Page 565 - Environment

Authorities on alert as Idukki dam nears full level

With the water level in the Idukki dam nearing its maximum, the Kerala government has put the army, navy, airforce and coast guard on alert to meet any eventuality in case water is released. The water-level touched 2,394.72 feet at one pm today against the full level of 2,403 feet, according to Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA). The authorities said an alert would be issued when the water level in the dam reaches 2395 feet. When the level reaches 2397 ft, there is a possibility of water being released on a trial basis for one or two hours, Kerala State Electricity Board sources said. This was to find out if there were any obstruction and diversion on the route the water flows, they said. A team of National Disaster Management Force has already been deployed in Ernakulam and Thrissur and another team would reach Idukki, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a Facebook post. The reservoir comprises three dams -Idukki, Cheruthoni and Kulamavu, built

BJP MP seeks extension of 'Lal Dora' areas in Delhi

The Centre should take up with the Delhi government the issue of extension of 'Lal Dora' areas in the city as people living there are its oldest residents, Lok Sabha MP Parvesh Verma today said. Lal Dora refers to land that is part of a village 'abadi' (habitation) and is used for non-agricultural purpose only. During Zero Hour, BJP leader Verma raised the issue of extension of Lal Dora areas in villages of Delhi and said "still they (people of Delhi villages) have to struggle for extension of Lal Dora areas." "From the past 10 days farmers...are on hunger strike. There should be extension of Lal Dora areas in their villages. But Delhi government is not paying attention to them," he said. The Delhi Government had earlier directed the divisional commissioner to commence the process of extension of Lal Dora areas in all villages. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said that there are around 360 villages in Delhi and their population has increased manifold. Hence, ...

MoEF joint secy, commissioner Agra Division responsible for maintaining TTZ

The Centre today informed the Supreme Court that the joint secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the commissioner of the Agra Division are responsible for maintenance of the Taj Trapezium Zone. A bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta had on July 26 made it clear that somebody has to take responsibility for protection of the Taj Mahal and asked the Centre to apprise it as to which departments of the central and Uttar Pradesh governments would be responsible for the maintenance and protection of the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ). The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) told the court that its director general will be responsible for the maintenance of the mausoleum. The ASI also said that it had in 2013 given a plan on the Taj Mahal to the UNESCO. The apex court took note of the point that the plan on the Taj Mahal was given five years ago and said this was the reason organisations such as the UNESCO has to express concern over the situation of ..

54 acres of prime land vacated from encroachers in Rajouri

District adminstration has retrieved 430 kanals nearly 54 acres of prime land from encroachers at village Badhoon in Rajouri, officials said here today. The anti-encroachment drive was carried out yesterday by a team of revenue officials headed by Tehsildar Rajouri Mehmood Ayaz with active assistance of police. The operation was monitored by Deputy Commissioner Rajouri Mohammad Aijaz Asad, they said. The DC Rajouri has set fortnightly targets for removing encroachments on 3800 Kanal (450 Acres) of the state and other land in 13 tehsils of the district, they said. Earlier this week, the district administration had retrieved 1020 Kanal (135 Acres) farm field of Animal Husbandry Department at LamDarhal of Nowshera tehsil.

Mango output in 2017-18 seen higher by 8 pc

The country's mango production is estimated to be up by 8 per cent to 21.02 million tonnes in the 2017-18 crop year on higher output by major growing states, according to an official data. Production of mango stood at 19.50 million tonnes in the previous crop year (July-June). "The country's mango production has been increasing every year. The government has taken several steps to boost production and export of mangoes," a senior agriculture ministry official said. There has been a focus on improving productivity of mangoes under the central sponsored scheme Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, the official said. As per the latest data, maximum mango production is projected to be from Uttar Pradesh, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka during the 2017-18. Mango output in Uttar Pradesh is pegged higher at 4.54 million tonnes in 2017-18 as against 4.34 million tonnes in the preceding year. The production in Andhra Pradesh is estimated at 4.48 million tonnes as against

