Page 519 - Environment
GSI discovers 72,000 mt of high grade limemud off West Coast
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has delineated 72,000 million tonnes of high grade limemud off the Gujarat and Maharashtra coasts, which can work as an alternative of chemical grade limestone, scarcely available in the country so far, an official said here on Thursday.
Nepal signs agreement with UNDP, UK to fight climate change
Nepal, which is facing huge challenges due to climate change, has signed an agreement with the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and the UK to implement climate-resilient development projects. "As part of the agreement, the UK will support the UNDP to implement the Nepal Climate Change Support Programme (NCCSP) in 14 selected palikas of the provinces," according to a press release issued by the UK Embassy in Kathmandu. The 2.08 million pounds (Rs 30 crore) project for the year 2018-2019 will be implemented over the next one year, under the leadership of 14 palikas, it said. The Nepal government, UNDP and the UK's Department of International Development (DFID) (Nepal) have signed an agreement to support climate-vulnerable palikas or municipalities in province 5, Karnali province and province 7 to design and implement climate resilient development initiatives, the release said. "The project will embed climate resilience into development plans and implement close to 100 ...
Tiger conservation: Uttarakhand HC asks NCTA to step in
The Uttarakhand High Court today pulled up the state government for inadequate efforts towards tiger conservation and asked the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NCTA) to suggest within three months measures to save their population. The NCTA may take over the management of Corbett Tiger Reserve, as an interim measure, till the state government becomes alive to its duties and starts taking concrete decisions, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Lokpal Singh said while hearing a PIL on conservation of tigers and other wildlife. The court said that the state government has "not shown its keen interest to protect the wildlife including tigers, elephants, birds and 600 bird species. "The state government is the protector and not the destroyer of the rights of ordinary citizens. It is better to have no law than laws not enforced," a miffed court said asking the NCTA to step in to take charge of the management of Corbett Tiger Reserve as an interim ...
Part of Coleroon regulator dam washed away in TN
Eight shutters of the more than a century-old Mukkombu regulator dam across river Coleroon near here collapsed due to heavy flow of water, officials said today. Eight of the 45 shutters of the dam were washed away last night, four days after the collapse of a section of a 92-year old road bridge across Coleroon about 12 kms downstream from the dam. The river, which branches off from Cauvery at Mukkombu, has been carrying huge quantum of water in the past several days in view of heavy discharge from the Mettur Dam, touching over two lakh cusecs. Tamil Nadu Public Works Department Principal Secretary S K Prabhakar today inspected the regulator dam and said the washing away of the eight shutters would neither affect water flow for irrigation nor cause any damage. The excess water coming from Mettur Dam would be discharged into the Cauvery, he told reporters here. He said all the regulator dams, which were more than 100 years old, would be inspected and strengthened if ...
TN rainfall: Plantation industry seeks grant-in-aid
The plantation industry in Tamil Nadu today appealed to the five commodity boards under Ministry of Commerce to sanction a one-time grant-inaid to the affected plantations to enable them to restore normalcy following an unprecedented calamitous situation. The state government should provide financial aid to plantation managements to restore the badly damaged estate roads in public interest, Plantation Association of Tamil Nadu secretary, Pradeep Sukumar said in a release here. The plantation areas in Tamil Nadu have been experiencing very high rainfall and consequential damage, as was the case of rain havoc in Kerala and Kodagu in Karnataka, it said. The year 1961-62 is often considered to be the benchmark year for rainfall comparison, when during a five-month period between April to August 1961, parts of the Valparai area in Coimbatore district received a total of 5,242 mm of rainfall. However, for the same period in 2018, the rainfall has already touched 5,240 mm even ..
Power Mech Projects bags contract worth Rs 70.32 crore
Erection, Testing and Commissioning of 220MW (Gas)/212 MW (HSD) based dual fuel Combined Cycle Power Plant at Bhola, Bangladesh for total contract price of approximately Rs 70.32 crores (BOT 84.12 Crores) to be completed within a period of 15 months.
Mizoram women striving towards eco-friendly plastic alternatives
Mizoram is known for its efforts to preserve and protect the green cover from the hazardous use of plastics that are proving to be carcinogenic for the environment. The state recently held a day-long camp to cut down the usage of plastic bags and to make paper bags.The state is inhabited by various tribes who practice a wide range of religious customs. Blessed with a diverse range of geographical features, the small state caters to a number of nature lovers and at the same time cares for its surroundings.To remove the use of plastics in the capital of the state, Aizawl Municipal Corporation is considering banning the use of plastic bags in Mizoram.A self-help group consisting of women in the city came up with an initiative to make paper bags with the help of newspapers and other waste materials of different shapes and sizes. In fact, the love for hand-made eco-friendly paper bags is giving a new hope to many people especially women."There are around 19 self-help groups under the ...
