Page 224 - Environment
'Rajasthan to set up two captive breeding centres for Great Indian Bustards'
The Rajasathan High Court has been told by the state government that it has decided to set up two captive breeding centres for conservation of the Great Indian Bustard. The two places identified for setting up the breeding centres for the Rajasthan's state bird are Sursan in Kota and Ramdeora in Jaisalmer, Additional Advocate General Sandeep Shah informed a bench of justices Sangeet Lodha and Dinesh Mehta in an affidavit to the court. The court earlier had taken suo motu cognisance of the dwindling numbers of the bird in the state and had issued notice to the government seeking to know what it was doing to conserve the state birds, declared an endangered species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Land parcels of 700 hectares and 193 hectares have been identified in Sursan in Kota and Ramdeora in Jaisalmer respectively for setting up these breeding centres, said Shah. He added the relevant gram panchayats have given in-principle consent for transfer of the land for the purpose ...
Budget for tiger conservation doubled: Harsh Vardhan
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Harsh Vardhan on Monday said the NDA government has doubled the budget dedicated to tiger conservation in India.
Govt formulating draft national scrap policy: Steel Minister
The government is formulating a draft National Scrap Policy, Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said Monday. Currently, the country's requirement of scrap is around 8.3 million tonne (MT) and a large portion of the requirement is met through imports, he said. "A National Scrap Policy is being drafted which will be ready in a few months. This will make available nearly 7 MT scrap in the country. Steel produced out of scrap is of good quality and is environment friendly," the minister said. The government is also planning to set up scrap-based steel plants in north and west parts of India to augment the country's production capacity, Singh had earlier said. Stressing that the scrap-based steel plants are environment-friendly, energy-efficient and cost effective, he said these plants would be on the lines of 'melt and manufacture' steel technology used in the US. "I would like you to deliberate on the cost-benefit analysis of setting up scrap-based steel plants in north and ...
NDA govt almost doubled budget for tiger conservation: Env min
The NDA government has almost doubled the budget dedicated for tiger conservation and added 4,000 km of area for new tiger reserves in the country, the Environment Ministry said Monday. Environment and Forests Minister Harsh Vardhan made the remarks Monday while releasing a report on tiger conservation at a conference organised by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). The report - India Tiger Action Plan - released by the minister, who is also the chairman of the NTCA, also revealed that India has the maximum number of tigers amongst the 13 tiger range countries in the world, putting the big cat on the path to recovery. "As a minister for MoEFCC for two years, I could see from close quarters and appreciate the level of commitment towards its conservation," he said. Highlighting the dedication of the NDA government towards tiger conservation, the minister said, "It gives me immense satisfaction that India is leading the world in tiger conservation. "I distinctly remember ...
Vizhinjam seaport will be completed on time: Ker Govt
The Kerala government Monday said construction of the much-awaited Vizhinjam International Seaport near here would be completed in a "time-bound manner" though cyclone Ockhi and floods had adversely affected the pace of the multi-crore project. The acute shortage of granite has also hit the project but district collectors were entrusted to take urgent steps to resolve the issue, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the state Assembly. He was replying to a question raised by opposition UDF legislators regarding the Rs 7,525 crore-seaport project. However, the Chief Minister was not ready to specify whether the project could meet the proposed deadline of December 4 this year. "Ockhi cyclone and the floods had affected the project adversely. There was a scarcity of granite. But, steps have been taken to make it available and district collectors have been entrusted with the task," he said. "There is no need for any anxiety that the project will be delayed. It will be ...
'Bug bombs' ineffective at killing cockroaches: Study
Total release foggers, commonly known as "bug bombs," are ineffective at removing cockroaches from indoor environments, and leave behind toxic residue in areas used by humans and pets, according to a study. Bug-bomb chemicals fail to reach places where cockroaches congregate the most -- on the underside of surfaces and inside cabinets, said researchers from the North Carolina State University in the US. Besides leaving behind numerous cockroaches, bug bombs also leave behind nasty toxic residue in the middle of floors and countertops, areas cockroaches generally avoid but which are heavily used by humans and pets, according to the study published in the journal BMC Public Health. "There has been a general assumption that bug bombs work to eliminate cockroaches indoors, but no one had conducted a formal assessment of their efficacy and any exposure risks," said Zachary DeVries, a postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University. To understand more about the effectiveness of ..
