Page 444 - Environment
Deepening farm crisis in India could hurt Modi's re-election bid
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The financial squeeze on India's farmers is set to worsen because of record high fuel prices and surging costs of fertilisers, posing a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an election that must be held by May.
'Mowgli School' inspires students to pick up books
Located in the Dudhwa-Katarniya forest area here, 'Mowgli School' is busy giving wings to the dreams of village children, thanks to an initiative by the Special Tiger Protection Force. The Special Tiger Protection Force, constituted for tiger conservation, have embarked on a mission to teach children living in the forest areas. Children trek the difficult forest terrain and cover a distance of around 10 kilometres to study at the school. "Special Tiger Protection Force was basically formed for ensuring safety of tigers and other wild animals, and for checking the man-animal conflict," Ramesh Pandey, Field Director, Dudhwa Katarniya forest told PTI Wednesday. "Sub-Inspector of STPF, Satyendra Kumar, during his stay at Motipur range, started teaching children of the village (which comes under the said forest range) a few days ago along with the other forest department staff," he said. Kumar started counselling the villagers and made them aware about the positive effect of education ...
Air pollutants inside a home may change your behaviour
Identifying nasty microscopic air pollutants in your home can be a difficult task, but what if you could?Researchers from the University of Utah conducted a study to determine if homeowners change the way they live if they could visualize the air quality in their house. It turns out, their behaviour changes a lot."The idea behind this study was to help people understand something about this invisible air quality in their home," said Jason Wiese, lead author of the study.During the day, the air pollution inside your home can be worse than outside due to activities such as vacuuming, cooking, dusting or running the clothes dryer. The results can cause health problems, especially for the young and elderly with asthma.The researchers built a series of portable air quality monitors with Wi-Fi and connected them to a university server. Three sensors were placed in each of six homes in Salt Lake and Utah counties from four to 11 months. Two were placed in different, high-traffic areas of the
7 researchers evacuated from Pacific atoll as storm nears
Seven researchers have been evacuated from a remote atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a powerful hurricane headed their way, officials said Wednesday. A research vessel picked up the seven from French Frigate Shoals, said Kate Toniolo, the acting superintendent of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. The atoll is about 800 kilometers northwest of Honolulu. Hurricane Walaka was south of the island on Wednesday and heading north with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (210 mph). On Monday the Coast Guard evacuated four workers from a national wildlife refuge on Johnston Atoll before Walaka passed that island. The storm hasn't threatened Hawaii's most populated islands, where the state's 1.4 million people live. The French Frigate Shoals researchers were studying and monitoring Hawaiian monk seals and Hawaiian green sea turtles, Toniolo said. They were due to leave the island in the middle of this month, so the evacuation accelerated their departure, she said ...
Here's why secondary forests have shorter lifespans
Secondary forests, or forests that have regrown after agriculture use, only last an average of 20 years, according to a recently released scientific paper.The finding presents a major problem for large-scale restoration policy, which often focuses on commitments to restore a certain number of hectares by a given year. But the benefits of restoration depend on those forests persisting. It takes much longer than 20 years for a secondary forest to absorb large amounts of carbon, or to provide habitat for many forest species, research shows.The paper is one of the first studies to look at how long secondary forests persist.Lead author Leighton Reid said, "This work is important because all of our hopes and needs for tropical secondary forests rely on those forests recovering for long periods of time. Species conservation, carbon storage, and other benefits require forests to grow old, and in southern Costa Rica, they aren't."Reid and his collaborators used aerial photos of secondary ...
Cabinet approves increased MSP for Rabi Crops to be marketed in next season
Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved increasing the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for all Rabi crops for the year 2018-19 to be marketed in the year 2019-20.MSP is referred to a price at which the government buys crops from the farmers, to protect agriculture producers from fall in farm prices.With the increased prices in place, the farmers will get an additional return of Rs 62, 635 crores on the notified crops. The initiative will help in doubling farmers' income by increasing MSP of notified crops to at least 50 percent return over cost of production.After the implementation of cabinet decision, the increased MSPs of wheat will also be raised by Rs.105 per quintal, safflower by Rs. 845 per quintal, barley by Rs.30 per quintal, masur (lentil) by Rs.225 per quintal, gram by Rs.220 per quintal and rapeseed and mustard by Rs.200 per quintal.The MSPs fixed by the government for wheat, barley, gram, masur, rapeseed and .
