But is this really enough to supply electronic microsystems? The answer lies in a compact data-logger installed on board, designed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, Germany.

This compact system analyses and characterises usable energy – in this case, the oscillations created during the ride. Data logger includes an acceleration sensor, a GPS module, a micro-controller, an SD card and a WiFi interface.

Experts refer to this underlying technology as “energy harvesting.”

For instance, the vibrations generated by a high speed freight train could deliver enough energy to charge small electronic equipment: this is how the sensors that monitor temperatures in refrigerator cars, or GPS receivers, can receive the current they need to run, according to a Fraunhofer statement.

“We can use the data collected to design vibration converters, such as the piezoelectric generators, to feed the sensors, radio transmission receivers, tracking systems and other low-power-consuming devices with enough energy to power them,” explains the Fraunhofer group manager and engineer Peter Spies.

“The tracking systems in use to date run on just a battery. These batteries need constant replacement, but that involves a lot of effort and expense. Thanks to energy harvesting, we can replace the batteries and wiring,” adds Spies.

The energy “harvested” can be used for a great many other applications as well – to charge heart-rate monitors, sensors in washing machines and production plants, or measurement systems in cars to measure the air pressure in tires. The data logger is already in use in freight cars, trucks and machinery.

The researchers are showcasing a prototype of the data logger at the Sensor+Test 2012 trade fair, May 22-24 in Nuremberg, Germany.

The National Solar Mission is a major initiative of the Indian government to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing the country’s energy security challenge. Launched in 2010, it sets a target of 1,100 MW during the phase I by 2013 and 20,000 MW of installed solar generation by 2022.

The picture looks rosy when one looks at the growth of the solar energy market in India in the last two years and the vast potential the sector offers due to an abundance of sun (a good 300 solar days annually).

New solar energy investments in India increased to more than Rs.12,000 croreout (about $2.5 billion) in 2011, according to the Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

But things have become gloomy for the domestic industry, which is unable to catch up with global players, who get incentives like subsidies for exporting their products. China is dumping solar products in the market the world over at much cheaper rates and many countries are coming up with anti-dumping guidelines to give an edge to their domestic companies.

“There is massive potential for solar energy in India with over 30 percent of population still having no access to electricity. The government came up with the solar mission but unfortunately it remained silent on what role Indian solar companies can play,” Ajay Prakash Srivastava, president of Solar Energy Society of India (SESI), told IANS.

The ministry agrees that the manufacturing in India has suffered.

“I understand the manufacturing industry has suffered quite a bit and it’s a weak area in the mission,” said Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary in the ministry of new and renewable energy, the nodal agency to run the National Solar Mission. In this direction, he said, the government is planning an integrated approach during the second phase of the mission (2013-2017).

“The government can do something seeing the dramatic change in the sector with the price crashing,” Kapoor told IANS.

The industry got a ray of hope after New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah promised that the government would limit imports and encourage domestic manufacturing. But at the moment, the picture is gloomy.

According to SESI, domestic solar companies are running with only 15-20 percent of their capacity and even big companies likes Moser Baer, TATA BP and Indosolar have either shut down operations or are running into huge loses.

“A lot of companies invested in the solar energy market around the year 2000 when European countries called for clean energy and Indian companies made good profit. But now European markets have reached stagnation and China has taken the lead in providing products like thin films, solar photovoltaic and other products at much cheaper rates,” said Rajinder Kumar Kaura, secretary general of SESI.

SESI feels India has much better technology but there’s need for a level playing field, as China offers subsidies to their companies.

“The government should offer subsidies to domestic companies or put anti-dumping duty on foreign companies. The issue is that crores of rupees from India is going to foreign companies selling their products here and that is generating employment in those countries rather than here,” he said.

India should draft a policy where rather than importing solar products, foreign companies are asked to set up their units in India so that it can help generate jobs and the money stays in the country, said Kaura.

With the European Union and the US already planning anti-dumping guidelines, Indian industries have also approached the Director General of Anti-Dumping to come out with similar guidelines.

“The problem is there is oversupply of solar energy products and countries like China are exporting 95 percent of their manufactured solar products, thus increasing the competition and slashing the cost. There should be anti-dumping guidelines to help the domestic industry grow,” H.R. Gupta of the Solar Energy Manufacturers Association of India told IANS.

Recognising the problems, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy constituted a solar advisory panel headed by Anand Mahindra, managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra. The panel was set up in January.

The thrust of the committee’s mandate is ‘manufacture’, so that the Indian solar industry evolves with India-made equipment.

Although there is no timeframe for this panel to come out with solutions, industry people say they need quick solutions.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today she said, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) have developed following Indian Standards related to earthquake resistant design and construction techniques for various types of construction:

i. IS 1893 (Part-1):2000 – Criteria for earthquake resistant design of structures

ii. IS 4326:1993 – Earthquake Resistant Design and Construction of Buildings – Code of Practice

iii. IS 13827:1993 – Improving Earthquake Resistance of Earthen Buildings – Guidelines

iv. IS 13828:1993 – Improving Earthquake Resistance of Low Strength Masonry Buildings – Guidelines

v. IS 13920:1993 – Ductile Detailing of Reinforced Concrete Structures subjected to Seismic Forces – Code of Practice

vi. IS 13935:2009 – Repair and Seismic Strengthening of Buildings- Guidelines

She said, National Building Code 2005 brought out by BIS inter-alia gives provision for planning, design and construction of earthquake resistant construction techniques. Disaster Management Act 2005 is in place and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issues guidelines related to the earthquake safety from time to time. There is also a National Policy on Disaster Management 2009 which has been approved by the Union Cabinet on 22nd October, 2009.

