Page 45 - Environment

G20 set to agree on marine plastic pollution deal

The Group of 20 major economies were set to agree a deal on reducing marine plastic waste at a meeting in Japan Sunday where they also discussed energy security following the oil tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman. Japan "proposed a workable framework" on marine plastic waste that involves emerging and less developed countries, and was welcomed by member countries, environment minister Yoshiaki Harada told reporters late Saturday at the G20 environment and energy ministers' meeting. Plastic pollution has become an increasing international concern, particularly after bans imposed by China and other countries on the import of plastic waste from overseas. Many countries, including Japan, have seen plastic waste pile up in the wake of the ban. Among the many concerns is the issue of microplastics, the tiny pieces of degraded waste that are difficult to collect once they enter the water. Microplastics tend to absorb harmful chemicals and accumulate inside fish, birds and other animals. The

130 ponds to be revived to improve groundwater level in UP district

As many as 130 ponds will be revived in this district of Uttar Pradesh in order to improve the groundwater level in the area, officials said on Sunday. They added that the ponds had been identified and the work had started with respect to 87 such waterbodies in the district. According to Chief Development Officer (CDO) Archana Verma, the work is going on with respect to 87 ponds in the Budhana area, which is the worst-hit in the district due to the low groundwater level. Saplings will also be planted on the boundary of these waterbodies, the CDO said.

Progress in garbage sorting on Mount Everest

Garbage was sorted for collection during the latest climbing season on the north side of Mount Everest in Tibet, officials said here on Sunday.

Odisha: 42-kg turtle of rare variety found during construction

A turtle of a rare variety was found on Saturday during the construction of Biju Expressway near Bhimkhoj Pada Road in Dharamgarh of Kalahandi district.Later, forest officials reached the spot and rescued the 42-kilogram turtle.Odisha is also famous for Olive Ridley turtle and the state is home to over 90 per cent of India's turtle population.

In a first, Lucknow gets road constructed using plastic waste

In a first, the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) is constructing a road using plastic waste.The road is constructed from Gomti Nagar Police Station to Indian Institute of Management (IIM) under a pilot project by LDA in the state's capital.Chief Engineer Indushekhar Singh told ANI, "Mixing plastic waste increases roads' durability by 40-50 per cent, they will be durable for a longer time. Around 8-10 per cent of plastic waste is being mixed in coal tar."Singh said that LDA has followed guidelines of the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) in road construction."On world environment day, we had declared that we will use plastic in road construction in future," he said."Mixing plastic waste increases durability parameters of roads by 40-50 per cent, they will be more durable and will stay in good condition for a longer time. We use less than 50-micron plastic," Chief Engineer added.Singh said LDA will do more research on this experiment road in the next two years to know if there ..

Amitav Ghosh's passion for climate change continues with 'Gun Island' (IANS Interview)

Three years after making a forceful plea against the effects of environmental degradation, globally acclaimed author Amitav Ghosh returns to the subject by once again focusing on the Sundarbans, which he terms critical for the well being of West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh and lamenting that nations around the world are not responding adequately to the global scourge.

Apollo moon rocks help transform understanding of the universe

- Moon rocks look rather nondescript -- they are often gray in colour -- but for NASA planetary scientist Samuel Lawrence, they are the "most precious materials on Earth." What is certain is that the lunar samples first gathered by Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong nearly 50 years ago have helped transform our understanding of the cosmos. Apollo astronauts collected 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of rocks and soil during their six missions to the Moon between 1969 and 1972 and brought it all back to Earth. "The Moon is the Rosetta Stone of the solar system," Lawrence, who works at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in an interview with AFP. "It's the cornerstone of planetary science." "People don't fully appreciate just how important studying the Apollo samples was for understanding the solar system and the universe around us," he said. "Many of the discoveries that we've made in planetary science, not just on the Moon, but on Mercury, on Mars, on some of the asteroids, directly relate to