Indore, Bhopal Metro Rail projects get Cabinet approval
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the implementation of Metro Rail projects in Indore and Bhopal.The Indore Metro Rail Project, comprising of a ring line of length 31.55 Km, will connect major public nodes and clustered areas of the city including, Bengali Square, Vijay Nagar, Bhawarsala and Patasia.The estimated cost of the Indore project is Rs. Rs.7500.80 crore and it will be completed in four years. The metro line is expected to reduce accidents, pollution, travel time, energy consumption and anti-social incidents.On the other hand, the Bhopal Metro Rail Project will comprise of two corridors with a total length of 27.87 Km, namely, Karond Circle to AIIMS and Bhadbhada Square to RatnagiriTiraha. The cost of the project is estimated to be Rs. 6941.40 crore.The corridors will have Multimodal Integration with Railway and BRTS Stations and feeder network of Bus, Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) and Non-Motorised Transport (NMT). The ..
French minister Brune Poirson co-chairs first assembly of ISA
French Minister Brune Poirson Wednesday co-chaired the first session of General Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) here and discussed ways to produce results swiftly. The assembly was inaugurated Tuesday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. A decision-making body, the General Assembly of the International Solar Alliance, was a fundamental phase for accelerating the deployment of solar energy in intertropical countries, particularly in Africa. Forty-six countries were represented, 24 by their ministers, according to an official statement. The member countries convened to take decisions aimed at strengthening the organisation's governance, appointing the director general of ISA, defining the rules and regulations for the ISA's functioning as well as its budget and setting the work plan for the coming months, it said. Summing up the proceedings,Poirson said, "We reviewed the Solar Alliance's work programme, its initial outcomes, and ..
ADB to lend $100 mn for Kolkata's sewerage, drainage
India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday signed $100 million loan agreement to strengthen capacity of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for resilient urban services, an official statement said.
Cabinet approves Metro projects for Bhopal, Indore
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved Metro rail projects for Indore and Bhopal cities in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, to be built at a cost of Rs 14,442 crore over four years.
IRB Infra achieves financial closure for 2nd road project
IRB Infrastructure Developers (IRB Infra) said Wednesday it has achieved financial closure for its second hybrid annuity road project. "This is remarkable achievement for us to financially close two HAM projects on two successive days, which is nothing but the result of our domain expertise, execution capabilities and financial discipline demonstrated over last 20 years," Virendra D Mhaiskar, Chairman and Managing Director, IRB Infra said. IRB PS Highway is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of IRB Infra. Of the three projects under Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) bagged by IRB Infra, the first two, ie, Puducherry to Poondiyankuppam (38 Km) and Poondiyankuppam to Sattanathpuram (56.80 Kms), have now achieved financial closure at the bid project cost, within the time frame stipulated under the concession agreement, the statement said.
Canine Distemper Virus found in some dead lions in Gir: Govt
Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) was found in some of the 23 Asiatic lions which died in Gujarat's Gir forest since September 12, the state government said Wednesday. The government has launched massive operations to ensure that the infection does not spread to other big cats in their only abode in Asia. According to officials, a deadly combination of Canine Distemper Virus and Protozoal infection is responsible for the death of at least 11 of 23 lions in the Gir sanctuary. The condition of three of over 36 lions currently under observation of Forest department is critical, officials said. Other lions in the sanctuary are being examined randomly to find out if they are infected by the CDV whose outbreak had wiped out 30 per cent population of lions in Serengeti forest areas in East Africa in 1990s. The mass deaths have jolted the government which has launched a number of measures including importing 300 shots of a vaccine from the US to protect the lions. The government has also sought ...
Ministry of Railways wins 'Swachchta Hi Seva' award
The Ministry of Railways has been declared the best department for its contribution to "Swachchta Pakhwada" under the "Swachchta Hi Seva" category of awards in an inter-ministry initiative organised by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation to promote cleanliness in government offices and health facilities, a spokesperson for the ministry said. The award was presented to the Railway Ministry on Tuesday, on the fourth anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission. "The award is a recognition of the hard work that railways has put in towards the success of the initiative. The ministry had prepared a detailed calendar of events that it planned to carry out across all its departments be it the cleanliness of trains, office premises or the stations," said ministry spokesperson Smita Vats Sharma. The 'Swachchta Hi Seva' campaign was launched last year to spur the public to donate their time for building toilets and cleaning public places.
