A major overhaul of polluting industries in West Bengal is being chalked out by Manabendra Mukherji , the state s minister for youth services, environment and tourism. He recently spoke to

Arsenic has been found in groundwater in seven districts of West Bengal covering an area 37,493 km having about 34 million population. Our survey indicates that 560 villages are arsenic-affected and more than a million people are drinking arsenic contaminated water and more than 200,000 people are suffering from arsenic-related diseases.

In the continuing saga of the closure of Calcutta tanneries, the Supreme Court has now issued notices to over 500 tanneries to show cause as to why they should not be closed down.

This indicative plan has based on the work of field/park directors and their colleagues in the eight protected areas, and of various non-governmental organisations involved in carrying out PRA in the proposed project area.

Laundered money will be used to clean slums in 454 towns. Black money to the tune of Rs 63 crore, which was deposited last year with the National Housing Bank (NHB) for immunity under the Voluntary

New varieties of rice that can be grown in flood hit areas are producing higher yields. Combined with other crops, they can give the farmer a better deal.

The results of a study on the fishery, biology, exploitation and mortality of hilsa shad (Hisa ilishu) are presented. The average annual landing of Hilsa ilisha for 1979 - 88 was 5710 tonnes forming 0.4% of the total landings. The major craft and gears and the contributions of different states are presented. Age at first maturity was estimated as 1.98 years. The details of spawning migrations, maturity stages and fecundity are discussed. The total mortality, natural mortality and fishing mortality coefficients were obtained as 1.71,0.704 and 0.9444 respectively.

SOMEWHERE in the Ayodhya hills of Bengal's Purulia district, a scorpion stung the wits out of me. My adivasi companion, Sukhchand, still in his teens, rubbed a poultice made up of some leaves on

Kolkata Municipal Corporation has an area of 185 km2 and the Kolkata Metropolitan Area is spread over 1,750 km2 with 15 million people. Pollution levels in Kolkata are high and on the rise. The city will have to take steps to reduce motorisation, so that it can deal with congestion and air toxins. The city is constrained by the road space – it has less than 10 per cent of its land area under roads, against Delhi’s 21 per cent. Therefore, even though the city has fewer cars than Delhi the result is the same – growing congestion and pollution.

Pages