Sustainability Outlook Headlines

India losing green cover more rapidly study

pThe worldrsquos forests have shrunk by three per cent since 1990 mdash an area equivalent to the size of South Africa mdash with India among the countries losing green cover more rapidly a new study has warnedp

pThe globersquos forests have shrunk despite significant improvements in conservation over the past decade researchers saidp

pThe UNrsquos Global Forest Resources Assessment GFRA 2015 that released last week showed that while the pace of forest loss has slowed the damage over the past 25 years has been considerablep

pTotal forest area has declined by three per... Read more..

IFCs Suryoday in rural Rajasthan

pIFCrsquos Lighting India program that aims to provide safe affordable and quality solar lights to people with limited or no access to electricity is increasing the availability of solar lighting products in rural parts of Rajasthan through a consumer awareness campaign Suryodayp

pThe campaign delivered in partnership with solar productsrsquo rural distributor Frontier Markets has reached over 250 villages and about 15000 people in Sawai Madhopur Jhunjhunu Jaipur and Dhaulpur districts of Rajasthan IFC said in a statementp

pIFC a member of the World Bank Group is a global... Read more..

Rajasthan Government Signs MoUs Worth Rs 30530 Crore with Petroleum Companies

pAs a precursor to the forthcoming Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit 2015 the Government of Rajasthan has signed Memorandum of Understanding MOUs worth Rs 30530 crore with nine petroleum companiesin Jaipur The Union Minister of State Ministry of Petroleum amp Natural Gas nbspIndependent Charge Mr Dharmendra Pradhan the Chief Minister Rajasthan Ms VasundharaRaje Minister of State for Mines amp Petroleum Independent Charge Mr Rajkumar Rinwa and the Chief Secretary Government of Rajasthan Mr CS Rajan were present on the occasionp

pOn behalf of the Government the MOUs were signed... Read more..

Questions raised on wastetoenergy plant

pAlready facing opposition from villagers over setting up of solid waste management plant at Jamsher village of the district environmental experts have raised more questions on the project at a seminar organized by Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh of the SAD The MLA is also opposing the plant at the proposed sitep

pGopal Krishna of Toxic Watch raised questions not only on the location of the proposed plant but also compared it to chemical warfare stating it was a quottried tested and failedquot technologyp

pHe pointed out that a white paper issued by the Union ministry... Read more..

Bangladesh delegation in Tirupur

pA delegation of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association visited two common effluent treatment plants CETPs in the knitwear hub of Tirupur this morning to study the ZLD zero liquid discharge and understand how it can be implemented in the neighbouring countryp

pFaruque Hassan Senior VicePresident BGMEA led the delegation Appreciating the industryrsquos efforts and lauding the Pollution Control Boardrsquos online monitoring system he said the Bangladesh government is keen to implement the ZLD within the next four yearsnbspp

Polavaram project will be completed by 2018 Naidu

pThe interlinking of the Godavari and Krishna rivers and the completion of the Polavaram multipurpose project by 2018 will make Andhra Pradesh a droughtproof State according to N Chandrababu Naidu the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradeshp

pSpeaking at a public meeting at Ferry Village at Ibrahimpatnam near Vijayawada today where a pylon was erected and the water from the Godavari to the Krishna was formally supplied he said that the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Project taken up with an outlay of 1200 crore would help cultivate about 12 lakh acres of farm lands and add about 2000 crore per... Read more..

Wind energy eases power situation in Karnataka

pAvailability of wind energy has temporarily eased the power situation in Karnataka though it may not last for more than a weekp

pldquoDue to sudden windy conditions power situation in the State has eased a bit As of now we are getting 1100 MW Also we are able to get power through Jindal 800 MW and UPCL 1000 MWrdquo Energy Minister DK Shivakumar told Business Line ldquoWe are confident of avoiding power cuts during the GowriGanesha festivalrdquop

pstrong3500 MW shortfallstrongp

pThe State needs about 9500 MW of power while the shortfall is around 3500 MWp

pThe... Read more..

Delhi Metro and SunEdison join hands in a solar initiative

pYou may not own the sun but you can make it work for you That could very well be the motto of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation as it consciously inches forward to achieve new milestones in its solar missionp

pLast week it opened its new 13875 km long BadarpurEscorts Mujesar Metro Faridabad corridor with eight elevated railway stations that sported solar panels on their rooftops adding up to a total installed capacity of 19 MW on the routenbspp

pldquoThe project was executed in around 50 days This is the first railway line in the world which has an inbuilt solar... Read more..

Trials of batteryrun Starbus soon Nagpur

pAfter getting the country39s first ecofriendly bus and autorickshaw pilot projects the city is set to hold trial run of a batterypowered Starbus quotWe will see an electric Starbus plying in the city in a couple of monthsquot confirmed a senior officer from NMC39s transport departmentp

pThe officer told TOI that a Mumbaibased company has been assigned to convert the dieselrun bus into a batteryoperated one It will take almost two months for the company to modify the busp

pCitybased Sunil HiTech Engineers Limited SHEL had submitted a proposal to run electric buses to the... Read more..

Antarctic Oceans carbon dioxide absorption increased

pThe Antarctic Ocean has been absorbing increasing levels of carbon dioxide over the past decade a new study has found dispelling fears that the ocean39s carbon sink might have begun to quotsaturatequotp

pThe Antarctic Ocean also known as the Southern Ocean seasonally absorbs vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releases it back later in the yearp

pOn an annual average the seas surrounding Antarctica absorb significantly more CO2 than they release These seas remove a large part of the CO2 that human activities emit into the atmosphere thereby slowing down... Read more..

Indias INDCs to tackle climate change wont hit

pGovernment today said that India39s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions INDCs for Paris climate summit in December this year which are likely to be announced this month will not compromise the country39s socioeconomic goalsp

pquotIndia is set to announce its INDCs this month We are not likely to take sectoral commitments but will give an economy wide achievement and have made provisions and scope for each sector in INDCsquot Additonal Secretary in Environment Ministry Sushil Kumar saidp

pSpeaking at the 4th annual CII Climate Change Conference he said that 58... Read more..

BMC cancel Rs 500 cr garbage recycling project

pThe Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has canceled garbage recycling contract of Mulund dumping ground worth more than Rs 500 crore on Wednesday in their attempt to shut it down and restore the plot for other usep

pThere were frequent fire complaints at the dumping ground causing inconvenience to local residents The BMC will soon invite tender for scientific closure of the dumping ground It is also learned that the BMC may set up a waste to energy plant on a certain plot of the land in Mulund dumpingp

pquotThe dumping ground is very close to residential area and we were... Read more..