COVID-19, floods: Bihar stares at twin challenge with onset of monsoon

Bihar Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar held a meeting with top officials on June 10 to review preparedness measures

What will be the climate impact on Indo-Gangetic plain

Climate change projections and impacts in a region with 432.5 million population

Bihar set to increase size of its green budget for next financial year

After education and health, major provisions will be made for the green budget, said officials

Bihar: Reduced human activity, including mining bans, helped increase tiger numbers in Valmiki reserve

Reduced activities increased grassland cover; this supported more herbivores & consequently, tigers

Wild elephant kills 2 in Bihar

Officials say the elephant likely strayed out of forest in Jharkhand in search of food

AES fear grips Bihar ahead of scorching summers

At least three children have reportedly died of the disease this year  

Bihar plans all-CNG commercial car fleet for Patna

Vehicle owners wary of cost factor, lack of filling stations

Pollution in news on May 4

Here’s a round-up of today’s news reports and debates on pollution

Spawning grounds

Environmental changes have led to the emergence of kala-azar in new areas

Missing links

Kosi flood again?

Business on pedals

Kosi victims run riot

COVID-19 pandemic may have led to 14% spike in number of underweight children in Bihar, Odisha: Study

The proportion of underweight children increased from 31 per cent to 45 per cent between June 2017 and July 2021, the study found

Two Gangetic dolphins found dead in Bihar in the last 3 days

Both Gangetic dolphins were killed due to the ongoing mechanised dredging to deepen the riverbed, say residents

Heavy rains damage paddy crop in Bihar’s Seemanchal and Kosi regions

Standing crops have been damaged in about 663,776.28 hectares due to floods, excessive rains and waterlogging this year

Bihar may introduce licences for borewells

The state is planning to introduce several measures, including making prior permission mandatory to fetch groundwater from borewells 

Bihar cracks down on errant farmers for stubble burning

Farmers who burnt stubble will not get subsidies even as many blame mechanisation and dwindling cattle

Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (August 17, 2023)

Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal  

India’s kala-azar cases declined 98.7% since 2007: Health ministry

Around 99.8% endemic blocks in India have achieved elimination status, says Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya

Deficient rainfall in Bihar, paddy farmers fear drought, crop loss

Most of Bihar’s 38 districts are facing rainfall deficit, according to IMD’s data

Why Bihar needs climate-smart agricultural practices

Bihar is highly vulnerable to hydro-meteorological natural disasters as it has both flood-prone and drought-prone areas

Hospitals in Bihar run out of space as hundreds of children admitted with fever

Most health experts have said the hundreds of children admitted to hospitals in Bihar not COVID-19 positive or infected with Acute Encephalitis …

Proposed O2 plants in Bihar: 123; installed: 1

The state government had set an August-end deadline for setting up the oxygen generation plants 

Royal Bengal tiger that stoked panic in Bihar villages caught

The tiger had strayed 130 km from Valmiki Tiger Reserve in villages of East Champaran district, Bihar