Page 708 - Environment
Beijing denies 'militarisation' of South China Sea
Beijing today hit back at allegations it was "militarising" the South China Sea after landing bombers at an airbase in the contested waters, instead accusing Washington of increasing tensions with its own military footprint. China on Friday for the first time landed several combat aircraft -- including the long-range, nuclear strike-capable H-6K -- at an island airfield in the sea, triggering international concern. The move prompted immediate criticism from the US, with a Pentagon spokesman condemning China's "continued militarisation of disputed features in the South China Sea". But China was quick to dismiss concerns that the deployment had raised tensions in a region home to vital global shipping routes. "The South China Sea islands are Chinese territories," foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told a regular briefing. Lu said the movement of the bombers into the area was "part of the normal training for the Chinese military", and that the US "sending its own warships and planes ..
Foundation stone of LPG bottling plant laid in Odisha
Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday laid the foundation stone of a LPG bottling plant of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in Odisha's Balangir district.
'Microsoft Cloud more nature-friendly than traditional datacentres'
Microsoft Cloud services are up to 93 per cent more energy efficient and up to 98 per cent more carbon efficient than traditional enterprise datacentres, a new study released on Monday said.
Haryana sugar mills crush over 437 lakh quintals of sugarcane
The cooperative sugar mills in Haryana have crushed 437.07 lakh quintals of sugarcane and produced over 43.63 lakh quintals of sugar so far during the ongoing crushing season, officials said today. The Shahabad cooperative mill has so far crushed 79.82 lakh quintals of sugarcane and produced over 8.43 lakh quintals of sugar, followed by Rohtak cooperative mill which has produced over 6.14 lakh quintals of sugar by crushing 63.22 lakh quintals of sugarcane, a spokesperson of Haryana State Federation of Co-operative Sugar Mills Ltd (Sugarfed) said. The Kaithal, Meham and Karnal cooperative mills have crushed 45.44, 43.16 and 39.41 lakh quintals of sugarcane and produced over 4.55, 4.23 and 4.04 lakh quintals of sugar respectively, he added.
State govt. closely monitoring outbreak of Nipah Virus: Kerala CM
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday informed that the state government is closely monitoring the outbreak of Nipah virus in the region and taking every possible step to prevent its further spread.The Kerala Chief Minister Office took to their Twitter handle to inform about the same and said they have contacted the Union Health Ministry and World Health Organisation (WHO) for assistance."CM Pinarayi Vijayan has informed that Government is closely monitoring the spread of the Nipah virus. The health department is doing everything possible to save the lives of the infected & prevent the advance of the virus," the CMO Tweeted."National Institute of Virology has confirmed from the studies on blood samples that 3 out of the 4 deaths attributed to fever were caused by the virus. The first death was reported on 19th ; the Union Health Ministry & World Health organisation were contacted on the day itself," they added.The Chief Minister Office further said the Health ...
World Honey Bee Day: KVIC distributes bee boxes to Assam tribals
The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) gave away 1,000 honey-bee boxes to an Assamese tribe in Kaziranga to mark the celebration of World Honey Bee Day today. Claiming it to be a world record of giving away the maximum number of bee-boxes on a single day, KVIC Chairman V K Saxena distributed 1,000 bee boxes among the Mishing tribals in the Kaziranga forest area, beating the previous best of 841 in Israel some two years ago, a KVIC statement said here. KVIC said it has fixed a target of distributing 1,30,000 bee-boxes across the country by November 2018, adding it has so far distributed 27,000 bee-boxes in the country. "Being the nodal agency of the Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), the KVIC would provide loans for setting up units of processing, packaging and labelling units for the honey," it said. Saxena said that besides production of 30,000 kilograms of high-quality honey from these bee-boxes in the Kaziranga forest area, bee-keeping would open up
Nadda rushes Central team to check Nipah virus in Kerala
The Central government on Monday assured all support to the Kerala government and sent a Central team to check the outbreak of the Nipah virus (NiV) that has taken three lives while eight patients are under intensive care.
China calls mining report near Arunachal border 'groundless'
China on Monday dismissed as "groundless" a report that it was mining gold on its side of the disputed border in Arunachal Pradesh.
