Page 746 - Environment
NTCA may revisit guidelines on tiger safaris in India
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) may revisit guidelines on establishment of tiger safaris in country, according to minutes of an official meeting. The meeting was held here last month mainly to discuss tiger safaris in Madhya Pradesh's Kanha and Pench tiger reserves. The proposals to establish tiger safaris in these two tiger reserves were not given a go ahead due to different reasons, said the minutes of the meeting held at the NTCA office here. However, member secretary of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), who was also attending the meeting, raised various issues related to tiger safaris. The member secretary pointed out that "no live prey should be fed to tigers in safaris" and that there should be separate infrastructure for management of safari, among others. He also said that prior approval of the CZA need to be taken before start of construction activities for the safari. It was decided that the Field Directors, Kanha and Pench tiger reserves shall revise their ..
Number of tiger cubs in Sariska National Park rises to 14
The number of tiger cubs in the Sariska National Park in Rajasthan's Alwar district has risen to 14 with the birth of two cubs, an official said. A tigress named ST-14 has given birth to two cubs, which were first spotted last night in cameras. The cubs are two-months-old, official said. "It is a good news for us and also for the wildlife enthusiasts. Two cubs were spotted in camera traps," Sariska field director Govind S Bharadwaj said. The news has come as a respite for authorities of the Sariska National Park after death of ST-11 and ST-5, which went missing in recent past.The park is now home for eight tigress, four tigers and two cubs, officials said.
Australia pledges half a billion to restore Great Barrier Reef
Australia pledged half a billion dollars to restore and protect the Great Barrier Reef today in what it said would be a game-changer for the embattled natural wonder. The World Heritage-listed site, which attracts millions of tourists, is reeling from significant bouts of coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change. The reef is also under threat from the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, which has proliferated due to pollution and agricultural runoff. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said more than 500 million Australian dollar (USD 400 million) will go towards improving water quality, tackling predators, and expanding restoration efforts. Turnbull said it was the "largest ever single investment -- to protect the reef, secure its viability and the 64,000 jobs that rely on the reef". "We want to ensure the reef's future for the benefit of all Australians, particularly those whose livelihood depends on the reef," he added. The reef is a critical national
Lands get unique number in Andhra's new project 'Bhu Seva'
Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) K E Krishnamurthy on Saturday initiated Andhra Pradesh government's new project called 'Bhu Seva' (land hub), which aims at providing integrated services related with the land.Under this project, each land parcel will be given a Bhudhar Number, an 11 digit unique number. It will be useful for easy identification of the details of land parcel as a unique ID.A pilot project of the same was launched on April 11, 2018 in Jaggaiah Peta Mandal and Vuyyur Nagar Panchayat of Krishna district.The deputy CM explained the progress of the Andhra Pradesh revenue department for the last four years. He said that the revolutionary changes in the department have achieved many awards and rewards from the Central government. The minister further said that AP is the first state in India to complete geotagging of each land parcel in the state.Bhu Seva Mission director Ch Vijayamohan said,"We have aadhar numbers for each individual along with a repository of land parcels in .
Haryana: Farmers who burnt crop residue penalised
The Haryana government has penalised the farmers who were found burning crop residue in the state, its Environment Minister Vipul Goel said today. The process to prevent wheat residue burning has already been initiated. 35 cases have been reported in the state so far and a penalty of Rs 27,500 has been imposed on the erring farmers, said the minister in a statement. The action is being taken by the Department of Environment and Climate Change, Haryana, on the instructions of the National Green Tribunal, Delhi. The department has so far noticed nine such cases in Jind, 13 in Sonepat, 11 in Palwal and one each in Panipat and Gurugram. Goel said 1,147 cases of burning of wheat remains were reported last year.
Rahul extends support to protest against Nanar refinery in Maharashtra
Congress president Rahul Gandhi today extended support to the farmers opposed to the oil refinery project proposed at Nanar in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, the Konkan Anti-Refinery Action Committee, a body representing the protesters said. Gandhi met a delegation of the Konkan Anti-Refinery Action Committee in the evening. It apprised Gandhi of the damage the project may cause to the livelihood of farmers and the green cover there. The Congress chief gave the delegation a patient hearing, its head Ashok Walam told reporters. Congress general secretary in-charge for Maharashtra Mohan Prakash, the party's state unit chief Ashok Chavan, Rajya Sabha member Hussain Dalwai and others were also present on the occasion. "The project will cause environmental damage. It requires felling of six crore trees... 48,000 people would be displaced. "Fishermen will also be badly affected. We apprised Gandhi of these issues. He has assured us support," Walam told reporters. Walam accused the ...