PDS rice from Bihar, UP recovered in Punjab
Punjab's Food and Civil Supplies department on Wednesday seized thousands of bags of rice from private rice mills in Punjab which had been diverted from the public distribution system (PDS) in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Waste-converter compost machine installed at Nirman Bhawan
A waste-converter compost machine has been installed at the Nirman Bhawan and the compost generated from it would be used for the horticulture works. Addressing a gathering on Wednesday, the director general of the Central Public Works Department, Prabhakar Singh, said compost produced by this machine would be used in the horticulture works, thereby fulfilling the requirement of three R's: reduce, reuse and recycle. "CPWD is installing similar composting machines at other GPRAs and GPOAs," Singh said. He added that the CPWD had also initiated waste-segregation at source at different locations in Delhi with the help of startups. To conserve precious water resource, the CPWD has decided to install sewage treatment plants to recycle the waste water for use of horticulture and other purposes in all its general pool residential accommodations (GPRAs), he added. The function was organised to mark the end of 'Swachhata Hi Sewa Pakhwada'.
Support strategic petroleum reserve set up: Centre to Odisha
The Centre on Wednesday urged the Odisha government to cooperate with it in the establishment of the proposed Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility at Chandikhol. The Centre's move was apprised to the state government when Sanjay Sudhi, the joint secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, met Odisha Chief Secretary A P Padhi here at the state secretariat. Since the facility will be the an underground strategic oil reserve for eastern India and generate employment for 4,000 people during the construction phase, the state government should cooperate in establishing the project, Sudhir told reporters. He said the Odisha government has assured the central government of support in setting up the SPR. Sudhir said the proposed SPR in Jajpur district with 4 million metric ton capacity will be built over 400 acre of land, at an investment of Rs 6,500 crore. The project would also include a pipeline from Chandikhole to Paradip. The oil ministry official said that
RAPS-I nuclear reactor sets new record
The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station Unit 3 (RAPS-3) has set a new record of continuous 766 days of operations on Wednesday, breaking the earlier record of the RAPS-5 of 765 days of non-stop operations in 2014, an official said here.
States ask for subsidies, support, protection, right policies to boost clean energy in India
States on Wednesday urged the Centre to provide a level-playing field for domestic investors in the renewable energy sector and categorise large hydro projects as clean energy source to give a boost to green energy projects. Chief ministers and representatives of various states at the Second Global RE-Invest Summit here demanded that subsidies and easy credit should be provided to domestic investors as well as feasible and acceptable policies. "There should be a level-playing field because foreign investors come with huge investments. Our Indian investors needs protection from the government," Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy observed during a session. The government should provide bank support and bank subsidy for harnessing clean energy sources, he stressed. States also asked the government to protect the domestic industry for improving renewable energy equipment manufacturing particulary of solar energy and reducing huge import dependence. Uttar Pradesh Minister of ...
HC directs Guj govt to file report on death of lions on Oct 8
The Gujarat High Court Wednesday directed the state government to submit a report on October 8 about the steps being undertaken to prevent the death of lions due to unnatural causes. A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one Biren Pandya in 2016 over death of a lion due to electrocution in the Gir forest and the government's response on deaths of 184 lions in the last two years. The high court had taken a suo motu (on its own) cognisance of death of 184 lions and issued notices to the state and central government in May this year. The high court Wednesday directed the government to submit a detailed statistics on October 8 on steps taken by it to control death of lions due to unnatural causes. Meanwhile, the bench told the government to submit a brief report next Monday on the measures undertaken to control the death of lions due to virus, after it was told that a virus infection was the ...
EU lawmakers want to cut car emissions by 40 per cent by 2030
The European Parliament wants to cut CO2 emissions from new cars and vans by 40 per cent by 2030 and will try to convince the European Union's 28 nations to back the idea despite objections from the powerful car industry. The proposed cut agreed on by the legislators Wednesday was a compromise between environmentalists who wanted tougher commitments and those who wanted to avoid too much damage to the auto industry. The EU nations will discuss the measures further this month. Car producers in the EU are warning that tough cuts would cost manufacturing jobs. Car emissions have become a big issue in Europe since Volkswagen's scandal in September 2015 in which it admitted to rigging diesel engines to cheat on US emissions tests. That led to a wide-ranging examination of all diesels and the discovery that many of them emitted far more pollutants on the road than in testing. There was talk of banning older diesels from some cities, and of ending the subsidies for diesel fuel that helped ..
