Trump of a card
The Maharashtra government will be distributing Soil Health Cards to 20,000 farmers in 100 select villages as part of the Krishi Saptak initiative launched last year. Based on soil studies, the cards
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Earthy intelligence
Agriculture
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Carry on mining
The Nagpur bench of the Mumbai High Court has refused to stay activities at the Baranj coal mines in the Wardha valley of Maharashtra following a public interest litigation (PIL) alleging that the
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In forest areas
EGS fails the poorest
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Theatre new engagement for Vidarbha folks
In rural Vidharbha, theatre is thriving probably because of a play that has struck chord with agriculturists here. Called Atma Hatya, the play has drawn daily audiences in excess of 5,000. "We
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Salt of the earth
Bombay HC stays Centre s notification on iodised salt
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Village Forest with Draft Rules Under Sec 28 of Indian Forest Act 1927
Millions of Indian villagers today act as guardians of forests, forming a mutually beneficial relationship, quite often without outside help. But it would be puerile to imagine that these communities would be able to tackle the crises arising in the realm
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Carcinogenic Rajnigandha
Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration has banned the sale of Rajnigandha brand of pan masala on the ground that it contains magnesium carbonate, a probable carcinogen the sale of which in the
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Creating another deluge?
The Concerned Citizen's Commission, a coalition of citizens groups, has submitted its enquiry report on the Mumbai deluge of July 26, 2005. The report holds poor drainage, sanitation and waste management system to be primarily responsible for the floods. But the Maharashtra government is yet to pay heed to the report. Rather, it is busy de-silting river Mithi, a task inaugurated a few weeks ago.
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Black attack
Has the Union ministry of environment and forests laid malicious siege to Dahanu taluka, in Maharashtra s Thane district?
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Housing more funds
Warehousing Bill, a double edged sword for farmers
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Bad planning
<script language='javascript'> function table() { var popurl="files/images/20060831/30-table.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=450,height=350,scrollbars=yes") } </script> In a tearing hurry, the <font class="UCASE">jnnurm</font> directorate has cleared over 23 infrastructure projects worth Rs 86,482.95 crore to meet the March 31 deadline.
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Losing ground
High rates of soil erosion trouble India
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Callous forest law
What is needed is to undertake liberalisation from the point of view of the poor. This is the message of Dewas
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Why do farmers have to die?
The agriculture minister told parliament last week that 100,000 farmers had committed suicide from 1998 to 2003, a period for which his government had data. This means 45 farmers killed themselves
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The laboratory of development
How will vast regions of India, where highly unreliable rainfall makes the difference between famine and sustenance, cope with climate change? Over 85 per cent of the cultivated area in this country
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Environmental farce (editorial)
Given how environmental degradation and rehabilitation of displaced people have become so important, you would think that governments at the centre and in the states would be serious about dealing with these complex issues, deliberating at length about environment clearances and the rehabilitation packages relating to various projects. Yet, the evidence available suggests that the process is as casual and routine-driven as it can be.
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Farmer delegations meet Sonia Gandhi
Seeking relief: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi listens to the grievances of farmers from Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra at her residence in New Delhi on Thursday. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday assured delegations of farmers from Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra that she would convey their budgetary demands to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. The delegations sought waiver of farmers' debts, reduction in interest rates on loans, remunerative prices for farm produce, health insurance for farm families and crop insurance. They highlighted the high costs of inputs, crop losses on account of calamities (Rajasthan delegation spoke about the heavy damage to mustard crop from frost), lack of adequate power and poor quality of seeds. Among those who formed part of the delegations were S.S. Surjewala, Ashok Gehlot and Mukul Wasnik. On Friday, farmers' representatives have convened an emergency meeting of the National Council of the organisation of farmers and farm labour to discuss the financial and social problems of farmers. They will finalise a charter of demands to be sent to the Prime Minister.
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BoA clears 14 new SEZs
The Board of Approval (BoA) of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on Monday cleared 14 new proposals, including ten formal approvals. While two SEZs each have been cleared in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, one each will come up in Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The BoA granted formal approvals to two SEZs of the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd. (SIPCOT), one for transport engineering goods at Tirunelveli and another of automobile and auto ancillary at Thiruvannamalai. Similarly, two SEZs of Mahindra Worldcity (Jaipur) Ltd. of handicrafts and light engineering at Jaipur were given formal approvals. Other SEZs cleared include an information technology SEZ by Videocon Realtors and Infrastructure Ltd. at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, IT SEZ by Devbhumi Realtors Pvt. Ltd. at Ranga Reddy District in Andhra Pradesh, pharmaceuticals SEZ by JB SEZ Pvt. Ltd. at Panoli in Gujarat and Power SEZ by Wardha Power Company at Chandrapur in Maharashtra. According to Commerce Secretary G. K. Pillai, who also heads the Board of Approval, so far formal approvals have been granted for setting up of 439 SEZs out of which 201 have been notified as on date. The Commerce Secretary said that over Rs. 67,347 crore had been invested in these notified SEZs, giving direct employment to 97,478 persons, which is in addition to the employment provided to 1.83 lakh persons by the seven Central Government established SEZs.
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Osram to distribute cheaper CFLs in three states
For promoting usage of energy saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in the country, leading lamp manufacturer Osram will distribute more than 2 million CFL units to poor families in Mahrashtra, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh. A unit of CFL will cost around Rs 10- 15 while actual cost of the unit is around Rs 300. Osram has already carried out the ground works for the project, which is expected launched over the next few weeks. "We have signed MoUs with respective state electricity boards and the project would be financed through carbon credit generated through the clean development mechanism (CDM) under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC),' Gagan Mehra, managing director of Osram India told FE. However the company is yet to decide volume of carbon credit needed for the implementation of the project. Osram model for CDM is an arrangement under the Kyoto protocol for reducing CO2 emission in the lighting industry. The company in collaboration with state electricity boards will distribute special CFL bulbs with a longevity of 15 thousands hours amongst the poorer section of the population. "We have identified as present districts such as Visakhapatanam in Andhra Pradesh, Sonepat and Yamuna Nagar in Haryana and Pune in Maharashtra for distribution of CFL units and gradually the programme would include other districts in the state,' Mehra said. Osram would be importing most of the components of the CFLs to be distributed in the three states and it would be assembled at the Sonepat plant of the company. "As the project would be in operation for seven to 10 years in three states, after two years of implementation, we plan to manufacturer the CFLs at our plant,' Mehra said. Mehra admitting that despite the low energy consumption by CFLs, the disposal of these bulbs has been a key issue. "All the manufacturers of CFLs are working out a strategy for proper disposals of these bulbs with the Electricity Lamp and Components Manufacturers Association of India (ELCOMA),' he said.