Page 592 - Environment
India's June palm oil imports plunge to 4-1/2 year low
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's palm oil imports in June plunged 41 percent from a year earlier to their lowest in nearly 4-1/2 years, a leading trade body said on Monday, as a higher import tax on the tropical oil made it more expensive.
Infra push: CM inaugurates new bridges, projects in TN
As many as ten bridges in districts including Coimbatore, Cuddalore and Tiruchirappali built at a cost of Rs 160.34 crore and new projects worth Rs 103.4 crore under the municipal administration department were today inaugurated by Chief Minister K Palaniswami. The facilities, inaugurated through video conferencing from the Secretariat here by Palaniswami include three railway overbridges and seven river bridges. A two-way rail overbridge at Pothanur in Coimbatore district, which was among the facilities launched was built at a cost of Rs 22.60 crore and it will ease flow of vehicular traffic in the North Coimbatore-Pothanur-Chettipalayam road, an official release here said. In Cuddalore district, a bridge across river Vellaru near Bhuvanagiri and another across river Kollidam between two villages built at a cost of Rs 22.57 crore and Rs 7.32 crore respectively were inaugurated. Other bridges including railway overbridges were inaugurated in districts including ...
Chandrodaya temple in Vrindaban distributes saplings of fruit trees among villagers
The management of the Chandrodaya temple in Vrindaban has taken a novel initiative of distributing sapling of fruit trees to the residents of surrounding villages with an aim to expand the green belt in the area. "Around 12,600 saplings of fruit trees were distributed among 1,700 farmers of 20 villages with the dual purpose of ensuring the survival of the plants and enhancing income of farmers," Bharata Arshabha Das, the president of Chandrodaya temple said. He said to expand green belt in Vrindaban, over 60,000 saplings of fruit trees among the villagers which would also ensure them a source of income. "We vow to maintain the environment around Vrindaban to get divine blessing of Radha Rani," senior Acharya of the RadhaRaman temple, Padma Nabh Goshwami, said. The more trees are grown, the more divine blessing is ensured, he said.
Oil ministry supports petcoke import ban: government lawyer tells Supreme Court
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's oil ministry is in favour of a ban on the import of petroleum coke, the government's lawyer told the Supreme Court on Monday.
Crop protection solutions would help double farmers' income
Chemicals and Petrochemical Secretary, P Raghavendra Rao concurred with the industry's view on the need for data protection provisions in the Insecticides Act to encourage R&D in crop protection products and combat the menace of spurious pesticides, according to a latest update from the FICCI. Inaugurating the 7th National Agrochemicals Conference 2018, organised by FICCI jointly with the Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare and the Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Government of India, Rao advised the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee (CIB&RC) to engage in this area expeditiously.
The Indian Monsoon is a two-faced Janus: Both clean and dirty
Chennai, July 16 (IANS/Mongabay) Every year during the dry season between December and March, a dirty haze appears over South Asia and China. It is a potent mixture of pollutants borne out of wood burning and crop burning, vehicular emissions and industrial combustion, christened the Asian Brown Cloud.
India's June vegoil imports down 22.4 percent on year: trade body
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's vegetable oil imports fell 22.4 percent to 1.04 million tonnes in June against the same month a year earlier, a leading trade body said on Monday.
Tree shrews violate mammal rules!
Tree shrews, a species closely related to primates, seems to violate the mammal rules as they tolerate spices unlike other members of their species.Spicy foods elicit a pungent or hot and painful sensation that repels most mammals.The researchers at Chinese Academy of Science observed tree shrews directly and their activeness while consuming chili peppers, despite the deep geographic isolation between the animal and the food.They performed genomic and functional analyses on the tree shrew and its TRPV1.The research revealed that a single point mutation in the tree shrew's transient receptor potential vanilloid type-1 (TRPV1, a polymodal nociceptor) ion channel (tsV1) lowers its sensitivity to capsaicinoids, thus enabling tree shrews' unique feeding behavior regarding pungent plants.The experimental evidence suggests that strong selection for this residue in tsV1 might be driven by Piper Boehmeria folium. It is a spicy plant that geographically overlaps with the tree shrew and produces
WB: Ahead of PM's rally, farmers appeal for facilities
Farmers from West Bengal have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide them with proper facilities and water, ahead of his 'Krishak Kalyan Rally' at Midnapur college ground on Monday.Farmers of Midnapur and surroundings said they are unaware of various government facilities, including credit card, farmer's loan and insurance."We want water, we are farming paddy, but due to water shortage farming is in troubled stage. Vegetable farming has been affected as I don't have enough money for farming. We want money and loan, we also want Kisan credit card. We are not that much educated that we will be able to know from where we get facilities. We didn't get any fund for destroyed crops during rainy season," said a farmer, named Lakhikanta Kalandi.Others also echoed similar sentiments.Farmer Chaya Kalandi said, "We are facing trouble in farming. If we invest in farming we can't spend money for children's education. We want some loan. Our vegetable crops have been destroyed by elephants, ..
Plastic bags consumption reduces by 80% in Israel
Israeli consumption of plastic bags decreased by 80 per cent in 2017 than the year before, according to Israeli Environment Ministry on Sunday.
Dinosaurs more calorie-conscious than humans!
