Page 156 - Environment
IITs to develop Himalayan climate change vulnerability assessment
The Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati, Indian Institute of Technology-Mandi and Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru have collaborated to develop a climate change vulnerability assessment for the Indian Himalayan region using a common framework, it was announced on Thursday.
Pollution in Bandi river: NGT refuses to waive Rs 20 cr fine on Rajasthan govt for inaction
The National Green Tribunal has refused to modify its order slapping a fine of Rs 20 crore on Rajasthan government for not taking proper action to control pollution in the Bandi river by local textile industries. A bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore said that considering the damage caused to the environment due to the industries, environment compensation of Rs 20 crore cannot be considered to be excessive. "We are of the considered opinion that the applicant is not entitled to any of the reliefs prayed for in the review application for the simple reason that in the order dated January 31 there is no error apparent on the face of the record," the bench said. The tribunal also refused to extend the time limit till December 2010 for achieving 'Zero Liquid Discharge' and operation of Sewage Treatment Plants to their optimum capacity, terming the plea as pre-mature. "The concerning industry should first proceed for complying the order passed by the tribunal and thereafter, if ...
All political parties should include farmers' demands in manifestos: ICCFM
Farmers' body ICCFM Thursday said political parties should include various demands, such as Rs 5,000 monthly pension and an additional income support under the PM-Kisan scheme, in their election manifestos. The All India Coordination Committee of Farmers' Movement (ICCFM) also demanded that family members of the farmers who committed suicide should be rehabilitated and at least one family member should be given a government job. The Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held in seven phases starting from April 11. The Model Code of Conduct has already kicked in and the political parties are busy finalising candidates and the election manifestos. The ICCFM comprises major farmer bodies such as such as Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam (TVS) and Adivasi Gothra Mahasabha (AGM). "We have 18 key demands and we want all the political parties to include in their election manifestos with clear mandate of timeline when they would ..
Climate change vulnerability map for 12 Himalayan states developed
Researchers at IIT Guwahati, IIT Mandi and IISc Bengaluru have developed a climate change vulnerability map for 12 Himalayan states in India that will help prioritise resource allocation to address these vulnerabilities. The exercise is unique because for the first time all the 12 Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) States have used a common framework resulting in the production of comparable state level and within state, district level vulnerability maps, the team said in a statement. The need for such an exercise is due to the fact that IHR is one of the most sensitive regions to climate change and variability, the project investigators said. Most parts of the region underwent significant long-term changes in frequencies and intensity of extreme temperature and rainfall events over the last decades, they said. Such comparable vulnerability assessments are useful for officials, implementers, decision makers, funding agencies and development experts, to have a common understanding on ...
5 dead in Iran gas pipe blast
Five people were killed and six others wounded in a gas pipeline explosion Thursday near the city of Ahvaz in southwest Iran, state news agency IRNA reported. "The gas pipes blew up about 200 metres (yards) from the road... destroying four vehicles that were passing by," Ahvaz governor Jamal Alemi Neisi said, quoted by IRNA. "This was not a terrorist act or sabotage and was caused by gas leaking" from the pipes, he said. IRNA said the explosion struck near a traffic police station on the Ahvaz-Mahshahr freeway. Ahvaz is the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province on the border with Iraq.
New Zealand Climate Minister punched in face
New Zealand's Climate Change Minister James Shaw was punched in the face on Thursday on the street while he was on his way to Parliament House.
Green tuk-tuks from Sri Lanka get EU acclaim
A project in Sri Lanka that converts tuk-tuks into electric power trains generating zero tailpipe emissions has received the European Union (EU) acclaim.
Centre sends team to Kerala after 7-year-old tests positive for West Nile virus
A central team has been sent to Kerala, where a seven-year-old boy has reportedly tested positive for vector-borne West Nile virus, to review the situation and also help the district administration in its prevention and management. The virus is transmitted to humans through a mosquito bite and is mostly reported in North America. Affected people complain of fever, headache, body aches, nausea, vomiting, occasionally skin rash and swollen lymph glands. The boy from Malappuram district is undergoing treatment at the Kozhikode Medical College hospital. A health ministry statement said the Centre is closely monitoring the situation and Union Health Minister J P Nadda has directed for all support to be extended to Kerala for prevention and management of the disease. Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan spoke to Additional Chief Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan in Kerala and took stock of public health measures for controlling the spread of the virus, the statement said. The Health Ministry has ..
