-The United Nations People with disabilities have the same rights as everyone to make decisions about their lives, including the right to take risks and make mistakes, a United Nations committee has stressed in new guidelines. "Respect for the freedom to make choices should be accorded to all persons with disabilities, no matter how much support they need," said Theresia Degener from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). "People...
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Threat to wetland, an election issue for fishermen and farmers
-PTI Guwahati: Ecological degradation of Deepor Beel, a freshwater lake of international importance on the outskirts of Guwahati, has turned out to be a major electoral issue for hundreds of fishermen and farmers dependent on the wetland. Spread over an area of 40.1 sq km, the lake, which is listed in the Ramsar Convention, supports livelihood of over 1,200 families living in 12 villages around it. Fishermen complain that the fish output...
More »SC lifts iron ore mining ban in Goa, caps output
-The Hindustan Times Nearly one-and-a-half years after it banned mining in Goa, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed an annual cap of 20 million tonnes of iron ore extraction in the state. The final capacity that will be allowed to be mined in the state will be decided by an expert panel within the next six months. A special forest bench headed by Justice AK Patnaik said the panel would also advise...
More »Farmers affected by Karur’s dye industry to exercise NOTA -M Suchitra
-Down to Earth Group has 1,750 farmers says pollution from industries has reduced them to poverty and political parties in power ignored their repeated pleas Ninety-five-year-old V Ammayappan is just back home from hospital after a kidney surgery. But this farmer from Melapalayam village in Tamil Nadu's Karur district is determined to cast his vote on April 24 when elections to Lok Sabha will be held in his state. He speaks with...
More »Wheat rust: The fungal disease that threatens to destroy the world crop -Christy Chamy
-The Independent Scientists are warning that wheat is facing a serious threat from a fungal disease that could wipe out the world's crop if not quickly contained. Wheat rust, a devastating disease known as the "polio of agriculture", has spread from Africa to South and Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, with calamitous losses for the world's second most important grain crop, after rice. There is mounting concern at the...
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