Page 866 - Environment
Bihar to have policy for agroforestry: Nitish
A policy will be put in place to give a boost to agroforestry in Bihar which would raise the income of farmers and reduce ecological imbalances causing floods and droughts, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today. "Lack of adequate forest cover is a big challenge for Bihar which comprises only 3.6 per cent of the country's total area but is inhabited by 8.6 per cent of its population. Ideally, plains must have 20 per cent forest cover but here until recently it was less than 10 per cent", Kumar said after inaugurating "Krishi Vaniki Samagam" (agroforestry symposium). "We began working on this problem by launching a Hariyali Mission as part of which trees were planted on roadsides and in the vicinity of dams, public places and goverrnment buildings. We are close to achieving a 15 per cent green cover. In the new agriculture road map for the period 2017-22, we have aimed at achieving 17 per cent", he said. "We are encouraging farmers to take up agroforestry in a big way. It
Guj to start using seepage and dead water of SSD from Feb end
The Gujarat government will start utilising seepage and dead water of the Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) on the Narmada river by the end of this month, a top bureaucrat said today. Gujarat Chief Secretary J N Singh today visited the dam site at Kevadia, around 100 kms away from Vadodara, from where the dead and seepage water will be utilised. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani recently said the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) had allowed the use of seepage and dead water of the dam to tackle brewing water crisis. "At present, the water level at the dam stands at 111.37 metres (live storage). The NCA has already sanctioned the use of seepage and dead water after it falls below 110.64 metres. There will be no problem on the drinking water front in the state and it will be provided to the people," he said. The NCA held a meeting with state government officials on February 9. The storage in the SSD fell by 45 per cent, the lowest in the last 15 years, mainly due to poor rainfall in Madhya
India explores 'cheap power' sales to neighbours
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is exploring selling "cheap power" to its South Asian neighbours and Myanmar on a long-term basis and wants state utility NTPC to expand overseas, its power minister said on Tuesday.
PM asks Ujjwala beneficiaries to work for village cleanliness
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked beneficiaries of the Ujjwala Yojana to work towards ensuring cleanliness in their respective villages too to help improve the health of co-residents.
80% of Ganga will be clean by March 2019: Gadkari
Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday assured that the Centre has targeted to make 80 to 90 percent of the River Ganga clean by March 2019.Speaking at the ANI-organised India Infracon 2018 conclave, Gadkari said that not just the River Ganga, but also its tributaries and nullahs will be cleaned by next year."We are working on 187 projects for Ganga cleaning. Out of these, 47 projects have been completed successfully. Work on the remaining projects will be started by March. I will assure you that by March 2019, 80 to 90 percent of the Ganga will be clean," he said.As per the Ministry of River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, an estimated 3,000 million litres of sewer water goes into the Ganga every day.The river also collects waste matter from sugar refineries, distilleries, pulp and paper mills, and tanneries, apart from contaminated agricultural runoff from the rice bowl of Northern India.The Prime Minister Narendra ..
Hope to cut air pollution in 100 cities by 50 pc in nxt 5 yrs:
The environment ministry hopes to bring down air pollution in around 100 non-attainment cities by 50 per cent in the next five years under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), Union minister Harsh Vardhan said today. Non-attainment cities are those considered to have air quality worse than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. To tackle the challenges posed by climate change, the ministry has also drawn up an initiative, under which it plans to plant 1,000 crore saplings from 2021 to 2030. "We will strengthen the National Clean Air Programme in around 100 non-attainment cities where parameters (air quality) are not right and requires attention. "In the coming three years, we hope that through this, we will bring down pollution in these cities by 35 per cent and in the next five years by 50 per cent," Vardhan told reporters. The programme will include expanding monitoring network, conducting air pollution health impact studies, setting up of air information ...
India, Russia to celebrate 70 yrs of agri-relations tomorrow
India and Russia will celebrate 70 years of bilateral relations in the field of agriculture tomorrow at Suratgarh in Rajasthan. Both Indian and Russian delegations will visit the CSF to commemorate the 70 years of agri-relations between the two nations, an official statement said. The Central State Farm (CSF) was set up in Suratgarh in 1956 with the assistance from erstwhile USSR. Minister of State for Agriculture Gajender Singh Shekhawat and his Russian counterpart Sergey Beletskiy will inaugurate Russian Machinery Museum and visit a Cattle Breeding Centre. Russian scientists helped in laying the foundation of agriculture in the deserts of Thar, which brought about a change in the agriculture farming in nearby areas including fringe area of Punjab.