Kumari Selja, to facilitate State Governments in making necessary amendments in their Town & Country Planning Acts, Development Control Rules and Bye-laws for safety against earthquake hazards, a Model Town and Country Planning Legislation, Zoning Regulation Development Control and Building Regulation/Bye-laws for safety against natural hazards have been prepared by an Expert Committee constituted by Ministry of Home Affairs. All the States have been advised to amend their respective Acts/Bye-laws/Regulations so that construction activities are regulated with respect to safety against earthquake hazards. Workshops have also been organized to help them in making necessary amendments.

The Minister said, Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) under the aegis of this Ministry has undertaken activities like propagation and demonstration of seismic retrofitting in important schools and hospitals in various regions including Delhi, to bring in greater awareness in this regard. ‘Land’ and ‘Colonisation’ are State subjects and therefore it is the primary responsibility of States to amend their existing regulations to make the requisite provisions for compulsory adoption, she added.

They wanted to break the record of 26,422 saplings planted in an hour in a Northern Ireland park two years ago.

Between 11 am and 12 noon, 100 men from the state’s forest department, Dogra Regiment and 135 Ecological Battalion (Territorial Army) planted the saplings on the banks of the Saralbhanga river.

The event was video-graphed in the presence of three independent observers and the footage would now be sent to Guinness World Records, said C. Ramesh Kumar, divisional forest officer of Haltugaon Forest Division under the Chirang Reserve Forest.

“We have contacted the Guinness authorities for recording the event. However, as per their norms, they advised us to engage independent observers from the area. We appointed three persons, including former Kokrajhar Kendriya Vidyalaya principal of B. Lal and former Kokrajhar DIET principal C. Brahma,” Kumar told IANS.

“Our objective is not just to establish a record. Our motto is ‘plant a tree, save a life’. We want to highlight the loss of trees in our area and impress upon the civil society to do its duty to save the forests,” he said.

The men carried out several rehearsals at the Dogra Regiment base in Kokrajhar to successfully complete the task, he said.

“We are hopeful of breaking Northern Ireland’s record. The men targeted to plant 50,000 saplings but only 40,855 could planted be within the stipulated time,” Brahma, one of independent observers, said.

“We are going to send the video for verification and hope they (Guinness authorities) declare the decision in one month,” said Kumar.

In 2010, 100 men from the Ireland-Western Health and Social Care Trust One had planted 26,422 trees in an hour at the Gransha Park.

India’s northeastern region has lost about 549 square km of forest cover despite a Supreme Court ban on unauthorised tree felling, says a 2011 Forest Survey of India report.

The project E-eye (electronic eye) is a software-based system where 10 high resolution thermal and infrared cameras mounted on a tower are spread across the 350 sq km area of the park that falls in a highly sensitive zone bordering Uttar Pradesh. The cameras capture image of objects weighing more than 20 kg and generate alerts if they are crossing the boundary. The alerts are sent to the control room in the park and the NTCA office in Delhi.

All the cameras have been placed in positions from where they cover the entire 350 sq km of the area and can be controlled by NTCA officials sitting in Delhi.

According to the NTCA, due to shortage of field staff it was getting difficult to cover the entire 800 sq km of the Corbett area and installation of cameras has brought down the incidence of infiltration in the area drastically.

The cost of the project is around Rs.3.5 crore.

“It is for the first time in the world that a surveillance system of this type is being used in any national park. The project was launched some five-six months back to check poaching of tigers in the park,” Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Forests and joint director of NTCA, S.P. Yadav told IANS.

The cameras monitor the area 24X7 and send images even during the night.

“It has helped in checking infiltration, poaching and illegal mining in the area. As soon as the control room receives alerts and images of people or vehicles inside the area, an alert team is sent to the location,” he said.

Initially, the cameras have been placed on the Uttar Pradesh border as that was the sensitive area where several incidents of infiltration and poaching were reported in the past.

The NTCA will monitor the system for a year before replicating the project in other sensitive areas of India’s 41 tiger reserves which houses a total of 1,706 tigers.

Yadav says that there have been incidents where people have been arrested for mining illegally in the area and it has instilled fear among the locals and they have stopped venturing into the protected zone.

The NTCA was helped in this project by a Pune-based company, Binomial Solutions Private Limited, set up by a group of young engineers and management graduates.

“It was my love for wild animals that made us come up with a system that can help in monitoring the park even in the night and sitting several kilometres away. It is a fool-proof anti-poaching system that gathers information, does processing, filtering and then sends alerts,” Ravikant Singh, CEO of the company, told IANS.

The cameras can capture the thermal and normal image of the body mass irrespective of forest density and inclement weather conditions.

The company is also working with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to develop a parallel system for counting of tigers.

“Besides, we have got the tender for installing a similar system in another tiger reserve and are also doing a case study in Assam’s Kaziranga National park,” said the 33-year-old techie.

The Energy Conservation Act, 2001 is the most important multi-sectoral legislation in India and is intended to promote efficient use of energy in India. The Act specifies energy consumption standards for equipment and appliances, prescribes energy consumption norms and standards for consumers, prescribes energy conservation building codes for commercial buildings and establishes a compliance mechanism for energy consumption norms and standards.

