The Bt brinjal furore has brought to light a little-known government notification that plucked 190 species of plants out of the protective sphere of a law on biodiversity, triggering fears among some environmental groups that these biological resources may now be plundered with ease. The environment ministry had declared in the notification last year that the provisions of the National Biodiversity Act — India’s only legislation to protect its biodiversity —...

Expressing serious concern over the increasing incidents of suicide by farmers due to starvation, poverty and other reasons, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to come out with mirco-level steps to prevent such suicides across the country, particularly in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice Deepak Verma granted six weeks to the Centre...

The window of carbon trading has opened a new means of earning for those cutting down on their carbon footprints. Those contributing more to the emission of green house gases, purchase carbon credits earned by those who cut down on this front. This helps in achieving the end result of bringing down the global emission level to the desirable level. Bihar too is on way to join the club of...

Right to Information (RTI) activists from Pune came together on Sunday and formed an RTI council to serve as a repository of information obtained by various activists. “Once the information obtained by anyone under the RTI is available with a council, there will be less threat to an individual’s life,” said Vivek Velankar, an RTI activist, while speaking to journalists after a public meeting to demand justice for the murdered RTI...

In a new initiative, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has turned to non-governmental organisations to reach their technologies to farmers. The extension wing of the IARI on Wednesday interacted with representatives of 25 select NGOs working with farmers to draw a strategy for location specific technology transfer. As a special incentive, the IARI agreed to give free need-based, area-specific seeds...