Maha recorded 115 MT of food production despite drought, deficient rain: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Saturday said the state recorded 115.70 lakh metric tonnes of food production despite drought and deficient rainfall, thanks to various water conservation methods adopted by it. He was here to attend the NITI Aayog meet. "We achieved 115.70 lakh metric tonnes food grain production. This could be possible because of less dependency on rainfall and putting in place alternative arrangements," Fadnavis said. He also elaborated on the benefits of Jal Yukt Shivar farm ponds and the ongoing irrigation projects and plans for the ambitious Marathwada Watergrid project. Jal Yukt Shivar is the flagship programme of the Mahrashtra government. It envisages desilting streams and encouraging farm ponds with an emphasis on percolation of water. Fadnavis also talked about the measures taken by his government to mitigate drought like deploying tankers, fodder camps and massive tree plantation programmes. He thanked the Centre for the "highest ever ...

India inching towards meeting Paris Agreement targets: RK Singh at G20 ministerial meet

India is implementing one of the largest renewable energy expansion and energy efficiency programmes and is moving towards achieving the target to fulfill the country's commitments made in Paris Agreement, said Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister RK Singh on Saturday.The minister made these remarks at the G20 Ministerial Meeting on 'Energy Transitions and Global Environment for Sustainable Growth' being held in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan on June 15-16.The G20 ministerial meeting is being held where leaders from 20 countries will discuss energy transitions and global environment toward sustainable growth.During the address, Singh highlighted the path-breaking achievements in household electrification and providing energy access to all in India. He expressed confidence that India will achieve 40 per cent renewable in the energy mix by 2030.Singh mentioned various energy efficiency programmes such as through PAT, UJALA, Standard and Labelling and ECBC and reiterated ...

NITI Aayog meeting: Maha CM discusses water conservation initiatives

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday addressed the meeting of Fifth Governing Council of NITI Aayog, during which he presented his state's success regarding various water conservation initiatives in spite of drought and only 73 per cent rain."We achieved 115.70lakh MT food grain production. This was possible because of less dependency on rainfall as alternative arrangements were in place," he said during the meeting.The Chief Minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Government for timely assistance to Maharashtra this year to tackle drought situation, an official statement said.Rs 4248.59 crore of assistance has been received so far and distributed to farmers.Fadnavis also elaborated on the measures taken by the state government to mitigate drought like deploying tankers, relaxation and concessions, repairs of water supply schemes, fodder camps, and massive tree plantation program.According to the official statement, while speaking on ...

Jihadi, terrorist activities have decreased in J-K: NITI Aayog chairman

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Saturday shared figures in the meeting of NITI Aayog's Governing Council, which showed that Jihadi and terrorists activities have decreased in the state and are under control now.NITI Aayog chairman Rajiv Kumar, who was briefing media persons after the meeting, said: "Governor Satya Pal Malik said that now we can concentrate on the development of the state. Agriculture and import sector are the area of emphasis.""Now common people are giving information about the terrorists and their hideouts. They are not finding shelter in homes and are forced to hide in the forest and gardens," said Kumar.He said that two Aspirational districts -- Baramulla and Kupwara -- have shown remarkable improvement.The Aspirational District Programme was launched by the Prime Minister on January 5, 2018. It aims to rapidly transform the districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas and have emerged as pockets of under-development, ...

Haryana moving towards high Ease of Living Index: Khattar

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said the state government was focusing on moving towards a high Ease of Living Index for the people of the state after systematically ushering in a new era of corruption-free governance.

PM Modi announces 'high level task force' to bring structural reform in agriculture

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a high-level task force to bring structural reforms in agriculture in the country, said NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar here on Saturday."The Prime Minister has announced a high-level task force to bring structural reform in agriculture. The task force will be constituted very soon. It will submit its report in 2-3 months. The emphasis is on how to increase production and marketing in the agriculture sector," said Kumar while briefing media persons about the 5th meeting of Governing Council of NITI Aayog.Kumar said that rainwater harvesting, drought situation and relief measures, aspirational districts, agricultural sector transformation and modernisation, and security-related issues were the key issues discussed during the meeting."This is the first time after Independence that there is monsoon deficit continuously for five years. This year the monsoon is projected to be normal at about 96 per cent but still not 100 per cent. Chief ...

