-Down to Earth Tanks have fallen into disrepair for lack of a clear community ownership; but farmers, mostly women, are now being paid for its upkeep There is a reason why tanks — water bodies that store rainwater for irrigation — are in abundance in Karnataka. The state does not have many rivers; nor does it receive a lot of rainfall. Karnataka’s Kolar district is dotted by these tanks, which have assumed...
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Need for more weather safety awareness and lightning warning tools to save human lives
Media reports indicate that at the start of the southwest monsoon season, lightning strikes caused the death of over 70 people in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh on a single day i.e. 11th July, 2021. Prior to those separate events related to human casualty caused by thunderbolts, eighteen elephants were found dead on a hilltop at Kandali Proposed Reserve Forest situated in Assam's Nagaon district on...
More »Is ethanol blending in petrol really green? -Jasleen Bhatti
-Down to Earth Aggressive sugarcane farming contaminates land, water The Union government intends to increase the amount of ethanol in the energy mix to lower the country’s dependence on imported oil and carbon footprint, as well as stabilise petrol prices. India currently blends about 8.5 per cent ethanol in petrol. The government is targeting a 10 per cent ethanol blend by 2022 and a 20 per cent blend (E20) by 2025. E20 can save...
More »At least 60 dead as rains batter western Maharashtra -Shoumojit Banerjee
-The Hindu Landslides kill 49 in Raigad; rescue efforts hampered. At least 60 persons have lost their lives in landslides triggered by intense rain in western Maharashtra and the coastal Konkan region as monsoon fury continued unabated over the region on Friday. While the entire State, including the normally arid Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, have been receiving particularly heavy showers over the last 72 hours, the situation remained particularly grim in the Mahad...
More »Waste woes in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar and Rishikesh where up to 35% plastics waste flows into water bodies: iFOREST study
-GaonConnection.com A new study points out how waste segregation suffers as 70% of households in Haridwar and 90% in Rishikesh use a single bin for waste disposal; and a large chunk of plastic waste flows into the local water bodies, including the Ganges. Up to 35 per cent of the total plastic waste generated in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, leaks into its water bodies. Twenty kilometres to the northeast from Haridwar, the situation in...
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