Top grade limestone deposit found under Arabian Sea
India's dependence on limestone import for use in various industries is likely to get substantially reduced as a huge under-sea deposit in the Arabian Sea has been found to be of top grade, a top Geological Survey of India (GSI) official said today. The depost was discovered off Gujarat-Maharastra coast in India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), GSI Director General Dinesh Gupta said here today. During tests at the Indian Bureau of Mines's (IBM) Bangalore facility, it has been found that Calcium Oxide content is of 46 to 52 per cent in the limemud in that deposit, Gupta and senior scientists of GSI's Marine and Coastal Survey division at Mangalore told newspersons. The 72,000 million tonne limemud found in the Arabian Sea, 80 to 100 km from the coast and at about 55 to 120 metre water depth, is of the best category given the high content of Calcium Oxide in it, they said. The limemud, spread over 6,603 square km, has been found to be suitable for use in blast furnaces of .
Vedanta to expand Odisha alumina refinery to 6 MT without Niyamgiri
Mining baron Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Ltd plans to expand its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Odisha to 6 million tonnes per annum by 2021 using alternate bauxite resources as it looks beyond the failed Niyamgiri experiment, a top company official said. The firm believes there are enough alternate resources of bauxite available to feed the expansion and has moved beyond the previously pursued high-quality bauxite beneath the pristine Niyamgiri hills, its CEO for Alumina and Power Business Ajay Kumar Dixit said. The Lanjigarh plant produced around 1.2 million tonnes of alumina last fiscal and has a current capacity of 2 million tonnes. Refusing to give cost estimates, Dixit said while the plant currently imports 2.5-3 million tonnes of bauxite and sources almost an equal volume from domestic mines, the expansion project would need a total of 18 million tonnes of bauxite annually. "A lot of stigma was attached whether Vedanta could run without Niyamgiri. The fact is Niyamgiri would have .
BEE focus on cooling to save 40GW by 2030
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) was betting big on saving energy from cooling or airconditioning of residential and commercial spaces, hoping to save 40GW of power by 2030, an official said. This residential and commercial space is a major power consuming area in non-industrial sector. "Cooling alone can save 40GW of power. By 2030, there is a possibility of saving about 40GW of energy from cooling alone if the technologies improve on projected lines and available at affordable prices," BEE Director General Abhay Bakre said. If the present situation did not change, the projected power demand of the country would be 140GW by 2030, "but considering we achieve the targets, then demand would get reduced to say 100GW," Bakre said at the Bengal Chamber organised Environment and Energy Conclave. Based on projections, the demand for air-conditioners is set to increase to 1.5 crore units by 2030 from some 60 lakh units per annum now with rising availability of power and ...
BEE preparing energy conservation building code for residential sector
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is in the process of developing an energy conservation building code for the residential sector, an official said here on Thursday.
HC order banning night stay at meadows worries trek operators
The Uttarakhand High Court order banning night stay at high-altitude meadows and limiting the number of tourists visiting there would deal a major blow to the adventure tourism in the state and render nearly one lakh people engaged in trek and mountaineering expeditions here jobless, said trade insiders today. "Nearly one lakh people across the state will be directly affected if the order is implemented. Tourism, especially the adventure tourism, is the sole means of livelihood in the hills and an order like this amounts to indirectly asking tourists not to come to the state," Garhwal Himalayan Trekking and Mountaineering Association president Jayendra Singh Rana said. It would deprive many of their livelihoods and force migration from the hills, he said. "There are trekking destinations which cannot be reached without a night stay en route. What will happen to them? What will happen to the porters, mule operators, helpers and cooks who go along with the trekking and expedition teams .
Anti-plastic drive on in TN as cabinet opts for paper folders
Tamil Nadu is going into an anti-plastic mode with chief minister K Palaniswami today saying his cabinet will switch over to paper folders to carry government files. The state government has also lined up a host of popular actors Surya, Jyothika, Vivek and Karthi as 'brand ambassadors' for highlighting the ill-effects of plastic. Launching a portal to spread awareness against the use of plastic and pollution caused by it, Palaniswami sought the cooperation of traders and people to ensure a plastic-free Tamil Nadu. He said a decision has been taken where paper folders will be used by him and his cabinet colleagues to carry government files. Palaniswami also announced the appointment of the four actors as brand ambassadors on the occasion. Coinciding with the world environment day on June 5, the chief minister had announced in the state assembly a ban on plastic that would come into effect from January 1, 2019. Palaniswami had said use of some plastic items, including ...