Pradhan to lay foundation stone of LPG bottling plant in Odisha
Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will on Monday lay the foundation stone for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plant at Barkani in Balangir district.Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot and Patnagarh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo will also be present at the foundation programme.The LPG plant will be set up on a 23-acre land and will have a capacity of producing 42 lakh cylinders every year.The project is expected to start its operations by 2020 and will provide LPG cylinder to residents of 14 districts across the state.
MSKVIB mulls 'friends of honeybees' plan for bee conservation
The Maharashtra State Khadi and Village Industries Board (MSKVIB) plans to start an initiative called the "friends of honeybees" to curb the harmful methods employed to remove beehives in urban areas, a senior official said today. Vishal Chordia, chairperson of MSKVIB, said that these "friends of honeybees" would have proper training for the scientific removal of beehives, without killing the bees. "Calling pest control agencies to remove beehives, setting fire underneath them are harmful methods. In order to curb these harmful methods, we are exploring the setting up of friends of honeybees," he said. He said that a dedicated helpline number would be set up on which people could call and inform about the location of beehives in their areas. These would be important steps for bee conservation as well as to create awareness among people that honey bees are an important factor in our ecology, he said. The MSKVIB also proposes to set up a "Honey Park" at Mahabaleshwar in ...
China successfully launches satellite to explore dark side of Moon
China successfully launched a relay satellite today to enable a rover to communicate with the Earth from the Moon's mysterious far side, as part of the Communist giant's ambitious goal of being the first country to send such a probe. Named Queqiao (Magpie Bridge), the 400-kg satellite has a designed life of three years. It was carried by a Long March-4C rocket that blasted off at 5:28 AM (local time) from southwest China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said. "The launch is a key step for China to realise its goal of being the first country to send a probe to soft-land on and rove the far side of the Moon," said Zhang Lihua, manager of the relay satellite project. About 25 minutes after lift-off, the satellite separated from the rocket and entered an Earth-Moon transfer orbit with the perigee at 200 kms and the apogee at about 400,000 kms. The solar panels and the communication antennas were unfolded. Queqiao is expected to enter a halo
DMC initiates cleaner, greener Dimapur city
The Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) has initiated to transform the commercial hub of Nagaland, Dimapur under the "Cleaner, Greener and a Healthy Dimapur with Community Participation" initiative.The initiative includes the transformation of ugly garbage dumping areas into pleasing and environmentally friendly spaces."The erstwhile dumping ground outside the Ramakrishna School premises besides the main road in Duncan Basti turning into a beautiful sight with colourful mural of the 16 Naga shawls adorned on the walls is an amazing sight now," a citizen said.A symbolic metal tree "Existence" stands in the middle made by an artist, Mark Medom, by using metal scraps which are otherwise sidelined as wastes.The Dimapur city plagued with potholed roads and garbage strewn across everywhere. However, with the launching of "A Better Dimapur" project in June last year, which was aimed to improve the city's sanitation, environment and aesthetic appeal through the active participation of the ...
SAIL supplies 10,500 tonne steel for Kishanganga Hydroelectric Power Project
State-run SAIL today said it has supplied 10,500 tonne steel for the 330 Megawatts (MW) Kishanganga Hydroelectric Power Project in Bandipora District of Jammu and Kashmir. Steel Authority of India (SAIL) had also supplied around 70 per cent of steel for Tuirial Hydroelectric Power Project in Mizoram, the company said in a statement. "SAIL has supplied more than 50 per cent steel for the Kishanganga Hydroelectric power project, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. SAIL has supplied a total of 10,500 tonnes of steel for the 330 MW hydroelectric project which features three power generating units of 110 MW each," it said. On Saturday, the Prime Minister inaugurated Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project and also laid down the foundation stone of the Pakal Dul Power Project in Jammu and Kashmir.
20 UP sugar mills sold electricity worth Rs 20 cr to govt in 2016-17
Twenty sugar mills, including six from Muzaffarnagar district, sold surplus electricity worth Rs 214 crore to the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) in 2016-17, officials said today. Six sugar mills from Khatauli, Titawi, Budhana, Mansurpur, Tikola and Khaikheri areas in Muzaffarnagar accounted for electricity worth Rs 78 crore, District Cane Officer (DCO) O P Yadav said. Sugar mills generate electricity by burning sugarcane waste and after using the requisite amount, sell the surplus to the government. Uttar Pradesh is India's largest sugarcane producer, followed by Maharashtra.
