Gadgil and the report prepared by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by him are back in news after over two dozen people lost their lives in landslides and flash floods in the past few days in the hilly regions of Western Ghats in central Kerala districts of Kottayam and Idukki.
India granted 1.03 lakh patents in financial year 2023-24, Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks Unnat Pandit said on Thursday, as he assured that there will be "no delay" in the Intellectual Property Office as it prioritises timely clearance of applications. Addressing an Assocham event here, he shared that 40 per cent of the applications were disposed of within 30 months of the request for examination. "We are going to have no delay in the IP office, that's the motive with which we have .. that IP should be granted and under Chapter 8 of the Act it should also be utilised by the applicant ... that will generate the economic value of IP," Pandit said.
Expectations were high from Paris and observers of the game felt at least one, if not two medals, could be expected from the six boxers who qualified.
South Korean steel major Posco's beleagured Rs 52,000 crore (Rs 520 billion) project near Paradip has received a boost with the Centre according environmental clearance to its captive minor port at Jatadhari mouth in Jagatsinghpur district.
Prakash Javadekar set a scorching pace of changes in the environment ministry during his two-year tenure. He has the talent to calm ruffled feathers in the education sector, while proceeding with the government's agenda in this space.
Modi's inability to make peace with a renewed Opposition will only embolden his coalition partners and it is just a matter of time before they begin asking probing questions besides politely disagreeing with his tactics, predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The ministry of external affairs and the embassy of India in Berlin have been persistently advocating for the return of Ariha Shah to India.
A group of 91 retired bureaucrats has appealed to the Centre to withdraw the Green Credits programme, which they claimed may facilitate diversion of forest land to private entities. "Quick, smooth and easy diversion of our forest lands in favour of user agencies is apparently the sole intention of this set of Green Credits rules. "We urge the MOEFCC to recognise this danger and withdraw the Green Credits notification expeditiously," the group of former civil servants wrote in an open letter to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
Lavasa will replace Rajan Watal, who retires on Saturday, even as the budgetary process is yet to be finally completed.
'I am glad to announce that these cities are now going to become green smart cities.'
'It's a natural phenomenon and there is nothing to worry about. But I must tell you that every cheetah which has been released in Kuno is monitored round the clock'
Maneka said the Union environment ministry "is writing to every state government, allowing them to provide a list of animals that can be killed so that the Centre can give permission.
'New Delhi has to make up its mind whether it wants to be a friend of the Bangladeshi people or they want to be a friend of a section of people, or one party or one leader'
With land acquisition completed and infrastructure work streamlined, India's bullet train dreams are slowly, but finally, inching closer to reality.
Amidst controversy on the issue of import of genetically modified foods, an inter-ministerial meeting is being held on Wednesday to discuss the policy on GM foods and crop, including their import.\n\n\n\n
The WWF had earlier asked for halting movement of night trains in the New Jalpaiguri-Alipurduar section passing through wildlife sanctuaries and National Parks and restricting their speed.
The fact that the government has no specific deadline to impose this policy was revealed through a response to an RTI application in February 2017.
Primary investigation into the death of the pregnant elephant in Kerala has found that it may have accidentally consumed a cracker-stuffed fruit, the environment ministry said on Monday. The ministry also noted that many a time, locals resort to the illegal act of planting explosive-filled fruits to repel wild boars from entering plantation farms.
The executive enclave will house the new Prime Minister's Office, Cabinet Secretariat, India House and the National Security Council Secretariat.
The federal agency wants to question and record Parab's statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, they said.
One more cheetah has died at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, making it the sixth adult feline to have died since March, according to a statement from the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department on Wednesday.
The understanding was reached during a meeting between Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in New Delhi to decide the fate of the airport which has been embroiled in 'green' wrangle.
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has mooted corporate funding of zoos and recruitment of volunteers to give a fillip to Indian zoos, on the lines of the foreign zoos, to make them a great attraction for tourists.
The environment clearance granted to Posco's mega steel project in Orissa in January 2011 will remain suspended till the environment ministry reviews it afresh.
The environment ministry has received several representations on the recent ban on sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter from animal markets
India ranked 111th out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index-2023, which was rejected by the government as erroneous and having malafide intent. The index, released on Thursday, also stated that India has the highest child wasting rate in the world at 18.7 per cent, reflecting acute undernutrition. India ranked 107th out of 121 countries in the 2022 edition of the Global Hunger Index (GHI), a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.
'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'
Infrastructure major Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) on Friday expressed hope that it would soon get environment clearances for the first phase of its Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) Lavasa project, a hill city being developed near Pune.
Of these, 14 have received environmental clearances and four forestry clearances.
A Namibian cheetah has given birth to three cubs at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district, a Union minister said on Wednesday.
It also said the cheetahs will be allowed to move out of KNP and will not necessarily be "recaptured unless they venture into areas where they are in significant danger".
Pezeshkian gained the attention of people for his stance against the crackdown on the 2009 pro-democracy protests and the violence perpetrated by the notorious morality police in 2022 after Mahsa Amini's death.
Shaurya was found not walking properly by the tracking team around 11 am after which the wild animal was tranquilised and efforts were made to revive the feline, but they failed, said the statement.
The compulsion behind India and Japan to deepen security cooperation is in response to China's growing political and economic clout and its assertive behaviour in disputed areas. This has been the key driver for bringing both India and Japan closer in the domain of security cooperation, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
The Adani group will invest Rs 10,700 crore into Lucknow airport's expansion so that its annual passenger handling capacity zooms from 4 million passengers per annum (MPPA) to 39 MPPA. The airport's expansion plan received clearance from the Union environment ministry on December 15. However, the plan submitted to the ministry did not mention the deadline for the expansion.
The defence ministry need not come to the Centre to get green clearances for constructing border roads and strategically important projects coming within 100 kms of the Line of Actual Control, the environment ministry said on Thursday.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
A Supreme Court-constituted panel has asked the Union environment ministry to amend or withdraw the guidelines related to setting up zoos and safaris within tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries to discourage the use of wildlife habitats for tourism activities which are non-site specific.
The moratorium imposed on Bt brinjal last year is likely to continue, despite the expert committee, set up by the environment ministry, favouring "limited release" of the crop.
