Page 176 - Environment
Australia, Brazil launch WTO action against India
Australia and Brazil have decided to escalate a trade dispute with India over sugar subsidies before the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Canberra said.
5,000 compressed bio gas plants to come up by 2023: Pradhan
Around 5,000 compressed-bio gas (CBG) plants will be set up in the country by 2023, while a city gas distribution system covering 400 districts will provide a ready market for the CBG, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.
Lioness found dead in Gujarat
A lioness was found dead in Tulsishyam range of Gir forest in Gujarat on Wednesday, a forest official said. According to the official, prima facie no foul play was suspected in the death of the lioness, believed to be around 11 years old. Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Junagadh, D T Vasavada said the carcass has been sent for post-mortem. "The lioness, around 10-11 years old, was found dead at Tulsishyam range of Gir (East) division of the forest, around 330 km from here," he said. "A veterinary doctor visited the site. Claws of the lioness were found to be intact," he said, indicating that poaching was not the reason behind the death. Two days ago, a lion was found dead on a farm land in Jasadhar range of Gir east division of forest in Junagadh district. The Gujarat government had told the legislative assembly last week that over 200 lions died in Gir forest region in the state in the last two years. Forest minister Ganpat Vasava had said in his written reply .
HC declines to stay coastal road project in Mumbai
The Bombay High Court Wednesday refused to pass any interim order to stay the Maharashtra government's coastal road project in the metropolis. A bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N M Jamdar, however, gave oral orders to the commissioner of the fisheries department to grant a hearing to the members of two fishing societies, which have approached the high court against the coastal road project. The societies opposing the 29.2-km-long road are the Worli Koliwada Nakhwa and the Worli Machimmar Sarvodaya Sahakari Society. The bench also directed the police to ensure fishermen were allowed to put up equipment, including nets, along the area marked for the road until actual construction began. It was hearing a petition filed by the two fishing societies, opposing the project that proposes to connect the Marine Drive area in south Mumbai to Kandivali, a western suburb. The petitioners claimed that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and state authorities had not ...
Chennai: 2 smugglers arrested with 660 kg wildlife species
Two smugglers were arrested after a total of 660 kg of wildlife species were seized by customs officials here in a raid conducted on Monday night.The seized species are estimated to be worth around Rs 7 crore, and were identified as sea horses, pangolin scales, pipefish, and sea cucumbers, among others. A case has been registered under the Customs Act, Wildlife Protection Act and FT D & R Act.Earlier on February 2, Customs officials had seized a leopard cub at Chennai International Airport from the baggage of a passenger coming from Bangkok.
Tiger found dead in Guj had traversed from MP
The tiger that was found dead in Mahisagar district of Gujarat on Tuesday, had travelled from Ratapani sanctuary located in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, officials said on Wednesday. The Gujarat forest department confirmed that it was the same tiger that was captured on camera around two weeks back in Mahisagar district, the first sighting of a tiger in the state in three decades. The authorities, however, ruled out poaching as the cause of its death. On February 12, the Gujarat government had confirmed the presence of a tiger, aged 7 to 8 years, after it was captured on camera. On Tuesday, the carcass of the tiger was found at Kantar village in the forest area of Mahisagar. It was found around 15 kms from the spot, where the animal was last captured on camera. "The tiger that was found dead in Gujarat, had reached Mahisagar district after crossing Indore, Ujjain, Dewas and Jhabua districts of Madhya Pradesh," an MP Public Relations Department official said, quoting the .
Mukhi stresses on livestock sector to double farmers' income
Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi Wednesday emphasised on the need for using the livestock and poultry sector in the state, which constitutes around 12 per cent of the total livestock population of the country, in doubling farmers income. He also pitched for a foolproof convergence model covering policy makers, resource allocators, technology generators, product handlers and strategists for achieving the target of doubling the farmers' income by 2022. Mukhi was addressing an international conference on "Animal Agriculture for Doubling Farmers' Income" here. The governor observed that the livestock sector in India shows a rather dismal scenario despite its holding of 16 per cent of the world's livestock population. Most of these animals are unproductive and have become a bane rather than a boon to the farmers, he lamented. This has resulted in migration of farmers from animal agriculture to other professions in urban areas. He, therefore, advocated devising mechanisms to make ..
