• Plastic bags having a thickness of less than 20 microns have been banned in Surat in Gujarat and Meghalaya. Anybody found guilty of using such bags will have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 and may be imprisoned for five years.
• The Union government has launched a Rs 275 crore 'Jain Kalyan Gram Scheme' to adopt one village in each district of the country for all-round development. Each village will be allocated Rs 50 lakh for undertaking various tasks such as constructing road and school buildings.
• Everything About Water , India's first magazine on water issues, has been recently launched. The bimonthly magazine will provide information on the latest technologies and products introduced in the water industry.
• The Tamil Nadu government has imposed a 45-day ban on fishing operations from April 15 to May 29, 2001, to replenish fish stocks, in accordance with the guidelines of the Union government.
• The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has estimated that the numbers of HIV-infected adults in 2000 were 3.22 million, with the state of Manipur accounting for the highest number of AIDScases. However, the Manipur state AIDS society has rejected NACO's figures saying they are overestimated.
• The loss to national productivity caused by malnourishment among youth in India is estimated to be between US $10-28 billion, according to the World Food Programme of the UN.
• The residents of Ahmedabad are getting a distinctly green coloured Narmada water with a strange odour in the taps of their homes. Investigations carried out by the city's municipal corporation revealed that water is not being purified.
• Delhi will run out of groundwater within the next 14 years if immediate action is not taken to combat the situation, states a study by Tearfund, an international aid agency.
• Suman Sahai, geneticist and convenor of Gene Campaign, a New Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, has been awarded the Dutch Golden Ark award, which is given by the Netherlands government.
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