Page 873 - Environment
Bird flu alert sounded in Bhitarkanika National Park
Forest officials have sounded a bird flu alert at the habitats of migratory birds' in Bhitarkanika National Park here following detection of flu infection in Karnataka. Precautionary measures have been initiated to find out possible flu infection of avian species here, forest officials said. "A joint field survey by wildlife personnel and state veterinary wing officials is currently under way within the bird-infested pockets of the national park," said Forest Range Officer (FRO) A K Nayak. The team is yet to sight sickness symptoms in the birds, Nayak said. The forest department and veterinary experts are on the alert and are keeping close watch on avian species, he added. The forest officials have also been instructed to keep a watch on birds inhabiting in the park, said Chief District Veterinary Officer (CDVO) Sumant Kumar Mohapatra. Leaflets and booklets are being distributed among the villagers living near the national park to create awareness, Mohapatra said. No ...
43.6 hectares of Wullar lake under encroachment: JK Govt
Jammu and Kashmir government today said that an area of about 43.6 hectares of Wullar lake is under encroachment in the Kashmir valley. In a written reply in Legislative Council, Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal singh said that an area of about 43.6 hectares is under encroachment within Wullar lake and these families will have to shift from the lake area. He said that in this regard eviction notices have already been issued, starting from Kanyari village. The Revenue department has already moved a proposal in which nearly 20 acres of land has been identified outside the lake for rehabilitation of the affected families, besides demarcation of the lake has been carried out as per revenue records and stands completed to the extant of 98 per cent, he said. 130 square kilometers of the lake is demarcated physically with the help of demarcation pillars, he said adding comprehensive Management Plan for the conservation of Wullar lake was formulated and work on the project was ...
New Nashik civic chief says online services, cleanliness
The new civic chief of Nashik, who took charge today, said that among his priorities was to provide online services to the people and to keep the city clean. Indian Administrative Service official Tukaram Mundhe, who today took charge as Nashik Municipal Corporation commissioner from outgoing civic head Abhishek Krishna, added that tackling the issue of pollution of Godavari river would also be high on the agenda. He told reporters that the NMC would set up its own public transport service and also work towards mitigating parking woes plaguing the city. Mundhe said that he would try to provide online services to the public. and also urged civic employees, especially those associated with cleanliness, to put in their best efforts. He assured that the garbage disposal mechanism of the city would be modified and urged people to dispose it after segregating garbage into wet, dry and e-waste. The commissioner would be surveying hotels and shops in the city later today, ...
Juno completes tenth science orbit of Jupiter: NASA
NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft has accomplished a close flyby over Jupiter's churning atmosphere, successfully completing its tenth science orbit of the gas giant planet, the US space agency said. All of Juno's science instruments and the spacecraft's JunoCam were in operation during the flyby on February 7, collecting data that is now being returned to Earth, NASA said. At the time of perijove - the point in Juno's orbit when it is closest to the planet's centre - the spacecraft will be about 3,500 kilometres above the planet's cloud tops. This flyby was a gravity science orientation pass, the US space agency said. Juno launched on August 5, 2011 and arrived in orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. During its mission of exploration, Juno soars low over the planet's cloud tops - as close as about 3,400 kilometres. During these flybys, Juno is probing beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and studying its auroras to learn more about the planet's origins, ...
Opening ceremony of 2018 Winter Olympics kicks off
The opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games kicked off on Friday.
NASA's Juno probe completes 10th science orbit of Jupiter
NASA said its Juno spacecraft accomplished a close flyby over Jupiter's churning atmosphere this week, successfully completing its 10th science orbit.
Leopard kills girl in UP
A 17-year-old girl died at a village here after she was attacked by a leopard in Ghasinpurwa village, forest officials said today. The incident took place in Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Divisional forest officer J P Singh said. The girl had gone to the forest to get some wood, he said. The DFO said that the leopard had dragged the girl, following which the villagers made noise and the big cat fled. "Gita died on the spot, and her body has been sent for post-mortem," he said.