In order to implement the various provisions of the EC Act, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) was operationalised with effect from 1^st March, 2002. The EC Act provides a legal framework for energy efficiency initiatives in the country.  The Act has mandatory as well as promotional initiatives. The Bureau is spearheading the task of improving the energy efficiency in various sectors of the economy through regulatory and promotional mechanism. The primary objective of BEE is to reduce energy intensity in the Indian economy. This is to be demonstrated by providing policy framework as well as through public-private partnership.

During the 11^th Plan Period, the Government of India initiated a number of programmes to promote energy efficiency. This has resulted in avoided generation capacity of 10,000 MW in the last five years. Some of the principal programmes launched included Standards and Labeling of Equipment and Appliances, Energy Conservation Building Code, Energy Efficiency in Industry and Residential Lighting.

Standards and Labeling of Equipment and Appliances

Labeling has been introduced for 16 major energy consuming appliances, providing users with information on the energy use of a model and its relative efficiency. Labeling has been mandatory for 4 products- air conditioners, refrigerators, distribution transformers and tube lights. This programme in 2010-11 has led to saving of 3718 million units of electricity equivalent to avoided capacity generation of 2162MW. With the market for star-rated labeled products growing, there is now a move towards making appliances super efficient i.e. appliances that save as much as 30-50% energy than the most energy efficient versions available in the market. To accelerate this shift and make such appliances affordable, BEE is in the process of launching the Super Energy Efficient Program (SEEP) that would provide manufacturers incentives to produce super efficient appliances. It forms a part of Market Transformation for Energy Efficiency (MTEE) initiative, one of the four initiatives of the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency. Super efficient appliances have a high cost of production as well as uncertainty of demand. The program envisions that incremental cost can be compensated by incentives on one hand and cost reduction due to economy of scale on the other.

Energy Conservation Building Code

A National Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) has been prepared for the design of new commercial buildings. Over 700 ECBC compliant buildings are at various stages of construction. In addition, performance contracting through Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) is being promoted to enable the retrofit of existing buildings so as to reduce their energy consumption. It has resulted in electricity saving of 22.45 million units in 2010-11 which is equivalent to avoided capacity generation of 4.27 MW.

Energy Efficiency in Industry

The Government has notified the energy efficieny improvement targets for the 478 most energy intensive industrial units in 8 sectors. Together, they account for about one third of the total energy consumption in India. Issued under the Energy Conservation Act, 2011 the targets are  to be achieved by 2014-15. Overall, industrial units used 166 million tonnes of oil equivalent energy in 2009-10, which has to be reduced by 6.6 million tonnes of oil equivalent in the target year. The targets, however, are not defined in terms of absolute energy use reduction, but in terms of the amount of energy used to produce a unit of the product. The sectors covered by the notification are iron and steel, cement, fertilizers, aluminum, pulp and paper, chlor-alkali, textiles and thermal power stations. Within each sector, only plants using more than a specified amount of energy are included in the targeted list. An interesting feature of the programme is that these units which are able to achieve greater energy efficiency improvements within the specified targets can capture the excess savings through the issuance of Energy Saving Certificates. These certificates can be traded and bought by other units covered by the programme who may find it expensive to meet their targets through their own actions. Units which are unable to meet their target, either through their own action or through purchase of certificates will be liable for repayment of penalty. The penalty will be related to shortfall in target achievement. A penalty of Rs.10,154 will be levied for shortfall of 1 tonne of oil equivalent in the achievement of the target.

Residential Lighting

The Bachat Lamp Yojana (BLY) provides energy-efficient Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) to households at the cost of incandescent bulbs as the former are expensive and hence not able to penetrate in the domestic sector. Over 20 million CFLs have already been distributed under the BLY programme. The scheme targets to replace 400 million bulbs leading to a possible reduction of 6000MW and about 24 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Besides, the Government is also promoting innovative schemes like Energy Conservation Awards etc. In order to accelerate Demand Side Management measures in agricultural sector, BEE has initiated an Ag DSM programme in which pump set efficiency upgradation would be carried out through Public-Private Partnership mode. The BEE has also registered a country-wide Programme of Activities (POA) under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which enables quick registration of each investor led project as a CDM project under the POAs. (PIB Features).

Absence of clear and firm policies at the Centre and state levels could drive investments away to other countries, they said while addressing a seminar organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The demand for natural resources is constantly growing due to increasing levels of consumption, infrastructure development and economic growth. Management of resources including exploitation of minerals has to be thus closely integrated with overall development of the country.

With this backdrop, senior executives were debating whether natural resources should be auctioned or allocated on first-cum-first-serve (FCFS) basis. Auctioning generates more revenue for the government which is needed to cross-subsidise poor and disadvantaged consumers in some other sectors.

However, auctioning also increases costs for every one and may not be the only way to allocate resources. On the other hand, FCFS mechanism lacks transparency and could result in loss of revenues for the government.

Manufacturing companies globally have been facing shortage of minerals and metals. Energy, automotive and utility sectors face supply instability while aviation, high technology and infrastructure segments are expected to witness increasing supply disruptions by 2016.

The risk of scarcity across these sectors is expected to rise significantly, leading to potential disruptions in the next five years. However, this could also create opportunities for competitive advantage through innovation and better management, including recycling of resources.

