Rapid urbanization causes disorganized and uplanned growth of towns and cities. The pressure of an ever growing population becomes a burden on the limited civic amenities which are virtually collapsing. Asymmetrical growth of urban centres consumes agricultural land adjacent to these, resulting in lower agricultural productivity.

Water is the most important natural resource which forms the core of the ecological system. The advent of remote sensing has opened up new vistas in groundwater prospect evaluation, exploration and management. The groundwater resources of the study area, Rishikesh region of Garhwal Himalayas, are under threat due to population pressure caused by expanding tourism in this region.

In developing country like India greater attention has been focused so far only on the ground water pollution. Unlike water the study on the soil contamination has not been much attended yet. In this background, it becomes necessary to study the soil contamination in Dindigul, where the soil is mostly degraded by tannery effluents.

Pune-based NGO, Mashal, is to conduct GIS-based biometric socio-economic survey in Dharavi, for the first time. Based on natural and topographical divisions, Dharavi has been divided into 12 segments. Around 25 teams are being deployed to carry out the survey. Officials say it is important to conduct a biometric survey and fingerprints of slum dwellers scientifically stored so that ineligible persons do not lay claim to free flats. Media reports say the Dharavi Rehabilitation Project may fine-tune the survey to image retinas so that there is no scope for bogus allotments and resales.

A geographical indication (GI) is a form of protection highlighted in the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It protects intangible economic assets such as the quality and reputation of a product through market differentiation. It is considered a promising tool at the international level to maintain multifunctionality in rural landscapes and involve local populations in biodiversity management and conservation.

A model is developed to understand the relationship between satellite-derived NDVI and rainfall data in a large tropical catchment. Two Fourier-based modeling techniques with a seasonal component, viz. a seasonal model (SM) and a linear perturbation model (LPM) are tested, and their performance in reproducing the observed NDVI was evaluated. The methodology makes use of 15 years of 10-day composite time series data of rainfall and NDVI, which is estimated from NOAA-AVHRR data, both of which constitute concurrent data from 1982-96.

Forested landscape is not meant for the animals only birds also inhabit the forest. Many components of the environment, including vegetation structure, plant species composition and vegetation stratification affect the distribution of bird species.