Page 352 - Environment
Scientists work to save wild Puerto Rican parrot after Maria
Biologists are trying to save the last of the endangered Puerto Rican parrots after more than half the population of the bright green birds with turquoise-tipped wings disappeared when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and destroyed their habitat and food sources. In the tropical forest of El Yunque, only two of the 56 wild birds that once lived there survived the Category 4 storm that pummeled the US territory in September 2017. Meanwhile, only 4 of 31 wild birds in a forest in the western town of Maricao survived, along with 75 out of 134 wild parrots living in the Rio Abajo forest in the central mountains of Puerto Rico, scientists said. And while several dozen new parrots have been born in captivity and in the wild since Maria, the species is still in danger, according to scientists. "We have a lot of work to do," said Gustavo Olivieri, parrot recovery program coordinator for Puerto Rico's Department of Natural Resources. Federal and local scientists will meet next month to debate ..
J-K agencies asked to meet target of constructing 60,000 individual household toilets
The Jammu and Kashmir government has directed authorities to meet the original target of constructing 60,000 individual household toilets (IHHTs) in urban areas under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in the state. The directions were passed by Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam at the 6th state level apex committee meeting of the flagship SBM (Urban) here, an official spokesman said on Tuesday. Subrahmanyam issued the directions to the implementing agencies to complete the original mission target of constructing 60,000 IHHTs, which was based on the demand received earlier across 80 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of the state. You have completed nearly 37,000 IHHTs, now focus on the remaining 23,000 and allocate these rationally across the ULBs and let these be beneficiary led, the chief secretary said. He also called for involving the newly elected ULBs to ensure effective ward-wise implementation and monitoring of the programme. The meeting was informed that about 34,000 IHHTs and 800 ...
NASA selects landing site for Mars 2020 Rover
NASA has chosen Jezero Crater, a geologically rich terrain, as the landing site for its upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission, the US space agency said. In a five year search, NASA scrutinised every available detail of more than 60 candidate locations on the Red Planet which ware debated by the mission team and the planetary science community. The rover mission is scheduled to launch in July 2020 as NASA's next step in exploration of the Red Planet, the US space agency said in a statement. It will not only seek signs of ancient habitable conditions -- and past microbial life -- but the rover also will collect rock and soil samples and store them in a cache on the planet's surface, the statement said. NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) are studying future mission concepts to retrieve the samples and return them to Earth, so this landing site sets the stage for the next decade of Mars exploration. "The landing site in Jezero Crater offers geologically rich terrain, with landforms reaching .
Govt procures 16.51 mn tons of rice so far; to exceed target
The government has procured 16.51 million tonnes of rice so far in the current 2018-19 marketing year and the total quantity is likely to surpass the target, a senior Food Ministry official said Tuesday. The rice procurement target set for this year was 37 million tonnes. The government had procured 38.18 million tonnes during the last marketing year (October-September), exceeding the target of 37.5 million tonnes set for that year. "Both state agencies and Food Corporation of India (FCI) have procured about 16.51 million tonnes of rice so far. The procurement definitely will exceed the target this year too," the official told PTI. There will not be any impact on procurement, though crop in Punjab, Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh has been affected by deficient rain during September-end, he said. Asked about private procurement, the official said a pilot was to be taken up in Jharkhand but the companies have not shown interest and not placed any bids so far. "Wheat is easier to ...
NASA selects landing site for Mars 2020 Rover
NASA has chosen Jezero Crater delta, where the sediments contain clays and carbonates, as the landing site for its upcoming Mars 2020 Rover mission, the US space agency said.
Arunachal stresses on documentation of tribal cultural
Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein has directed the state's research department to expedite work on "audio-visual documentation of cultural heritage of Mishmi tribes" of the state. Mein's directive came on Monday during a meeting with research department Secretary Dani Salu, Director Batem Pertin and a German anthropologist who is working on tribals of the state for 15 years, an official release said. The researcher from Hydelberg, Dr Gerhard Heller, is presently working on the indigenous healing practice of the Idu Mishmi tribe who inhabit the Dibang valley region. Heller had already documented the traditional healing systems of other tribes such as Miju Mishmi, Digaro Mishmi, Monpa and Galo tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, the release said. Mein, also holding the planning and finance portfolio, said the documentation project was announced in his budget speech and also reflected in the departmental State Annual Development Agenda (SADA) for the year ...
