Page 665 - Environment
All electricity meters to be smart prepaid in 3 yrs: R K Singh
Power Minister R K Singh today said all electricity meters in the country will be smart prepaid meters in the next three years. "In the next 3 years, metering will go smart...and gone will be the days of bills reaching your house. So need of the hour is to scale up manufacturing of smart prepaid meters and to bring down their prices." Singh said. He was addressing a meeting with meter manufacturers here. The minister advised them to scale up the manufacturing of smart prepaid meters as the demand would go up in the coming years. Singh also advised the officials of the ministry to consider making such meters mandatory after a particular date. This will revolutionise the power sector by way of reduced AT&C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses, better health of discoms, incentivisation of energy conservation and ease of bill payments etc. Further, it will generate employment for skilled youth, a statement from the ministry said. The meeting discussed various aspects of smart ..
Ozone spikes in Delhi, study finds dangerous trend
Spike in ozone pollution has emerged as a rising threat for the already polluted National Capital Region, especially Delhi, with a new study finding "green areas more vulnerable".
'Earliest animal fossil footprints discovered in China'
Researchers have discovered the earliest known animal fossil footprints in South China, dating back about 635-541 million years. Bilaterian animals such as arthropods and annelids have paired appendages and are among the most diverse animals today and in the geological past, said researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the US. They are often assumed to have appeared and radiated suddenly during the Cambrian Explosion about 541 to 510 million years ago, although it has long been suspected that their evolutionary ancestry was rooted in the Ediacaran Period. Until the current discovery, however, no fossil record of animal appendages had been found from the Ediacaran Period, according to the study published in the journal Science Advances. Researchers studied trackways and burrows discovered in the Ediacaran Shibantan Member of the Dengying Formation (551-541 million years ago) in the Yangtze Gorges area of South ...
Delhi-NCR facing major ozone 'spike', green areas most vulnerable: CSE
Delhi and its neighbouring cities -- Faridabad and Gurgaon -- have witnessed "substantial ozone build-up" from February to May, a green body today claimed, cautioning that it was early signs of a "dangerous trend". The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said it has analysed real-time air quality data available from 31 automatic monitoring stations of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for February-May. "This shows progressive increase in ozone pollution with the onset of summer. Several densely-populated areas have shown high frequency of days violating the ozone standards. "With high pollution and temperature levels, and growing heat stress, formation of ozone has accelerated and is frequently exceeding the standards," the CSE said in a statement. According to the analysis, at least on 23 days, ozone emerged as the "dominant pollutant" along with particulate matter in the daily ..
Ancient rainforest humans feasted on dried meat, palm plants
Ancient hunter-gatherers in the Borneo tropics may have been feasting on dried meat and palm plants, shedding light on early humans who seemingly adapted to a hard life amid tropical rainforests, according to a latest Australian research.
Oilmeals export down 33% in May at 97,036 tonnes
Oilmeals export declined by 33 per cent to 97,036 tonnes last month on lower global demand, according to industry data. The overall export during April-May 2018 fell by 8 per cent at 3,21,179 tonnes compared to 3,48,222 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement. Rapeseed meal exports increased to nearly 1.43 lakh tonnes in first two months. During April-May 2018, oilmeals export to Vietnam fell to 51,568 tonnes from 59,578 tonnes in the year-ago period. South Korea imported 49,768 tonnes of oilmeals during the first two months of this fiscal compared to 67,920 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year. Thailand imported 62,176 tonnes of oilmeals during April-May 2018 as against 29,251 tonnes in the year-ago period, while France imported 28,377 tonnes as against to 1,736 tonnes during the period under review.
Simlipal Tiger Reserve closed to visitors from June 16
The Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) and the Simlipal Wildlife Sanctuary would remain closed to visitors from June 16 in view of the monsoons, official sources said today. According to STR Field Director M Mohon, the closure is a routine affair every year. Mohan said the date of reopening of the STR and sanctuary will be notified later, after the monsoon ends. The STR attracts thousands of domestic as well as international tourists with its varied flora and fauna along with breathtaking waterfalls and vast species of wild lives including the black Melanistic Royal Bengal Tiger.
Cabinet approves Continuation Programme for Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III
The GSLV Mk-III continuation Programme - Phase 1 is the first phase of operational flights that will enable the launch of 4 tonne class of communication satellites to meet the country's satellite communication requirements.
BoE to intensify climate change scrutiny of insurers
LONDON (Reuters) - Insurers in Britain face being tested to see how they could cope with fallout from climate change on their balance sheets, the Bank of England's insurance regulator said on Thursday.
Rebia wants re-orientation of state plan on climate change
Aruachal Pradesh Environment and Forests Minister Nabam Rebia has stressed on the urgent need for re-orienting the state action plan on climate change to achieve the countrys target. Taking part in two-day state environment and forest ministers conference in New Delhi on June 5 and 6 last, he advocated evolving scientific approaches to check impacts of global warming, the most challenging concern for global environmentalists. He called for focus to mainstream climate change concerns in respective sectors through innovative and transformative projects for faster access to climate finance rather than as a tool to seek finance only, an official statement said here today. Rebia lauded union ministers Dr Harsh Vardhan and Dr Mahesh Sharma for making India host of this important global conference, coinciding with declaration of 'Beat plastic pollution' as theme of this year World Environment Day.