Mars on Earth: Simulation tests in remote desert of Oman
Two scientists in spacesuits, stark white against the auburn terrain of desolate plains and dunes, test a geo-radar built to map Mars by dragging the flat box across the rocky sand. When the geo-radar stops working, the two walk back to their all-terrain vehicles and radio colleagues at their nearby base camp for guidance. They can't turn to their mission command, far off in the Alps, because communications from there are delayed 10 minutes. But this isn't the red planet it's the Arabian Peninsula. The desolate desert in southern Oman, near the borders of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, resembles Mars so much that more than 200 scientists from 25 nations chose it as their location for the next four weeks, to field-test technology for a manned mission to Mars. Public and private ventures are racing toward Mars both former President Barack Obama and SpaceX founder Elon Musk declared humans would walk on the red planet in a few decades. New challengers like China are joining the ...
NGT seeks response on BJP's 1 lakh biker rally
BJP President Amit Shah's bike rally with one lakh motorists to be held on February 15 in Harayana's Jind may face trouble on grounds of pollution, with the NGT on Friday seeking the state government's response.
40 Olive Ridley carcasses washed ashore in last 1 month
Around 40 carcasses of Olive Ridley sea turtles have washed ashore along the 52-kilometre-long Ganjam coast in Odisha in the last one month, forest officials said. With this, the number of dead turtles found on the coast rose to 87, in the past three months, they said. Out of the 87 carcasses, 56 were of males and 31 of females, a senior forest official said. The turtles could have died in deep sea due to various reasons and their carcasses were washed ashore, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Berhampur A K Behera said. The DFO ruled out the possibility of the turtles dying due to the movement of mechanised fishing trawlers near the Rushikulya river mouth. "We have taken stringent steps to restrict the movement of the mechanised trawlers near the coast. There were no reports of movement of fishing trawlers in the no-fishing zone," said Behera. The state government has banned fishing within 20 km of the coast from November 1 to May 31 in order to ensure safe nesting of ..
NGT notice to MoEF, Assam on NRL's bio-ethanol project
A plea challenging environmental clearance granted to Numaligarh Refineries for setting up a bamboo based bio-ethanol project in a Assam village has prompted the National Green Tribunal today to seek responses from the Centre and the state government. Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) will utilise bamboo as main biomass for producing bioethanol under the project at Owguri Chapori village in Golaghat (Assam). A bench headed by Justice Jawad Rahim issued notices to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Assam government, state pollution control board and Numaligarh Refinery Limited and sought their reply by February 21. The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by wildlife activist Rohit Choudhury seeking quashing of the environment clearance granted to the project on November 2, 2016. It claimed that the proposed project fell within the no development zone of the Kaziranga National Park and Environment Impact Assessment Report has been prepared in complete violation of the EIA ..
Assam forests under pressure from encroachments: Minister
Assam Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma today said the green cover of the state was under constant attack from human encroachment. "It is a fact that there is pressure on forest land. There are various factors contributing to it. There is encroachment by bordering states. Then people of the state, who are displaced by flood and erosion, also encroach forest land," Brahma said in the Assembly. During a discussion in Zero Hour, the Minister informed that the practice of jhum cultivation also leads to encroachment of forest land. Brahma was replying on the issue of encroachment of forest land, raised by AIUDF MLA Mamun Imdadul Haque Chawdhury. Referring to Forest survey of India reports, she said the forest area in the state has increased over the years although there has been an increase in encroachment as well. Brahma informed that House that the Forest department has been conducting eviction drives from time-to-time in order to clear the encroachments. Also, ...
Anil Kapoor gives garbage management lesson
Actor Anil Kapoor has urged citizens to segregate dry and wet garbage at home for better garbage management.
Govt mulls scrapping export duty on sugar
The government is considering to remove export duty on sugar to boost shipments in view of fall in domestic prices on estimated rise in production, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said today. At present, there is 20 per cent export duty on sugar. "Sugar production is estimated to rise nearly 24.9 million tonnes in 2017-18 season (October-September) from 20.2 million tonnes in the previous year," Paswan told reporters. Industry has pegged production at 26 million tonnes and the government will review its estimates based on input from sugar producing states. The domestic demand is 24-25 million tonnes annually. In view of rise in sugar output, the minister said the government has already doubled import duty to 100 per cent to check cheaper imports from overseas markets, particularly Pakistan. That apart, he said the government has put a quantitative restrictions on mills for domestic sales for two months. Asked about industry demand to scrap export duty, .