Among those present during the seminar were: Mr T.P. Rao from the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, Mr S.K. Chowdhary, former chairman of Coal India Limited, Mr Amitabh Mudgal, senior vice-president for marketing at Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited, Ms Archana Sehgal, advisor for external relations at Rio Tinto India, Mr A.S. Firoz, chief economist at the joint plant committee of steel ministry, Mr Ashok Jaitly, fellow and director of water resources division at TERI, Mr Rajat Kathuria, consultant at ICRIER, and Mr Arun Kumar, senior advisor for policy at ASSOCHAM.

Appearing for the Madhya Pradesh government, counsel Vibha Makhija told the Supreme Court’s forest bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and C.K. Prasad that funds have already been spent on making the Kunopal sanctuary habitable for the Asiatic lions as per the project conceived in 1992.

Makhija said Uttar Prasdesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were chosen to identify the sanctuary and it was Kunopal sanctuary that was finally identified for translocation of the lion.

The Gujarat government earlier this month told the Supreme Court that it could not consent to the shifting of its Asiatic lions from Gir forests as there was no proper study on translocation of the big cats.

The apex court was told that “Gujarat’s objection to the translocation can’t be permitted”.

“All experts have agreed to the desirability and urgency of the project. It is not a national but an international project.”

Justice Prasad said it was not the “desirability” but the “necessity”.

The move to shift some of the Asiatic lions from Gir forest was made by the wild life experts fearing that the entire lion population would get extinct because of some genetic, environmental reasons or outbreak of an epidemic.

The Madhya Pradesh counsel said that for preparing Kunopal sanctuary, 24 villages have already been shifted.

On the availability of the water bodies, the court was told that there were several of them and Kuno river flowed through the sanctuary that constantly recharges water bowls.

Makhija disputed the Gujarat government argument on the competence and will of Madhya Pradesh to protect and nurture the wild beast and said tigers that were once lost in the area were now flourishing in Panna tiger reserve.

The arguments will continue April 23.

This is the finding from a new study, which also claims that N2O emissions from the industrial and agricultural sectors will also need to be cut by 50 percent if targets are to be met.

The findings have been made by Eric A. Davidson of The Woods Hole Research Center, Massachusetts, and demonstrate the magnitude of changes needed to stabilize atmospheric N2O concentrations as well as improve the diets of the growing human population, the journal Environmental Research Letters reported.

N2O is the third highest contributor to climate change behind carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4); however, it poses a greater challenge to mitigate as nitrogen is an essential element for food production, according to a university statement.

It is also the most potent of these three greenhouse gases as it is a much better absorber of infrared radiation; however, the total man-made emissions are about six million tonnes of nitrogen as N2O compared to 10 billion tonnes of carbon as CO2.

The main sources of N2O are from the spreading of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers onto agricultural soils and storage and use of livestock manure. The nitrogen contained in fertilizers and manure is broken down by microbes that live in the soil and released into the atmosphere as N2O.

Davidson believes that N2O emissions can be reduced through better management of fertilizer and manure sources, as well as reducing the developed world’s per capita meat consumption to relieve pressure on fertilizer demand and reduce growth in the amount of manure being produced.

Bypass surgery improves blood supply to the heart muscle. However, during the surgery that is usually performed with the heart stopped, the organ can be damaged by prolonged lack of blood flow, increasing the patient’s risk of heart attack.

The new findings suggest that curcumins may reduce such risks when added to traditional drug treatments.

The results need to be confirmed through further research, said Wanwarang Wongcharoen from Chiang Mai University in Thailand, who led the study, the American Journal of Cardiology reported.

Researchers at the Thai university studied 121 patients who had non-emergency bypass surgery between 2009 and 2011. Half the patients were given one-gram curcumin capsules to take four times a day, starting three days before their surgery and continuing for five days afterwards. The other half took the same number of drug-free placebo capsules.

The researchers found that during their post-bypass hospital stays, 13 percent of the patients who’d been taking curcumins had a heart attack, compared to 30 percent in the placebo group.

After accounting for any initial pre-surgery differences, Wongcharoen and his colleagues calculated that people on curcumins had a 65 percent lower chance of heart attack.

“It’s very, very encouraging,” said Bharat Aggarwal of the study. Aggarwal works with the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, which studies the use of curcumins in cancer therapy, according to the Daily Mail.

According to researchers, it is likely that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin may have helped limit heart damage in the patients.

Giving further details on the matter in Rajya Sabha today Minister of State (I/C) for Environment and Forests Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan said the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) ensure the compliance of environmental standards in an industry under the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. Under Environmental Surveillance Squad (ESS) scheme, CPCB undertakes inspections of 17 categories of HPIs to seek compliance of environmental standards.

She said in case of non-compliance, directions are issued by CPCB to concerned SPCB under Section 18(1)(b) of the Water Act, 1974 or the Air Act, 1981 to ensure compliance of standards. Actions in the form of show cause notices, closure orders and prosecutions are initiated by the SPCBs against the erring industries. Sometimes, directions are issued directly under section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 by CPCB or by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Giving further details in Rajya Sabha today in response to a question Minister of State (I/C) for Environment and Forests Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan stated that conservation of rivers is an ongoing and collective effort of the Central and State Governments. This Ministry is supplementing the efforts of the State Governments in pollution abatement in identified river stretches through the centrally sponsored National River Conservation Plan, which presently covers 40 rivers in 190 towns spread over 20 states. Pollution abatement schemes implemented under the Plan include interception, diversion and treatment of sewage; low cost sanitation works on river banks; electric/improved wood crematoria etc.

