Though the Government of India has announced a series of sops to the Tea industry in the Budget for the current financial year, industry sources said that it would be beneficial only if the funds are released on time. The Union Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, in the Budget, announced that an amount of Rs 40 crore would be provided for the special purpose tea fund for re-plantation and rejuvenation of the tea bushes. However, tea industry sources pointed out that the Government's decision would be beneficial for the industry only if the funds are released on time.

The sky is nearly cloudless, the breeze is bracing, and the tea plantation where Yao Kunxue works resembles a giant green amphitheater absorbing the last rays of a setting sun. The tea itself ? No thanks, he says. He grows it

Professor R C Sobti, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, Mayor Pardeep Chhabra, and the fraternity from the university planted saplings at the P U campus today, inaugurating a week-long plantation dri

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi continues with its efforts to increase green cover in the city, with the inauguration of a herbal park in Priyadarshini park, Bblock, and an ornamental park in Karaw

: Is there a winwin formula to involve private participation in preserving the country's green cover? The environment ministry is contending with a proposal to allow private funding into greening of the government-held reserve forests and in return letting them earn carbon credits. Though at a nascent stage, the discussions could lead to a new format to get private funding into the forestry sector that faces a serious cash-crunch. The discussions in the ministry come after government put an end to a far more controversial move to hand over degraded forest lands to private players

Kalavati Barai of Raipur Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri has been watching the consistent deterioration of her family of six over the past four years. In March this year, her husband succumbed to severe