Page 405 - Environment
Delhi's air quality slips to 'very poor', firefighting continues at Bhalswa landfill
Delhi's air quality Wednesday dipped to "very poor" barely two days after staying in the 'poor' category, even as firefighting operations continued at the Bhalswa landfill site. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi at 339. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe". The air quality in the capital had shown signs of improvement Monday as it moved from "very poor" to "poor" category, but experts said it could deteriorate in the coming days due to toxic air coming out of the blazing fire at Bhalswa landfill site. A Delhi Fire Service official said on Wednesday evening that firefighting was still underway at the garbage dump site. "Fires at landfill sites do not come under control easily. Our operations are continuing for the past several days. "The fire tenders and personnel numbering up to 15 are being ...
BS norms: SC takes note of report by Parliamentary panel
The Supreme Court on Wednesday took note of a recent report by a Parliamentary panel which stated that any leniency on the government's part in tackling with pollution would have a cascading effect on the health of the citizens. The top court, which held that no Bharat Stage-IV vehicle would be sold or registered in India from April 1, 2020, referred to the August 7 this year report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee that said one out of three children in Delhi suffers from respiratory problems. "This is almost twice as high as compared to the city of Kolkata or rural areas. We may note that the World Health Organisation's (WHO) database of more than 4,300 cities showed Indian cities of Gwalior, Allahabad, Raipur, Delhi, Ludhiana, Khanna, Varanasi and Patna as being among the most polluted in the world," a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said. The bench, also comprising Justices S A Nazeer and Deepak Gupta, referred to various other documents and said that they clearly ...
Punjab bans sale of herbicide glyphosate
The Punjab government has banned the sale of herbicide glyphosate in the state, which is widely used to control a variety of weeds in almost all crops, with immediate effect, a senior official said here on Wednesday.
Presentation made before the Council of Ministers over the Clean Ganga Mission
The Ministry of Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation briefed the Council of Ministers on Wednesday about progress made under different projects aimed at cleaning the Ganga river, a senior ministry official said. In a 45-minutes presentation, the ministers were informed that while works under some MoUs on conservation of the river were going at a good pace it was yet to gather momentum in some other cases, said U P Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation. Following the presentation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested that information on the work done under the clean Ganga mission should be disseminated to the people more effectively, Singh said. The Namami Gange project or the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is one of the flagships programmes of the Modi government. "The presentation also gave us an opportunity to inform the ministers about the work done under it as we have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with 12 different ...
Withdraw recommendation on new dam in Kerala: TN
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday urged the Prime Minister to direct the Ministry of Environment to withdraw the recommendation to grant terms of reference for environmental impact assessment for a new dam by Kerala at Mullaperiyar.
135 Zika virus patients in Jaipur
The Zika virus has so far affected 135 people in Jaipur, officials said on Wednesday.
Himachal court concerned over unscientific dumping of industrial waste
The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday took serious note of collection of solid waste and its dumping in an unscientific manner by the Municipal Council of Baddi and the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Development Authority.
Palaniswami writes to PM Modi over Kerala's proposal for new dam
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to direct the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to forthwith withdraw recommendations made on Kerala's proposal to construct a new dam at Mullaperiyar."I am constrained to bring to your kind notice, that the Expert Appraisal Committee for River Valley and Hydro Electric Projects functioning under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in its 18th meeting held on September 27, 2018, recommended for a grant of Terms of Reference of Kerala's proposal to conduct Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the construction of a new dam instead of the existing Mullai Periyar Dam. This has caused great apprehension and consternation among the people of Tamil Nadu," Palaniswami said in his letter to the Prime Minister.He added that the Kerala government approaching the Centre on the matter and the latter entertaining it were in gross ...
Give farmers access to global markets: Swaminathan
Noted agronomist M.S. Swaminathan on Wednesday said that Indian farmers must be given access to global markets so that exchange of technology could take place.
Tiger kills fisherman in West Bengal
A fisherman was mauled to death by an adult Royal Bengal Tiger at Pirkhali forest in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district Wednesday, the police said. The incident took place at Bally-Satyanarayanpur under Gosaba area in the Sundarbans, where a group of three fishermen had gone to catch crabs. Early Wednesday morning, the tiger attacked 42-year-old Madhu Mondal at Pirkhali forest injuring him severely. When companions of Mondal chased the Tiger, it left the injured Mondal and disappeared in the jungle. Mondal was rushed to nearby Gosaba hospital, where doctors declared him 'dead', the police said. In another incident, two girls drowned in a pond at Sitagachi village in the district Wednesday, police said. The two girls had gone to the pond for a bath and slipped and drowned, they said.
Delhi's air quality drops to very-poor
The air quality of Delhi and neighbouring areas dropped further on Wednesday with the average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 328 marked 'very poor', with many areas choking with 'severe' air quality.
EU parliament backs ban, limits on single-use plastics
The European Parliament has overwhelmingly backed a wide-ranging ban on single-use plastics to counter pollution in seas, fields and waterways. The ban would affect a range of products for which valid alternatives are available from plastic straws to earbuds and plates as of 2021 and would make sure that plastic bottles are 90 per cent recycled by 2025. Under the plan, fishing nets, which are now a key pollutant in the EU's Mediterranean sea and Atlantic ocean, will have to be produced differently, too. The parliament backed the proposals with a 571-53 majority. With the vote, the parliament, the EU Commission and the member states will now enter negotiations in the weeks to come to make it binding legislation.
