Huge rain deficit for some pockets in the region The southern region has received 11 per cent more rain Tiruchi has the highest rainfall deficiency of 85 per cent Even though the on-going south-west monsoon has been the most benevolent so far over the southern peninsula, there are some pockets in the region, which are still facing huge deficiencies. The region, which consists of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, apart from Lakshadweep...

The world needs to act quickly to counter the erosion of species. The task is particularly important for India, one of the 12 mega-biodiversity centres.  May 22 marked the International Day for Biological Diversity. It commemorates the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that day in 1992. As of December 2009, exactly 192 countries and the European Commission were signatories to it. This year has been declared the...

Though Palakkad district in Kerala, where the Coca Cola plant is situated is considered as the ‘rice bowl of Kerala’, a part of the district falling in the rain shadow region of the Western Ghats is drought prone. Plachimada, where the Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Private Limited (HCBPL) factory was set up had been classified ‘arable’. The villagers are predominantly landless agricultural labourers with almost 80 percent of the population...

For nuclear plant at Jaitapur, only site clearance is granted Environment and development have to be balanced Reacting to reports on Monsanto's admission of pest resistance to its transgenic cotton, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said the issue needed to be properly examined. The Minister said he had also seen an earlier report from the Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, which pointed out insect resistance...

Maoist-hit Koraput region will soon find a place on the international map, but for a different reason. The region is going to be recognised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation as a “globally important agriculture heritage system” on the pattern of world heritage sites declared by the Unesco, said eminent agro scientist M.S. Swaminathan here today. Considering the extraordinary biological and agricultural diversity of the Koraput region, which needs to be protected...