Page 192 - Environment

SC junks PIL seeking ban on animal slaughter for meat export

The Supreme Court Monday junked a PIL seeking ban on animal slaughter for meat exports alleging violation of rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna dismissed the petition saying it was not inclined to entertain the plea. The top court was hearing a plea filed by an organisation Healthy, Wealthy, Ethical, World- Guide India Trust and others which had sought a direction to the Centre, state governments and private sectors to immediately stop the export of meat and meat products. The plea said the Centre, state governments or their agencies should immediately stop the production and sale of raw leather and other related products for exports or domestic trade. Referring to Article 51A, it said the Constitution casts a duty on its citizens to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures. The plea had also relied ...

Rs 46 cr collected under Bharat Ke Veer: Government

The Government on Monday said that a sum of Rs 46 crore has been collected and dispersed as part of the "Bharat Ke Veer" initiative for CRPF troopers who lost their lives in the February 14 Pulwama attack.

Noida park commemorating martyrs, freedom fighters to open on Aug 15

An upcoming park in Noida dedicated to martyrs and freedom fighters, which will have a memorial square, a flame-shaped tricolour and an open-air theatre for cultural activities, is expected to open for public this Independence Day, officials said. Envisaged in 2015, the Shaheed Bhagat Singh park will be spread over an area of 40 acres and will come up in Sector 150. It will fulfil its primary objective of increasing afforestation, enhancing carbon sequestration, generating oxygen and producing biomass, according to Noida Authority. Over 2,000 large trees of 58 species native, naturalised and ornamental are proposed to be planted in the park. It will also have 45,000 shrubs and 1.1 lakh ground covers and natural grasses, a senior official said. With 75 per cent of proposed green area, the park will help mitigate water scarcity by achieving 100 per cent ground water recharge from the available land area. "Clean water and sanitation, and life on land the park is designed to fulfil two

Virus-infected bacteria can aid in fight against climate change

Viruses do not always kill their microbial hosts, say researchers who found that virus-infected bacteria could thus provide help in the fight against climate change.

Thermal Plants Urged To Comply With Revised Emission Norms To Bring Down Pollution Levels

C.K. Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has underlined the need for securing finance and technology with an industry-driven approach for complying with the revised guidelines mandating Thermal Power Plants (TPPs) to bring down pollution levels and restrict the discharge of particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides and mercury in the atmosphere.

Argentina becomes 72nd country to sign solar agreement

Argentina on Monday became the 72nd country to sign the Framework Agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).The agreement was inked on the sidelines of the official three-day visit of Argentinian President Mauricio Macri to India by Argentina's Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie in the presence of ISA's Director-General Upendra Tripathy."A new partner in the Alliance. Foreign Minister of Argentina, @JorgeFaurie signs the Framework Agreement of International Solar Alliance @isolaralliance. Argentina becomes the 72nd country to sign the Framework Agreement", Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted on Monday.Countries which have signed the agreement until now include India, France, Australia, UAE, UK, Japan amongst others. The agreement was opened for signature during the COP22 at Marrakech on November 15, 2016.The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a group of 121 solar resource-rich countries with headquarters in Gurugram, India. The organisation aims to .

Indonesian presidential hopefuls vow energy self-sufficiency via palm

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's two presidential candidates pledged to achieve energy self-sufficiency by boosting the use of bioenergy, particularly fuelled by palm oil, to cut costly oil imports by Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

SC refuses reopening of Sterlite plant, grants Vedanta liberty to approach HC

The Supreme Court Monday refused to allow reopening of Vedanta's Sterlite plant in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin, which was at the centre of massive protests over pollution concerns, but granted the company liberty to approach the high court. A bench headed by Justice R F Nariman allowed Tamil Nadu's appeal against the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order only on grounds of maintainability and said the tribunal has no jurisdiction to order reopening of the plant. The court was hearing a plea by Vedanta group seeking a direction to Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to implement the NGT order which had set aside the government's decision to close the plant. On January 8, the apex court had paved the way to re-open the plant by refusing to stay the tribunal's order. It had also stayed the last year's December 21 decision of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court which had ordered status quo with respect to re-opening the plant. The state had moved the top court, saying the NGT had .

'Urgent steps' needed to save Australia's biggest river system

The viability of a key river that feeds into Australia's biggest water system is under threat if poor conditions that killed millions of fish are not improved within six months, scientists warned Monday. The management of the Murray-Darling River system, which stretches thousands of kilometres across several states and supplies Australia's food bowl, has been under close scrutiny following three mass fish deaths in December and January. Authorities said millions of fish died in the Darling River events, blamed on low water flow and oxygen levels in the river as well as possibly toxic algae. Leading scientists who studied the three bouts of kills said that while a severe drought plaguing inland eastern Australia contributed to the deaths, there were also "serious deficiencies in governance and management" of the river network. "Our review of the fish kills found there isn't enough water in the Darling system to avoid catastrophic outcomes," said Craig Moritz, chair of the independent ..

