Page 510 - Environment

How India's cows can save the earth -- by feeding on seaweed

A US scientist says India has a huge potential to reduce its carbon footprint -- which leads to global warming -- by exploiting the results obtained from research conducted by his team on dairy cows. Still, there's a long way to go.

Odisha ranks 2nd in implementation of AMRUT scheme

Odisha has secured second place in the country in the implementation of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme in the state, an official said today. The state's position was determined by the National Level Rating Framework assessment up to August 21, 2018, state's Housing and Urban Development Secretary G Mathivathnan said. The scheme has so far been implemented in 9 towns of the state. The issue was discussed yesterday at a high power committee held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary A P Padhi. After review of the projects, Padhi directed the department to cover all households and entire population in AMRUT cities through pipe water supply as a first priority. Padhi further directed to complete the projects well before time while safeguarding the quality of project and ensure delivery of services to the people by the scheduled time. The meeting decided to priorities the projects in order of drinking water, sewerage/septage and

Fisheries Dept backs Tripura CM's duck-oxygen theory

Rameshwar Das, the Principal Secretary of Tripura's Fisheries Department, has backed Chief Minister Biplab Deb's comments about raising oxygen levels in water bodies by releasing ducks, saying that bird is a natural aerator and its presence in water bodies provides multiple benefits."The practice of introducing something else with fish is known as Integrated Fish Farming. It is used in animal husbandry, agriculture, etc. There are several benefits of introducing ducks with fish. Firstly their droppings increase the fertility and helps raise the level of plankton in the water, which the fish consume, hence helping them grow," Das told ANI.Das further explained how ducks act as natural aerators, "Fish require dissolved oxygen. The surface area of the water body is directly proportional to the dissolved oxygen, and to increase the surface area, there needs to be a disturbance on the surface, it cannot be still. So, when ducks swim on water, they act as natural aerators, and with ducks ...

India's soybean output may rise 20 percent in 2018/2019 - industry official

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - India's soybean output is set to jump about 20 percent to over 10 million tonnes in the 2018/2019 crop year that starts in October, an industry official said on Wednesday.

23 cities to avoid disposal of 87 mn tonnes of waste by 2030

Twenty-three pioneering cities and regions have committed to significantly cut the amount of waste they generate, accelerating them on the path toward zero waste.

Iran inaugurates its largest wind farm

Iran on Tuesday inaugurated its largest wind farm as part of its efforts to increase production of electricity from renewable sources.

Women activists urge PM to ban on illegal GMO imports

Environmental activist and scholar Dr Vandana Shiva on Tuesday urged the Prime Minister to ban "illegal GMO import" and stop unnecessary imports to support Indian farmers and strengthen the country's sovereignty.

Traffic noise may shorten birds' lifespan: Study

Besides increasing noise pollution, sounding vehicle horns may also cut short lives of birds, says a research.

Govt extends deadline to file Income Tax Returns in Kerala

The government on Tuesday extended the last date for filing Income Tax Returns (ITR) in the flood-hit Kerala. All Income Tax assessees in the state of Kerala can now file ITR till September 15."In view of the disruption caused due to severe floods in Kerala, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) hereby further extends the due date for furnishing Income Tax Returns from August 31 to September 15 for all Income Tax assessees in the State of Kerala, who were liable to file their Income Tax Returns by 31st August 2018," a release from the Ministry of Finance stated.CBDT had earlier extended the deadline for filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) from July 31 to August 31 in respect of the categories of taxpayers who were liable to file their Income Tax Returns by 31st July 2018.

Odisha signs MoU with US based agencies to eradicate malaria

In a bid to eradicate malaria from Odisha, the state government today signed an MoU with two US-based agencies, a state minister said. The two agencies - 'Malaria No More' and 'Malaria Elimination Trust' - would help the state government prepare a strategy on how to overcome the disease, Health and Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena said. The two agencies will also help in preparing the public awareness campaign materials. Jena said as malaria has posed a challenge for the state though the number of deaths has come down. While 89 people had died of malaria in 2014, it was reduced to 80 in 2015, 77 in 2016, 24 in 2017 and two till July this year, the minister said. The malaria cases has also come down, he said. Altogether 3,95,004 malaria cases were detected in 2014, the number was 41,937 till July in 2018, Jena said.

Samsung launches entry-level smartphone Galaxy J2 Core

Korean electronics major Samsung today unveiled its entry-level smartphone 'Galaxy J2 Core' which is powered by Google's Android (Go) edition. Google had, in December last year, unveiled the Android Oreo Go edition for smartphones with 1GB RAM or less. These low-cost smartphones, which come with a new range of apps designed to run faster while using less data, are expected to play an important role in further expanding internet adoption in the country. Samsung, in a statement, said Galaxy J2 Core has been designed to deliver fast and smooth experience while ensuring best-in-class battery performance. Galaxy J2 Core features an 8-megapixel rear camera and 5MP front camera, 5-inch display, 1GB RAM and 8GB internal memory which can be expanded up to 256 GB with an external memory card. * * * * * * * * * Merino Panel commissions captive solar plant Merino Panel Products Ltd (MPPL) today said it has commissioned a 5.5 MW captive open access solar Power Plant in Hisar, Haryana. The MPPL ...

