The Supreme Court would decide on Friday whether to impose an interim ban on the production and sale of controversial pesticide Endosulfan in the country, pending an elaborate hearing and its decision over a plea for it. A bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia on Wednesday directed the petitioner, CPIM's youth wing Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and other parties to the plea to file their respective replies...

The arrival of large quantities of wheat in the grain markets of the Punjab-Haryana region is a heart-warming sight, while poor storage is a matter of national shame. It was in April-May 1968, that the country witnessed the wonderful spectacle of large arrivals of wheat grain in the mandis of Punjab like Moga and Khanna. Wheat production in the country rose to nearly 17 million tonnes that year, from the previous...

One more biodiversity project at Sindhudurg in Malvan, Maharastra The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has sanctioned a community-based natural resource management and mangrove conservation project in Godavari estuary, Andhra Pradesh, similar to the Gulf of Mannar Marine Conservation Project in Tamil Nadu. Speaking to The Hindu, Doley Tshering, Regional Technical Specialist, Ecosystems and Natural Resources, Regional Centre in Bangkok for Asia and the Pacific countries, who visited here recently, said...

Renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind, biomass and hydropower could meet nearly 80 per cent of the world’s energy supplies by 2050 if governments pursue policies that harness their potential, a United Nations-backed report released today says. The findings of more than 120 researchers working with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that if the path of renewable source is fully followed, greenhouse gas emissions could stay...

The Tatas pulled out of Singur; the Salims of Indonesia out of Nandigram. What is still ticking is the Jindals’ Rs-35,000-crore, 10-million-tonne steel plant at Salboni. It has the potential to churn out the first industrial success story for whoever captures power in West Bengal after May 13. Along with the steel plant, a 1,000-MW power project to is coming up. At one point, Salboni had appeared to have the makings of...