Page 899 - Environment

Noted agricultural scientist G S Kalkat passes away

Noted agricultural scientist Gurcharan Singh Kalkat, who was known for his role in bringing Green Revolution to Punjab, passed away here this afternoon after a brief illness. Kalkat (92) was admitted to the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here, said an official release. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh condoled his death. The chief minister described Kalkat as a pioneer who brought several exemplary reforms in agriculture besides green revolution to the state. He said Kalkat's contribution had ensured overall development and a phenomenal growth in the agriculture sector. Singh recalled his services as the founder-chairman of the Punjab State Farmers Commission, former vice-chancellor of PAU, Ludhiana, and said that Kalkat worked tirelessly throughout his life for the welfare and prosperity of farmers. Kalkat was awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan for his work. Born in Hoshiarpur's Sahora village on June 17, 1926, Kalkat ...

Need to tap seas off Andaman-Nicobar for deep-sea fishing: Goa CM

For India to beef up its marine exports, it is essential to tap the seas in and around the Andaman and Nicobar islands for sustainable deep fishing, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Saturday.

Couple, their woman relative killed in elephant attack

A couple and their woman relative were trampled to death by wild elephants in Chhattisgarh's Surguja district, officials said today. The incident took place last night in Ghatbahara village under the Udaipur forest range, around 80km from Ambikapur district headquarters, Divisional Forest Officer (Surguja division) Priyanka Pandey said. The deceased were identified as Sukul (65), his wife Sundari (52) and another woman of their family Kaushalya (40), she said. On Friday morning, forest staff had told residents of Ghatbahara that a herd of wild elephants was roaming in the area and asked them to take precautions and stay alert. Following the information, all the residents of Ghatbahara, except the three victims, had left their homes and shifted to nearby villages, the DFO said. As per preliminary information, Sukul had stored home- made 'mahua' liquor at his house, the smell of which might have attracted the elephants to their home. The trio came face-to-face with the ...

Govt needs to rethink development: Environmentalist

Environmentalist and author Prerna Singh Bindra said today that anyone questioning the government's development strategy would be called an "anti- national" and called for a rethink of the policy. Speaking at a session titled "In Denial: Betrayals of the Earth" at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival, she noted that despite having a "culture closely linked to the environment, we destroy it". She said the current government rested a lot on nationalism and on its symbols. "As an environmentalist if you say you prefer tigers over highways or you say this forest is important you can't have an eight-lane highway cutting through it, you will be called an anti-national, because you are coming in the way of what is considered development," Bindra said. "But isn't it being patriotic to have clean air and environment, good hygiene? I would want this government to rethink," the author of 'The Vanishing: India's Wildlife Crisis' said. Author and journalist Jeffrey Gettleman said ..

Following is the complete list of

Following is the complete list of sold and unsold players in the first day of Indian Premier League auctions, here today. Sold players on Day 1 (Teamwise): Chennai Super Kings: Kedar Jadhav (Rs 7.80 crore), Dwayne Bravo (Rs 6.40 crore), Karn Sharma (Rs 5 crore), Shane Watson (Rs 4 crore); Ambati Rayudu (Rs 2.20 crore); Harbhajan Singh (Rs 2 crore), Faf Du Plessis (Rs 1.60 crore), Imran Tahir (Rs 1 crore) Delhi Daredevils: Glenn Maxwell (Rs 9 crore), Kagiso Rabada (Rs 4.20 crore), Amit Mishra (Rs 4 crore), Vijay Shankar (Rs 3.20 crore), Rahul Tewatia (Rs 3 crore), Mohammad Shami (Rs 3 crore), Gautam Gambhir (Rs 2.80), Colin Munro (Rs 1.90 crore), Jason Roy (Rs 1.50 crore), Prithvi Shaw (Rs 1.20), Avesh Khan (Rs 70 lakh) and Harshal Patel (Rs 20 lakh). Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul (Rs 11 crore), Ravichandran Ashwin (Rs 7.60 crore), Aaron Finch (Rs 6.20 crore), Marcus Stoinis (Rs 6.20 crore), Karun Nair (Rs 5.60 crore), Ankit Singh Rajpoot (Rs 3 crore), David Miller (Rs 3 ...

