SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Praveen Bose / Bangalore July 25, 2008, 0:04 IST

Rural women battling fumes and smoke from burning of biomass like wood, crop waste and animal dung during cooking may soon get some respite.

Envirofit International, an US-based non-profit organisation, has introduced a range of clean-burning and biomass-based cooking stoves , which are reaching homes in rural Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

High procurement: Good strategy or bad arithmetic, examines KP Prabhakaran Nair, agricultural scientist based in Kerala

PATHANAMTHITTA: District Collector P C Sanalkumar said on Wednesday that a task force was set up to check the spread of Hepatitis A in the district.

Addressing a meeting to discuss measures to control the spread of Hepatitis A, the Collector said that as part of the programme, water sources would be chlorinated. To ensure the successful implementation of the preventive measures, the assistance of health workers, voluntary agencies, Literacy Mission and Kudumbasree Mission would be utilised.

THIRUVANANTHAPURA: The Water Policy-2008 announced by the LDF Government on Monday envisages provisions like 'polluter pays' for preventing water pollution. Those who pollute water will be made to pay a fine according under the policy. Another thrust area of the policy tabled by Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran in the Assembly on Monday, is the announcement of recycle and reuse policy for drainage water.

PALAKKAD: The technical advisory committee of the Central Water Commission has approved a Rs 30 crore scheme for the extension and modernisation of the Kanhirapuzha irrigation canal.

The project had been included under the Prime Ministers' agriculture package for drought-hit areas. The State Government has also accorded the financial concurrence so that the Rs 30 crore modernisation scheme secures the investment clearance of the Planning Commission.

PATHANAMTHITTA: Agriculture Minister Mullakara Ratnakaran said on Saturday that around 1,000 hectares of unused paddy fields would be brought under cultivation soon.

Presiding over a high-level meeting on the intensive paddy cultivation programme convened at the collectorate conference hall here, Mullakara said that 2,891 hectares of paddy fields remained unused in the district.

KOCHI: Are windmills eco-friendly? Of course, in plains, but not in High Ranges where they pose serious threat to the Earth.

Attappadi hills are the telltale example. It is one of the two sites where windmills are being set up for power generation in the state.

The other being Ramakkalmedu in Idukki district. Apart from these, 16 sites have also been identified for windmills in Kerala.

Corporate retail giants are quietly consolidating their position even in politically sensitive States such as Kerala.

flood Early monsoon hits India annual monsoon swept through India about two weeks early. But it brought heavy rains causing floods and landslides in eastern India. Unconfi-rmed sources say at least 52 people have been killed and over 3 million affected in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal. As on June 20, Subarnrekha river in Orissa was flowing above the danger