CM lays foundation stone of 70 MW Solar Park at Amguri
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal Wednesday laid the foundation stone of a 70 MW Solar Park in Sivasagar district and said it would boost the state's effort to be self sufficient in power production. The state government has set a target to generate 6500 MW of power by 2030 and this goal could be achieved only through leveraging production capacity, Sonowal said. The solar power project to be set up in an area of 340 acre at Japisajia village in Amguri area would promote clean energy in the state. The project with a production life of 25 years will also provide research and development facilities in solar energy, Sonowal said. Stating that the government is committed to ensure better future for the people of Assam, he said the schemes of the government are being implemented with utmost transparency. Sonowal said his government accords top priority to the education sector with a view to providing better academic opportunities to the youth and making them capable and .
Write more about patriotism, Delhi Speaker urges poets
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Wednesday appealed to poets and writers to create more literature on patriotism and nationalism to inculcate these feelings in the society at large.
Centre moves SC, seeks modification in order on eviction of tribals from forest areas
The Centre on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of its February 13 order directing the states to evict "forest-dwelling scheduled tribes" (FDSTs) and "other traditional forest dwellers" (OTFDs) from the forest areas.
Gadkari to inaugurate, lay foundation for Rs 9,726 cr projs in Bihar Thursday
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate and lay foundation stone for projects worth Rs 9,726 crore in Bihar on Thursday, the government said. These include highway projects worth Rs 6,900 crore. "Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for sixteen National Highways projects worth Rs 6,943.04 crore in Chhapra and Madhepura tomorrow," the ministry said in a statement Wednesday. Gadkari will also inaugurate/ lay foundation stone for several works under Namami Gange programme worth Rs 2,826 crore at these two places tomorrow, it said. The two national highway projects to be inaugurated tomorrow at Chapra include two laning of 155 km road from Anishabad to Aurangabad to Hariharganj on NH-98 at a cost of Rs 738.5 crore and two laning of 73 km road from Chhapra to Revaghat and Muzaffarpur on NH-102 at a cost of Rs 398 crore, it added. Gadkari will .
SC to hear Centre's plea seeking withholding of eviction of tribals from forest land
The Supreme Court Wednesday agreed to hear the Centre's plea seeking withholding of its February 13 order asking 21 states to evict nearly 11.8 lakh forest dwellers whose claims over the land have been rejected by the authorities. The plea said that as the forest dwellers were extremely poor and illiterate, it was difficult for them to substantiate their claims before the competent authorities. The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, rushed to the top court for modification of the order saying the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 was a "beneficial" legislation and should be construed liberally to help "extremely poor and illiterate people" who are not well informed of their rights and procedure under the law. The apex court had on February 13 directed 21 states to apprise it about the action taken by them over the eviction of tribals and forest dwellers whose claim have been ...
DJB to withdraw water connections to bottling plants
To stop the commercial use of water and make it available to consumers, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Wednesday decided to withdraw water connections to bottling plants, cooling plants and for selling or packaging of water in jars, cans, bottles and others.
Centre should bring ordinance to secure tribal rights: Gehlot
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday demanded that the Centre bring an ordinance to make necessary amendments in the Forest Rights Act, 2006, to remove hurdles for securing rights of tribals living in the forest areas. "Centre should file review petition in the Supreme Court to save tribals from displacement and bring an ordinance to secure rights of people living in forest areas," Gehlot said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The chief minister said tribals had been given rights to live in forest areas under the act and the recent Supreme Court order had affected the lives of people. The apex court had on February 13 asked 21 states to apprise it about the action taken by them regarding eviction of tribals and forest dwellers whose claim for the forest land have been rejected. Gehlot said the state government, as per its election manifesto promise, had decided to simplify process of providing rights to tribals living in forest areas. In this context, ...
