The draft National Child Labour Policy, which was circulated for opinions from the stakeholders, will soon be placed before the Council of Advisers for approval, said Labour and Employment Adviser Anwarul Iqbal yesterday. "I believe once approved the policy will contribute to the elimination of child labour both in government and private institutions,' he added. The adviser was speaking as chief guest at the inaugural session of a national seminar titled 'Eradication of hazardous child labour' organised by labour and employment ministry at Biam auditorium in the city.

Q&A: Satinath Sarangi Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action tells SREELATHA MENON that activists made a mistake by delaying raising the issue of removal of the 8,000 tonnes of toxic waste from Union Carbide's Bhopal plant. Where were you when the 1984 disaster in Bhopal took place and what brought you to work there among the survivors?

The Central Pollution Control Board (cpcb) has come out with guidelines on environmentally sound management of e-waste. The guiding principles come at a time when there is a pressing need for intervention as the e-waste inventory in India is expected to shoot up in the coming years.

China is on precautionary alert against possible radiation leaks from the deadliest earthquake to hit the country in three decades, according to a government website. The disaster area is home to China's chief nuclear weapons research lab in Mianyang, as well as several secretive atomic sites, but no nuclear power stations. Minister of environmental protection Zhou Shengxian convened an emergency meeting late on Monday, hours after the 7.9 magnitude tremor rocked the southwestern province of

The Bhopal Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department is talking to the Indian Army and the Delhi-based National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) to help remove the toxic waste lying in the premises of the closed Union Carbide for the last 24 years.

From June 2008, around 120 industries in Bhutan will have to follow the industrial emission standards set up by the national environmental commission (NEC). However, an NEC report in November 2007 showed that most of the major factories were not within these new norms. The NEC, which will be monitoring these factories, as of now has only three technical staff with equipment yet to be purchased. In a related development, a pollution control team from Delhi, India, has said that Pasakha was too crowded with factories even if it eventually met emission standards.

Some of the environmentalists based in the United States have kicked up a controversy over yet another asbestos-laden ship heading for the Alang ship-breaking yard in the Saurashtra coast of Gujarat for dismantling. The controversy over S.S. Oceanic has been raised in view of the nationwide protest the Alang shipyard faced over the dismantling of the Norwegian ship, "Blue Lady,' carrying over 1,200 tonnes of toxic asbestos, a couple of years ago.

Charging your scrap dealer to take away old CDs and bargaining for a good deal on a computer could well be a thing of the past, if a government e-waste management policy comes into effect. With the recent recommendations of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on having effective disposal of e-waste, Companies might just start charging you for taking back electronic and electrical equipment.