Page 660 - Environment
Centre working consistently towards doubling farmers' income
Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today said the Union government is working consistently towards doubling the income of farmers and animal rearers. Singh was here to lay foundation stone of the country's first sex-sorted semen laboratory in Rishikesh under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission Yojana. The laboratory will be the first of its kind facility in the country where the technique of producing female calf through artificial insemination in animals will be used. Singh said such an initiative will help increase milk production and boost farmers' income, the Union Minister said. The minister said the Centre has been working consistently over the past four years for farmers welfare. It is because of the government'sefforts that more than 700 agricultural scientists in the country have come out of laboratories and reached field level for ground testing, he said. Animal husbandry is the backbone of the rural economy but there is lack of productivity in the sector, he said, adding .
French envoy calls on Mehbooba Mufti
French Ambassador in India Alexandre Ziegler called on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti here on Saturday.
Rainfall forecast for the next 24 hours
Rainfall forecast for the next 24 hours at: East : Most places in Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, many places in Odisha, Jharkhand, a few places in Nagaland-Manipur-Mizoram-Tripura, Gangetic West Bengal, isolated places in Arunachal Pradesh., Assam & Meghalaya, Bihar. North : Most places in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, many places in Punjab, isolated places in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan. Central : Many places in east Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, a few places in Chhattisgarh, isolated places in west Madhya Pradesh. Peninsula : Most places in Konkan & Goa, coastal & south interior Karnataka, Kerala, many places in Madhya Maharashtra, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, north interior Karnataka, a few places in Marathwada, isolated places in Gujarat Region, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu. dry weather in Saurashtra & Kutch. Islands : Most places in Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep. Temperatures recorded in four metropolitan ...
Modi, Xi meet, take stock of developments post Wuhan
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on Saturday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit here and signed deals on Beijing sharing Brahmaputra river data with New Delhi and India's export of rice to China.
India, China sign MoUs on Brahmaputra river, rice export
India and China on Saturday signed two bilateral agreements here on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.The agreements were signed post the delegation-level talks, in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reached here today in the morning for the two-day summit.First MoU was regarding Brahmaputra River and the other one on the export of rice from India to China.China's Ministry of Water Resources and India's Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and, Ganga Rejuvenation signed the MoU under which China would provide hydrological information to India regarding the Brahmaputra River during the flood season.The second MoU was signed between China's General Administration of Customs and India's Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Famers Welfare. Under the agreement, the 2006 Protocol on Phytosanitary Requirements for exporting rice from India to China has been amended to include the export of non-Basmati ...
Leopard carcass found in MP forest
A carcass of a leopard was found in Lateri jungle, around 120 kms from the district headquarters, an official said today. "Mutilated carcass of a leopard was found in Lateri jungle yesterday," area forest ranger Dhirendra Pandey said. Whether the leopard died a natural death or was killed is yet to be ascertained, he said. The viscera of the dead animal has been sent to a laboratory in Jabalpur for tests to find the cause of the death. He said that a shepherd spotted the carcass and informed the forest officials about it. Pandey said they were investigating from all angles to know how the big cat died.
Elderly man killed by elephant in Chhattisgarh
A 60-year-old manwas trampled to death today by a wild elephantin the Kartala forest range area of Chhattisgarh's Korba district, a forest official said. The victim, Ghusiram Rathiya, was attacked by the elephant when he had gone to collect mangoes in the forest adjacent to his village Champa this morning,he said. While collecting mangoes, he spotted two pachyderms following which he tried to escape from there. However, one of theelephantschased the elderly man and crushed him to death, he said. Some local villagers spotted his body and informed police and forest officials, who rushed to the spot, he said. The kin of the deceased were given an instant relief amount of Rs 25,000 by the forest department, while the remaining compensation of Rs 4.75 lakh will be disbursed after completing all formalities, the officail said. Villagers have been advised not to venture inside the forest in view of reports that a group of at least 35 jumbos is roaming in the area for the last ...
Rupani hails Vadodara's "museum of trees"
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today lauded the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) for its effective waste management system. The civic body has converted a garbage dumping ground into a "museum of trees" and this shows its effective waste management system, he said. The VMC's initiative is an example in proper waste management for other civic bodies in the state,Rupani said. The VMC stopped dumping garbage at a landfill site at Vadasar, on the city's outskirts, in October 2016 and instead planted 12,663 tree saplings of 100 varieties spread over an area of 50,000 square meters. All the saplings have survived. This place has been named as 'Urban forest - museum of trees' and it was inaugurated by the CM today.
Delhi govt approves 88 proposals under MLA LAD scheme till May 25
The Urban Development department of the Delhi government has till May 25 approved 88 proposals to be executed under the MLA Local Area Development (LAD) scheme in the national capital, the Legislative Assembly was told. The department received a total of 827 proposals or work estimates till May 25, and of these, 66 were rejected while 679 were under consideration, Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain said. In a written response to a question asked by AAP MLA Jarnail Singh, Jain told the House that work estimates not prepared as per existing MLA LAD guidelines were rejected. The minister told the House that the works of the MLA LAD fund had been shifted to the UD department from the District Urban Development Agency (DUDA) since December 12, 2017. In Delhi, an MLA gets Rs 4 crore in a year to execute various works in his or her constituency. The Urban Development department is mandated to implement the scheme. Last month, the AAP government had issued guidelines to all executing ..
