The Department of Biotechnology is playing venture capitalist to private companies to push agri research.
Why would a company with a turnover of Rs 9,712 crore and profits of Rs 933 crore want a research loan of less than Rs 10 crore from the government? Ask the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), which has become venture capitalist to the well-heeled industry.
Rajasthan signs agreements with seven biotech companies to restructure agriculture. Read this special report on the fundamental shift in the way farming operates in India by giving private companies access to the state’s research facilities to test and market their hybrid seeds and other technologies.
Tigers from Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh disappeared because they wandered out of the park and got poached. The forest department could not be held responsible for the loss because its jurisdiction ended within the park, says a state government committee report.
A Committee of Parliament visited the slaughterhouse in Meerut on June 10 to enquire if it was polluting the Kali Nadi river that flows through the city. A seasonal river that once provided irrigation and drinking water to 44 villages in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh, Kali Nadi has turned poisonous. The slaughterhouse waste is only a part of the problem.
Snowfall in the Himalaya and Tibetan plateau affects monsoon. For two decades snowfall was one of the parameters Indian meteorologists used to predict monsoon in the subcontinent. They believed there was an inverse relation between snowfall in the Himalaya and monsoon; the wider the snow cover, the weaker the rainfall.
The villagers had rejected the project promoted by Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) at two public hearings held in June 2007 and in September 2009. But the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) cleared the project in Tikri village in Himachal in February.
The government will soon introduce rules to regulate informal e-waste recycling sector, but the formal sector itself is flouting regulations. Read this DTE investigative report on the thriving "illegal trade of e-waste" and dangerous working conditions.
