Page 634 - Environment

Rajasthan govt liquor surcharge to generate funds for cow protection: official

The Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan has introduced a 20 per cent surcharge on liquor, the proceeds of which will be used for protection of cows in the state, an official said today. The state government hereby notifies that surcharge at the rate of 20 per cent shall be levied and collected on the amount of tax or any sum in lieu of tax payable on the sale of foreign liquor, Indian made foreign liquor, country liquor and beer sold by dealers registered under the provisions of the Rajasthan Value Added Tax Act 2003 with effect from July 23, 2018, an official order read. The surcharge imposed on liquor is meant for cow protection, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance and Taxation) Mukesh Kumar Sharma said. The state government had in April last year imposed a 10 per cent surcharge on all non-judicial instruments for the protection of cows thus making rent agreements, mortgage papers and lease agreement costlier. Official sources said the state government was also considering ...

Locals, activists protest decision to fell over 14,000 trees in south Delhi

Locals, activists and environmentalists protested today against the government's order to fell over 14,000 trees for the re-development of seven south Delhi colonies. About 1,500 protesters hugged the trees in Sarojini Nagar, launching their own "Chipko Movement", a forest conservation movement where people embraced trees to prevent them from being cut in Uttarakhand (then Uttar Pradesh) in the 1970s. They also tied green ribbons, which symbolise "Rakhi", thereby promising to protect the trees. A velfie (video-selfie) booth was also set up to create awareness through social media. People were holding placards with messages like "Save Trees, Save Delhi", "We want clean air" and "Save the trees, they will save you". "We will not let the trees be cut. Delhi's air quality level is deteriorating and instead of finding a solution to it, we are cutting more trees," Ramesh Singh, a local, said. The Forest department recently gave permission to chop off at least 14,000 full-grown trees to make

US imported more seafood in 2017 than any prior year

The United States imported more seafood last year than at any point in its history, and the nation's trade deficit in the sector is growing, federal data show. The US imported more than 6 billion pounds of seafood valued at more than $21.5 billion in 2017, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees American fisheries. The country exported more than 3.6 billion pounds valued at about $6 billion. The widening gap comes at a time when Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who heads the federal agency that includes NOAA, has identified reducing the deficit as a priority for the government. The US is home to major commercial fisheries for species such as Pacific salmon, New England lobster and Alaska pollock, but it imports more than 90 percent of the seafood the public consumes. Ross and others in US fisheries are looking at new strategies to cut the deficit, including increasing the amount of aquaculture-based farming, said Jennie Lyons, a NOAA ..

Globe needs action to reverse climate impact: GEF chief

The world was urged on Sunday to take urgent action to reverse deterioration of the global environment at the opening of the 54th Global Environment Facility (GEF) council meeting in this Vietnamese port city.

Do your bit to protect environment: Union minister to students

Union minister Harsh Vardhan today urged everyone, especially students, to do their bit in order to sensitise people about climate change and global warming. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had launched "Green Good Deeds" campaign which included around 700 environment-friendly works that a person can do by merely changing his behaviour to protect the environment. "India is also facing the impact of global warming and climate change. People must take a pledge to contribute for the protection of environment... But when they think of doing something for the betterment of environment, people think of planting a sapling or protecting tree but they cannot think beyond this," Harsh Vardhan, who is the Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, said. "We should think what we can do in the fields of energy, water, transport, river, ocean etc. How can we contribute towards the protection of environment? We have launched 'green good

NW-1 will fail unless siltation issue is addressed: Nitish

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the Centre's ambitious National Waterway 1 project will not succeed unless the issue of siltation is addressed to ensure free and adequate flow of water. National Waterway 1 (NW-1) is the Haldia-Varanasi stretch of the waterway on the River Ganga. "Given the present condition of siltation in river Ganga (especially in Bihar region), the NW-1 will not be successful untill the issue of siltation is addressed and resolved," Kumar said. Kumar, who has been flagging the issue for some time, said that the flow and cleanliness of the river have been affected as the water had turned black at one place in Begusarai district. The state government had organised two conclaves on "incessant and clean" Ganga in Patna and New Delhi and also drew attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Nitin Gadkari in this regard, he said. Kumar said this while addressing a two-day "East India Climate Change Conclave 2018" ..