Fadnavis meets Union Jal Shakti Minister

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis discussed river-linking projects in his state with Jal Shakti Minister Devendra Singh Shekhawat, here on Saturday. They discussed various linking proposals in Maharashtra, including bringing water from Godavari basin to parched regions in Marathwada and northern Maharashtra, a statement by the state government said. The Marathwada and Vidarbha regions have been grappling with drought-like situation. A presentation would also be made before the union minister on the issue, the statement added. Fadnavis said the Centre has provided considerable help to the state and soon a solution to the drought would be put in place. The Maharashtra chief minister is here to attend the NITI Aayog meeting. On the day, Fadnavis also met Union Housing and Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Petroluem and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Strong initiatives needed to revive rural economy: Chhattisgarh CM Baghel

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday emphasised on taking strong initiatives for reviving the rural economy in the country.

Patnaik raises spl category issue in NITI Aayog meet

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik raised the Special Category Status issue before the Niti Aayog on Saturday, four days after pushing for the 'Special Focus State' status for the state in view of its vulnerability to natural calamities. Attending the fifth meeting of the Governing Council of the NITI Aayog chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, Patnaik demanded that natural calamity be included as a criterion for according Special Category Status to Odisha. "As an interim measure, states hit by major natural calamities may be declared as Special Focus States and granted benefits of Special Category Status for a specific period," the chief minister said. Patnaik had raised the same demand during a meeting with Modi on June 11. Patnaik cited the instance of cyclone Fani that battered 14 districts, killed 64 people and caused a total loss of Rs 9,336.26 crore after making landfall at a wind speed of about 200 kmph near Puri on May 3. Noting that India

Dudhwa National Park closes for tourists

The Dudhwa National Park (DNP), which is famous for tigers and swamp deers, closed for tourists on Saturday evening. Tourists are allowed inside the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) from November 15 to June 15 every year. The entire DTR, which includes Dudhwa National Park, Kishanpur wildlife sanctuary and Katarniaghat sanctuary, is closed in view of the monsoon season and tourism activities are suspended, Field Director Ramesh Kumar Pandey said. During monsoon, most parts of the reserve are inundated. According to official figures, 29,661 Indian and 287 foreign tourists had visited park by March end. Pandey said this year in January, the first-ever winter bird count was held in Dudhwa, during which five new species were reported in the park. It was followed by a summer bird count during which the black-crested bulbul was spotted after decades. He said that in this season phase two of a rhino rehabilitation programme at Bhadi Tal was introduced, but tourists were not allowed to visit the ...

Ethanol plant commissioned in Gujarat's Narmada district

Gujarat deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel Saturday commissioned an ethanol plant in Narmada district. The plant, set up by Shri Narmada Khand Udyog Sahkari Mandali Cooperative at Dharikheda near Rajpipla, will be the first plant in Gujarat to make ethanol from sugarcane crushing proces, Patel said. It will produce 45 kilo-litre per day (KLPD) of ethanol. Eight other sugar factories in the region too have plans to set up such plants, Patel said, mentioning that the Union government has now permitted 10 per cent mixing of ethanol in automobile fuels. The plant will manufacture ethanol during sugarcane crushing process using a new technology, he said. In older processes, ethanol is made from molasses and alcohol which are by-products of sugar manufacturing. The plant has been set up at a cost of Rs 60 crore and is spread over six acres of land, said Narendra Patel, managing director of the cooperative.

Make natural calamity criteria for special status: Naveen

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday demanded that natural calamities should be included as a criteria for according Special Category Status to states.

Gehlot seeks Centre's support to strengthen Rajasthan's financial management

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday sought the Centre's help for strengthening Rajasthan's financial management besides demanding the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) be declared a national project.