Seshachalam hills, home to a variety of plants and animals, reptiles and amphibians, have proved again to be rich in biodiversity, with the recent sighting of a rare poisonous spider after a gap of 113 years in India at the foothills of Tirumala.

The spider belonging to the genus poecilotheria is known to be native to India and Sri Lanka, of which eight species are found in India and seven in Sri Lanka. While taking inventory of the Seshachalam Biosphere reserve spread across Chittoor and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh, officials of the Seshachalam Biodiversity Lab attached to Tirupati Wildlife Management Circle sighted a dead specimen of Theraphosid spider, a variety listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as ‘critically endangered.’

Hyderabad: Monsoon-dependent groundwater levels in the state have fallen by more than 11 metres in 2012. In 1988, the fall was a mere five metres and in 1998, it fell by seven metres.

Interestingly all this happened despite normal average rainfall in the past two decades. Sharing the aforementioned with this newspaper, Dr K. Venugopal, joint director of the AP Ground-water Department said that what is more alarming is that perennial resource of groundwater in the state is not only declining but has started drying up.

In what is being seen as a disturbing trend, studies have revealed that the drinking and groundwater in Chittoor district is polluted with high concentrations of uranium, 135 times more than the sa

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation is funding a pilot project to enable the state’s farmers to reverse the environmental degradation and rural poverty in the state by applying scientific methods to groundwater management.

Baseline studies jointly conducted by the FAO, Centre and state government have identified seven districts in Andhra Pradesh to effectively implement the best practices in sustainable cropping patterns to combat climate change.

Cabinet decides to enhance compensation for lands acquired by Government for specific purposes. The Cabinet has decided to enhance compensation to farmers for lands acquired by the Government for specific purposes.

This decision has been taken after considering a classic case from Patigadda in Kalikiri mandal of Chittoor district represented in the Assembly by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.

The Andhra Pradesh Government plans to further streamline the sand mining process in the State to ensure there is no pilferage.

Andhra Pradesh which has 75 notified special economic zones (SEZs), which is the highest number of SEZs in any State in the country, has attracted investment of about Rs 15,000 crore.

The Centre has cleared a proposal for laying a six-lane expressway between Bangalore and Chennai, where vehicles can zoom at a speed of up to 120 kmph.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday announced introduction of 1 kg rice for Re 1 for below poverty line families in the state, a move that is being seen as an attempt to upstage the pop

Although G Janardhan Reddy made Bellary his home, he remained linked to his home state of Andhra Pradesh.

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