Environment ministry to support skill devp of over 5L youths
Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan today said that in the next three years, his ministry plans to support the skill development of over five lakh youths in sectors related to environment. The total allocation for the Environmental Information Systems (ENVIS) in this year's budget was Rs 24 crore, an increase of 33 per cent from 2017-18. From this, training courses under the Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP) will also be funded, he said. This will be apart from the regular functions of the ENVIS Centres in the country. "An estimated 80,000 people under various skilling courses will be trained and motivated in 2018-19," he told reporters, adding that skill development will be one of the major initiatives of his ministry this year. The GSDP is a recent initiative under the ENVIS scheme for skilling the youth of the country. He said that while in 2018-19 an estimated 80,000 candidates will be trained, in 2019-20 around 1.60 lakh youths would undergo ...
Protesters against Sterlite Copper plant arrested
Around 250 people on an indefinite fast protesting against the Sterlite Copper's plant here and its proposed expansion were today arrested, police said. The protesters from nearby Reddiarpuram village near here launched the fast yesterday alleging that the plant, part of the Vedanta Group, was polluting ground water in their area. As the villagers continued their fast despite efforts by top district officials led by Sub-Collector M S Prasanth to persuade them to give up the stir, police arrested them. Earlier, a protester alleged the plant, located in the SIPCOT Industrial Complex, was affecting their water sources and caused air pollution. "We are having breathing problem. We are forced to observe fast as the district administration did not take any action," he told the officials. He said the people of the village had petitioned the district collector several times seeking closure of the unit, but no action had been taken. The people were unhappy with the proposed ...
Motorcycles with valid PUC certificates will be allowed in Shah's rally: Haryana to NGT
The Haryana government today told the National Green Tribunal that motorcycles which have valid pollution under control (PUC) certificates would be allowed to participate in BJP chief Amit Shah's proposed rally in Jind. One lakh motorcycles are expected to be mobilised during Shah's February 15 rally in Haryana's Jind district. The state pollution control board told a bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore that preventive measures including deployment of volunteers have been advised to tackle noise and air pollution in Jind and motorcycles would not to be allowed to enter at the rally site and the vehicles will be parked at a sufficient distance. "Respondent (State pollution control board) has already advised the Deputy Commissioner of Jind District to permit only those vehicles which have valid PUC Certificates to take part in the proposed rally," it said. The board said the district administration has been advised to display special banners or hoardings at prominent sites, ..
Project for better use of water of rivers flowing into Pak
The Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project will focus on effective utilisation of excess rain and flood water of major rivers flowing into Pakistan, an official said. An MoU was signed with the New Development Bank (NDB) for a loan of Rs 1,000 crore for the Rs 3,300-crore project in Delhi today. "The project aims to better utilise rain and flood water of Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and Ghaggar rivers that flow into Pakistan," Principal Secretary (Water Resources) Shikhar Agrawal said. Rs 1,000 crore would be spent in the first phase. The loan amount for the second phase will be provided in April. Additional Chief Engineer (Water Resources) Ravi Solanki said that restructuring and repair of canals built under the Indira Gandhi Canal Project will be carried out. It will curb water losses and water locking problems so that farmers get ample water for irrigation. Solanki said the project will be completed in five years. The project will solve drinking and irrigation water woes .
Under the NBMMP, about 49.6 lakh Household Size Biogas Plants have been installed since the inception
Under the NBMMP, about 49.6 lakh household size biogas plants have been installed since the inception of the biogas programme in the country.Under the Head 'Biogas Programme' a provision of Rs.134Crores was made in the budget estimate (BE) for the year2017-18.The State-wise details of biogas plants installed since inception till up to 2016-17 are given below:
Two tiger cubs found dead in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve
Two tiger cubs were found dead today at Masinagudi under the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in Nilgiris district. The carcasses of the cubs, who were less than six months old, were noticed by the villagers in Bilsona Range who informed forest department officials, MTR sources said. The cause of the death will be known only after an autopsy, they said.