Massive afforestation to help conserve, rejuvenate River Ganga
Forests are the lifeline of any river, which is why to conserve and rejuvenate one of the holiest rivers, Ganga, an afforestation drive is ongoing along the 2,525 km-long River and its catchment areas in five states - Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), with the help of the Forest Research Institute, has identified an area of 134,000 hectares, in which plantation is to be done.Rajiv Kishore, Executive Director, Administration, NMCG said, "It is not only an ordinary plantation; it is a very scientific plantation where they have specified the species to be planted as per the geographical condition of a particular state. You would agree that right from Gangotri to Gangasagar, it is not one uniform geographical and environmental condition. The ecosystems keep changing from one state to another. So, they have gone into detail and have looked at every particular area and then they have specified the species. This is the .
Punjab looking at great future partnerships with Israel: Amarinder
Punjab is looking at great future partnerships with Israel in key sectors like technology, agriculture, water management and security, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has said. Singh, who is on a five-day visit to Israel, said Punjab is already collaborating with Israel on agriculture in areas such as building centre of excellence and student exchange between Punjab Agricultural university (PAU) and Tel-Aviv university. "Last year, Punjab gave in-principle approval to a pilot project with Israel's Agri-tech company, ARNA to provide technical know-how to farmers for boosting crop yield and farm income. Punjab has already established 3 centres of excellence with Israeli collaboration including Citrus centre of excellence at Hoshiarpur, centre of excellence in Vegetables at Jalandhar and Kartarpur.," he said. He said Punjab and Israel have agreed to explore technology transfer in the critical areas of agriculture, water conservation and security, besides agreeing to cooperate in the ...
Cabinet approves environment pact signed by BRICS nations
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed among the BRICS nations on environmental cooperation.
68 villages in Yavatmal declared hit by scarcity
Sixty-eight villages in Yavatmal district of eastern Maharashtra were declared as affected by water scarcity by the administration Wednesday. District collector Rajesh Deshmukh made the announcement. He also imposed certain restrictions on use of water resources in these villages, official sources said. The district had only 77.15 per cent of the average rainfall this monsoon. Kalamb tehsil recorded the lowest rainfall.
TN CM writes to PM over Kerala proposal for new dam
The Tamil Nadu government Wednesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, opposing the Centre's nod to Kerala's proposal to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment Study for construction of a new dam in place of the existing Mullaperiyar reservoir. In the letter, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said a committee under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had last month recommended for grant of Terms of Reference of Kerala's proposal to conduct the Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the construction of a new dam. "This has caused great apprehension and consternation among the people of Tamil Nadu," he said, adding that the move violated the Supreme Court order on the issue over which the two states are locked in dispute. Palaniswami said the Expert Appraisal Committee for River Valley and Hydro Electric Projects had made the recommendation at a meeting held on September 27. Kerala government approaching the Centre on the issue and the latter ...
HC restrains BMC's panel from allowing tree cutting in Mumbai
The Bombay High Court Wednesday restrained the BMC's tree authority from granting permission for cutting of trees, and observed that appointment of independent experts on a civic body's tree authority panel is mandated as per law and is not an "option". A division bench of Justices A S Oka and M S Sonak said the tree authority of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) shall not take decisions on applications seeking permission to cut trees. The court, however, allowed BMC commissioner to grant permission to cut trees in emergency situations where they posed a threat to property or public. The high court passed the order while hearing an application filed by activist Zoru Bathena, seeking that the tree authority be restrained from granting permissions for cutting trees anywhere in the city since it had not been constituted in accordance with the law. According to the application, the authority did not have any independent experts, and corporators who were members of
Panel for conservation of high-range Himalayan ecosystem set up in JK
The Jammu and Kashmir government has set up a 14-member panel for conservation, sustainable use and restoration of the high-range Himalayan ecosystem. The committee, headed by an administrative secretary, was approved through an order issued by General Administrative Department (GAD) Secretary Hilal Ahmed. The panel will implement the "Secure Himalaya(Securing, Conservation, Sustainable use and Restoration of high-range Himalayan Ecosystem)" scheme. The administrative secretary, forest, environment and ecology was given the charge of taking policy decisions regarding the implementation of the programme, finance, human resource and operation, according to the order. The committee will also implement and oversee the annual work plans, progress and budget of the project, provide guidance and ensure consistency, Ahmed said. The members of the panel will be the director, Defense Institute of High Altitude Research (Leh), a representative of the 14 Corps unit of the Army (Leh), the ...
New camera may help cut impact of volcanic ash on air travel: Study
Scientists have developed a new kind of camera that could help reduce the dangers, health risks and travel impacts of ash plumes during a volcanic eruption. Ash can have a major impact on human lives and infrastructure, such as the 2010 eruption of the Icelandic volcano, which brought international aviation across Europe to a standstill, said researchers at The University of Manchester in the UK. This research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, uses a new kind of camera to measure the flow and speed of ash falling out of a volcanic plume. The researchers measure how ash particles interact with sunlight and, specifically, how they change the polarisation of sunlight, in a similar way to how polarised sunglasses work. This wouldn't have been possible without the development of the new "AshCam" which is the first camera of its kind in the world, researchers said. During a volcanic eruption heavy ash fall can lead to building collapse, potentially injuring or killing those ...