Coca-Cola produces 3 mn tonnes of plastic packaging
Soft-drinks giant Coca-Cola has revealed for the first time that it produces 3 million tonnes of plastic packaging a year, which is equivalent to 200,000 bottles a minute, a report said on Thursday.
NTPC signs pact with Indian Railways for fly ash transportation
State-run NTPC Thursday said it has teamed up with the Indian Railways for fly ash transportation, a move that will help enhance ash utilisation at Rihand and Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power plants. NTPC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hazipur-based East Central Railway Zone for transportation of fly ash under Indian Railways' Special Freight Train Operator (SFTO) scheme. According to the company statement, NTPC has became the first entity in the country to sign an SFTO agreement with Indian Railways. "At NTPC, sustainable ash utilisation is one of the key focus areas for us as part of our commitment to safeguard the environment. Ash is now also looked at as a commodity, which can translate into steady revenue stream for the company in the long run," said P K Sinha, ED (EMG, AM and Safety) NTPC. The pact with Indian Railways for fly ash transportation will help enhance ash utilisation at Rihand and Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power plants and it will be further ...
Tel Aviv deploys zombie lights for mobile-obsessed walkers
Tel Aviv has taken its first steps toward assisting pedestrians distracted by their smartphones by embedding LED stoplights at crosswalks. The municipality installed the "zombie traffic lights" Monday aiming to minimize accidents between vehicles and inattentive pedestrians at crosswalks. Tomer Dror, head of Traffic Management Division at the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, says the aim is to reduce accidents caused by "pedestrians that are focused too much on the smartphone, and less on the traffic around them." Dror says the idea is to "put the road into their eyes." Similar systems have already been used in Australia, Singapore and the Netherlands. For now, the pilot program is limited to a single intersection in central Tel Aviv, but the municipality says it will expand the zombie lights if it proves effective.
Higher wheat production has farmers worried
With the extension of winter and timely rains in early March providing a conducive climate for wheat production, the total output is expected to touch 105 million tonnes this year. Ironically, farmers are worried as higher production means lower returns, going by past experience.
Cong govt in Rajasthan did not send data on farmers eligible for PM-Kisan: Union minister
Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday accused the Congress-led Rajasthan government of not providing requisite information about farmers eligible for the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna. Under the scheme, farmers having not more than two hectares of land will get Rs 6,000 per year directly into their bank accounts. The Union minister of state for agriculture said the farmers of Rajasthan would have got the first installment of Rs 2,000 by now if the state government had provided the required information. It is unfortunate that the Congress government in the state, which came to power by promising farmer welfare, did not provide data on farmers eligible for the scheme. This government has caused loss to farmers, Shekhawat said at a press conference here. The minister said that the first installment has already been deposited in the bank accounts of 2.75 crore farmers across the country. More than 50 lakh small and marginalised farmers in Rajasthan would have ...
Arctic temperatures to rise 3-5 degrees by 2050: UN
Even if the world were to cut emissions in line with the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement, winter temperatures in the Arctic would rise three to five degrees Celsius by 2050 and five to nine degrees by 2080, devastating the region and unleashing sea level rises worldwide, a new report by the UN Environment warned on Thursday.
Man held for offering Rs 3 lakh bribe to forest officer
A 47-year-old man was arrested in Palghar district of Maharashtra for allegedly offering Rs 3 lakh bribe to a forest officer to not take action against him in an illegal construction case, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said. The accused, Dighambar Jethe, along with some other people allegedly carried out an unauthorised construction on a forest land in Vikramgadh taluka, ACB's deputy superintendent of police Ajay Aphale said. The forest department initiated criminal proceedings against Jethe and others in this connection, he said. Jethe then allegedly offered Rs 3 lakh to the forest officer concerned to go soft on him, Aphale said. The forest officer subsequently lodged a complaint with the ACB, he said. The anti-graft agency laid a trap and nabbed Jethe on Wednesday while he was offering bribe to the forest officer at his office in Vikramgadh, Aphale said. The accused was booked under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, he added.