RPF to harvest modern technology to reduce coal pilferage
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) Monday said it has decided to harvest modern technology and increase coordination with Government Railway Police (GRP) to reduce pilferage of coal in transit. While a loss of 0.8 per cent of total movement of coal through railways is permissible during transit due to various technical reasons, the actual amount lost during transportation is as high as 1.2 per cent, RPF Director General Arun Kumar told newspersons here. He said that the 1.2 per cent loss during transit includes pilferage, apart from various technical reasons. "Surveillance during transit will be increased by harvesting modern technology like using CCTV cameras in rakes," the RPF DG said after a meeting with officials of Coal India Limited, Central Coalfields Limited, SAIL, etc to discuss the loss of coal during transportation. He said that closer coordination between RPF and Government Railway Police (GRP) of different states at divisional security commissioner level ...
Nearly Six Crore LPG Connections Have Reached To Poor Households Since May 2016
Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated yesterday that Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has brought cheers to many and nearly six crore LPG connections have reached to the households of the poorest of the poor since May 2016. More than 23 crore LPG consumers have joined the Pahal scheme. The transparency in the scheme has helped in identifying ghost accounts, multiple accounts and inactive accounts. Over 1 crore customers have given up LPG subsidies under Give it up initiative. PM lauded the role of Kochi refinery and said it is making a great contribution towards Ujjwala Yojana, by doubling the LPG production with the help of the recent expansion.
Protests in J&K after Forest Officer's death
Protests erupted in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district on Monday after a forest officer died when his car was hit by an Army vehicle, police said.
Rabi Sowing Down Around 5%
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Traffic restrictions in central Delhi lead to heavy jams at major intersections
Restrictions on movement of vehicles in central Delhi due to Beating Retreat rehearsal and breakdown of a few cluster buses led to traffic jams at major intersections on Monday. The Delhi Traffic Police has been constantly updating commuters about the congestion through its twitter handle. "Traffic movement has been closed on Gurugram Road to Thimayya Marg by local police. Traffic has been diverted towards Station Road and Sadar Bazar Road," it said. Traffic restrictions have been imposed in central part of the city due to rehearsal of the Beating Retreat ceremony. Vijay Chowk will remain closed for general traffic from 3.30 pm to 9.30 pm, according to a traffic advisory. Movement of vehicles on parts of Rafi Marg, Raisina Road, Krishna Menon Marg, 'C' Hexagon and Dara Shikoh Road will also be restricted, it said. Parking will be available for those coming to see the lighting behind the water channels between Rafi Marg and 'C' Hexagon after 7 pm, it said. The traffic police have ...
Saudi government to spend 100 billion riyals on industry plan
RIYADH (Reuters) - The Saudi Arabian government will spend 100 billion riyals ($27 billion) in 2019 and 2020 as part of its industrial development programme, Aabed Abdullah al-Saadoun, deputy minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources said on Monday.
Saint-Gobain wants to use sand mined by NLC for making glass
Float glass major Saint-Gobain India is interested in using a portion of sand mined by integrated lignite-mining-cum-power generation company NLC Ltd, said a senior company official.
Climate change will affect gender ratio among newborns: Study
A new study now finds that global warming may impact human biology.According to them, more boys may be born in places where temperatures rise and fewer boys born in places with other environmental changes, such as drought or wildfire caused by global warming.In a report published in CNN that cites a Japanese study, researchers say climate change could alter the proportion of male and female newborns. Notably, according to lead author of the study, Dr Misao Fukuda, there is a link between temperature fluctuations and a lower male-to-female sex ratio at birth, with conceptions of boys especially vulnerable to external stress factors.Fukuda and his colleagues published a separate study looking at births in areas affected by environmental events that caused extreme stress.These included Hyogo Prefecture after the Kobe earthquake of 1995; Tohoku after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 (and subsequent nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daichii power plant); and Kumamoto Prefecture ...