Cabinet approves Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III Continuation Programme - Phase 6
The Programme will also meet the launch requirement of satellites for Earth observation, Navigation and Space Sciences. This will also ensure the continuity of production in Indian industry.
Battling drought, Rajouri to get 1.50 lakh litres of water through mobile tankers daily
To battle a drought-like situation prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department would supply 1.50 lakh litres of water through mobile tankers every day. District Development Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary today convened a meeting to review drought management measures and the mechanism in place to ensure equitable water supply and to augment the availability of potable drinking water in the district. The PHE Department would supply 1.50 lakh litres of water through mobile tankers every day till the drought period was over, Superintending Engineer, PHE, Rajouri, Rafiq Ahmed Khan said. The DDC also approved hiring of 12 water tankers as well 40 trolleys for serving the critical areas under Drought Action Plan. Four tankers in Rajouri division, nine tankers in Nowshera and 20 trolleys in Nowshera division covering areas of Nowshera, Kalakote and Sunderbani had already been deployed, Khan said. On the occasion, the DDC released an .
IIT team's solar powered system can convert plastic into fuel
Scientists from IIT Madras have developed a solar powered system to convert non-recyclable plastic into fuel that can substitute diesel used in generators, furnaces and engines. The technology - which consists of a mobile unit that can collect and process waste - currently yields around 0.7 litres of fuel oil per kilogramme of plastic, researchers said. "India produces approximately 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste in a day. Centralised systems for plastic waste management cannot work to effectively deal with this much plastic waste on a daily basis, said Ramya Selvaraj, a research student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in Tamil Nadu. "We thought that if the plastic can't come to the industry, let the industry come to the plastic," Selvaraj said. The team showcased its project on the occasion of the World Environment Day, hosted by the United Nations (UN) in New Delhi. The theme of this year's World Environment Day was "Beat Plastic Pollution". The conversion of ...
GSIC summons secretary to Governor over non-appointment of PIO
The Goa State Information Commission (GSIC) has summoned the secretary to the state Governor for the Raj Bhavan's "failure" to appoint a Public Information Officer under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Social activist Aires Rodrigues had filed a complaint against the Raj Bhavan recently under the RTI Act, saying that despite being a "public authority", the Goa Raj Bhavan has not appointed a Public Information Officer (PIO) so far. The GSIC directed the Secretary to Governor to be present before the information commissioner on June 13, sources in the commission said.
India's declining biodiversity, a victim of over exploitation
Bageshwar (Uttarakhand) [India], June 7 (ANI): It is a matter of great happiness; India is one of the 12 selected biodiversity countries in the world. But the worrying thing is that biodiversity is gradually becoming the victim of over-exploitation.Biodiversity is limited, which is a crisis for life. Biodiversity is getting reduced in all the regions. According to H K Jain, Director of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, more than 30,000 paddy varieties were present in our country. But by the end of the century, we will have only 50 left.Data related to agriculture states that around 20,000 varieties of paddy are present in the world, there may be more. Scientists call it genetic reserves, which mean storing the old varieties and also finding new species.Why are paddy species suffering? To find out the solution to this question, it was discovered that for the development of agriculture, the government gave a slogan to the Green Revolution. The goal of this scheme was to increase ..
Cabinet approves Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and United Kingdom
Under this MoU, an Indo-UK Joint Working Group (JWG) will be set up to strategize and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoU. The Joint Working Group on Urban Development is expected to meet once in a year, alternately in UK and in India.
US, India team up to strengthen Indian Ocean observations
Scientists from India and the US have teamed up to strengthen their observation of the vast Indian Ocean, where the atmospheric development has a profound impact on the weather of not only India and the countries in the region, but also on America. A team of 20 scientists from America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are landing in Goa next week to hold meeting with India's leading ocean, atmosphere, and fisheries scientists to review their collaboration in this field and decide on the future course of action. The Madden Julian Oscillation is a phenomenon in the western tropical Indian Ocean which has the most impact on weather pattern of the US, said Craig McLean, NOAA Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and acting NOAA Chief Scientist. "There's some shallow water near the Seychelles Islands. It heats up, you get evaporation and you get this storm pattern that propagates across the Indian Ocean over Indonesia, across the Pacific and ...
Goa govt to bring policy to protect Portuguese-era structures
The Goa government has begun the process of formulating a policy to conserve and protect the Portuguese-era structures in the state and to give a new lease of life to them. The State Town and Country Planning minister Vijai Sardesai yesterday chaired a meeting of Conservation Committee formed by his department to discuss the issue. This committee appointed a sub-committee comprising officials of the Department of Archaeology and experts to give final shape to the policy. "It was decided to formulate a heritage conservation policy for the Portuguese-era structures in the state. The policy will bring architectural guidelines about the nature of such houses in conservation areas," Sardesai told PTI. The government has already declared certain parts of Goa as 'conservation areas' after taking into account the density of heritage structures in those areas. "The committee will begin its work immediately. Various aspects related to these heritage structures, like their colour, ..
