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Fuzzy logic used to justify private helipads

The Maharashtra government seems to be using fuzzy logic to justify construction of private helipads in Mumbai. In a recent affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court, the state said allowing helicopters to land and take off will not increase overall noise levels. The central norms limit noise levels to 55 dB during daytime in residential areas; the affidavit said the average noise level for 16 hours (from 6 am to 10 pm) will remain within this limit even if helipads are built. So, technically, the noise rules would not be violated. The affidavit angered activists.

Green tribunal bill

The Union environment ministry has proposed changes in the National Green Tribunal Bill that provides for a tribunal to decide on civil disputes relating to environment. One of the significant amendments proposed in the new draft is that decisions of the tribunal can be challenged in the Supreme Court; the earlier draft said the tribunal’s decision would be final and binding.

Letters

Suspend cancer vaccine licences Women and child rights groups as well as health networks are deeply concerned with the manner in which the two vaccines for cervical cancer— Gardasil and Cervarix—have been approved for marketing in India (see ‘Half a cervical cancer vaccine’, May 1-15).

Letters

Change approach to Naxalism This is in response to the editorial ‘Bullets are not the answer to development’ (April 16-30, 2010). On my first job in Dumka (now in Jharkhand) in 1974, I was shocked to see the condition of the tribals. All the wealth in the area was in the hands of a few business families who were migrants.

A climate change for the artisan

In 1851, American writer Herman Melville wrote a novel that was then slammed as an apogee of American romanticism. A hundred and fifty years later, Moby Dick, the novel in question, appears wonderfully prescient. Now regarded as the Great American Novel, Moby Dic k is about the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab.

Measured efforts

The  greenback cuthroat trout once swam in large numbers through the South Platte and Arkansas Rivers in the US. Diversion of water for irrigation and introduction of non-native trout species such as rainbow and brown trout into the main rivers and brook trout into the small streams led to its rapid disappearance to the extent that the greenback was declared endangered.

From the blurbs

Towards a History of Consumption in South Asia edited by Douglas E. Haynes, Abigail McGowan, Tirthankar Roy, Haruka Yanagisawa, OUP, Rs 750

A red politician who saw opportunity in green

Jyoti basu, the cpi(m) stalwart who served as West Bengal chief minister for 23 years, never gave long speeches on environment. But his deeds spoke louder than words. Many of the steps he took to protect the environment served as the model. He was given a high ranking among chief ministers surveyed for green credentials by the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi non-profit, in 1999.

News 360° - Briefs

PATENT Non-profits sue Plumpy’nut Two American non-profits have filed a lawsuit in the federal court challenging the patent to a high-protein, ready-to-use therapeutic food meant for severely malnourished people. The patent for Plumpy’nut—a blend of peanuts, sugar, milk powder, oil, vitamins and minerals—is owned by Nutriset, a French company, and the French Institute for Research and Development since 1996.