Page 226 - Environment
Punjab CM writes to Centre over horticulture institute project delay
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has written to Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh over the inordinate delay in the project to set up Post Graduate Institute of Horticulture Research and Education (PGIHRE) at Amritsar. In his letter, the chief minister pointed out that the Punjab government, after accepting the Centre's, had transferred 100 acres of land at Attari, Amritsar and another 50 acres at Abohar for establishment of PGIHRE. The Centre had announced the setting up of a PGIHRE in Punjab at Amritsar while presenting the Union Budget 2015-16, a Punjab government release said here on Sunday. Later, as per their requirement, a team of Director of Agriculture Research and Education (DARE)/Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) had identified another 25-30 acres of additional land on the Amritsar-Attari national highway for the purpose of establishing an administrative-cum-academic campus and student hostel, the release said. "However, in spite of repeated ...
C'garh CM takes part in three special gram sabha meetings
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel took part in "special gram sabha" meetings held in three village panchayats of Chhattisgarh's Durg district and discussed natural resources management for rural development, an official said Sunday. The chief minister attended gram sabha (village meetings) in Asoga, Teligundra and Bhansuli village panchayats in Patan development block on Saturday, he said. Baghel informed villagers about his government's focus on the conservation and management of four aspects, namely "narva" (rivulets and other water resources), "garuva" (cow and other cattle), "ghurva" (waste management pits) and "bari" (vegetable garden) for sustainable livelihood of villagers. He said Mahatma Gandhi's vision of "gram swaraj" will be fulfilled in Chhattisgarh and panchayats will be taking decisions on their own to develop villages. "Steps will be taken to strengthen the rural economy. Arrangements will be made to ensure water supply to farm lands. Facilities of gothaan ...
Wood smugglers attack forest team, 2 security personnel dead
Two security personnel on Sunday were killed in a reported attack on a forest department team by alleged wood smugglers in West Champaran forest area.Bagaha Superintendent of Police, Arvind has confirmed the attack in the Gobarahiya forest area."Wwood smugglers attacked the team of forest department when they arrived to seize the wood, which smugglers were planning to smuggle, the police official said.The district police are investigating the case.
Japanese Catholics urge Pope to send anti-nuclear message
Japanese Catholics on Sunday urged Pope Francis to send an anti-nuclear message from Hiroshima and Nagasaki when he travels to the country later this year. The Argentine pontiff said last Wednesday that he would visit Japan in November, becoming the first pope do so since John Paul II nearly 40 years ago. During his stay in the country, Francis reportedly plans to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to pray for the victims of the 1945 nuclear bombings, which killed some 220,000 people instantly. "I believe he will have sympathy for the movement to abolish nuclear arms," Keiko Ichikawa said after attending her first mass since the pope announced his trip to Japan, home to some 450,000 Roman Catholics. "I hope the pope's visit will be an opportunity to encourage the movement," the 77-year-old told AFP. Francis has repeatedly voiced a desire to visit Japan and wanted to work as a missionary there in his youth but abandoned the plan after a lung operation. In January of last year, Francis issued
Kartarpur Corridor: Punjab villagers apprehensive over being uprooted
While the central and Punjab governments have been blaming each other for the delay in executing the work related to the Katarpur Corridror project on the Indian side, residents of villages whose land will be acquired for the religiously significant project are apprehensive about their fate at being uprooted from the land where they have lived for decades.
Garbage a ticking time bomb in India, will have 'disastrous consequences' if not checked (IANS Special)
The boom that followed India's economic liberalisation in the 1990s led to an "exponential increase" in the accumulation of garbage while also changing athe very nature' of litter generated. This "storm of waste" is a ticking time bomb and could have disastrous, fatal and horrifying consequences if not checked, say Robin Jeffrey and Assa Doron, who have co-authored the monumental "Waste of a Nation: Garbage and Growth in India".
Mann Ki Baat: PM Lauds young scientists
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lauded scientists in the country saying, "Today, our space programme is powered by several young scientists"."We must take pride in the fact that the satellites developed by our students are reaching the space today. On 24 January Kalam SAT, created by our students, was launched," he added.Addressing the first Mann Ki Baat of 2019, the Prime Minister expressed pride and said that India has also created a world record for launching 104 satellites simultaneously from the same spacecraft.He said that the country will soon register India's presence on the moon through the Chandrayaan-2 campaign.India successfully launched its 46th flight of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C44) carrying Kalam SAT, a communication satellite developed by students and India's military satellite Microsat-R from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.The launch of the satellite is said to be unique as PSLV-C44 fourth stage was re-used automatically to launch ...
Uttarakhand's first tulip garden in Pithoragarh
Uttarakhand's first tulip garden will come up over 50 hectares of forest land in Pithoragarh district at a cost of Rs 50 crore. The state government has obtained the Centre's nod for development of the garden. To be developed by the ONGC, under its corporate social responsibility programme in over 50 hectares of forest land near Chandak hill top, the proposed tulip garden will be the country's second after the one located in Srinagar (J&K), state finance minister and Pithoragarh MLA Prakash Pant said. It will be even larger than the one in Srinagar, he said. The site in Mad village near Chandak hilltop for the garden to be developed at a cost of Rs 50 crore has been selected under the state Government's '13districts, 13 new destinations' scheme, to attract more tourists to the district, Pant said. "Weare fully assured of the support from ONGC, asUnion Petroleum Minister DharmendraPradhan hasalreadyapproved the project,said Pant, who metPradhanin Delhi last week. The petroleum ...
