In terms of safety, the Victoris has scored 5 stars in both GNCAP and BNCAP tests and that's a first for Maruti, observes Somnath Chatterjee.
There have been no reports of casualties. Neither is the cause of the fire known.
The latest report says the forest cover is around 20 per cent of the land in the country, 3 per cent less than the area under the forest departments. But the report does not make a distinction between tree cover, commercial plantations and natural forest cover. To qualify as "forest cover", the Forest Survey of India considers 10 per cent tree canopy area and one hectare. So, if a householder has, say, a hectare of coconut palm, his land would qualify as forest cover.
The Himachal Pradesh high court on Wednesday issued notice to Kangana Ranaut, the Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha member from Mandi, on a petition filed by a Kinnaur resident for setting aside her election on the grounds that his nomination papers to contest from the Lok Sabha constituency were allegedly wrongly rejected.
So far, carcasses of 32 flamingos have been recovered from Ghatkopar area, the police said.
The aircraft, reported to be a Cessna 152 owned by flying school Alchemist Aviation, took off from the Sonari aerodrome in Jamshedpur around 11 am with a pilot and trainee on board, they said.
Yet another Asiatic lion has died unnaturally on the periphery of the Gir forest in Gujarat. The four-year-old lion, is reported to have been bitten to death by a snake near Pipardi village of Amreli district in eastern parts of Gir.
The Madurai bench of the Madras high court has directed the secretary, environment and forest department, to ensure that there are no more acquisitions of elephants by private individuals or religious institutions in Tamil Nadu.
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren, a towering figure in the state's tribal movement, was cremated with full state honors in his native village of Nemra. Thousands gathered to pay their respects to the 'Dishom Guru,' including political leaders and villagers.
The Assam forest department is keen to arm forest guards in Kaziranga National Park with sophisticated weapons like AK series assault rifles to counter the new brand of rhino poachers who are using sophisticated weapons.
In the tribal village of Edamalakkudy, nestled deep within this hill district's lush forests, lives 92-year-old Sivalingam. Despite his age and being bedridden, Sivalingam's determination to vote remains strong.
A total of 1,162 essential documents have been distributed among 872 persons at the camp, the district administration in Wayanad said.
'Since there is no photo-op, or quick fix solutions, politicians do not want to address climate change. It is very unfashionable.'
India is set to bring eight cheetahs from Botswana in two phases, with four arriving by May 2025. This follows the successful reintroduction of cheetahs to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, with the population now at 26, including 14 cubs born in India. The initiative aims to boost cheetah conservation efforts and create inter-state collaboration for their protection. The project has already seen significant investment, with over Rs 112 crore spent on cheetah rehabilitation.
Singh said that about 150 people including women and forest, revenue and other officials were present at the time of the incident, and if the officials were assaulted, "why are there no eyewitnesses".
Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad's announcement of a 'reward' for anyone chopping off Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's tongue had set off a huge political row.
Shocking videos of an ailing wild leopard being surrounded by a group of villagers, who are taking selfies with him and even trying to ride on him have emerged from Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh.
A leopard entered the district court premises in Ghaziabad and injured several people.
Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre on Monday said the state government will pay the hospitality bill of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had come to Mysuru in April last year to commemorate 50 years of Project Tiger, which runs up to Rs 80 lakh.
Former Jharkhand chief minister Shibu Soren is on ventilator support in critical condition. Jharkhand Education Minister Ramdas Soren was airlifted to Delhi after suffering a brain stroke.
Union Minister Maneka Gandhi has been accused of slapping and kicking a forest staff in Mala forest range of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve while police on Tuesday said that they are looking into the complaint.
In a heinous terror attack, two Indians were killed while one was abducted in the Dosso region of Niger, as noted by the Indian Embassy in Niger.
A herd of 15 elephants that have wrecked havoc and killed four persons including a photojournalist at Kolar are now at a distance of 3 kilometres from Bengaluru. The elephants, which entered from Tamil Nadu into Kolar, had escaped to Malur.
Generally, tigers that attack humans apart from circumstances like defending cubs or trying to save one's own life are referred to as conflict tigers.
'It is a clear dent on a lady's dignity and right of privacy guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.'
For Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs Minister Vijay Shah, currently under fire for his comments aimed at Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, this is not the first time he has been embroiled in a controversy.
The National Green Tribunal has been informed by the Uttar Pradesh government's environment department that over 1.12 lakh trees will be felled in the protected forest area in the state to make way for the upcoming Kanwar Yatra route.
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).
A proposal to change the name of Mount Abu, Rajasthan's only hill station, to "Aburaj Teerth" and ban non-vegetarian food and alcohol consumption in public has sparked protests from local businesses, who fear severe economic consequences. They argue that the name change will cause confusion and the restrictions will drastically reduce tourist numbers, impacting livelihoods.
The couple arrived in Mawlakhiat village on May 22 on a rented scooter. They trekked over 3,000 steps down the gorge to visit the famous living root bridges in Nongriat village, where they stayed the night, according to police.
Hercules Singh Munda's father used to open the gates to a forest. Today, Hercules leaves for London to open the gates of his many dreams.
Madhya Pradesh government has issued a notification for providing 35 per cent reservation in recruitment to women, barring the Forest department in the state.
As the Karnataka forest department analyses the data gathered during the six-day tiger census conducted in the state in January, various wildlife organisations have chipped in to identify the population of the big cats based on DNA fingerprinting.
4 copters of the IAF and their 10 commandos are involved in the rescue operation.
Oban, one of the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia in September last year, strayed into the field near Baroda village, some 15-20 kilometres from KNP, from the free range area of the park into which he was released last month, Sheopur divisional forest officer (DFO) P K Verma told PTI.
He had promised his daughter that he would be there, come what may, a kin said. But fate had a different plan.
'I am glad Aranyer Din Ratri is being shown at Cannes.' 'The film was better appreciated outside India even when released originally.'
Three poachers were on Wednesday killed in two encounters with forest guards in Kaziranga National Park in Assam. On a tip off about the entry of a group of poachers into the park, forest guards launched an operation in Burapahar Range, Divisional Forest Officer S K Sil Sarma said.
Intense rains lashed Kerala on Sunday, uprooting trees across the state, including one that fell on a moving train in Thrissur and another that caused a fatality in Kozhikode. Houses were damaged, rivers were in spate, and shutters of some dams were raised as the southwest monsoon gained strength. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) placed five northern districts - Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod - under a 'red alert' for the day, predicting extremely heavy rainfall there.
The fires that have broken out in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa are being kept under control through the joint efforts of the Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and the forest department, state minister Vishwajit Rane said.
