-The Times of India A three-day programme for a headcount of river dolphins in the Ganges river will be carried out October 5-7 in and around Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Wednesday. The programme is also aimed at spreading awareness about the endangered mammal. "My Ganga, My Dolphin" is a joint effort between World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-India and the Uttar Pradesh forest department under the aegis of HSBC Bank. The...

-Outlook A dolphin census will be carried out in all major rivers of Uttar Pradesh to estimate the population of the species. The census will be carried out for three days from October 5 by WWF India in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Forest department. The survey would be carried out in all major rivers in the state, including Ganga, Ken, Betwa, Yamuna, Chambal, Geruwa, Ghaghra and Son, covering a distance of approximately...

-Outlook Goa government has constituted several teams to inspect and quantify the iron ore stacked at various points in the state before allowing it to be exported, a senior official said today. The state government, in its order dated September 10, had decided to allow only the already extracted and ready for transportation ore to be exported, thus discouraging fresh extraction. The teams comprising officials from the mines and forest departments and Goa...

-Outlook Tharu tribals residing in 300 forested villages surrounding the Valmiki Nagar Tiger reserve in Bihar's West Champaran district are likely to be displaced if a proposal to increase the area of the tiger reserve is implemented. The tiger reserve area is proposed to be increased from 335 square kms at present to 599 square kms to create a core and buffer zones, an official of the sanctuary said. CPI(M-L) Liberation leader Kumar...

-Outlook The flood situation in Assam today worsened with the Brahmaputra and its tributaries continuing to rise leaving nine persons dead and rendering 10 lakh people homeless in 16 districts. Three children drowned in a boat mishap at Makum near Sadiya in Tinsukia district last night, while the NDRF rescued 42 others, official sources said. Two others died in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts and one each in Sibsagar and Nalbari yesterday, the sources...