US woman world's first to be infected with 14 eye worms
A US woman has become the world's first known person to get an eye infestation of a worm known to only affect cattle, say doctors who extracted 14 worms - each measuring up to half an inch long - from the eyes of the patient. Scientists reported the case of the first known instance of a human infection with Thelazia gulosa, a type of eye worm found throughout the northern US and southern Canada. These eye worms are spread by flies that feed on tears. "Cases of eye worm parasitic infections are rare in the USA, and this case turned out to be a species of the Thelazia that had never been reported in humans," said Richard Bradbury, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria. "Previously, it was thought that there were only two different species of these (Thelazia) eye worms that infected humans worldwide. Now, we have to add Thelazia gulosa, a third one to the list," said Bradbury, lead author of the study published in the ...
Scientists set to explore newly exposed Antarctic ecosystem
An international team of scientists is all set to start an "urgent mission" to investigate a mysterious underwater world that had been hidden beneath an Antarctic ice shelf for up to 120,000 years.
Bengaluru traffic congestion will be eased through suburban railway plan: Goyal
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that the suburban railway network plan charted by his ministry for Bengaluru would not only cut completion time, but also project costs.The project, Goyal said, has been proposed to deal with the heavy traffic in Bengaluru."On September 18, we visited Bengaluru, and on October 18, that is in 30 days flat, we had a plan before me on how this (suburban railway network) can be implemented," he said at the ANI-organised India Infracon 2018 conclave.Giving details about the proposed project, Goyal said the time and cost of procuring land has been cut by taking a decision to have an elevated railway network."I suggested that to minimize the cost of land procurement, elevate the railway line wherever we don't have existing line with the railways. So, we have been able to create a design for suburban railways where, out of 160 kilometers, 68 kilometers will be elevated," he said.With this plan, 15 acres of land is now required, Goyal informed, ...
Odisha rejects Centre's relaxation on paddy procurement
The Odisha government on Tuesday rejected the Central government's relaxation of quality norms for procurement of paddy under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism.
Ker for CM level talks with TN on PAP waters
: Kerala today sought Chief Ministerial level talks with Tamil Nadu as early as possible to sort out the issue relating to the sharing of Parambikulam-Aliyar project waters. In a letter to his Tamil Nadu counterpart, K Palaniswami, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said CM level talks should be held in the coming days to sort out the issue and urged him to fix up an appropriate time for the same. Kerala should get 400 cusecs of water till February 15 as per the water sharing agreement under the PAP project, Vijayan said in his second letter to Palaniswami this month. This was not being implemented, he had said in a letter of February 8. However, even after that there has been no change in the situation. On February 11 and 12 Kerala received only 80 cusecs of water, he said. Farmers of Chittor region at Palakkad, who depend mainly on the release of water under the PAP pact, were in distress due to non-release of water as per the agreement,Vijayan said. There is a severe ...
Goa to build 70,000 toilets under Open Defecation Free plan
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, while asserting that the state government would provide toilets to all its villages as part of the Open Defecation Free (ODF)scheme, said that villages within wildlife sanctuaries needed to be tackled differently. He informed that the government would be constructing 70,000 toilets in the state, adding that it was unacceptable that women in some villages had to defecate in the open. Parrikar informed that there were a few villages in wildlife sanctuaries which were not covered under the general scheme of making Goa ODF as these were legislated by the Wildlife Protection Act. Goa has a total of six wildlife sanctuaries containing many villages that are yet to be rehabilitated. "I dont consider the situation at the villages in these wildlife sanctuaries to be at par with that of the average village. If I want to construct a toilet in a wildlife sanctuary, then permission under the Wildlife Protection Act has to be sought," he said. There ...
How an all-female fish species evades extinction
A rare all-female fish species - native to the border region of Texas and Mexico - continues to thrive, defying existing theories of evolution which predict that asexually reproducing animals can not survive in the long run, scientists say. Species that produce asexually are rare among vertebrates. The Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa) - a small fish species - does not produce any male offspring. The females reproduce asexually through gynogenesis, making their daughters identical clones of themselves. This type of reproduction also means that they need sperm to trigger the cloning process. So the Amazon molly mates with closely related Molly fish to obtain this sperm. The sperm cells even penetrate the egg cell; however, none of the male's DNA is incorporated into the Molly's eggs. Rather, the egg completely destroys the male genes. "According to established theories, this species should no longer exist. It should have long become extinct during the course of evolution," said Manfred ..
