Pollution prototype

Himachal Pradesh may soon have an industrial zone in each district, given the scale on which the state government is playing Santa Claus to investors. Industries are heading for this tax haven to grab the bundle of goodies: a 100 per cent income tax holiday for the first five years, 30 per cent for the next five and 25 per cent for the five years thereafter.

Popular medicine

Pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd's Rs 107 crore expansion plan in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmour district has become a bitter pill the company's being made to swallow. Farmers' suspicions, indeed outright distrust, have placed the company's initiative to expand the capacity of an existing plant at Ganguwala, Paonta Sahib, under a cloud.

Herb dealers

Twenty-eight year old Preetum Singh of Kharongcha village in Tirthan valley has been going into the park since he was 14 to collect herbs and graze his cattle. I found him about 500 metres inside the park. Initially reticent (he thought I was from the Forest Department), he then opened up. Don't authorities stop you from going into the park?

In Short

high-smoking zone: The number of smokers in Himachal Pradesh (HP) is alarmingly high. This despite the state having the second highest literacy rate in the country. Forty-five per cent of HP's population consists of smokers, according to Surender Kashyap, the head of the chest and tuberculosis department at Shimla's Indira Gandhi Medical College. He quotes a study carried out near Shimla, adding that as many as 60.5 per cent men and over 28 per cent women indulge in the habit.

Crusaders of science

a piece of inspiring information was in store for the 1,000 delegates who assembled in Shimla during the second week of October 2003 to be a part of the latest biennial conference of the All India People's Science Network (aipsn).

What caused the landslides in Uttaranchal?

On the night of September 24, residents of Uttarkashi in the Garhwal Himalayas were jolted by rumblings of rocks and boulders hurtling down the Varunavat parvat (hillock). Landslides have ravaged this ancient pilgrimage town ever since. Many buildings including high-rise hotels and houses have come under a steady stream of mud, boulders and broken rock pieces that slide down from Varunavat parvat , a mighty hillock overlooking the town of 20,000 people.

In Short

hc cracks whip: Reprimanding the state-level committee over its inability to find zones for stone-crushers, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has ordered the closure of all such units. The owners of the state's stone-crushing units may, however, approach the court for a vacation or modification of the order. Announcing that it would constitute a new committee, the court chastised the existing panel for failing to take any steps to regulate the air and noise pollution caused by stone-crushers.

HP snubbed

the Union ministry of environment and forests (mo ef) has taken strong exception to Himachal Pradesh's (hp) decision to denotify a part of its forestland. Under a notification issued in 1952, hp declared all wasteland and tracts on which the state government had proprietary rights as protected areas. However, in 1998, it introduced another notification excluding certain categories of wasteland from forest areas.

Forest states want money in lieu of felling

on august 1, 2003, Madhya Pradesh (mp) made a plea in the Supreme Court (sc) seeking a fund-generating mechanism for forest protection.

Toxic taint

the state pollution control boards of Kerala, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh (hp) have detected the presence of cadmium in sludge supplied as fertiliser to farmers by soft-drinks makers.