Poor enforcement, weak laws make poaching an easy game

On the night of October 1, 1998, when Salman Khan went hunting blackbucks, he was explicitly warned not to do so in the Bishnoi area because only a few have managed to get away from them. Yet Khan and his co-stars Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam, along with local contacts, went ahead and shot two blackbucks. Poonam Chand, a resident of Kankani village, Jodhpur district, heard

New solar cooker can even cook dinner

Old (top) and new versions of cookers

Industrialisation bringing acid rain to India

there is growing evidence to believe that the incidence of acid rain is increasing in India. Many experts link the phenomenon with increasing industrialisation in the country.

EU bans Indian guar gum

the guar gum trade in India has suffered a setback after the European Union (eu) banned import of non-certified guar gum from India. The move came after dioxins and pentachlorophenols were found in a consignment delivered by India Glycol, a Delhi-based exporter.

Flood fury in Rajasthan again

rains caused widespread destruction in Rajasthan's Jodhpur, Pali and Banswara districts, claiming more than 20 lives in the first week of July. Last year too the showers wreaked havoc in the drought-hit state (see 'Heavy weather', Down To Earth, September 30, 2006). Mount Abu, the highest peak in the Aravalli Range recorded a maximum rainfall of 124 mm on July 10. Heavy inflow of swollen rivers breached the 118-year-old Jaswant Sagar Dam in Jodhpur after being fed by swollen rivers, transforming a part of the

Review finds ADB's policy doesn't hold water

A review of the implementation of the Asian Development Banks (adbs) water policy and water supply and sanitation (wss) projects in India has exposed its failings. In 2005, adb funded WaterAid, international ngo, to conduct an independent review of its own water policy implementation in South AsiaIndia, Bangladesh and Nepal. The India report, Water for All? Implementation of ADB's Water Policy in India A Review, by WaterAid India was published in 2006.

Mine by proxy

a major mining scandal in Rajasthan's Jodhpur and Jaisalmer districts has been exposed in the past few months.

Nipping malaria in the bud

here's how a small shrub can root out a huge problem. Scientists from the Desert Medicine Research Centre, Jodhpur, have found that the Indian nightshade (Solanum xanthocarpum) is fatal for three species of malaria vectors. The extracts of the fruit are 16 times more potent than those of the roots (see table: Vector enemies).

Clean switch-over

The proposed 140 megawatt (mw) integrated solar combined cycle (iscc) power plant, coming up in Mathania near Jodhpur in Rajasthan, has already undergone many changes (see: Down To Earth, Vol 9, No 24, May 15, 2001). Now it is going in for a fuel switch-over.

Dead end for diesel buses

familiar scenes were witnessed in the recent courtroom drama on Delhi's polluting transport fleet, with key roles being enacted by the usual dramatis personae . But it ended on a different note. In a fitting finale, the Supreme Court (sc) brought the curtain down on the capital's diesel buses.