Minister of State (I/C) for Environment and Forests Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan further stated that in order to improve eco-system services and to gear up afforestation & regeneration of degraded forest tracts, an area of about 10 million ha is envisaged to be tackled under Green India Mission (GIM) during 12th and 13th Five Year Plan period. The 12th Plan outlay of NAP has also been proposed as Rs.10,000 crore against the outlay of Rs.2000 crore during 11th Plan. In addition, various State Governments are also implementing schemes for improvement of degraded forest utilizing State funds and externally aided projects.

Minister of State (I/C) for Environment and Forests Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan further stated in Rajya Sabha today that in the India State of Forest Report, the forests are classified into three categories such as Very Dense Forest (VDF), Moderately Dense Forest (MDF) & Open Forests not as degraded forests.  The area covered by Very Dense Forests (VDF) is 83,471 km² (2.54%), that with Moderately Dense Forests (MDF) is 320,736 km² (9.76%) and Open Forests is 287,820 km²(8.75%).

She said forests are defined legally in accordance to the provisions of Indian Forest Act, 1927 such as Reserve Forests, Protected Forests and Village Forests.

The Minister, however, clarified that the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has extended the scope of forest and “forest” must be understood according to its dictionary meaning.  This description cover all statutorily recognized forests, whether designated as reserved, protected or otherwise, including any area recorded as forest in the Government records irrespective of the ownership, for the purpose of Section 2 (i) of the Forest Conservation Act.

In India State of Forest Report, the different categories of forests are defined for assessment of forest cover on the basis of tree canopy density which are as follows:-

FOR MORE READING. . .

No international assistance has been sought/received to commission/upgrade existing Tsunami Warning forecasting ability. However, India has signed an Implementation Arrangement with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA to assess the NOAA’s Tsunami model performance vis-à-vis the model of NTWS over the Indian Ocean.

To mark thirty years of Indian presence in Antarctica a scientific expedition to South Pole was launched from the Indian Station ‘Maitri’ at Antarctica on 13th November, 2010. An eight member team comprising geologists, glaciologist, geophysicist apart from a doctor and vehicle engineers after travelling a journey of 2350 kms in 10 days have made it to South Pole on 22nd November, 2010. Entire mainland coastline of India along with Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands are vulnerable to Tsunami.

Minister of Human Resource Development, Minister of Science and Technology, Minister of Earth Sciences and Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology Shri Kapil Sibal replied to a question by Shri Shatrughan Sinha in Lok Sabha in a written reply.

]]> http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/tsunami-waves-and-national-tsunami-warning-system/feed/ 0 http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/the-earthquake-and-tsunami-in-japan-a-wake-up-call-for-india-nc-vij-and-nvc-menon/ http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/the-earthquake-and-tsunami-in-japan-a-wake-up-call-for-india-nc-vij-and-nvc-menon/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:30:07 +0000 India Current Affairs http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/?p=21684 On 11 th Mar 11 literally the hell struck the north eastern coastal areas of Japan in the form of a devastating earthquake of 9 magnitude which triggred a powerful tsunami with 10 meter high  waves which tavelled 10 km inland at jet speed. .  It has left 4.4 million households in  Northeastern Japan without electricity and about 1.4 million households without  water. 450,000 people have been shifted to temporary relief shelters.  As of today,  the number of people dead are 10,000and reported missing are approximately  17,004. The economic losses are estimated  to be a staggering amount of US$ 300  Billion plus.

The crisis in Fukushima  –Daiichi reactors continues unabated and the  higher  radiation levels have forced authorities to order evacuation from within 12 km of  the plant. The entire world is seeing in this possible nuclear  crisis a repeat of  Chernobyl and cannot bring itself to accept it.  Already Germany has announced the  shut down of its 7 oldest nuclear reactors and China has put further approvals of  fresh reactors on hold.

Even in the face of this calamity, the reality is that no „at risk‟ country in the world  is better prepared than Japan to face disasters of this magnitude.   We will recall that  in the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, over 238,000 lives were lost and in  Haiti in a 7 magnitude earthquake in January 2010, over 300,000 people were  killed. While it is not possible to tame the fury of 10km high sea waves moving at  jet speed, the fact is that Japan has coped rather well with the earthquake risks and  vulnerability.  All that is because of the efficacy of the strict compliance regime of  the building codes and an efficient early warning system instituted in Japan (on line  since 2007), which have restricted the damage to buildings and infrastructure and  saved countless lives.   The foreshocks which were picked up  by the Japanese  warning system gave a 90 seconds warning to people in Tokyo and saved the lives  of several hundreds of thousands of people who came out into the streets and  escaped to large open grounds away from falling debris.

Where does India stand in terms of preparedness ?

With the 2004 Tsunami acting as the catalyst, India  enacted a path breaking  Disaster Management Act in 2005 and a National Disaster Management Authority  at the national level headed by the Prime Minister himself and similar authorities at  the state level with Chief Ministers as the Chair Persons were set up. This made  available an institutional mechanism to meet disaster management requirements at  all levels.  It is also a fact that a substantial amount of work has been done and these authorities are functional at all levels, albeit to differing levels of efficacy.  So how  well is India prepared?  To begin with the pluses first.