Vegetables consumed by herbivore dinosaurs 150 million years ago had a higher nutritional value than the ones human beings consume in the polluted environment of the 21st century.In a recent study, researchers have measured the nutritional value of herbivore dinosaurs' diet by growing their food in atmospheric conditions similar to that many years ago.Previously, researchers believed that plants grown in an atmosphere with high carbon dioxide levels had low nutritional value.But a new experimental approach led by Fiona Gill at the University of Leeds has shown that this is not necessarily true.The team grew dinosaur food plants, such as horsetail and ginkgo, under high levels of carbon dioxide mimicking atmospheric conditions similar to when sauropod dinosaurs, the largest animals ever to roam Earth at that point of time.An artificial fermentation system was used to simulate digestion of the plant leaves in the sauropods' stomachs, allowing the researchers to determine the leaves' ...
Pothole-riddled roads leave commuters in dismay
Majority of the roads constructed across India have developed potholes due to torrential downpour, leaving commuters in dismay.In Maharashtra's Mumbai, potholes were seen in Ahilyabai Holkar Marg in Shivaji Nagar area. Commuters claimed that the severe water logging at the time of monsoon had made it more difficult to travel, as potholes were getting submerged in the water."Government should fill these potholes as soon as possible, as in monsoon season, these become invisible and it gets very dangerous," a local cautioned.On the other hand, the traffic police were seen filling potholes in the Bhiwandi Nampa area, following which locals too joined the initiative.In Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, locals claimed that the government had promised to fill all potholes by 15 June 2017, but no action was taken so far."Government is talking about religion and nothing else," a local said.A similar situation was seen in West Bengal's Kolkata, where potholes on the roads of the southern part of the ..
Modi accuses Congress of shedding crocodile tears for farmers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Congress, as well as and other opposition parties, of shedding crocodile tears for farmers and said several irrigation projects in the country had languished in its rule.
UP governor okays ordinance banning plastic below 50 microns
Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik gave his assent today to an ordinance banning plastic below 50 microns with provisions for fines and even imprisonment. Through the ordinance, the provisions of the UP Plastic and Other Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Regulation of Use and Disposal) Act, 2000 have been made effective and stringent, a senior official said. "The UP Plastic and Other Non-biodegradable Garbage (Regulation of Use and Disposal) (Amendement) Ordinance, 2018 has been given assent by the governor," an official release issued by the Raj Bhavan said. With the amendment, the use and manufacture of plastic below 50 micron and thermocol will be banned in a phased manner. There is also a provision for penalty ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 lakh and imprisonment from one month to an year for offenders depending on the cases. The ordinance will be valid for six months and the government will have to bring a bill in the state Assembly within this period to get it passed, the official said. The
UP: Raids conducted as plastic ban comes into effect
With the plastic ban being enforced in Uttar Pradesh today, raids have been conducted throughout the day by municipal bodies in different cities of the state.In Agra, the plastic ban was welcomed by shopkeepers, who switched to selling their products in paper bags."We are selling the products in paper bags, even the customers are getting cloth bags from their homes," said the owner of a sweet shop, Arvind Singh.City Mayor Naveen Jain also said that the municipal corporation is conducting raids, and working to fully implement the order passed by the state government."We have banned plastic as per orders of the Uttar Pradesh government. We have appointed four deputy commissioners who are conducting raids with their teams at various locations in the city," said Jain.The mayor also said that offenders will be slapped with a fine of up to Rs. 1 lakh if they found plastic bags after 15 days.Vendors selling products in paper bagsDespite the ban, however, fruit and vegetable sellers in ...
Ker rains: Educational institutions in 7 dists declare holiday
With heavy rains continuing to lash Kerala, educational institutions in at least 7 districts have declared a holiday tomorrow. Collectors of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathnamthitta, Alapuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam have declared holiday tomorrow due to heavy rains, state control room monitoring the rain mishaps, said. Kerala University has postponed all its examinations scheduled for tomorrow to July 21, while Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) will function. Southwest monsoonhas been active over Kerala and rains occurred at most places in Lakshadweep, IMD bulletin said. Heavy to very heavy rainfall recorded incmare: Vaikom (Kottayam district) 13, Kayamkulam (Alappuzha district) 10, Piravom (Ernakulam district) 9, Kottayam, Kayamkulam_Agri (Alappuzha district) & Munnar (Idukki district) 7 each. In the second spell of rains in the south west monsoon, 9 people have died since July 9, including a fisherman who was electrocuted after she came ...
Lesser floricans, found only in Indian subcontinent, are in
The population of Lesser floricans, who migrate to the central and western parts of India during their breeding season, is fast dwindling as their habitats are shrinking, a survey has found. The number these Bustard-family birds, popularly known as 'Kharmore' or 'Likh' in Central India, has nosedived by 80 per cent in the last 17 years, a 2017 survey led by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) said. "A conservative estimate of 264 individuals that indicates about 80 per cent population decline in last 3-4 generations since 2000" was observed, the survey report, which came out recently, said. Every year, the birds migrate to Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat in July, and live there for around four months before flying off elsewhere. They are found only in the Indian subcontinent. Construction activity, urbanisation and over-grazing of grasslands are destroying the birds' habitats, while predators such as stray dogs and other feral animals also pose a ...
Autonomous driving cars could save billions: German study
Autonomous driving cars might save billions of euros and reduce CO2 emission in the future, a study by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) showed.
Sri Lanka to build world class beach park
The Sri Lankan government will construct a world class beach park, at a cost of $300 milliion, next to a mega multi-billion-dollar port city project in Colombo, the media reported on Sunday.
Traffic police wants VIP windows at toll plaza sealed
The Traffic Police here have alleged misuse of emergency or VIP lanes by the contractor at the Kherki Daula toll plaza on Delhi-Gurugram Expressway and sought sealing of toll collection windows at the dedicated lanes.
