A Hyderabad TOI campaign has resulted in the revoking of all tree-cutting permissions in the city. Environmentalist Bittu Sahgal gets nostalgic about the slain banyan tree that triggered it all

Allows Import Of Biothrax To See Effect On Animals India may soon be able to stockpile a vaccine to protect both its military and civilians against a possible attack with one of the world's most feared biological weapon

A multi-thematic ecological park will be set up at Sundipenta of Nallamala in Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve by the AP forest department. Eco-parks, zoological and botanical museums will also be set up opposite to the existing Centre for Bio-diversity Ecological Research (CBER).

PUBLIC sector drug makers are set to regain a substantial share in the retail pharmaceutical market. These companies, which recently received fresh capital infusion from the government, are going in for a major expansion of their production capacity and product baskets. These pharmaceutical companies already have an assured market from government procurement.

Balasun river: Horses are proving to be as effective as heavy machinery in the hills of Darjeeling. Hydraulic excavators on crawler belts using air compressors to break huge boulders are working alongside ponies on the banks of the Balasun as the company executing the Darjeeling Water Supply Scheme tries to meet its December 2009 deadline. The Hyderabad-based construction company, Ramky Infrastructure Ltd, stumbled on the idea of using horses after they observed the local villagers.

The Union Minister for Agriculture, Mr Sharad Pawar, with the State ministers for agriculture at an exhibition of sorghum at the national conference, held at NAARM in Hyderabad on Monday. The Union Government would announce the much-awaited minimum support price (MSP) for paddy for this kharif season soon. Talking to newspersons on the sidelines of a national conference of the Ministers of Agriculture here on Monday, Mr Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister, said the Government would, in all likelihood, announce the MSP on May 29 or 30. He hinted that the MSP would be higher.

GVK Bio has entered into a research agreement with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, to undertake drug discovery research and generate intellectual property (IP). Based on the research output, the company would file INDs (Investigative New Drug) with the US Food & Drug Administration. The work would be largely on drug candidates focused on pre-defined discovery targets. GVK Bio, the Hyderabad-based company, will utilise in-house capabilities in discovery chemistry, informatics, biology and toxicology to advance this collaborative programme expected to be between 2-3 years.

Women and nuclear-capable ballistic missiles usually don't go together. But, breaking the glass ceiling in a typical male bastion, a woman scientist will now head a key missile project of the country. Tessy Thomas, 45, will now be the project director for the new advanced version of the 2,500-km range Agni-II missile. The promotion comes soon after she played a crucial role in the successful firing of the 3,500-km range Agni-III missile last week as associate project director.

The AP forest department has decided to create 1,000 water holes in reserve forests to ensure that thirsty panthers don't stray into human habitations and get killed. Forest officials will be particularly focusing on forests with a high population of panthers located in the fringe areas of cities. They will also create artificial waterfalls in these areas and also in the elephant sanctuary in Kuppam.

The first-ever open competitive system for supply of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Shamshabad, and sharp reduction in sales tax levied by the Andhra Pradesh Government have seen the ATF intake of airlines at the new airport doubling to 1,100 kilo litres (a kilo litre is 1,000 litres) from 550 kl, when it began commercial operations on March 23. Clearly, the airlines, which had initially expressed concern over the huge recovery costs on every litre they buy, have started filling up their tanks at the new international airport.