Microplastic contamination found in common source of groundwater
Researchers have identified microplastic fibres, along with a variety of medicines and household contaminants, in two limestone aquifer systems -- a groundwater source that accounts for 25 per cent of the global drinking water supply -- in the US.
Novel soft robot can climb like plant tendrils
Scientists have designed a soft robot that is able to curl and climb just like plant tendrils, an advance that may pave the way for shape changing wearable devices. Researchers at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Italy took inspiration from plants and their movement. Plants have associated their movement to growth, and in doing so they continuously adapt their morphology to the external environment. Even the plants organs exposed to the air are able to perform complex movements such as, for example, the closure of the leaves in carnivorous plants or the growth of tendrils in climbing plants, which are able to coil around external supports to favour the growth of the plant itself. The researchers studied the natural mechanisms by which plants exploit water transport inside their cells, tissues and organs to move, and then they replicated it in an artificial tendril. The hydraulic principle is called "osmosis" and is based on the presence of small particles in the cytosol, the ..
FPO in Telangana's Kamareddy bringing growers out of farm distress
Farmer producer organisation (FPO) KPFPCL has become a game changer in at least 23 villages in this arid district, as agrarian distress has come down after farmers' income grew by directly selling their produce through KPFPCL, according to growers. The farmers are not only getting better price for their produce through Kamareddy Progressive Farmers Producer Company Ltd (KPFPCL), they are also able to source quality farm inputs at lower rate and even agri machineries such as combine harvesters on rentals, thus saving labour and harvesting time. That apart, farmers are able to take more than two crops a year after converting their waste land into fertile, recharging ground water, sapling of plants, and building nutrition gardens by participating in a 'Village Association' (VA) promoted by Reliance Foundation (RF) under its rural transformation initiative 'Bharat-India-Jodo' (BIJ) in 140 villages in the district. "I have 1.5 acre of land, out of which, one acre was waste land. With the ..
Microplastic contamination found in groundwater
Scientists have found microplastics contaminating a groundwater source that accounts for 25 per cent of the global drinking water supply. Microplastics are already known to contaminate the world's surface waters, yet scientists have only just begun to explore their presence in groundwater systems. Fractured limestone aquifers are a groundwater source that accounts for 25 percent of the global drinking water supply. The study, published in the journal Groundwater, identified microplastic fibres, along with a variety of medicines and household contaminants, in two aquifer systems in the US. "Plastic in the environment breaks down into microscopic particles that can end up in the guts and gills of marine life, exposing the animals to chemicals in the plastic," said John Scott, a researcher at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center in the US. "As the plastics break down, they act like sponges that soak up contaminants and microbes and can ultimately work their way into our food ...
Comprehensive e-flow study of Yamuna to be undertaken by govt: Officials
A comprehensive study to assess the minimum required environmental flow of the Yamuna river will be undertaken by the government, according to officials. The decision to undertake the study was taken on the recommendations of a monitoring committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal to look after the cleaning of the river, they said. The members of the National Mission for Clean Ganga -- launched by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation in 2014 -- are in talks with the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) to carry out the study, the officials said. The monitoring committee in its action plan submitted in October 2018 had recommended that a study to assess the environmental flow of the Yamuna river for the stretch between Hathanikund and Okhla must be carried out. It had said the river is "fighting to stay alive" and it would not be possible to rejuvenate it unless minimum environmental flow is provided as it is "virtually reduced to a trickle
Northeast is filled with diversities, shouldn't be stereotyped
Writers and intellectuals from the northeast have said that the region is full of ethnic and linguistic diversity and urged the rest of the country to stop "steryotyping" the people living there as peripheral.
Odisha's "Jiban Sampark" to reach vulnerable tribes
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced "Jiban Sampark" project in partnership with UNICEF India to generate awareness about the development and welfare initiatives of state government among the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups of the state.The announcement was made after Patnaik inaugurated the annual tribal fair popularly known as "Adivasi Mela" here on Republic Day. The annual event which has 180 stalls to showcases tribal market, food, agriculture produces and forest products will continue till 9 February. A structure of tribal villages has built-in "Adivasi Mela" to showcase the lifestyle, artefacts, culture, tradition and music of the tribal communities of the Odisha."The Jiban Sampark's focus areas will include skill development, empowering communities, cooperation and innovation among the groups of 75 tribal communities in the country, 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups residing in remote and far off areas of 12 district in Odisha," said Patnaik..
Germany to phase out coal by 2038 in move away from fossil fuels
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany should shut down all of its coal-fired power plants by 2038 at the latest, a government-appointed commission said on Saturday, proposing at least 40 billion euros ($45.7 billion) in aid to regions affected by the phase-out.
Seeking thrifty ways to cut pollution, Rotterdam links up with hybrid BMW owners
ROTTERDAM (Reuters) - As Daan Hosli's hybrid BMW glides into downtown Rotterdam, it passes a virtual boundary into the city's "electric-only zone" and his mobile phone trills out a reminder to switch off his combustion engine and drive on battery power.
Factbox: German coal-fired power capacity under review
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A government-appointed commission recommended on Saturday that Germany shut its coal-fired power plants by 2038 at the latest and proposed at least 40 billion euros ($45.7 billion) in aid for the affected regions.
People migrating from Sundarbans as climate threat soars
People in the Sundarbans have started migrating towards cities with increasing vulnerability from climate change and shrinking opportunities for livelihood, experts said on Saturday.
Road projects worth Rs. 50,000 crore sanctioned around Delhi: Gadkari
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari here on Saturday laid the foundation stone for development of a six-lane corridor here and said road projects worth Rs 50,000 crore have been sanctioned for the national capital, which will improve the air pollution level.