OPG flouts environmental laws again

How many times can a company turn a blind eye to environmental laws? Chennai-based power producer, OPG, which has proposed a 300 MW coal thermal plant in Bhadreshwar village in Kutch has already done it twice. It has again been caught flouting rules.  

Spam in fishing net

Kalawati Eknath Mangela and Parvati Bai Somna do not consider themselves fisherwomen any more. Every time they cast nets in the Arabian Sea, off the Tadgam beach in Valsad district of Gujarat, all they catch is garbage. "We have turned into kachrawalis (ragpickers). Ten years ago our daily fish catch would fetch Rs 250; now even Rs 20 a day is tough," said Parvati, 50, standing waist-deep in sea water, tightly holding the net.

What went wrong in 1995

Arabian Sea cyclones increasing in number, intensity the Arabian Sea, which has warmed by 0.5o C over the past nine decades, is experiencing a shift in its climate. So much so that intense cyclones with wind speed of more than 100 km per hour have become frequent, said a team of marine scientists led by the National Institute of Oceanography (nio), Goa.

Rain check

Warming of the seas is rerouting monsoon

Science drowns at land's end

My colleague Pradip Saha has been filming in Ghoramara, an island in the Sunderban delta, to understand why, in this zone suspended between land and water, people talk of nothing but subsidence. Savita's narration captures the mood. Two years ago, rising water tore into this housewife's life, taking away her land, source of livelihood and her dignity. She wasn't compensated. She then moved further landward, paying a landowner to build another home. But now the water's grasping at her tiny house again: she shows the camera deep gashes in the ground just outside.

Ahmedabad's mega project for industrial effluents

on january 11, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation approved a mega pipeline project to dump the city's industrial effluents in the Arabian Sea. Corporation authorities claim the multi-crore project will protect the Sabarmati river from further pollution.

What ails India's wind pattern study?

Asian scientists on new plan to study monsoon patterns

a group of Asian scientists has framed a new plan to set up a comprehensive system to approach the study of changing monsoon patterns in Asia. A piecemeal approach towards the subject so far has led scientists to take this step. The plan, called mairs (Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Studies), has been framed under the Earth System Science Partnership--a partnership of climate change scientists across Asia. The scientists will look into the interaction of different components that influence the hydrological cycle in the continent.

Indus delta celebrates rains

ON September 22, around 50,000 people gathered at Kharo Chaan, 150 km southeast of Karachi in Pakistan, for quite an unprecedented festival the Jashn-e-Indus Delta. Politicians and experts paid tributes to the river Indus, diyas (earthen lamps) were floated, a fair number of young men and women even danced in ecstasy.

Skating away

Braving stiff opposition, the Himachal Pradesh government gave a go-ahead to the Himalayan Ski Village (hsv) project in Manali (see 'Holy Hex', Down To Earth, May 15, 2006). The state government signed the implementation programme on June 5, on the basis of the company's preliminary project report. The company is now carrying out a detailed environmental impact assessment programme that will take one year for completion.