Two tigers killed by another tiger in MP's Kanha reserve
Two sub-adult tigers were found dead in Madhya Pradesh's Kanha national park and it is suspected they were killed by a fully grown tiger, an official said Wednesday. The incident took place in the Kanha Tiger Reserve (KTR) near here, he said. KTR joint director Anjana Suchita Tirki said a team of forest officials on patrolling duty Tuesday spotted an adult tiger, named T-64, sitting on the carcasses of two other tigers. Tirki said after the big cat left the spot, the forest team inspected the site and the carcasses lying there. It was found the adult tiger had eaten up the carcasses which were of tigers aged below two years, the forest officer said. It is suspected the tigers were killed by T-64, he said. A postmortem of the carcasses was conducted as per the guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, Tirki added.
Haryana Assembly passes PLPA bill amid protests
Amid vociferous protests and walkout by the Opposition, the Haryana Assembly on Wednesday passed amendments to an act, opening up thousands of acres to real estate and other non-forest activity that were protected under it for over a century. Chief Minister M L Khattar said the Punjab Land Preservation (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2019, was the "need of the hour", saying as it was a "very old" act and much has changed over the period of time. During the nearly one-hour debate on the legislation, the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) alleged that the bill had been brought by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to favour the mining mafia and real estate developers by allowing construction in areas where it was previously disallowed, a charge rejected by the treasury benches. The Punjab Land Preservation Act was enacted before pre-Partition by the then Punjab government in 1900, as per statement of objects of the bill. It provided for the conservation of subsoil water .
Oil trader arrested for evading Rs 46cr customs duty
An oil trader from the city was Wednesday arrested from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials for evading customs duty worth Rs 46 crore. The trader is being brought to the city on transit remand, DRI sources said. A DRI source told PTI that the trader used to evade customs duty by importing edible oil from Indonesia and Malaysia and re-routing them through Bangladesh to get the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) benefits, which pertains to imports from any SAARC country. The source said that since Bangladesh does not produce edible oil, it came to the notice of DRI officials and the trader was subsequently warned to pay up duty or face action. The trader did not pay heed to the DRI warning and was arrested on Wednesday, the sources said.
Tiger found dead in Guj was same caught on camera: Forest dept
The Gujarat forest department Wednesday confirmed that the tiger found dead in Mahisagar district on Tuesday, was the same that was captured on camera around two weeks back, the first sighting of a tiger in the state in three decades. The department, however, ruled out poaching as the cause of the tiger's death. The carcass of the tiger was found on Tuesday at Kantar village in the forest area of Mahisagar district. The animal was found dead around 15 kms from the spot, where it was last captured on camera. Based on the examination of the carcass, the forest department ruled out the possibility of poaching, a senior forest department official said. According to the official, the pattern of the tiger's stripes led the post-mortem panel, formed to probe its death, to conclude that it was the same animal that was captured on the camera trap around two weeks back. The official said samples of the tiger carcass have been sent to three laboratories to ascertain the cause of ...
Irrigation and drought mitigation dominate Maha interim budget
Presenting an interim budget in a poll year, the BJP-led Maharashtra government has made maximum allocation of Rs 8733 crore for irrigation, with a focus on Vidarbha and Marathwada and the drought-prone regions, amidst Opposition's criticism of neglecting the plight of farmers. Tabling the interim budget in the Legislative Assembly Wednesday, Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said an outlay of Rs 8733 crore has been proposedfor Water Resources departmentfor its expenditure for the first four months of Financial Year 2019-20. The interim budget has an estimated revenue deficit of Rs 19,784 crore and a provision of special fund for farm loan waiver. "An outlay of Rs 8733 crore has been made for irrigation projects with a special attention on Vidarbha and Marathwada, and drought-prone regions in rest of the state," Mungantiwar told the House. The state government had in October last year declared drought in 151 talukas in 26 of total 36 districts. A provision of Rs 1500 ..
Forest dwellers' eviction: Centre seeks stay on SC order
The central government on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on its February 13 order directing several states to evict forest dwellers whose claims over traditional forest lands have been rejected under the law.The top court has agreed to hear the case tomorrow.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the case before a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra for early hearing.The top court had earlier ordered eviction of over 10 lakh Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwelling families from forest lands in the country after the Centre failed to defend their rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