Delhi: Number of trees to be cut is overstated says NBCC

In the wake of Delhi locals protesting against a massive felling of trees, Managing Director of NBCC Anoop Kumar Mittal issued a clarification on Sunday, saying that the number of trees slated to be cut is much lesser than that reported.Speaking to ANI, Mittal said that the state-owned construction firm had been given the responsibility to develop three colonies- Nauroji Nagar, Sarojini Nagar and Netaji Nagar, out of seven in which houses were not in a condition to be inhabited."We have the permission to cut 1400 trees in Nauroji Nagar and 2200 in Netaji Nagar. Nothing is finalised in Sarojini Nagar yet. That's only 3600 trees, not 16,000. The number of trees in the four colonies that are to be developed by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) is also less. Replanting and replacement of trees is underaway," Mittal added.Meanwhile, a petitioner in the National Green Tribunal, Anil Sood suggested that the government did not have the permission for the mass-felling of trees as he ..

18 chinkaras found dead in less than a fortnight

Two Indian gazelles (chinkaras), apparently attacked by dogs, died in two separate incidents in Pokaran town and a village in Jaisalmer district near here, a forest official said today. While one chinkara was found dead in Pokaran town of the district, another one was found injured in Lathi village and died during its treatment, said Pokaran forest official Braj Mohan Gupta. The two protected animals apparently had come under attacks from dogs, he said, adding their bodies were buried after post-mortem examination. Gupta said on June 13, the bodies of two to six-month-old, 16 chinkaras were found in Bhadaria village. The autopsy conducted by a medical board had found that a few of them had died after getting entangled in wire fencing while the others had been attacked by dogs, he said. He said drinking water arrangements have been made for the wild animals in the area and the forest rangers are patrolling the sensitive areas. Chinkara (Indian gazelle) is included in the endangered ...

South Delhi re-development: NGO moves NGT challenging felling of 16,500 trees

An NGO has moved the National Green Tribunal seeking a stay on the proposed felling of more than 16,000 trees for re-development of seven south Delhi colonies by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) and the Central Public Works Department. The petitioner - Society for Protection of Culture, Heritage, Environment, Traditions & Promotion of National Awareness (SPCHETNA) - claimed that environmental clearance has been granted to seven General Pool Residential Accommodation colonies in Sarojini Nagar, Netaji Nagar, Nauroji Nagar through NBCC and in Kasturba Nagar, Thyagraj Nagar, Srinivaspuri and Mohammadpur through CPWD by ignoring the fact it would have adverse effect on the ecology. It has claimed that planting of saplings at another location as compensatory afforestation would not reduce the burden put on the environment due to large-scale felling of trees. The matter is likely to come for hearing before the tribunal on July 2. Anil Sood, president of the NGO, ...

Retailers, vendors feel the plastic ban heat

The effect of the near-total ban on single-use plastic in Maharashtra is being felt mostly in retail and unorganised markets, besides adversely impacting app-based food delivery units in Mumbai. Several companies that deal in home delivery of food through apps and websites are feeling the pinch due to the ban as single-use plastic carry bags are largely used in this emerging sector for home delivery. Abhishi Tanna, a resident of suburban Andheri, narrated her experience of ordering food for a get-together function at her home through a home delivery portal post the ban. The food ordered by Tanna today was not only delivered one hour later but the cartons used for packing it got wet due to rains during the journey from the food joint to her residence. She said most of the food items were packed in aluminium foils. "It was a disaster for me. It was a routine get-together and I ordered some food as usual. I was told on my app that the food would be delivered in half an ...

Images shot moments before Rosetta probes's crash into comet revealed

The European Space Agency has released spectacular images captured during the Rosetta spacecraft's final descent to the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's surface. The images were delivered by the OSIRIS camera team to ESA in May and have now been processed and released in both the Archive Image Browser and the Planetary Science Archive. All high-resolution images and the underpinning data from Rosetta's pioneering mission at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko are now available in ESA's archives, with the last release including the iconic images of finding lander Philae. The Archive Image Browser also hosts images captured by the spacecraft's Navigation Camera, while the Planetary Science Archive contains publicly available data from all eleven science instruments onboard Rosetta - as well as from ESA's other Solar System exploration missions. The final batch of high-resolution images from Rosetta's OSIRIS camera covers the period from late July 2016 to the mission end on 30 September ...