Increasing temperature puts deeper corals in danger

While scientists routinely use sea-surface temperature data collected by satellites to predict the temperature-driven stress on reef communities, a new research shows that surface measurements alone may not accurately predict the full extent of thermal stress on deeper corals.A new study describes a novel approach for predicting warm temperature-induced stress on corals from the sea surface through a deeper expanse ranging from 30-150 meters (100-500 feet) known as the mesophotic zone.Corals at this depth are thought of by some in the science community as being safer from ocean warming than their shallow-water counterparts. But according to the Scripps Oceanography team, even in the deep, corals are episodically exposed to thermal stress at intervals different than those corals near the surface.The researchers utilized nearly two decades of data sets, including sea level, sea-surface temperature, and temperature observations that ranged between the surface and deep into the mesophotic

'600 Goa lifeguards trained to handle injured marine life'

As many as 600 lifeguards in Goa have been trained as first responders to handle injured marine animals or their carcasses washed ashore, a private beach management agency tasked with safeguarding Goa's beaches said on Tuesday.

Paris, Tokyo, New York and others pledge to slash waste

By slashing food waste and improving waste management and recycling, 23 global cities and regions representing 150 million people pledged today to significantly cut the pollution-causing garbage they generate by 2030. Places like New York, Tokyo, London, Paris and Sydney vowed to "cut the amount of waste generated by each citizen 15 percent by 2030," said a statement from C40 Cities, a global network dedicated to fighting climate change. They will also "reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and incineration by 50 percent and increase the diversion rate to 70 percent by 2030," according to the declaration. The goal of the "Advancing Towards Zero Waste Declaration" is to avoid the disposal of at least 87 million tons of waste by 2030. Waste is becoming one of the leading threats to the environment, increasing faster than any other pollutant. Each year, 1.3 billion tons of wasted food is sent to landfills where rotting scraps send the potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas methane ...

Centre, six states ink MoU for Lakhwar multi-purpose project

The Centre and six states of North India signed a memorandum of understanding today for construction of Lakhwar multi-purpose project in the Upper Yamuna basin in Uttarakhand. Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari signed the MoU with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan, Trivendra Singh Rawat of Uttarakhand, Manohar Lal Khattar of Haryana, Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh's Jai Ram Thakur in Delhi for the project worth Rs 3,966.51 crore. The Lakhwar project envisages construction of a 204-metre-high concrete dam across the Yamuna near Lohari village in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand with a live storage capacity of 330.66 million cubic metre (MCM). This storage will provide irrigation to 33,780 hectares of land and availability of 78.83 MCM water for domestic, drinking and industrial use in the six basin states. The project, which is to be executed by Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVL), will generate 300 MW of power. Out ..

SC reserves order on plea to ban manufacture, sale of firecrackers

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a plea that sought a countrywide ban on manufacture, sale and possession of firecrackers to curb air pollution.

New Indore-Manmad railway line to cut distance, save Rs 15k cr

A new railway line between Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Manmad in Maharashtra will cut the distance between two cities by over 170 kilometers, apart from reducing logistics cost for several north Indian cargo centres and resulting in a cumulative economic benefits of Rs 15,000 crore.

Work on human space mission began in 2004, this govt took it forward: officials

India's space agency ISRO began work on developing critical technologies to send humans to space way back in 2004 but the project was not on the "priority list" till the Narendra Modi-led government took it forward, officials said today. "The experiments have been going on since 2004 but it was not on our priority list," Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Sivan said at a joint press conference with Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh. That did not mean ISRO was not going to take up this project, Sivan added. The political decision to take the project forward was taken by the government, Singh said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced in his Independence Day speech that an Indian would be sent to space before 2022. The decision to send humans to space was more of a political decision as ISRO's focus had been on undertaking projects that supported critical areas like communication, agriculture and climate, Singh said. "We had planned it .

Singrauli pollution: Any industry which pollutes will be shut, says NGT

The National Green Tribunal today formed a committee headed by a former judge and asked it to submit an action plan to ensure compliance of its directions in dealing with air and water pollution in Singrauli and Sonebhadra districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh respectively. The NGT warned industries in the two districts they would be closed immediately if they fail to comply with norms to check pollution. A bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said the committee would comprise chief secretaries of both the states, member secretaries of state pollution control boards and district magistrates. It asked the committee to email its action plan to the tribunal and posted the matter for hearing on February 15 next year. The order came on a plea filed by advocate Ashwani Dubey, who had claimed that despite a December 6, 2017 NGT order, neither the industries, nor the authorities have taken steps to improve the environment in the areas and people were made to suffer due ..

ISRO to launch 'Chandrayaan-2' early next year

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch its second moon mission 'Chandrayaan-2' between January 3 and February 16 next year. Chandrayaan-2 will be the first mission in the world going near the South Pole.Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said, "In January 2019, we will have a major mission Chandrayaan-2 by GSLV-Mk-III-M1. We have taken a review by experts throughout the country. They appreciated our efforts saying this is the most complex mission ISRO has ever taken."The ISRO Chairman further revealed that the mass of Chandrayaan-2 has been increased to 3.8 tonnes and will be launched by GSLV-MK-III."Mass of Chandrayaan-2 has increased to 3.8 tonnes which can't be launched by GSLV. We have redefined launch vehicle to GSLV-MK-III. Window for the launch is January 3-16 February. It would be the first mission in the world going near the South Pole," he added.The first edition of the lunar probe was launched in October 2008 and operated ...