200 us scientists by the not-for-profit HealthPartners Research Foundation, …
I had just finished a presentation to a gathering of Venetian academics on the time-tested water storage systems of Rajasthan. During refreshments, while some wondered at what went into making such elaborate water systems, I asked: how was water managed before pipelines came to Venice about a 100 years ago? …
