Page 535 - Environment

200-million year old Pterosaur 'built for flying'

Scientists today unveiled a previously unknown species of giant pterosaur, the first creatures with a backbone to fly under their own power. Neither dino nor bird, pterosaurs -- more commonly known as pterodactyls -- emerged during the late Triassic period more than 200 million years ago and lorded over primeval skies until a massive space rock slammed into Earth, wiping out land-dwelling dinosaurs and most other forms of life more than 65 billion years ago. The newly discovered member of the family, identified through remains found in northeastern Utah, had a wing-span of 1.5 metres and 112 teeth, including fang-like spikes sticking out near the snout. A jutting lower jaw suggests a pelican-like pouch, perhaps to scoop up fish and unsuspecting small reptiles. "They are delicately framed animals that are built for flying," said Brooks Britt, a paleontologist at Brigham Young University in Utah and lead author of a study in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Caelestiventus hanseni -- ...

NAL to develop drones for civilian use: Minister

State-run National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) will develop drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for civilian use in various sectors, a Union Minister said on Monday.

Andhra CM reviews progress of Polavaram projects

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Monday, while reviewing the progress of the Polavaram project work, asked the officials to make arrangements for a gallery walk of the spillway on September 3.Conducting the 71st virtual review at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister said an action plan should be prepared to complete the rehabilitation process by December, adding that officials should camp at Delhi to speed up the clearance of project designs.During the discussion held with the Board of Chief engineers earlier in the day on Goods and Services Tax (GST) and necessary proposals, Naidu said reports would be sent to the Centre on the same.He revealed that 57.41 per cent of the project work was completed so far, including 44.23 per cent head works, 42.80 per cent main dam package, 77 per cent excavation works, 33.70 per cent concrete works, 61.75 per cent radial gate works and 94.20 jet grouting works.Later, Naidu, while conducting a meeting on the progress of several .

KoPT celebrates 50 years of HDC, to ramp up capacity to 60MT

The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) today observed 50 years of cargo handling at the Satish Samanta Oil Jetty in Haldia, its first cargo handling infrastructure set up in 1968. KoPT Chairman Vinit Kumar said it remained optimistic about the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC), which houses the Satish Samanta Oil Jetty, and was internally aiming to ramp up capacity to 60 million tonnes over the next two to three years from the existing 40.5 million tonnes. The port is developing infrastructure for the expansion and will be investing Rs 800 crore for building three jetties. One liquid-cargo terminal (2 million tonnes), primarily for edible oil, has been proposed at Salukhali near Haldia, while two outer terminals one for dry-bulk cargo (5 million tonnes) and another 2 million-tonne liquid-cargo terminal have also been planned, he said. All three terminals will be developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. KoPT has identified 1,200-1,300 acres of land in Haldia that ...

Two Idukki dam sluices shut, water level down to 'safe'

Two of the five sluices of the Idukki dam, opened after a gap of 26 years on Thursday, were ordered to be closed by the Kerala government on Monday after the water at the reservoir came down to the "safe" level.

Brace up for air pollution in winter, Delhi L-G tells officials

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Monday directed officials of various government agencies to brace up to contain air pollution and smog in the city in winter.

Experts advise people not to buy plastic flags on I-Day to prevent environmental degradation

Experts have advised people not to buy paper or single-use plastic flags on Independence Day as they will adversely affect the environment. The flag sellers and vendors laminate the tricolour with plastic coating to protect it against tear and rains, which makes these flags difficult to recycle, two experts said in a joint statement. On the 72nd Independence Day, Indian citizens should favour eco-friendly options, instead of buying paper or single-use plastics flags, they said. "While recycling paper utilises lesser energy then manufacturing virgin paper, but compared to other alternatives, it is expensive and not energy efficient. The process of recycling paper like colour and print paper involves lot of alkali and bleaching process and consumes energy," said Arun Sawant, Director - India, Waste to Energy Research and Technology Council. R N Jagtap, Head, Department of Polymer and Surface Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, said approximately, 93 per cent of paper comes ...