Four of family trampled to death by elephants in Chhattisgarh
Four members of a family, including two minor girls, were today trampled to death by a herd of wild"elephants"in Dharamjaigarh forest division in Chhattigsarh"s Raigarh district, forest officials said. The incident took place this evening near Koilar village when the victims were returning after picking up minor forest produce, a local official said. The deceased were identified as Netram (50), Manglai (45), Aarti (7) and another minor girl Ritu, all belonging to the same family residing in Koilar, he said. A forest official said that a herd of 26 elephants had been spotted in the area several times in the past few days. Further details of the incident were not immediately known, he said, adding that a team had been rushed to the spot to evacuate the bodies from the forest. He informed that forest ground staff had been directed to provide Rs 25,000 per deceased to their kin. Northern Chhattisgarh, a heavily forested part of the state, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, ...
No free rice to Puducherry villages not ODF: Lt Governor
Shifting the responsibility of cleanliness in villages to legislators and Commune Commissioners, Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi on Saturday said free rice to the poor would be provided to only those villages that are certified to be free of open defecation and garbage.
World's first floating nuclear plant put to sea by Russia
Akademik Lomonosov, the world's first "floating" nuclear power plant (FNPP) for installation in remote areas, has headed out on its first sea voyage from this Baltic shipyard here, Russian state-run atomic energy corporation Rosatom said on Saturday.
Modi, Xi for building open, multipolar, pluralist global economic order
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have underlined the importance of building an open, multipolar, pluralist and participatory global economic order which will enable all countries to pursue their development and contribute to the elimination of poverty and inequality in all regions of the world. According to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs, the two leaders, who met at an two-day informal summit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, agreed that India and China have separately made major contributions to global peace and prosperity through their respective growth and economic development, and would continue to act as engines for global growth in the future. "They reiterated the importance of building an open, multipolar, pluralist and participatory global economic order which will enable all countries to pursue their development and contribute to the elimination of poverty and inequality in all regions of the world," the statement said. Modi ..
Bedi ties free rice to sanitation, Oppn slams move
Courting controversy, Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi today directed authorities to make clean villages, a precondition for distribution of free rice which was strongly objected by Opposition parties. Giving a backgrounder to her direction, Bedi cited poor sanitation condition in rural Puducherry during her visits and to make a turnaround, she directed linking rice distribution to good sanitation in villages. DMK Working President M K Stalin, in a tweet, released a copy of her letter to Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy in which she apprised him that she has directed the Director of Civil Supplies in this regard. Bedi, in her communique said to inculcate a sense of responsibiity amongst the local community, "we require to cast a duty upon the local community for maintenance of their localities clean and healthy." The rice distribution "shall therefore be made conditional to the certification that the village is open defecation free and free of strewn garbage and
Two boys buried alive under heap of mud in Jharkhand
Two boys were today buried alive when a heap of soil caved in on them in Turuktopa village of Dumka district, an official said. The victims - 13-year-old Lokhai Rai and seven-year-old Prakash Rai - climbed up the freshly dumped soil heap to get to the other side, Sub-Divisional Officer Rakesh Kumar said. The soil heap was from a trench that was recently dug by the workers for a pipeline work in the area, Kumar said, adding that the mound collapsed killing the boys on the spot. "The villagers retrieved the body of one boy, while an earth mover had to be pressed into service to recover the other body. The two bodies have been sent for post-mortem," the officer said. The district administration has given Rs 3000 each to the families of the two boys for performing the last rites, he added.
Six suspected poachers nabbed in Maharashtra's Yavatmal area
Six persons, suspected to be poachers, were today nabbed by a forest department team from Wadgaon, about 20 kilometres from Digras tehsil in the district here, officials said. Officials said that a self-loading rifle, two live cartridges, three used cartridges, knives, six mobile phones, a car and three motorcycles were confiscated from them. "We had received a tip-off about the presence of poachers in the forests in Wadgaon. We reached the area around midnight. In the early hours today, we heard a gunshot. Moving in the direction from where the sound came, we managed to spot the six," said an official. A team led by Range Officer Anant Dhotre gave chase and managed to overpower the six persons, officials said, adding that two forest officials were injured in the effort. "Forest officials Gulshan Khan Pathan and Aswin Mulmule were injured and have been admitted to a local hospital and they are now out of danger," the official said. Forest officials identified the six ...