Set-back for Vedanta, SC refuses re-opening of TN copper smelting plant

In a set-back to Vedanta, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to order the re-opening of its Sterlite Copper Smelting plant located in Tamil Nadu as it set-aside the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) December 15 order on the grounds of jurisdiction.

Jindal Steel & Power bags additional order from Indian Railways

For supply of 30,000 tonnes of long rails

Indonesian presidential hopefuls vow energy self-sufficiency through palm

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's two presidential candidates pledged on Sunday to achieve energy self-sufficiency by boosting the use of bioenergy, particularly fuelled by palm oil, to cut costly oil imports by Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Challenges in agriculture sector need to be met: Haryana CM

Haryana has made significant achievements in agriculture, but there are challenges which need to be met, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said Sunday. Khattar, while addressing the closing ceremony of the 4th Agri Leadership Summit here, said his government has set a target to ensure that farmers earn an income of at leastRs 1 lakh per acre. For this, farmers are being encouraged to adopt practices like bee-keeping, dairy farming and fisheries, besides traditional farming of rice and wheat, he said. The aim of the summit is to find ways to enhance farmers' income and to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of doubling the income of farmers by the year 2022, he said. The earlier three editions of the summit were held in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Rohtak. President Ram Nath Kovind also addressed the gathering at the summit on Sunday. Describing Haryana as the "food basket" of the country, Khattar said the state contributed 45 per cent paddy and 65 per cent wheat to the central ...

Air quality in Chinese cities worsens in January

Quality of air in major Chinese cities deteriorated in January, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).

Leopard spotted near Nashik bungalow trapped after 8 hours

A leopard which was spotted moving near a bungalow in Nashik city of Maharashtra on Sunday morning was trapped by forest department officials after an 8-hour effort at 3:30pm. The leopard was caught from a shed covering the terrace of an apartment in Savarkar Nagar locality near Gangapur Road police station, an official said. He added that a forest department staff was injured in the face in the process of trapping the big cat. It was first spotted at around 7:30am Sunday by some people who come in the early hours of the day to various bungalows in the locality to do household chores, the official informed. It was also captured on a CCTV camera, installed at a bungalow here, crossing Colony Road in the crowded locality, officials said. Residents alerted Gangapur police station officials who in turn called in the forest department staff. Before being trapped by forest department staff in a nylon net, the leopard had moved through Architect Colony and Maitra Manohar Colony

Govt eases green clearance norms for captive power plants

The Centre has exempted industries like steel, cement and metal from mandatory prior environment clearance for setting up a new or expanding the existing captive power plant employing waste heat recovery boilers (WHRB) without using any auxiliary fuel. The exemption to industries having potential for heat recovery has been given to promote energy conservation and reduce green house gas emissions, according to an order. This exemption was so far given to thermal power plants using waste heat boilers without any auxiliary fuel. Prior environment clearance will not be required for setting up of new or expansion of captive power plants employing WHRB without using any auxiliary fuel, in the existing cement plants, integrated steel plants, metallurgical industries and other industries having potential for heat recovery, the order said. The objective was to promote energy conservation, reduce green house emissions and, in larger interest of the environment including climate change, it ...

'Coolbit' device tracks how climate affects user health

Scientists have designed a Fitbit-like wearable device that can track how a person's health is affected by the immediate climate, and help users create personalised 'heat safe routes' for their activities. The device can create a personalised comfort model for each wearer, as well as crowdsourcing environmental data in the city in real-time, according to Negin Nazarian of University of New South Wales in Australia. "We have added some sensors to the Fitbit watches that get information from air temperature and humidity, but also from the physiological response of the individual in that environment, such as your heart rate, your skin temperature, and your skin humidity," said Nazarian, who led the Project Coolbit together with Clayton Miller, of National University of Singapore and the Fitbit Research Algorithm Team in San Francisco. "This type of thermal comfort and stress feedback is traditionally done with formal and tedious surveys," she said. "With our app, we can control when, ...

Kovind lauds Haryana farmers for adopting new methods to manage stubble, crop residue

President Ram Nath Kovind Sunday praised the farmers of Haryana for adopting new methods to manage stubble and crop residue as he honoured some of them with 'Kisaan Ratna' and 'Krishi Ratna' awards. Stubble burning by farmers in many states has been one of the major causes for air pollution for years, prompting the governments to ban the practice and encourage the growers to adopt alternative ways to manage crop residue. President Kovind, addressing the closing ceremony of the 4th Agri Leadership Summit organised by the Haryana government in Sonipat's Ganaur, condemned the Pulwama terrorist attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed. "Three days ago, some of our brave jawans lost their lives in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Along with every Indian, I condemn this heinous crime. The entire country is in mourning with the bereaved families. On behalf of the country, I express gratitude towards our brave soldiers and security personnel," he said. The President honoured ...

Made in Kerala cashew feni on the anvil

Thanks to the initiative of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation Limited, it will not be long before 'Made in Kerala' cashew feni hits the market, said an official.

This new wearable gives personalised information on environment

Researchers are developing a wearable device that aims to provide individualised information while gathering environmental data.