Three labourers dead, 6 injured in wall collapse

Three labourers were killed and six others injured when a partition wall inside a rice mill collapsed today in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, police said. The incident took place at around 1.30 am when a group of labourers was working inside Arihant Rice Mill located under the Tongpal police station area of the district, around 380km from here, a police official said. As per preliminary investigation, the workers were arranging sacks of rice and husk along the partition wall when it came down crashing on them, he said. They got trapped under the rice sacks and the wall debris, he said. On getting information, a police team rushed to the spot and evacuated the trapped labourers and rushed them to a local hospital, he said. Three of them, identified as Panku (25), Phoolchand (35) and Soma (25), were declared brought dead at the hospital, the official said. Six others were injured and shifted to Maharani Hospital at Jagdalpur district headquarters where they were undergoing

Encroachment by prawn farms; Villagers seek TN govt help

Fed up with prawn farms encroaching waterbodies and forcing them to migrate, residents of a village in this district have urged the Tamil Nadu government to get them removed so that they can return. Those who had left Koraikootam village and the residents there took up the issue of the alleged encroachments with the Deputy Block Development officer Vasudevan at a meeting in the hamlet recently. They passed a resolution urging the government to free the village of shrimp farms, restore water sources and also neutralise the chemical impact on the groundwater level in the area. The residents alleged that such farming had caused widespread environmental pollution as very inefficient methods were used by the owners. Claiming that the water resources in the village had been polluted, Mohammed Sikkander, coordinator of the movement to save the village, said people had to buy potable water spending around Rs 1,500 a month. He also said chemicals and fish waste affected the ...

Tiny airborne particles may have huge impact on storms

A new study has found that tiny airborne particles from industrial air pollution can have a bigger impact on powerful storms than scientists previously thought.

Tiger found dead near MP village

A tiger was found dead this morning at a farmland near a village in this district of Madhya Pradesh, a forest official said. In-charge Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF), Shahdol, C L Chaturvedi said the carcass was found at a farm owned by one Ayodhya Pande and located 8-10km from Devara village. The village falls under Jaisingh Nagar range of the North Forest Division of Shahdol. The farmer spotted the carcass at around 9 am and informed the forest officials. Chaturvedi said the tiger was aged around five but the cause of its death was not yet known. A team of veterinary doctors and wildlife experts has been dispatched to the spot, which has been cordoned off, he said. A dog squad has also been rushed to the spot, said Chaturvedi. "The reason behind the tiger's death was not yet clear. The doctors would examine the carcass and then only the cause of the death would be known." According to wildlife experts, Madhya Pradesh registered 28 tiger deaths in 2017, down from 33 ..

East China city seeks World Heritage status

The Liangzhu relic site of Neolithic ruins in East China's Zhejiang province has been officially recommended by the National Commission of China to Unesco as a candidate for World Heritage status in 2019.

Maharashtra sees 85 leopard deaths in 2017, six less than 2016

As many as 85 leopards have died in Maharashtra due to various causes, including poaching, during 2017, a state forest official told PTI. He added that Nashik saw the highest number of leopard deaths at 20 followed by Kolhapur with 13 deaths. Natural causes accounted for the highest number of deaths at 55 while accidents claimed the lives of 21 leopards. Nine leopards were also hunted, he said. The official was quoting figures from the data compiled by the statistics department. He, however, added that the number of deaths for 2017 was six less than the toll for 2016. "Electrocution, getting run over while crossing roads, drowning in wells and old age are the four primary reasons for these deaths. Of these, the first three are man-made causes," the data revealed. Rohan Bhate, honorary wildlife warden from Satara explained, "The leopard is a territorial animal and survives by hunting small animals like hare, deer, goat and sheep. Increasing human intervention in the ...

California wants 5 million 'green' cars on roads by 2030

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed an executive order detailing aims to have five million electric cars on the state's roads by 2030 -- by accelerating the production of such vehicles using financial incentives and rebates. The USD 2.5 billion, eight-year plan also involves the installation of 250,000 electric vehicle charging stations and 200 hydrogen fueling stations by 2025. "To continue to meet California's climate goals and clean air standards, California must go even further to accelerate the market for zero-emission vehicles," the governor's office said in a statement. The order aims to "dramatically reduce carbon emissions from transportation -- a sector that accounts for 50 per cent of the state's greenhouse gas emissions and 80 per cent of smog-forming pollutants," it added. The previous target, from 2012, aimed to get 1.5 million "green" vehicles on the roads of the most populated US state -- which boasts the biggest automobile market, with around ...