US oil, gas industry emits 60 pc more methane than thought: Study

The US oil and gas industry emits 13 million metric tonnes of the potent greenhouse gas methane from its operations each year, 60 per cent more than estimated, scientists say. A study, published in the journal Science, found that most of the emissions came from leaks, equipment malfunctions and other "abnormal" operating conditions. The climate impact of these leaks in 2015 was roughly the same as the climate impact of carbon dioxide emissions from all US coal-fired power plants operating in 2015, researchers found. "This study provides the best estimate to date on the climate impact of oil and gas activity in the United States," said Jeff Peischl, a scientist working in US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Chemical Sciences Division. Researchers including those from University of Colorado Boulder and University of Texas Austin in the US assessed measurements made at more than 400 well pads in six oil and gas production basins and scores of midstream facilities;

East India Climate Change conclave begins in Patna

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Harsh Vardhan jointly inaugurated the two-day East India Climate Change conclave here on Sunday.

Two tokay geckos recovered

Two rare variety of tokay geckos were recovered from a man from the railway station here today, a GRP official said. One Helarius Hansda (23) was arrested after the reptiles were found in his possession in a plastic container by the Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel. He was carrying the lizards to elsewhere. Later the nocturnal creatures were handed over to the forest department, the police said.

World gathers to tackle climate change challenges

World leaders and officials from over 100 nations, including India, top heads of UN agencies and multilateral financial institutions, scientists and activists gathered in this Vietnamese city on Sunday for the Global Environment Facility's (GEF) Assembly to tackle global climate change challenges.

UP CM launches campaign to clean Gomti river

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today launched a campaign to clean the Gomti river and said that it will create awareness among people about protecting the environment. An official spokesperson of the state government said the chief minister launched the campaign from Jhulelal Vatika on the banks of the Gomti river. On the occasion, he administered an oath to the people present there to keep the river clean. Plant saplings were also distributed on this occasion. "This maha abhiyan will generate awareness among the people about environment. It will also motivate the people to keep the rivers clean," Adityanath said at the event.

UP: Farmers' body to embark on 5-phase yatra from tomorrow

The Rashtriya Kisan Manch (RKM) will embark on a five-phase 'yatra' from tomorrow to collect data on landless farmers in Uttar Pradesh and document their grievances. President RKM Shekhar Dixit said, "The first phase of the Kisan Adhikar Yatra will begin on June 25 from Sitapur district, and cover districts of Lakhimpur Kheri, Hardoi, Unnao and Bahraich." The total duration of this phase will be 60 days and "we are likely to cover 54 villages", he said. RKM office bearers will be staying in villages during the night, and would be holding 'Kisaan Kathaa', Dixit said. "This will be an interactive session, where farmers can tell about their grievances and the difficulties they face," he said. Dixit also said during the 'yatra', farmers would also be informed about the promises made to them by the BJP at the time of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. "We will also try to gather statistics pertaining to landless farmers during the course of the yatra," the RKM president said. The ..

Biodegradable plastic alternative synthesised

Scientists have successfully synthesised a polymer that is typically produced by bacteria, algae and other microorganisms, an advance that may lead to renewable and biodegradable plastics. The compound called bacterial poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) - or P3HB - shows early promise as a substitute for petroleum plastics in major industrial uses. P3HB is a biomaterial, typically produced by bacteria, algae and other microorganisms, and is used in some biomedical applications. Its high production costs and limited volumes render the material impractical in more widespread commodity applications, however. Researchers from Colorado State University in the US used a starting material called succinate, an ester form of succinic acid. This acid is produced via fermentation of glucose and is first on the U.S. Department of Energy's list of top 12 biomass-derived compounds best positioned to replace petroleum-derived chemicals. The new chemical synthesis route produces P3HB that's similar in ...

Oceanography satellite to mark 10th year in orbit

Originally designed for a three-to-five-year mission, an international oceanography satellite that is tracking the rise in global sea level marks its 10th year in orbit this week.

T Rex could not stick out its tongue: Study

The ferocious T Rex most likely could not stick its tongue out like lizards, say scientists who have found that dinosaurs tongues rooted to the bottoms of their mouths in a manner akin to alligators. Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin in the US and the Chinese Academy of Sciences made the discovery by comparing the hyoid bones - the bones that support and ground the tongue - of modern birds and crocodiles with those of their extinct dinosaur relatives. In addition to challenging depictions of dinosaur tongues, the research published in the journal PLOS ONE proposes a connection on the origin of flight and an increase in tongue diversity and mobility. "Tongues are often overlooked. But, they offer key insights into the lifestyles of extinct animals," said Zhiheng Li, an associate professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The researchers made their discovery by comparing the hyoid bones of extinct dinosaurs, pterosaurs and alligators to the hyoid bones and muscles of