A state of the art Tsunami Warning Centre has already been set up at Hyderabad. A  “Policy on Disaster Management” has been enunciated and released by the Prime  Minister himself and  over 18 elaborate Guidelines covering all natural, man made  disasters and related thematic issues have been issued down to district levels for  implementation.  A World Bank aided Cyclone Mitigation Project, with a starting  outlay of approximately Rs 1800 Cr has already been approved by the Government of India for implementation.  This will provide cyclone shelters, shelter belt  plantation along the coast line, a real time warning system etc in states of Andhra  Pradesh, Orissa and Andaman & Nicobar island territory to start with.   In the same  breath, it must be mentioned that there are a large number of critical mitigation  projects like for Earthquake, School Safety and fail safe communication network at  national level awaiting Government approval for a long time: a time loss which, a  disaster prone country like India can ill afford.

A substantial beginning has been made towards better medical preparedness but there is a long way to go.. The subject of Disaster Management is going to be   included shortly as a part of the educational curriculum in all types of education be  it technical, scientific, medical or even agriculture.  This will ultimately create a  powerful cadre of millions of well informed youth in the country.

And most notably, a modern, well equipped and dedicated National Disaster  Response Force of over 10,000 personnel has been operationalised   (8 battalions  from the four CPMF) to meet the challenges of natural disasters and credentials  well proven. Shortly this number   will be raised to 12 battalions and  all these will  be equipped and trained to handle both natural and man made disasters.  And lastly  requisite funds have been provided by the XIII Finance Commission to  the  municipalities for raising their fire fighting capabilities.

Earthquakes pose us greatest worry

Because of the twin disasters in Japan, the debate in India is now mainly focused on  the safety of our nuclear plants and our possible future course with regard to the  nuclear energy.  The weaknesses in our cities and other infrastructures to withstand  such earthquakes are being relatively overlooked. It will be a great folly. The fact is  that while India is somewhat reasonably prepared to handle challenges posed by  cyclones and floods and our track record in that regard is reasonable, we are in a  bad shape of preparedness as far as the earthquakes are concerned.

Experts in seismology world over are generally agreed that a major earthquake in  the Himalayan belt, is a live possibility in the not too distant future.   229  districts(more than  1/3 rd   of the total in India) fall under Zones IV and V.  Major cities like Guwahati and Srinagar are in Zone V, Delhi and  Chandigarh  in Zone IV and Kolkata, Chennai and  Bombay in Zone III  which  reflects the high level of  risks.

In disasters we need to prepare for worst case scenarios.  Yet some very serious  shortcomings persist  in the preparedness levels because of our overall complacency  towards this subject as explained subsequently.

∙ .The enforcement and compliance of the earthquake-resistant building codes for  the built environment and all other types of infrastructure is woefully lacking  because of vested interests and needs to be improved substantially. The studies have  shown that presently in case of a 7.5/8 Richter or plus magnitude earthquake  scenario in a city like Delhi, tens  of thousands of buildings would  collapse  and  hundreds of thousands would face serious structural damages.

∙  While all new projects have now to necessarily go through disaster safety audit at  the planning  and approval stages, there is an immediate need for the structural  safety audit of all old critical infrastructure facilities like dams, power supply,  telecom facilities, flyovers, railway lines and railway bridges so that they can be  seismically strengthened and retrofitted on priority.

∙ There is a need to expeditiously carry out risk assessment and vulnerability  analysis, strengthen multi-hazard preparedness, and prepare disaster management  plans at national, state, district and block levels.  This exercise was commenced  some time back and needs to be finished urgently and then rehearsed Army style.

∙ The fact that a large number of mitigation projects like Earthquake mitigation  project, School Safety, Fail safe Communication project etc are awaiting  Government approval reflects a systemic weakness.  This approval system needs to  be re-examined and projects given expeditious clearances bypassing the endless red  tape.  The financial requirements for these projects will be approximately Rs 25,000  Cr over next five years, which is really a pittance,when viewed in light of risks. It  is also ironic that it is the poorer segment of the society which is the hardest hit in  all types of disasters.

∙ There is also a pressing urgency of creating a reserve of stores for meeting the   housing requirements of more than  3-4 lac displaced  people in the wake of any major disaster, in terms of  tentage, shelters, blankets, hygiene, water and power etc.   It is difficult to procure these stores off the shelf in the short time available.   .

With all the above aspects seriously attended to, we are still likely to take between  10 to 15 years to reach a minimum satisfactory level in terms of preparedness for  earthquakes. We can also not forget that other countries like Japan and the USA are  at least thirty to forty years ahead of us in this field.

The Nuclear Energy Dilemma

What lessons can we draw from this tragedy in Japan?  First, even though nuclear  plants are constructed with many layers of inbuilt safety against Earthquakes of the  Magnitude of 7.5 or 8 (should now be raised to 9), it is impossible for them to  withstand a double onslaught of earthquake  and tsunami.    Two, multiple safety  systems do not rule out accidents as reactors can be disabled by a single root cause,  like Tsunami in the Japanese case.  Despite all the inbuilt redundancies, failure of  one single system like power back up in this case can become most difficult to  handle.  Third, problems in one reactor can add to the problems in another.  In view  of the above, the prompt decision of the Government to carry out a safety audit of  all our nuclear plants is commendable.  However, to be of value, it should be  imperative that it involves independent experts from outside the Atomic energy  establishment.  The current thinking of having multiple reactors at one site, as it  believably makes them more economical and easier to build, also needs to be reexamined. These plants also need to be located a minimum of 10-15 Km away from  the coast line. Internally, there is a need to consider providing more wherewithal to  the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) in terms of  total autonomy,  self  sufficiency in man-power, resources and finances to be more effective.  The  exercise begun to enforce some measures in the wake of Mayapuri radiation  incident need to be implemented without any loss of time including approved  expansion of Emergency Response Centers and equipping of a large number of  police stations with dosimeters in cities with over two million population.  Finally,  the most important of all, we as a nation may also like to take another well  considered call on the usefulness of nuclear energy, because of its attendant risks and strengthen the safety aspects in  both existing and proposed nuclear installations  in earthquake- and tsunami-prone areas.