HC raps Maha govt, BMC after sea dumps trash on Mumbai shores

Terming the incident of the sea throwing up tonnes of garbage along the Marine Drive here during a high tide as "serious", the Bombay High Court asked the Maharashtra government and the city civic body today for a solution to the problem. A division bench of justices A S Oka and Riyaz Chagla was hearing a PIL filed by a city-based NGO, 'Citizens Circle for Social Welfare and Education', seeking direction to the authorities concerned to frame guidelines on garbage and debris disposal and its discharge into the sea. The petitioner's lawyer, Shehzad Naqvi, pointed out to the court that earlier this month, around 9,000 tonnes of debris and garbage was spewed by the Arabian Sea along the Marine Drive promenade in south Mumbai during a high tide. "This is a serious issue. What is the solution to this? There is so much of garbage, debris and sewage discharged into the sea. The civic body will have to do something about this," the court said. The bench, after perusing a report submitted by ...

Make proper arrangements for people displaced by rising Yamuna water level: Delhi CM to minister

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today directed Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot to make proper arrangements for people living on roads after water from the swollen Yamuna entered their houses. Several people living on the banks of the river were evacuated after water level in the Yamuna breached the danger mark on Saturday. "Directed Kailash Gehlot ji, Minister-in-charge, to visit the area alongwith all officers and ensure proper arrangements," Kejriwal said in a tweet. The chief minister's direction came following reports that there was no proper arrangements for shelter for these people. The water level in the Yamuna may rise to 206 metres with the danger mark being 204.83 metres, officials said. The traffic movement on the Old Yamuna Bridge in Delhi was closed yesterday after the water level in the river rose due to rains. Last evening, the river was flowing at 205.5 metres. The Yamuna's water level at the Hathini Kund barrage had crossed the danger mark of 90,000 cusec and ..

Pink bollworm again attacks cotton crop in Maharashtra

The pink bollworm has again attacked cotton plants in Maharashtra this year, causing concern among farmers and the state government. The pest had caused large-scale damage to the cotton crop last year in central and eastern Maharashtra, the state's main regions producing the commodity. The pink bollworm attack on cotton has been reported this year from Akola and Washim districts in Vidarbha and Nanded and Parbhani in Marathawada, a senior official in the agriculture department said. "The pest has again shown its presence. It has attacked plants in their early stages of growth. If the pest is not controlled in time, the plants will die and there will be no yield," he said. Pink bollworm is an insect which chews through the cotton lint to feed on the seeds. Since cotton is used for both fibre and seed oil, the damage is two-fold. This year, cotton cultivation has been done on about 37 lakh hectares of land in the state as against the 41 lakh hectares last year, the ...

Bodies of 23 Myanmar landslide victims found: Official

The bodies of 23 victims of a landslide in Myanmar's northern jade mining area have been recovered, an official confirmed today, after a days-long search hampered by heavy monsoon rains. Rescuers are still looking for a further four victims, many of whom belong to the small ethnic Rawang minority in the remote area of Kachin state, the heart of the country's notoriously shadowy multibillion-dollar jade industry. "We found 23 dead bodies by yesterday (Sunday) evening and we will try to find the remaining four if the weather is good today," an official from Hpakant's local government told AFP, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media. Landslides have killed dozens this year around the treacherous jade mines where impoverished locals comb deep gouges in the ground for pieces of the semi-precious gemstone. This latest disaster in Set Mu sub-township hit the small Rawang ethnic group particularly hard. The mainly-Christian community number only about 70,000 people

Delhi CM monitoring Yamuna evacuation

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday directed his Transport Minister Kailash Gehlot to visit the people affected by the flood waters of the Yamuna river and ensure arrangements for the displaced people. The authorities, meanwhile, continued evacuating the affected people to safer places.

Cerebra Integrated Technologies update on upcoming 2nd factory building

In Narasapura, Kolar District

Beijing to shut 1,000 manufacturing firms by 2020 - paper

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's capital Beijing will shut around 1,000 manufacturing firms by 2020 as part of a programme aimed at curbing smog and boosting income in neighbouring regions, state media said on Monday.

Yamuna bridge temporarily closes for rail traffic

The Northern Railway (NR) on Monday said the old Yamuna rail bridge has been closed for train traffic since midnight as a precautionary measure after the river crossed the danger-mark.

