JAIPUR: India is close to eradicating polio, a dreaded disease of the 20th century. "Only one polio case was found in 2011, which means it will soon be eradicated," Dr Samlee Plianbangchang, regional director, WHO South East Asia Region (SEAR) told TOI.

A survey conducted across nine states by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and Allahabad University suggests that the much maligned system has revived, prodded by politics, good governance

South-East Asia Region Health Ministers meet in Jaipur
Meetings of the Health Ministers of South-East Asian Region (SEAR) and the 64th session of the regional committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) opened here on Tuesday with a call to the world to wake up to the challenges posed by overuse and misuse of antibiotics and the increasing threat to human health from non-communicable diseases.

To ensure that the land use is not changed by the owners who have been allotted the plots on concessional rate and to keep a check on encroachments, the urban development and housing department will appoint an independent agency or conduct a third party inspection regularly.

The Centre will shortly be making an atlas of the many windmills that are fast being built in this desert district. The atlas will not only help regulate the growth of windmills here but will also keep a track of areas where windmills are being set up.

In a bid to promote alternate sources of energy the state government has been actively pursuing the setting up of windmills in the desert districts of Jaisalmer and Barmer. Not only hundreds of windmills have already been set up in these parts but hundreds more by prominent players are fast coming up.

Jaipur: Rajasthan High Court on Thursday sought explanation from the state government as to why diesel vehicles were allowed to operate in Ranthambore National Park (RNP) despite court orders banning them.

Reliance Power plans to invest . 8,000 crore to set up 500 MW solar power projects in Rajasthan over the next three years, sources close to the development said.

Jaipur: The Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB) is now tightening the reins on mine owners to safeguard the environment and promote scientific disposal of mining waste. The board will now allow the establishment of marble sawing units only on the precondition that mine owners will effectively reuse marble slurry within a year of getting licence. This step has been taken as marble dust and slurry are hazardous for the environment.

JAIPUR: Though the state government has failed to submit the audited statements due by February 15 for the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), the Union rural development ministry has cleared Rs 576 crore for Rajasthan under the scheme for 2011-12.

The Rajasthan Government's urban bodies signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Ircon International Limited, a railway undertaking, for construction of 12 railway over-bridges and under-bridges across the State here over the weekend.