Nipah virus contained, no need to run away from it: MoS Health
Union Minister of State for Health, Ashwini Choubey, today said that the Nipah virus has been contained and there was no need to run away from Kerala, where it originated. He said that though 17 deaths due to the virus have been reported from Kerala, no fresh cases of infection were filed. "There has been no cases of Nipah reported from anywhere in the country. The virus has been stalled. This is a good sign. Nipah is not epidemic. There is nothing to be scared of," Choubey told PTI. The minister is in the city for official meetings with several health institutions, besides state ministers. On reports of several people returning from Kerala to West Bengal fearing attacks by the virus, he said, "Our entire team is there in the place where it was reported from a particular place of a region in Kerala. The virus has been contained even there in Kerala where we had 17 deaths reported. There is no need to run away from anywhere." Nipah virus has not claimed any life in West ..
Wild West Innovation pledges to make India plastic-free
Plastic waste and its treatment is a growing concern globally, to the extent that the United Nations declared the theme for the World Environment Day 2018 to be 'Beat Plastic Pollution'.Worldwide, companies are coming up with small, medium and large scale solutions to curb and manage the plastic waste. Wild West Innovation, a Mumbai-based company, is doing its bit by offering an innovative solution to treat plastic waste and encourage people to dispose it in the correct way.The company has introduced a first-of-its-kind range of ReBot (reverse vending machines). These are cost effective recycling machines that recover and dispose PET bottles effectively. Built, using cutting-edge technology, these sturdy machines provide clients with an unmatched user-friendly experience and consistency in smooth operations.These machines are currently installed at major public spaces and are inculcating a habit of recycling in people.These are cost effective recycling machines that recover and ...
Brazilian electricity workers call for 72-hour strike
Brazil's national electricity workers' collective (CNE) has called for a 72-hour strike starting from Monday to protest against the privatisation of state-run electric company Eletrobras and its subsidiaries.
U'khand CM flags off trekking expedition to Gaumukh
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat today flagged off a trekking expedition to Uttarkashi district's Gaumukh, the point from where the Ganga originates. The 30-member team will carry out a tree plantation drive besides trekking and camping in Gaumukh and Gangotri during the expedition which will conclude on June 12. The main objective behind the expedition is to create awareness about Ganga cleanliness and the need for tree plantation to revive the country's dying rivers, the chief minister said at the flag-off event at his official residence. "There is need to plant as many trees as possible for the rejuvenation of our rivers and preservation of environment," Rawat said. More than 3.5 lakh saplings are to be planted in a single day next month as part of the state government's Rispana and Kosi rejuvenation campaign, he said.
India showed global leadership by pledging to phase out single-use plastics by 2022: UN Environment chief
Calling the World Environment Day celebrations in India "historic", UN Environment chief Erik Solheim has said by announcing that it will phase out single-use plastics by 2022, India has demonstrated global leadership. During an event to celebrate the WED-2018 on June 5 in New Delhi, Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan, in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pledged to eliminate single-use plastics from India by 2022. "WED was truly historic. As global host, India took charge, organising hundreds of events around the country, from beach and river clean ups, to awareness-building efforts with young people," Solheim told PTI. He said India made incredible announcements that will have a "definite impact" on the global fight against plastic pollution. "By announcing that the country will phase out single-use plastics by 2022, India has demonstrated global leadership and it's now up to other countries to follow India's lead," the UN Environment chief said. Recalling that he was ...
New book on environment shows the way forward (Book Review)
Book: The Climate Solution; Author: Mridula Ramesh; Publisher: Hachette India; Pages: 295; Price: Rs 550
Boy, 14, missing for a day, found dead
A 14-year-old boy, who had been missing for a day, was found dead in a forest area in Muzaffarnagar district, a police official said today. Deepak's body, found in Vahelna village under Kotwali police station area yesterday, had injury marks near his throat, Circle Officer Harish Bhadoria said. The police suspect Deepak was killed by a wild animal. The forest department had informed villagers about the spotting of a catamount in the area. A forest officer said the department has started a search for the catamount. The body has been sent for a postmortem examination.
Brazilian tribes fined for GMO soy crops on reservations
CONQUISTA DO OESTE, Brazil (Reuters) - The savannah scrubland where Chief João Ponce once hunted deer and wild boar in Brazil has given way to neat rows of soy and corn that a tractor sprays with herbicide. In the next field, silver grain silos shimmer in the hot sun.
Red flags at Goa beaches during monsoon to warn people
Red flags will be put up at beaches in Goa to warn people about the dangers of wading or swimming in the sea during the monsoons. The Meteorological Department has stated that the Southwest monsoon had arrived in Goa yesterday and the next few days would see heavy rainfall which is expected to intensify in the next few weeks. "We have advised visitors to the beach to not venture into the sea during the monsoon," said Ravi Shankar, CEO of Drishti Marine. "We have put up red flags at all the beaches to warn people that the area is not meant for swimming or even wading," he informed. The firm has been appointed by the state government to provide lifeguards at beaches and Shankar said that a force of 600 lifeguards was manning them currently. The Goa government shuts down beaches for swimming and other water sports activities during the monsoon from June to August each year as a precautionary step. This includes a 61-day fishing ban that started from June 1 and ends on July .
Power rates in Haryana may be reduced soon: Khattar
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today said electricity rates may be reduced soon in the state. He said consumers with no electricity metres would be given an opportunity to pay their bills on the basis of the average of last one year. The chief minister said other defaulters would also be given two years-time to pay their pending bills in 12 instalments, adding that no penalty would be levied on them. "This scheme is being introduced for those consumers whose electricity bills have been pending for many years. This step will also take them out of the bracket of defaulters," he said. Khattar was addressing the people of Kaul village in the district as part of his mass contact programme. An official release quoting the chief minister said the power rates in the state may be reduced soon. In Kaithal district, power losses ranging from 20 to 83 per cent are registered in villages only, it said. The state government has been successful in reducing power losses through the 'Mhara
VW says 250,000 cars could be delayed by new testing rules
BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen said production of up to 250,000 cars from its group brands in the second half will be delayed because of effects from new mandatory lab tests for emissions and fuel economy.