 Conclusion

 There is no gainsaying that we are much behind the world in our levels of  preparedness to meet the challenges of grave disasters especially in case of  earthquakes.    While the enactment of the Disaster Management Act 2005 was a  much laudable pioneering step by the Government; to be result oriented , the follow  up needs to be far more vigorous.  We now know the path which must be traversed  and the strategy stands evolved, but we need to shift to top gear to attend to  preparedness deficits on crash priority to save lives. Business as usual attitude of the  officialdom and non- availability of the dedicated disaster management staff at  all  levels (generally an addendum to revenue departments in the states) pose  insurmountable problems. We need to remember that a catastrophe like this one is  not only for others, it can also strike us. The clock may be already ticking !To prepare ourselves better, the Government needs to exhibit political will to take  firm decisions like enforcement of building codes, drawing up of town planning  plans and implementing them. They also need to include the subject of Disaster  Management in their „National Priority Agenda‟. Finally, it is important that the  Disaster Management Authorities, at all levels, are provided with genuine teeth,  functional autonomy and requisite financial backup as they completely lack these  today.

(Gen NC Vij is a former Chief of Army Staff and  also the founder Vice Chairman of National  Disaster Management Authority. He is also a  distinguished fellow at Vivekanand International  foundation.    NVC Menon is  also a founder  member of the above  Authority(NDMA) and a Prof. of Disaster Management).

Source : National  Disaster Management Authority , India

Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha he said that as per the seasonal forecasts issued by the Frontier Research Institute, Japan in February 2012, India is expected to experience below normal rainfall during the coming monsoon season of 2012. However, forecasts from the United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and United Kingdom Meteorological Office (UKMO) suggest above normal rainfall during the monsoon season of 2012. The present skill of these dynamical models predicting Indian monsoon seasonal rainfall has not yet reached satisfactory levels.

The Minister further stated that the present level of operational acceptability of error margin is of 5% for the forecasts of all-India seasonal monsoon rainfall. The forecast verification of last 3-years suggests that only during 2009 the error margin was higher than 5% due to persistence of warmer sea surface temperature anomaly over equatorial Pacific Ocean (El Nino) beyond the expected duration as envisaged at the time (April 2009) of finalizing Monsoon-2009 seasonal rainfall forecast.

Dr. Ashwani Kumar revealed that currently, IMD uses a suite of statistical models for prediction of seasonal monsoon rainfall over India. Such a mechanism is continued to be used due to non-availability of a suitable coupled ocean-atmospheric model with a proven performance of capturing the realistic monsoon rainfall variability over India.

The Minister assured the House saying that we are examining the performance of coupled ocean-atmospheric models of NCEP, USA and UKMO for their suitability for seasonal monsoon rainfall predictions.

The above targets are at national level. The details are given below:-

Target of JNNSM

Number of solar lights installed in the country  are given below:-

This information was given by the Minister of New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha

State/ UT- wise nos. of family type biogas plants installed under National Biogas and Manure ManagementProgramme (NBMMP) during 2009-10 to 2011-12 (up to February , 2012)

# Achievements of KVIC distributed amongst the States and included in respective columns.

As per the report received from the State, about 92% of 39,967 biogas plants installed are in working condition in the State of Himachal Pradesh.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has supported efficient biogas stoves through research and development projects. Biogas stoves with BIS specifications are produced by  about 10 manufacturers in the country. Beneficiaries have the choice to procure the stoves either from biogas programme implementing  department/ agency or purchase directly from the approved manufacturers of biogas stoves.

MNRE is encouraging private sector participation in setting up of renewable energy power projects through various financial and fiscal incentives.

MNRE provides capital subsidy or generation based incentives depending upon category of the proposal. Besides, fiscal incentives such as excise and custom duty concessions, preferential tariff on sale of power and ten years tax holiday are eligible for setting up of renewable energy power projects. Renewable power obligation (RPO) and renewable energy certificates (RECs), clean development mechanism (CDM) are the other instruments for promotion of renewable energy power projects.

This information was given by the Minister of New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha

Zhu Yongsheng locked up Zhu Lin with two of the world’s most dangerous animals as part of a pet show in Urumqi in northwest China, China Daily reported Friday.

Zhu Lin, dressed in army fatigues, touches the wolves while locked in the cage in front of the audience. The photo has sparked outrage online.

“Some people say I am cruel to my daughter, but I just want to make her strong,” said her father, who is manager of a training base for dogs and wolves in Urumqi.

He claims Zhu Lin has trained more than 10 dogs and four wolves since she was three years old.

“Finnair is focusing on traffic between Europe and Asia where we are able to offer the fastest, most direct and therefore lowest emission routes,” the carrier said.

“We take environmental aspects into account. We systematically gather and assess information about the environmental impact of the services we provide,” Kati Ihamaki, vice president, sustainable development, said in a statement.

“Sustainability and corporate responsibility play into every aspect of Finnair’s business,” said Ihamaki.