Artificial rain likely this week to clear air in Delhi of pollutants
In the wake of rising pollution level in the city, authorities might seed clouds to induce artificial rain this week to wash away toxic pollutants in the air. Delhi's air quality has deteriorated to alarming levels in the past three weeks. Cloud seeding for artificial rain would be done once the meteorological conditions are stable, a senior official said. He said plans are to induce rainfall this week, but if the meteorological conditions are not found suitable then it would be done next week. Cloud seeding is the process of combining different kinds of chemical agents, including silver iodide, dry ice and even common table salt, with existing clouds in an effort to thicken them and increase the chance of rainfall. The weathermen are monitoring conditions to become favourable for creating artificial rain, which can be induced in 24 hours, the official said. Delhi's air quality was recorded in the 'very poor' category on Tuesday due to humidity and slow wind speed. The overall air ...
Smog, haze drenched Delhi to be doused in artificial rain
The national capital is once again heading towards the worst time of the year, where the region's notoriously substandard air quality becomes even more pernicious. Sulfur Oxides, dut and soot are a growing threat for lakhs of people residing in Delhi.According to Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), Delhi remained wrapped under the thick blanket of smog and dust on Tuesday as air quality in scores of areas across the city remained in 'very poor' category. The overall air quality index of the national capital has been docked at 333 on Tuesday morning.At Lodhi road, the AQI (Air Quality Index) was 315 with PM (Particulate Matter) 2.5 at 9:15 am. In the Wazirpur area, the air quality also dipped to the severe category with 400. Also in capital's famous locality Mathura road which also has Purana Qila, the AQI fell to 344 with PM 2.5.The India Meteorological Department has predicted that the weather in Delhi will mostly be hazy sunshine ...
China sends 5 satellites into orbit on single rocket
China launched a new space environment research satellite and four nanosatellites on a single rocket on Tuesday.
'Saudi Crown prince to attend G20 summit in Argentina'
Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih on Monday said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud will participate in the upcoming G20 summit in Argentina, Al Arabiya local news reported.
Tiger Mahavir died due to multiple organ failure: Post mortem report
The post-mortem report of Tiger Mahavir confirmed that he died due to infection and multiple organ failure, caused due to wound on his neck.The three-year-old male tiger who was brought from Kanha Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh to the Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha's Angul district was found dead on November 14.After the incident, a team of wildlife experts and doctors investigated the matter and doctors team conducted a post-mortem.Regional Chief Conservator of Forest (RCCF) Sudarshan Kumar Panda said around eight to ten porcupine quills were recovered from the stomach of the tiger during post-mortem. He added that apart from porcupine quills, furs of wild boar were also found in tiger's stool."As per the post-mortem report, the tiger died because of organ failure due to the wound on his neck. Around eight to ten porcupine quills were recovered from the tiger's stomach along with traces of wild boar hair from stool samples," Panda said."Some of his tissues and organs have been ...
MCD, DDA 'not properly implementing' directions on curbing pollution:EPCA chief
EPCA chairperson Bhure Lal lashed out at Delhi's civic and urban bodies for "not properly implementing" the directions issued to curb pollution. The Supreme Court-empowered Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) chairman said enforcing agencies were "completely dormant" and bodies like the DDA and the MCD were indulging in a blame game. "We have to confront the problems but enforcing agencies are dormant and indulge in blame game," he said at an event at India Habitat Centre here. Delhi's air quality remained "very poor" on Monday due to slow wind speed and high humidity. Rejecting the allegation, North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta said the civic body "follows all instructions" as directed by the top court-appointed monitoring committee while DDA Vice-Chairman Tarun Kapoor said the urban body discharged all its duty diligently. Lal said the need of the hour was to preserve Delhi's ecology which is "decaying and dying". Countering the allegation, Gupta said, "It ...