Slow lifting mars ongoing wheat procurement in Punjab
Slow lifting of wheat has led to piling up of wheat sacks at several mandis in Punjab during the current Rabi marketing season, farmers claim. However, the food and civil supplies department ascribed the problem of tardy lifting of crop to quick arrivals in mandis and slow movement of foodgrain-stock out of the state to consuming states even as it claimed to have lifted 70 per cent of wheat arrivals within 72 hours. Opposition parties, including BJP, blamed the Congress government for its alleged failure in ensuring proper lifting of crop that added to the woes of farmers and commission agents. Farmers claimed that delay in making transport arrangements for lifting of the crop from mandis to the warehouses caused choking of grain markets, which are filled with wheat sacks. "In most of grain markets in Punjab, one can witness piling up of wheat sacks everywhere because of non-lifting of crop," said Bhartiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) President Balbir Singh Rajewal said here. "The ...
Villagers protest for underpass in Phagwara
Villagers today staged a dharna here, demanding an underpass at the Khalwaragate crossing on the Mehli-Mehtan Phagwara bypass to provide connectivity to about 45 villages with the city. Zila Parishad member Harbhajan Khalwara, and sarpanches of Khalwara, Dhak Pandori, Fatehgarh and Balalon villages took part in the sit-in. They alleged that due to the ongoing six-laning project of the Phagwara-Ropar Highway, crossings on a nine-km stretch of the bypass were being plugged, thus cutting the connectivity of a large number of villages with sub-divisional headquarter Phagwara. This will cause inconvenience to villagers, especially students and patients coming to the city, they argued. The protesters said they had earlier taken the issue up with local MLA Som Parkash and the company engaged in six-laning project, but to no avail. Tehsildar Inderbir Singh Minhas, who reached the dharna site, asked the protesters to give their demand in writing so that it could be taken up with appropriate ...
Tusker found dead in TN forest
The carcass of a tusker, believed to be 10 years old, was found in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve here today, forest department officials said. Veterinary doctors who examined it, said it had died of starvation, the officials said. Later, arrangments were made to bury the carcass in the nearby area, the officials said They ruled out poaching as the cause of the death.
'Union govt to take up attaining self sufficiency in edible
India is importing Rs 70,000 crore worth edible oil every year and the Union government has decided to take up attaining self-sufficiency in edible oils by 2022 in a mission mode, Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said here today. "...We are importing Rs 70,000 crore worth of edible oil every year. As our government took up the challenge, and in mission mode in the field of pulses, we have attained almost self-sufficiency level in that. Now we have decided to take this sector in a mission mode to attain self-sufficiency by 2022," he told reporters here. Though the country is now a mega producer of foodgrains, horticulture products and several others, it needs to catch up in the edible oil sector, Shekhawat said. "In the edible oil sector, that is the only sector where we are still lagging behind," he said. "Earlier, we used to import pulses.But now we have almost attained self-sufficiency levels in that also," he said. He was speaking after ...
Himachal to set up cow sanctuaries: Animal Husbandry minister
On World Veterinary Day, Himachal Pradesh Animal Husbandry minister Virender Kanwar today said the state government would open cow sanctuaries and make efforts to bring animal ambulance at farmers' doosteps. Kanwar, also the minister for rural development and Panchayat Raj, was speaking at Dr G C Negi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (COVAS), of CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, at Palampur near Dharamshala. "Cow sanctuaries will be made and farmers will be provided with high quality milch animals. Animal husbandry facilities will be strengthened in the state by including animal ambulance at farmers' door steps," Kanwar said. In his address, the minister asked the university scientists to work towards providing solution to the monkey menace and abandoned animals, which, he noted, had become a threat to farming. Kanwar also asked them to test the quality of feed available in the market as there were reports that it was also one of the reasons behind animals turning .
Gadchiroli encounter: Another Naxal body recovered from Indravati River
Days after an encounter broke out between the Naxals and security forces in the jungles of Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, one more body of a Naxal was recovered from Indravati River on Saturday, taking the death toll to 40.On April 25, two bodies were recovered.In the encounter that began on April 20, 31 Naxals were killed, and six more were killed in Jimalgatta forest area the next day.Said to be the biggest encounter in Maharashtra yet, several bodies have been recovered from different locations in the district, in the last four days.The encounter first broke out in Etapalli's Boriya forest area after a team of Maharashtra Police's C-60 commandos, following specific inputs, was dispatched to the area.
Over a dozen peacocks found dead in Ghaziabad
Over a dozen peacocks have been found dead here, a senior official said on Saturday.
