Experts in Bangalore recently opined
that most of the city's 60 million rats
are likely to be carriers of the organism which causes killer diseases.
Shakunthala Sridhara, expert on
rodent control, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, said, "It is
vital to launch an immediate rodent
control programme to control sur-
face as well as sewer rats, since all
species of rats, bandicoots and gerbils
spread disease."
The first rural LPG connection was
recently released at Thirukkuvalai
village in Thiruvarur A T Panneer-
selvarn district, Tamil Nadu. Under
the concept the'Rural LPG Marketing
Vehicle'carries the cooking gas to villages where cylinders are filled and
handed over to consumers. The first
recipient of the rural LPG was
Pavadalsamy, a resident of Thirkkuvalai village.
The Oriental Insurance Company
and the State Elephant Owners
Association have devised a low-premium insurance plan for domestic
tuskers in Kerala. The scheme covers
death of the animal due to illness or
accident, loss to third party's life and
property caused by the animal and
injury and death of the mahout.
A neem-based herbal contraceptive
for women developed by the Defence
Research and Development Organisation has been launched after clinical trials. The indigenously developed
cream-based contraceptive, named
Nim-76, establishes the efficacy of
neem oil in killing human sperms.
The Delhi government has set up a
task group on greening Delhi to suggest measures for controlling pollution levels. The task group's report
titled Greening Delhi - an Action
Plan 1997-98 was released on the
occasion of World Environment Day
on June 5, by chief minister Sahib
Singh Verma urging various government agencies and departments to
take up massive afforestation drive.
The Centre has launched a novel
scheme to recognise and market eco-friendly products under 'ecomark'
label to promote environment-
friendly goods. Various products,
including toilet soaps, detergents,
paper and food items like edible oils,
lubricating oils, packaging material,
laminates and batteries are among
the things that will be labelled with
ecomark.
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