Over 100 Malaysian schools shut after toxic waste dump
Over 100 schools in Malaysia have been closed after the dumping of toxic waste into a river caused hundreds of people to fall ill, including many children, authorities said. A lorry is believed to have dumped the waste in southern Johor state last week, sending hazardous fumes across a wide area and causing those affected to display symptoms of poisoning such as nausea and vomiting. Over 500 people, many of them school pupils, have received medical treatment after inhaling the fumes, with over 160 admitted to hospital, according to official news agency Bernama. It was unclear what type of poisonous gas had been emitted near the industrial town of Pasir Gudang. Education Minister Maszlee Malik initially ordered the closure of 43 schools in the area Wednesday, but later announced that figure had more than doubled. "The ministry of education has decided to close all 111 schools in the Pasir Gudang area immediately," he said in a statement. "The education ministry is requesting that all ..
Climate change affects forest recovery after wildfire: Study
According to a recent study the forest does not regenerate after wildfires because of recent climate changes.The study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the recent changes in the climate have made it difficult for the tree seedlings to regrow after the wildfires in low-elevation forests, which contributes to forest loss.Kimberley Davis, the study's lead author said, "the ability of forests to recover following a wildfire depends on annual climate conditions because tree seedlings are particularly vulnerable to hot and dry weather. We wanted to identify the specific conditions necessary for post-fire tree regeneration to better understand how climate change has been affecting forests through time."The researchers used tree rings to determine establishment dates of more than 2,800 trees that regenerated after fires in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and New Mexico between 1988 and 2015. Annual tree regeneration rates ...
Agitated residents in J-K's Doda threaten to boycott LS polls over delay in road construction
Irked over the inordinate delay to connect their villages with a motorable road, residents of seven villages in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday staged a protest and threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha polls. The villagers of Dhara, Dhaloa, Hanga, Bharwa, Chak-Katoch, Dharaan and Noori falling in three panchayats on the western hills of Bhaderwah valley assembled near the Rashtriya Rifles headquarters at Sarna and staged the protest. The villagers said they have decided to continue with peaceful protests with the slogan 'No Road, No Vote' to highlight their demand for completion of the already sanctioned Gatha-Dhaloa road without any further delay. The road was supposed to connect seven villages of Sarna and Hanga panchayats with the Bhaderwah-Doda Highway. The work on the road was started by the Roads and Buildings Department in 2008 and was later transferred under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in 2015 with a deadline of 18 months for its completion but ...
Agitated residents in J-K's Doda threaten to boycott LS polls over delay in road construction
Irked over the inordinate delay to connect their villages with a motorable road, residents of seven villages in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday staged a protest and threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha polls. The villagers of Dhara, Dhaloa, Hanga, Bharwa, Chak-Katoch, Dharaan and Noori falling in three panchayats on the western hills of Bhaderwah valley assembled near the Rashtriya Rifles headquarters at Sarna and staged the protest. The villagers said they have decided to continue with peaceful protests with the slogan 'No Road, No Vote' to highlight their demand for completion of the already sanctioned Gatha-Dhaloa road without any further delay. The road was supposed to connect seven villages of Sarna and Hanga panchayats with the Bhaderwah-Doda Highway. The work on the road was started by the Roads and Buildings Department in 2008 and was later transferred under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in 2015 with a deadline of 18 months for its completion but ...
GE T&D wins Rs 150 cr order in Rajasthan
GE T&D India on Wednesday said it has bagged an order worth USD 21 million (Rs 150 crore) from Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd (RRVPL) to modernise transmission grid network in Rajasthan. The grid modernisation project by RRVPL is part of a roadmap to implement grid initiatives and augment renewable energy in the state, the company said in a statement. The total installed power capacity in Rajasthan is around 21.6 GW, out of which 34 per cent comes from renewable sources. The state plans to further increase solar and wind generation capacity to 14.3 GW by 2022. To focus on renewable energy, the state requires remote monitoring and grid stability. The Smart Transmission Network and Asset Management System project of RRVPL will have 535 substations remotely connected to the three control centres - a main control centre in Jaipur, a back-up control centre in Jodhpur and an additional regional centre in Ajmer, which will help in remote visualisation of power flow and asset ..