Power Min launches portal, mobile app for fly ash utilisation
Power Minister R K Singh today launched a web-based monitoring system and a fly-ash mobile application which would act as an interface between producers and consumers. These platforms will enable better management of the ash produced by thermal power plants by providing an interface between fly ash producers (thermal Power Plants) and potential ash users such as road contractors, cement plants etc. Proper management of fly ash is important not only for the environment but for us also as the ash produced by power plants occupies a lot of land space, Singh said in his address. At present, 63 per cent of the fly ash is being utilised and target is for 100 per cent utilisation, he said. Road contractors and construction engineers need to know about the benefits of using fly ash in construction, the minister said. The minister asked the officials to work out the per kilometer construction costs of roads using fly ash, and said if it is found to be expensive, then measures ...
MAHLE displays new innovation exhibit at Auto Expo'18
German Auto player MAHLE displayed an exhibit showcasing new innovation at the Auto Expo '18, in line with their vision to provide clean air, energy efficiency and enhanced driving experience.Among its products displayed at the exhibit were a new generation of oil control rings to reduce oil ash and particulate emissions in combustion engines: U-flex piston rings. With these, MAHLE aims lowers particulate emissions and oil ash by up to 30 percent. The number and mass of particles decreases as a result, and the particulate filter generates less counter pressure-reducing CO2 emissions over the vehicle's lifetime.A further innovation at Auto Expo 2018 was the MAHLE liquid management module, a combination of electric coolant pump for 12 or 48 volts and cooling circuit control. The benefits of this module are short warm-up phases for combustion engine cold starts, rapid control of coolant flows, and control of several circuits at different temperature levels for different components using .
Tribal village in Chhattisgarh takes up community farming
A poverty-stricken tribal village in Bastar has adopted the eco-friendly practice of community farming to ensure a sustainable living for themselves.The residents of Matkot, a village situated 2 km away from Bastar's head office at Jagdalpur, have come together to convert 100 acres of barren land into an agricultural field.This practice has been initiated by an Ayurvedic specialist, Dr JR Netam, a local practitioner in Jagdalpur.Dr Netam told ANI that, "I had to motivate the villagers once and now they are themselves enthusiastic to work on the field to adopt community farming".He is even planning to approach the concerned authorities to ensure help for these villagers.He further said, "I hope that looking at the enthusiasm of the villagers, the authorities would come forward to help them."The entire village is completely dependent on the agricultural and farming practices as the sole source of their livelihood and subsistence.Most of the villagers are engaged in the process of ...
DBS to stop funding 'dirty-coal' projects by year end
The DBS bank will stop financing 'dirty-coal' or low-grade coal projects by the end of this year, but continue to support ventures in emerging markets that uses higher-quality coal, a top bank official has said. The Singapore-headquartered bank, which is rated among the largest in Asia, will also focus on funding renewable energy projects, Chief Executive Piyush Gupta said. At a DBS financial results briefing yesterday, bank's he said that the bank will stop financing projects that burn low-grade coal, also known as "dirty coal", by the end of the year. But, he was quick to assure that the DBS will continue to lend to projects in emerging markets that burn "higher quality" coal, at the same time start developing a portfolio of renewable energy projects to shift the mix of its loans. "In respect of coal, we start with one caveat: We have got to remember that the bulk of energy needs in our part of the world are from coal," he said. Citing global energy reports on coal, ...
Kovind urges IARI to set up incubation centre
President Ram Nath Kovind today urged the premier agri-institute IARI to set up an innovation and incubation centre to promote agri-business and called on venture capitalists to infuse funds in it, stating that the government is working towards doubling farmers' income by 2022. Young scientists and agri-graduates must harness the unexplored potential that still existing in the farm sector, he said while lauding the efforts of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in making India self-reliant in food. The President also advised students to become an "agent of change" and contribute for welfare of the farming community Addressing 56th convocation of the post graduate school of IARI here, Kovind mentioned that "Mahatma Gandhi had said agriculture is the pillar of the country's economy. This is true even today. The country's priority is to improve the income of farmers in rural areas." The government is working towards achieving the goal of doubling farmers income by ...
Time-Line and Funds for Polavaram Project
After the project was declared a National Project, Ministry of Finance informed that it will provide 100% of the remaining cost of the irrigation component only, for the period starting from 01st April, 2014, to the extent of the cost of the irrigation component on that date. After this, CA of Rs. 3364.16 crore has been released for this project from 01st April, 2014 to 31st March, 2017. During 2017-18 CA of Rs. 979.36 crore has been released and another Rs. 1020.64 Cr. has been sanctioned.