DGCA moves NGT, says impossible to dump poop mid-air
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has moved the National Green Tribunal seeking a stay and review of its order directing the aviation regulator to issue a circular to all airlines operating at IGI Airport here to ensure that they do not empty toilet tanks mid-air. The DGCA has now moved a plea seeking review and stay of the December 20, 2016 and the January 10 order of the tribunal claiming that it was impossible to dump human waste mid-air from aircraft toilet. A bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra Singh Rathore issued notices to the original petitioner Lt Gen (Retd) Satwant Singh Dahiya and others while seeking their replies by May 23. Dahiya had moved the NGT alleging that faeces were splattered from aircraft on his South Delhi house before Diwali in 2016 after which the tribunal on December 20, 2016 had directed the DGCA to issue a circular to all airlines to pay Rs 50,000 as environmental compensation if their planes are found dumping waste mid air. The petition ...
China says gold mine operation in Tibetan county close to Arunachal is its sovereign right
China today defended its large-scale mining operations in a mineral-rich Tibetan county adjacent to the border with Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the area belongs to it and Beijing enjoys full sovereignty to conduct such geological activities there. China has begun large-scale mining operations in Lhunze county under its control adjacent to Arunachal Pradesh where a huge trove of gold, silver and other precious minerals valued at about USD 60 billion has been found, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post had reported yesterday. "I have also noted the report mentioned by you. The area mentioned by the report totally belongs to China," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang told a media briefing here when asked about the report. "China conducts regular geological and scientific research on its own territory. It is completely within China's sovereignty. China always attaches importance to protecting ecological environment. We hope relevant media can refrain from hyping up ..
Nipah Virus: Health ministry constitutes six-member team
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J.P Nadda on Monday directed to constitute a team of highly efficient doctors to probe the outbreak of Nipah Virus in Kerala.This comes after many cases of death, caused dueto Nipah Virus, surfaced in Kerala.The six-member team, led by the director of NCDC Dr. Sujeet K Singh, is currently in touch with Kerala health department to review the situation.Nipah virus is a communicable disease spread by fruit bats and is fatal for both animals and humans.Nine people have died in Kerala's Calicut district due to high fever. The health department of the state confirmed that three out of the nine deceased were affected with Nipah virus.The health department has, however, not confirmed the cause of the death of the other patients.Earlier, three people reportedly died in Kozhikode district of Kerala due to Nipah virus.
Nipah virus claims 3 lives in Kerala, 8 under observation
The Nipah virus has so far claimed three lives in Kerala while one person is undergoing treatment and 8 others are under observation in Kozhikode district, Health minister K K Shylaja today said. The three deaths, which occurred over the past fortnight, were from the same family, including two siblings in their early twenties. The man who is undergoing treatment for 'Nipah' is the father of the two brothers who died. Nipah virus (NiV) infection is a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans. The natural host of the virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus. A bat was found in the well of their house which has now been closed, the minister said. A nursing assistant, Lini, who had treated three infected persons, died this morning. However, it is yet to be confirmed if she had contracted the virus, which spreads through bats. Five more people have died due to high fever and similar symptoms of the virus here and in neighbouring ...
10 peacocks, 13 peahens found dead in Rajasthan
Ten peacocks and 13 peahens were found dead under mysterious circumstances in Rajasthan's Banswara district, police said today. The carcasses were found in Nathukhedi village which comes under the jurisdiction of Sadar police station late last night after which forest department officials were informed, they said. The carcasses were sent to a government veterinary hospital for postmortem, the police said. Viscera samples were preserved and were sent to Jaipur for examination to find the exact cause of the deaths, forest department official Govind Singh Rajawat said.
BNPM gets green nod to increase bank note paper production
The government's Bank Note Paper Mill India (BNPM) has received green signal to increase the production of bank note paper at its Mysuru unit in Karnataka from 12,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) to 16,000 TPA. BNPM is a jont venture of Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (BRBNMPL) and Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL). The company had sought environment clearance (EC) for increasing the bank note paper production from 12,000 TPA to 19,000 TPA without adding any machinery and pollution load. "The Environment Ministry, however, gave the EC for raising the production up to 16,000 TPA after taking inputs from the expert committee," a senior government official said. The approval is subject to compliance of certain conditions including developing greenbelt in 33 per cent of the project area. BNPM presently has developed greenbelt in 8.5 acres out of the total area of 41 acres. The expert panel of the ministry, however, has observed that the plantation being developed ...
