-The Hindu The catastrophe in the Himalaya is the result of deforestation, unchecked construction of dwellings and large-scale building of big dams A week is a long time in the Himalaya. In the late 1980s, I visited Arunachal Pradesh as a young researcher, with a keen interest in photography. I walked into the middle of the Dibang river, hop skipping over boulders, until my local tribal guide ordered me to return immediately....
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Rain toll rises to 131, over 73,000 pilgrims stranded
-The Times of India DEHRADUN/SHIMLA: Torrential rains continued to pour in bad news from north India on Tuesday, with flash floods, cloudbursts and landslips claiming 69 more lives and taking the official death toll to 131, making for the most tragic tidings of monsoon in recent years. More than 73,000 pilgrims bound for the Himalayan shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri remained stranded in Uttarakhand and about 1,700 tourists were...
More »Hydro projects causing degeneration of hill ecology: CAG-Vishal Gulati
-IANS Shimla: The hydropower projects in Himachal Pradesh -- in private and public sectors -- are not only gobbling up forests but also damaging natural resources, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found. The compensatory afforestation by the state is highly deficient as 58 percent of the test-checked hydropower projects reported no afforestation at all, the CAG said in its recent report. It pointed out that lack of re-greening of...
More »Bhutan set to plough lone furrow as world's first wholly organic country -John Vidal and Annie Kelly
-The Guardian By shunning all but organic farming techniques, the Himalayan state will cement its status as a paradigm of sustainability Bhutan plans to become the first country in the world to turn its agriculture completely organic, banning the sales of pesticides and herbicides and relying on its own animals and farm waste for fertilisers. But rather than accept that this will mean farmers of the small Himalayan kingdom of 1.2 million people...
More »Dam contractor to hold meet on linking rivers -Gargi Parsai
-The Hindu The Water Resources Ministry has sought the help of L. Rajagopal — the businessman-cum-Member of Parliament from Vijayawada with major interests in large-scale water projects — to organise an event on Wednesday on interlinking of rivers. Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal will be the chief guest at the “Dialogue on Inter Linking of Rivers: Issues and Challenges.” Mr. Rajagopal is the chairman of the Organising Committee for the event...
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