TN moves SC against NGT order allowing Vedanta to access Tuticorin plant unit

The Tamil Nadu government today moved the Supreme Court challenging the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order allowing mining major Vedanta to enter the administrative unit inside its Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin. On August 9, the NGT had allowed Vedanta to enter its administrative unit inside the plant, observing that no environmental damage would be caused by allowing access to this section. The green panel had said that the plant would remain closed and the company would not have access to its production unit and asked the district magistrate to ensure it. The tribunal had directed Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board to submit an analysis of the baseline pollution data of the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd in Tuticorin (Thoothukudi) to ascertain the level of pollution. It had posted the matter for further hearing on August 20. Tamil Nadu government had on May 28 ordered the state pollution control board to seal and "permanently" close the mining ..

FinMin defers safeguard duty on solar cells in view of court order

The finance ministry today said that safeguard duty will not be insisted upon on import of solar cells for the "time being" in deference to interim directions passed by the High Court of Orissa. Last month, India had imposed safeguard duty on solar cells imports from China and Malaysia for two years to protect domestic players from steep rise in inbound shipments. The duty was imposed following recommendations by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) under the commerce ministry. "...in compliance to the interim directions issued by Hon'ble High Court of Orissa..., it has been decided not to insist on payment of safeguard duty, for the time being," the finance ministry said in a circular. It further said that till further direction from the revenue department, solar cells whether or not assembled in modules or panels "would, in respect of safeguard duty, be assessed provisionally" on furnishing of simple letter of undertaking/bond by the concerned person. Abhishek Jain, Tax .

Mizoram can expand in agricultural and allied sector: MOS

Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare Krishna Raj said today that Mizoram has the potential to expand in agricultural and allied sector. On her visit here, the minister told officials that it was clear that Mizoram could become an organic state in a big way in horticulture, an official statement said here. She, however, said that more needs to be done in the agriculture and allied sector by strengthening the agrarian society and the development mechanism. She had convened a meeting of officials from eight departments working under the agriculture and allied sector which was attended among others by state chief secretary Arvind Ray.

Sodhi seeks redressal of grievances of people living in border

Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi has sought from the Centre the redressal of grievances of people living in the border area. He submitted a memorandum in this regard to Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday who dedicated 280 feet-long historic bridge at Hussainiwala to the nation in Ferozepur. Sodhi said he had demanded that the compensation amount to the farmers, having land outside the barbed wire fence in the border area, should be increased to Rs 20,000. Besides, the Army should issue no objection certificate to farmers for electricity connections to operate the tube-wells for better maintenance of their crops. The ownership rights should be given to the poor farmers who cultivate the land outside the barbed wire fence, he sought. Sodhi said that he also apprised the Union minister regarding the problems being faced by the people of the cantonment area. The permission should be granted to repair the buildings in the cantonment area which are in a ...

Govt depts in Gzb to plant 5.50 lakh saplings during monsoon

The Ghaziabad district administration has set a target for various government departments to plant around 5.50 lakh saplings during this monsoon, according to a senior official. Besides, several Residents' Welfare Associations (RWAs) have also joined hands with the district administration in this plantation drive, District Forest Officer (DFO) Dikhsha Bhandari said. Today, around 4,000 saplings were planted by primary students in Wave City, its office bearer Bhavna Prasad said. The different species of saplings would contribute towards improving air quality in the region, Prasad added. Environment Alert Society has also planted 20,000 saplings in different areas of the city within this month, president of the society and environmentalist Vijay Pal Baghel said.

