The Union Government has declared 17 districts in Gujarat as drought-affected, Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani has said.

Mosquito control with the use of insecticides is faced with the challenges of insecticide resistance in disease vectors, community refusal, their high cost, operational difficulties, and environmental concern. In view of this, integrated vector control strategies with the use of larvivorous fishes such as Guppy (Poecilia reticulata) and Gambusia (G.

NADIAD: If you think 'Rakshabandhan' is all about sisters tying rakhis to their brothers, you may have to do a rethink. For this village in Nadiad has vowed to save water and to mark this event they have decided to tie Rakhis to all their water sources - be it their village wells, water taps, tube wells and hand pumps. The biggest Rakhi in the state was tied to a village well, which measured almost 28 feet.

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court has issued suo motu notice to the Anand Agricultural University (AAU) and the Kheda collector for allotment of gauchar land and decision taken to permit green felling on that land.

Justice A S Dave sought explanation with regards to the decision of land allotment and removal of green cover, when the court came to know about the development while hearing a quashing petition filed by a talati of Manwada village in Kheda district.

GANDHINAGAR: Despite huge claims of rise in water tables across Gujarat and simultaneous improvement in groundwater levels because of tens of thousands of watershed projects, checkdams, village ponds and other recharge structures, an authoritative report suggests there is, if at all, marginal improvement. In fact, even in North Gujarat, where Sujalam Sufalam recharge canal runs across 360-km, water tables appear to have gone down. Also, the quality of water in this region has deteriorated.

Rainfall variability and associated remote sensing indices for vegetation are central to the development of early warning systems for epidemic malaria in arid regions. The considerable change in land-use practices resulting from increasing irrigation in recent decades raises important questions on concomitant change in malaria dynamics and its coupling to climate forcing.

AHMEDABAD: Here is a shocker. The per capita greenhouse gases (GHG) contribution of a small district like Kheda is equivalent to per capita GHG emission of entire Europe.

The vulnerability of natural systems to rapid changes in climate pattern is regarded as one of the most challenging issues in recent years. This paper analyzes the annual rainfall pattern in the Mahi Right Bank Canal (MRBC) irrigation command area located in central Gujarat and evaluates its effects on cropping pattern, crop plantation schedules observed by the farmers in the command area under the study.

AHMEDABAD: Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the country's largest oil producer, has struck oil and gas at three places in Gujarat. The new discoveries are at Nadiad and Matar in Kheda district and Charada in Mehsana district.

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