NASA picks ancient Martian river delta for 2020 rover touchdown
NASA has picked an ancient river delta as the landing site for its uncrewed Mars 2020 rover, to hunt for evidence of past life on Earth's neighboring planet, officials said Monday. Even though the Red Planet is now cold and dry, the landing site, Jezero Crater, was filled with a 1,600-foot (500-metre) deep lake that opened to a network of rivers some 3.5 to 3.9 billion years ago. The 45-kilometre wide basin "could have collected and preserved ancient organic molecules and other potential signs of microbial life from the water and sediments that flowed into the crater billions of years ago," NASA said in a statement. At least five different kinds of rocks, including "clays and carbonates that have high potential to preserve signatures of past life," are believed to lie in the crater, just north of the Martian equator, the US space agency said. Scientists have debated where to land the rover for the past four years, and whittled down their decision from a total of 64 possible sites. The
'Enforcement agencies not implementing directions to curb pollution'
Stressing that Delhi is decaying and dying due to air pollution, the Supreme Court-appointed EPCA on Monday slammed the enforcement authorities for failing to implement its directions to control pollution.
Dengue cases in Delhi jump to 2,146
Over 270 fresh cases of dengue have been reported over the last one week in the national capital, taking the total number of people diagnosed with the vector-borne disease this season to 2,146, according to a municipal report released Monday. Of the total number of cases, 551 were reported this month till November 17. As many as 1,114 cases were reported in October only, the report said. Also, 450 cases of malaria and 150 of chikungunya have been reported this season, it said. Of the 2,146 dengue cases this year, 374 were recorded in September, 58 in August, 19 in July, eight in June, 10 in May, two in April, one in March, three in February and six in January. Two malaria cases were reported in February, one each in April and March, 17 in May, 25 in June, 42 in July, 82 in August, 138 in September and 130 in October, according to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which tabulates data on vector-borne diseases in the city. Doctors have advised people to take precautions to ..
Heavy congestion on roads as Delhi sees 5,000 weddings
Heavy traffic was witnessed at many places in Delhi as 5,000 weddings were scheduled to take place in the city on Monday, officials said. The Delhi Police deployed around 1,000 personnel to manage traffic and constantly updated commuters through its Twitter handle, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Alok Kumar said. "We deployed around 1,000 traffic police personnel to ensure the smooth flow of traffic as 5,000 weddings were scheduled to take place this evening," he said. Despite attempts by the police, there was heavy traffic congestion at several intersections following weddings across the national capital, including south and east districts where most of the banquet halls are located. "There are a large number of marriage ceremonies in Delhi today due to this traffic will remain heavy in various parts of Delhi. Please cooperate traffic staff on duty," the Delhi Police posted on Twitter. In the view of wedding season, the traffic police had taken initiative by coordinating with .
129 blocks of 18 Jharkhand districts drought hit: CM
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das Monday said 129 blocks in 18 districts of the state has been affected by drought. The state government has sent a report to the Centre in this regard, he was quoted as saying in an official release. Under the Fasal Bima Yozana, Das said the government will distribute Rs 5 crore in Palamau, Rs 4.66 crore in Garhwa and Rs 28.33 lakh in Latehar districts. The amounts will be given for losses incurred by farmers for 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years. Addressing a programme in Medininagar, the headquarters of Palamau district, the chief minister said over 14.78 lakh farmers of the state have been insured under the Fasal Bima Yozana. On the occasion, he laid foundation stones of projects worth Rs 238.88 crore and inaugurated schemes worth Rs 47.03 crore, the release said.
Karnataka farmers give government 15 days to meet demands
The Karnataka Farmers' Association (KFA) on Monday gave the state government 15 days to meet their demands, including loan waiver, minimum support price for all crops and compensation for drought, failing which they would resume and intensify their stir.
Karnataka villages open defecation free, says CM
Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday said the southern state was open defecation free in its rural areas.
Pak SC concludes Katas Raj case; orders cement company to deposit Rs 10 crore as fine
Pakistan's Supreme Court Monday ordered a cement company to deposit Rs 10 crore into its dam fund for using underground water that lead to rapid drying up of the 'sacred pond' at the Katas Raj temple complex - considered sacred by Hindus. The apex court started suo motu proceeding in November last year after media reported that extensive exploitation of underground water by cement factories located near the historic Katas Raj temple in Chakwal district of Punjab was drying up the 'sacred pond'. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar already had banned the use of underground water by cement factories to save the pond. While in its hearing on Friday, the court also ordered authorities to refill the pond even by using water tankers. Concluding the case on Monday, the court ordered DG Khan Cement company to deposit Rs 10 crore into the Supreme Court Dam Fund, including Rs 8 crore as payment for water utilised and Rs 2 crore penalty for misleading the court. The chief ...