AAI to invest Rs 413 cr to expand, upgrade Jabalpur airport

The Airports Authority of India will invest Rs 413 crore in the upgradation and expansion of the Jabalpur airport in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. The upgradation work include construction work of new domestic passenger terminal building with enhanced peak hour handing capacity of 500 passengers from existing 150 passengers besides extension of runway length to 2,750 metres from the current 1,988 metres, the AAI said in a release. The Jabalpur airport will be developed at a total cost of Rs 413 crore, for which the foundation stone was laid by Union civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu along with his junior colleague, Jayant Sinha, and a host of other dignitaries, it added. An extended runway will make the airport suitable for A-320 type of aircraft operations, according to the release. The proposed terminal building with an area of 9,350 square metre will be built with eco-friendly sustainable material and equipped with solar photovoltaic system and energy efficient ...

Vehicles to have colour-coded stickers based on fuel they use: SC

Vehicles plying in Delhi-NCR would soon have hologram- based colour coded stickers of different colours indicating the nature of fuel they are using. The Supreme Court today accepted this proposal of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), which told the top court that hologram-based light blue colour sticker would be used in vehicles using petrol and CNG fuel, while an orange sticker would be put on diesel-run vehicles. The date of registration of the vehicle would also be printed on these stickers, the ministry told the court. A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta accepted the suggestions of the ministry and asked it to implement the colour-coded sticker system in the vehicles plying in the Delhi-National Capital Region by September 30. It also asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) A N S Nadkarni, appearing for the MoRTH, to consider having green-colour number plate or green stickers for electric and hybrid vehicles. Advocate Aparajita ...

Elephant saved from drowning in Kerala (Lead, Correcting headline)

An elephant had a narrow escape when it was saved from being swept away by temporarily lowering the sluice gates of the Peringalkuthu Dam in flood-ravaged Kerala.

Fix signal problem in phones of legislators, UP speaker tells BSNL

Ahead of the Monsoon Session, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit today directed officials of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited to fix the signal problem in the Closed User Group phones being used by the state legislators. "The speaker also said that telephones must be installed at all designated places and in case there is issue of space, then alternate arrangements should be made," an official statement from the office of the speaker read.

Why marine animals are more vulnerable to man-made pesticides

Marine mammals such as dolphins, manatees, seals and whales, which evolved to make water their primary habitat, lost the ability to make a gene that defends humans and other land-dwelling mammals from the neurotoxic effects of a popular human-made pesticide, a new study has revealed.

DAC approves acquisition of 6 new OPVs

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded approval for the procurement of six indigenously designed and manufactured Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPVs) for the Indian Navy at an approximate cost of Rs. 4941 crore.In a meeting chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Ministry of Defence laid stress on the Coastal Defence of the country."The new vessel will be better armed; will cover longer distances (better endurance), multi-role choppers, better stealth features, state of the art equipment, better sensors," an officer told ANI.The NGOPVs will be built in indigenous shipyards and will be fitted with state-of-the-art sensor suite with increased endurance, and will have a higher percentage of indigenous components.These platforms will strengthen maritime security by undertaking a multitude of operational roles both in blue water and littorals, and will include seaward defence, protection of offshore assets, maritime interdiction operations and search and ...

Officials save elephant in flooded

District Officials on Monday saved a wild elephant from being swept away by temporarily lowering the floodgates of the Peringalkuthu dam.

Conducting study on using CNG-hydrogen mixed fuel: IOCL to SC

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) today told the Supreme Court that it was conducting a study on using mixture of CNG and hydrogen fuel for buses and would take around six months to come out with a "workable result" on it. The IOCL told a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta that following the study, the corporation would conduct trials which would take around six months thereafter. It said that around Rs 14 crore was required for implementation of the pilot project. Advocate Aparajita Singh, assisting the top court as an amicus curiae in the air pollution matter, told the bench that the corporation should expedite the process and Rs 14 crore could be given to IOCL from the money collected under environment compensation charge (ECC). Singh said the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) had a robust CNG infrastructure in place which would help in this process. The bench, while accepting the submissions of the amicus, said that Rs 15 crore from the ECC be ...