Destruction in Kerala would have been limited if Gadgil report implemented: Experts
The miseries and destruction caused by the rains and floods in Kerala would have been less severe if the government had taken the initiative to implement the recommendations made in the Gadgil Committee report on preservation of the Western Ghats, a noted environmentalist has said. Ecologist Madhav Gadgil's report had suggested checks on quarrying, discouraging cultivation of yearly crops on hill slopes and planting fruit-bearing tress there and restriction on construction in the area, according to Prof V S Vijayan, a former chairman of the State Biodiversity Board. "Climate change is a reality and heavy rainfall leading to floods witnessed in Kerala and droughts would occur in future also," Vijayan, also a member of the committee, told PTI. "What we can do is to take precautionary steps to resist the impact of such calamities. In this regard, the recommendations of the Gadgil Committee are very important," he said. The committee recommendations were submitted in 2011 and if the ...
Landslips, rains did not impact wildlife in Kerala: Top forest
Landslips and heavy rains unleashed in Kerala forests causing flooding in downstream did not have any major impact on its precious wildlife including elephants, tigers and leopards, a top state forest official said today. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests P K Kesavan said generally animals have got a "strong sixth sense" and they become "alert" at the time of any unusual changes in the nature helping them escape to safety at the time of its fury. "As of now, no serious issues," Kesavan told PTI. He said there were instances of landslips in forests due to heavy rains but no cases of deaths of animals have been reported so far. Kesavan further said the king cobra, a venomous snake species found in moist forests of the state, were also largely safe. The world's longest venomous snake has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2010 as it was threatened by habitat destruction. Some deaths of wild animals including a 14-year-old tiger in Thekkady in Idukki ...
Green hajj' slowly takes root in Mecca
Thousands of cleaners are busy separating plastic from other rubbish as more than two million Muslims wrap up a pilgrimage to Mecca that presents a huge environmental challenge for Saudi Arabia. The Mamuniya camp in Mina near the holy city is dotted with colour-coded barrels -- black for organic waste and blue for cans and plastics for recycling. It's all part of an initiative to reduce the environmental footprint of the hajj, one of the world's largest annual gatherings. More than 42,000 tonnes of waste are produced during the pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites, according of Mohammed al-Saati, head of sanitation for the Mecca municipality. "We're facing some real challenges, primarily the sheer volume of waste produced ... along with the number of pilgrims, the limited space around the holy sites, different nationalities and the weather," Saati told AFP. "Islam as a religion does not encourage excess," he added. "Pilgrims can be friends of the environment. It starts by raising ...
Air pollution shortens life by more than one year in India
If air pollution were removed as a risk for death, people in the world could live at least a year longer and in India, which is battling a severe air pollution, the benefit would be even more -- about 1.5 years, says study.
Patnaik inaugurates 2 mfg units, lays foundation of 13 others
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated two new manufacturing units and laid the foundation stones for 13 plants in the state, totalling an investment of Rs 2,901.20 crore. The units, which were inaugurated by Patnaik through video-conferencing, include Grasim Industries Ltd's 33,000 mtpa caustic soda facility in Ganjam district, built at an investment of Rs 110 crore, and Jyoti Solar Solution's Rs 57.17-crore solar power plant in Bolangir district. The chief minister laid the foundation stones of OCL Ltd's Rs 1994.98-crore cement plant in Sundergarh district, Hindustan Urban Infrastructure's Rs 389-crore wire drawing of aluminium insulated wires and cable manufacturing unit in Khurda district, IFFCO's private railway siding (Rs 63.55 crore) and Jajpur Cement plant (Rs 63.5 crore), among others. "Odisha is fast emerging as the 'Manufacturing Hub of Eastern India' and we are working towards developing the state into a 'Manufacturing Hub of South Asia'," ...
Lithium-ion batteries that don't catch fire in the offing
At a time when consumer electronics players are aiming to develop safe Lithium-ion batteries that don't catch fire, a team of researchers has developed a practical and inexpensive way to help prevent these fires.
Zero Budget Natural Farming has potential to enhance income or profit margins for farmers: Vice President
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