Centre weakening, tweaking env laws in favour of industry:

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh today accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of "weakening and tweaking" the country's environment laws in favour of industry. Ramesh, who was the minister for environment, forest and climate change from 2009 to 2011 in the UPA II government, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not practise what he preached regarding environment conservation. "The environment laws are being weakened every day. The ministry of environment has become a rubber stamp body. In the name of ease of doing business, environment laws are being tweaked in favour of industry," he told reporters at the sidelines of a program here. Lauding the efforts of former prime minister Indira Gandhi in environment conservation, Ramesh said she was a prime minister who walked the talk regarding environment conservation and included it in day-to-day governance. "She spoke about environment conservation, climate change way back in 1972... The present prime minister ...

WEF: #IndianMeansBusiness tops Twitter theme hashtags charts

#IndiaMeansBusiness has led the social media chart as the most discussed themes and hashtags coming out of the four-day World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, according to a US-based analytics company. The hashtag was mentioned maximum of 39,251 times, followed by women (35,837), America First (31,449), wealth (22,896), AI (19,018), globalism (16,513), climate change (15,477), fake news (13,567) and Blockchain (12,918), said international social media analytics firm Talkwalker. However, US President Donald Trump with more than 273,000 mentions eclipsed every other individual in social media discussions around Davos. After Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was second most discussed person at Davos with 62,227 mentions. Modi was followed by France President Emmanuel Macron (40,975), British Premier Theresa May (27,791), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (25,809), German President Angela Merkel (23,897) and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan (13,573). Talkwalker ...

Grains end steady in thin trade

The wholesale grains market ended on a steady note today with prices moving in a narrow range in in scattered deals and pegged at last levels. Traders said sufficient stocks position against limited deals from consuming industries mainly kept prices steady. Following are today's quotations (in Rs per quintal): Wheat MP (desi) Rs 2,080-2,280, Wheat dara (for mills) Rs 1,795-1,800, Chakki atta (delivery) Rs 1,805-1,810, Atta Rajdhani (10 kg) Rs 260-300, Shakti Bhog (10 kg) Rs 255-290, Roller flour mill Rs 960-970 (50 kg), Maida Rs 990-1,000 (50 kg)and Sooji Rs 1,050-1,060 (50 kg). Basmati rice (Lal Quila) Rs 10,700, Shri Lal Mahal Rs 11,300, Super Basmati Rice Rs 9,800, Basmati common new Rs 8,300-8,400, Rice Pusa (1121) Rs 7,000-7,100, Permal raw Rs 2,325-2375, Permal wand Rs 2,375-2,425, Sela Rs 2,800-3,000 and Rice IR-8 Rs 1,975-2,025, Bajra Rs 1,200-1,205, Jowar yellow Rs 1,375-1,425, white Rs 2,750-2,850, Maize Rs 1,340- 1,345, Barley Rs 1,480-1,490.

Plastic trash linked to disease in corals: study

Scientists have found that plastic trash ubiquitous throughout the world's oceans massively increases the chance of disease in corals. "We examined more than 120,000 corals, both plastic-free and with plastic present, on 159 reefs from Indonesia, Australia, Myanmar and Thailand," said Joleah Lamb, from the Cornell University in the US. "We found that the chance of disease increased from four per cent to 89 per cent when corals are in contact with plastic," said Lamb. Coral are tiny animals with living tissue that cling to and build upon one another to form "apartments," or reefs, according to a study published in the journal Science. Bacterial pathogens ride aboard the plastics, disturbing delicate coral tissues and their microbiome. "What's troubling about coral disease is that once the coral tissue loss occurs, it's not coming back," said Lamb. "It's like getting gangrene on your foot and there is nothing you can do to stop it from affecting your whole body," the ...

Environmental laws being diluted to favour industry: Jairam Ramesh

Former Union Environment Minister and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday accused the Narendra Modi government of weakening and tweaking environment laws to favour industries.

Vegetable, fruit exports dip by 15 per cent

Exports of fresh fruits and vegetables have slumped by 15 per cent in terms of revenue during April-November 2017, apart from a substantial dip in the export of pulses and wheat.

Researchers develop stretchable batteries for next-gen wearables

Scientists in South Korea have developed stretchable aqueous lithium-ion battery batteries that may power the next generation of wearable devices.

In reversal, U.S. EPA halts approval process for Alaska mine project

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a surprise move, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reversed itself on Friday and halted the approval process for the proposed Pebble Mine copper and gold mine project in southwest Alaska's Bristol Bay region.