Governments don't have political will to conserve forests, wildlife: M.K. Ranjitsinh (IANS Interview)
He is a die-hard conservationist, a member of the erstwhile royal family of Wankaner, a wildlife expert and a former bureaucrat but most of all he was the principal author of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.
'Superbug gene' first identified in New Delhi spreads to Arctic
Superbug genes that were first detected in New Delhi over ten years ago have now spread to the Arctic -- one of the last 'pristine' places on the Earth, scientists say. Antibiotic-Resistant Genes (ARGs) provide multidrug resistance (MDR) in microorganisms. An example is NDM-1, which is a protein that can confer resistance in a range of bacteria. NDM-1 was first identified in New Delhi and coded by the resistant gene blaNDM-1. Strains that carry blaNDM-1 were first found in clinical settings in 2008, but by 2010 blaNDM-1 was found in surface waters in Delhi. Since then, the resistant gene has been found in over 100 countries, including new variants. Analysing the extracted DNA from forty soil cores at eight locations along Kongsfjorden region of Svalbard, a total of 131 ARGs were detected, according to the study published in the journal Environmental International. Carried in the gut of animals and people, blaNDM-1 and other medically-important ARGs were found in Arctic soils that were
Samsung to ditch plastic packaging for more eco-friendly material
Samsung's electronics division updated its packaging policy to pay a little more heed towards the environment. The company announced that it will change the product packaging for its phones, tablets, and wearables.As Mashable reports, instead of plastic, Samsung will use pulp mods as holder trays. For the accessories, eco-friendly materials will be used for wrapping. The phone chargers will also be changed from glossy finish to a matte appearance that doesn't require plastic protection film.Not only the gadgets, consumer appliances such as TVs, fridges, washing machines, and other kitchen products will also skip the standard plastic bags to come in recycled plastic and bioplastic bags.These changes are expected to start by the second half of 2019, while paper sourcing will take place by 2020.
Farmers whose crops have been destroyed by cold seek govt compensation
Farmers whose crops have been destroyed in the intense cold weather accompanied with hailstorms, affecting the region for the past one week, have asked for government assistance.Damoh area of Madhya Pradesh has been witnessing frost for a week and for the past three days, hailstones rained down on the crops of potato, tomato, chilli and pulses in This region in the Bundelkhand area produces tomato, peas, and brinjal on a large scale and transports these vegetables to other states as well."I have suffered a loss of Rs 1.5 lakhs. What do we eat now? The government should give us compensation," said a farmer."I have got a survey done through Patwari but no loss of crops has been reported till now. If we found something like this, we will do the survey again," the tehsildar of Damoh, Sangeeta Waghmare said.Shortly after he took oath as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Kamal Nath waived off farm loans of Rs 2 lakh according to his poll promise.
Record-breaking salamander discovered in US
Researchers say they have discovered the largest individual of any cave salamander in North America, a 9.3-inch specimen of Berry Cave salamander. The finding, published in the journal Subterranean Biology, is making scientists reexamine growth limits of these animals in harsh environments and how hospitable underground environments really are. "The record represents the largest individual within the genus Gyrinophilus, the largest body size of any cave-obligate salamander and the largest salamander within the Plethodontidae family in the US," said Nicholas Gladstone, a graduate student at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in the US. Salamanders can be found in a variety of habitats across Tennessee in the US. Some species have adapted to live in cave environments, which are thought of as extreme and inhospitable ecosystems due to the absence of light and limited resources. Salamanders are one of only two vertebrate animal groups to have successfully colonised caves. The other .
China's 2018 renewable power capacity up 12 percent
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's renewable power capacity rose 12 percent in 2018 compared to a year earlier, official data showed on Monday, with the country still rolling out new projects despite transmission capacity concerns and a growing subsidy payment backlog.