Read this special report by Down To Earth on the iconic Paan losing its appeal. Its trade has dipped 40-50 per cent in the past decade, while consumption of chewing tobacco, especially gutkha, increased during the period. Farmers now prefer other crops.
BALASORE: Here's bad news for the farmers of the calamity-prone northern Orissa region. The surface soil is turning acidic day-by-day, thereby threatening the crop pattern and the yield.
According to a latest study by the soil testing laboratory at Balasore, about 60 per cent soil in the region is acidic in nature.
BALASORE: Come summer and people in the northern parts of the State face an acute shortage of water. But, nobody really cares to protect the water bodies which keep the groundwater level high.
According to an estimate, about 30 ponds have been filled up in Balasore town for construction purposes in the last five years.
BALASORE: The district has lately witnessed some frightening scenes with wild elephants from forests in the neighbouring states going on the rampage here.
BHUBANESWAR: Women and Child Development Minister Prafulla Samal today admitted that though there was a 20-point guideline for the procurement of dal these were never enforced in a proper manner at the district level. The dal was meant to be given to schoolchildren and pregnant women under the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme and supplementary nutrition programme (SNP).
BHUBANESWAR: For instilling a sense of sanitation and making people aware of use of toilets 81 panchayats of nine districts will get Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP), a national award for fully sanitised and open defecation-free panchayats under Total Sanitation Programme-2010.
Representatives of 12 panchayats will be awarded by President of India for total sanitation at a national-level function in
BALASORE: The food inflation had a direct bearing on Makar Sankranti celebrations in the tribal region of Balasore district. To meet the expenses of the festivity, the tribals in Nilagiri area were forced to sell subsidised rice.
BALASORE: Balasore district which had topped the State for 100 per cent implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), is in the news for wrong reasons again.
Though the district health authorities took the credit for spending money disbursed for various works under NRHM, the reality is different at the grassroots.
Balasore: India on Thursday test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-I strategic ballistic missile, with a range of 700 kms, as part of the Army's user trial from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Wheeler Island off the state coast.
The indigenously developed surface-to-surface single-stage missile, powered by solid propellants, was test fired from a rail mobile launcher at about 1010 hours from la