Pollution can change wildlife behaviour

With an increasing number of factors affecting the animal behaviour, the field of behavioural toxicology is gaining traction within the environmental sciences.A team of scientists from the University of Portsmouth has developed new scientific tests to better understand the effects of pollution on wildlife behaviour.An organism's behaviour is fundamentally important to their survival through feeding, finding mates and escaping predators. Any chemical which could interfere with these responses has the potential to impact the food chain.Using small shrimp-like crustaceans called amphipods, which are commonly used to monitor environmental toxicology, the researchers have been designing experiments to best answer the questions.In previously determining that these animals prefer to swim away from the light (negative phototaxis) and preferably be touching the sides of the tanks (positive thigmotaxis), they first set about asking whether these preferences could be altered by the size and ...

Documents: Trump golf course damaged sand dunes in Scotland

US President Donald Trump's family business partially destroyed legally protected sand dunes in Scotland when it built a golf course north of Aberdeen, according to government reports released in response to a freedom of information request. Scottish Natural Heritage, which monitors the country's sensitive and scientifically important sites, found that construction of Trump International Golf Links Scotland "led to the direct loss" of up to 68 hectares of the 205-hectare Foveran Links site. The damaged and destroyed drifts, one of the best examples of moving sand dunes in Britain, developed over 4,000 years, according to the agency. "The construction has removed the vast majority of the geomorphological interest within the vicinity of the golf course," Scottish Natural Heritage said in the documents. The reports were released following a public records request made by Bob Ward, policy director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London ...

Malnutrition at unacceptable levels, make agriculture nutrition sensitive: Naidu

Decrying persisting malnutrition in the country at "unacceptable levels", Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday called for making agriculture nutrition-sensitive to address the problem.

Old Yamuna Bridge closed to traffic

The old Yamuna Bridge, connecting north Delhi to east Delhi, has been shut as the water level of the Yamuna river here rose beyond the danger limit on Sunday.

Pig farming to be encouraged: minister

The Punjab government has set up a state-of-the-art 'Nucleus Farm' at Nabha for supplying parent stock for piglet production, the state Animal Husbandry Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said today. About 4,000 piglets are being supplied to farmers for setting up new pig units annually, he said. Sidhu said to enhance the annual income of farmers under the agricultural diversification programme, the state government had launched several initiatives to boost productivity as well as the quality of pig farms. "The production of pork meat in the state has gone up, from 0.96 thousand tonnes (2016-17) to 1.02 thousand tonnes in 2017-18," he said in an official release. We have around 817 organised pig farms in the state which have 26,000 pigs, he said. Sidhu said the total population of pigs in Punjab is around 60,000 and now, the department is working in the direction of scientific improvement to increase the population of pigs to meet the demand of the national as well as international ...

MP: Cong condemns officials for pouring 'liquor' into Narmada

At a time when the Madhya Pradesh government is working towards ensuring that liquor shops remain at a distance of over five kilometres from the Narmada, videos purportedly showing state Excise department personnel emptying liquor-filled drums into the river have raised the hackles of the opposition Congress. The party has condemned the incident, which happened in Dhar district on Friday, and said action should be initiated against the Excise officials for making the river, the state's lifeline, "impure". Videos, which have since gone viral on the social media, show men in khaki, apparently from the Excise department, emptying the contents of drums seized during an anti-illicit liquor drive into the river. The department, on its part, has denied that the men poured liquor into the river and claimed that it was only the additive, a primary ingredient in the manufacture of such alcohol, that had been released. "The 'masala' (additive) from which the liquor is made has been dumped into ..

Govt has taken several measures to protect tiger habitats: Vardhan

India has taken several measures, including bringing out guidelines for tiger safaris, to reduce the pressure of eco-tourism, protect habitats of the big cats and conserve its population, Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said today. Noting that India is one of the few countries, where tigers have their natural habitat, he said the big cats were part of the country's heritage and "their protection is our responsibility towards the world and future generations". "#InternationalTigerDay India has taken several measures to protect tiger habitats & conserve its population like Guidelines for Tiger Safaris to reduce pressures of Ecotourism, SOP to strengthen interstate coordination in bordering tiger reserves. @PMOIndia, @moefcc, @NTCAtiger," he tweeted on International Tiger Day. There are an estimated 2,226 tigers in the country and India has 70 per cent of the world's tiger population, according to the last tiger census. "#InternationalTigerDay @NCTAtiger issues advisories .