The report said the airline was recycling more than 60 percent of the in-flight waste and was focusing on recycling used glass, paper and metals.

“On our flights, we have sorted aluminium, glass and collect energy waste which can be used as an industrial energy source. The proportion of recycling of waste has risen to more than 60 percent in Finnair Group.”

Finnair first started to report on environmental sustainability in 1997, and in 2008 became one of the first airlines to report according to global reporting initiative guidelines.

“Every time you pick up a Tetra Pak carton you have the opportunity to create a greener tomorrow. Made primarily from renewable resources, Tetra Pak cartons can be recycled into benches, chairs, books, roofing sheets and much more, after you dispose of them,” the company said in a statement Thursday.

“True to our motto, ‘Protects What’s Good’, Tetra Pak’s commitment to consumers, customers and all stakeholders goes beyond protecting the contents in a Tetra Pak carton. Tetra Pak is actively promoting initiatives that encourage environmental awareness and sustainability,” Jaideep Gokhale, Tetra Pak’s communications and environment director for South Asia markets, said.

“This campaign aims to increase awareness about the benefits of recycling Tetra Pak cartons and how they are ‘Good for You’ by providing good nutrition and how they are ‘Good for the Earth’ by being recyclable,” Gokhale added.

The pilot campaign will be promoted through print and radio activations through 100 schools in Delhi-NCR for one month.

Driving this message are 170,000 school children who are part of Project SEARCH, an environment education programme, initiated jointly by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Tetra Pak.

“Leading environmentalist and polar explorer Robert Swan will be visiting India soon to motivate and encourage children of Project SEARCH who are actively promoting environment sustainability. While these students are spreading sustainability across seven cities where Project SEARCH is present, our new campaign will help create more visibility and awareness,” Gokhale said.

American researchers compared archived recordings of sparrow song from the 1960s with tapes made in the same area of San Francisco in 2005.

They also looked at data on noise levels in the city and the number of cars crossing the Golden Gate bridge, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.

Professor David Luther discovered modern sparrows are more shrill than their ancestors, and that the number of songs or “dialects” sung in the area has fallen.

In the 1960s, the white-crowned sparrows studied sung three dialects. Thirty years later that had fallen to two and today only one dominates, known as the San Francisco dialect.

It is the highest-pitched of the three, and the researchers believe it was the easiest one to adapt so it could be heard over background noise, the Mail said.

Luther, of George Mason University in Virginia, said that while other studies have looked at the differences between city and country birdsong, his, published in the journal Animal Behaviour, is the first to track songs in one area over time.

In a previous study, scientists found that great tits in noisier parts of the Netherlands have higher-pitched songs than those in more peaceful areas.

Another found that Berlin’s nightingales sing up to 14 decibels louder than those in nearby forests. The dawn chorus is actually getting louder as city birds sing louder to be heard over noise such as speed cars and car horns, the newspaper added.

“If you take into account the land use, CO2-emissions and artificial manure, the results of the biofuels are less sustainable than presumed,” it said in a report Tuesday.

According to the report, biofuels from soya oil and palm oil are the least sustainable.

CE Delft indicates that biofuels from cooking oil are the best biological alternative. In the Netherlands, this is the most used of all biofuels.

The translation has been done by a Polish lady, who has done her PhD in Sanskrit. Though there is a translation of the Gita in Polish, it was translated from English in the beginning of the 20th century.

The present translation has been done by Anna Racinska, who has spent almost a decade in Varanasi to master the nuances of Sanskrit. A late bloomer, Racinska is in her 60s and completed her doctorate from the Oriental Institute of Warsaw University two years ago.

Racinska, a mother of four grown-up children, took interest in Sanskrit on the prompting of her husband. Today in their home, all the children and parents speak Sanskrit fluently, and they converse normally in Sanskrit. It may seem odd to outsiders, but it is normal routine in their home.

These days the youngest sibling has adopted an Indian name, Yoganand, and he lives in Varanasi. He and his mother were learning Sanskrit together for many years. Another son, Phillip, is doing his doctorate in Sanskrit and has visited India more than 12 times. These children collect their own money to go to India and they give private lessons in Hindi and Sanskrit in Warsaw. Such is their commitment and passion for Sanskrit.

“Her dedication and her labour of love have done wonders. It is a great achievement for Anna Racinska that she remained unknown for many years, and then all of a sudden she has obliged us in Poland with a great translation of a great book,” said Janusz Krzyzowski, a leading Indologist and president of the Indo-Polish Cultural Committee.

“We really feel proud of Racinska’s monumental work. No doubt her selflessness is visible in the way she has fulfilled her long-cherished wish at this stage of her life. But she deserves our praise and we feel proud of her achievement. We sincerely hope she will produce some more outstanding research books for the coming generations,” said Monika Kapila Mohta, Indian ambassador to Poland.
The Bhagavad Gita, often called the “perennial philosophy”, is already available in over 50 languages.

At the same time, business houses must use technology innovations in a manner cordial to developmental goals and environmental protection, he said at a conference organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

Mr Mauskar said there should be optimum use of finite resources like land and power generation while constructing buildings with least carbon footprint. “There is increased need of building infrastructure that can sustain the ever-increasing exodus from rural to urban areas. Urbanisation must go hand-in-hand with environmental sustainability measures.”

The country has 23 cities with a population of over 10 lakh. By 2050, two-third of people will be living in urban areas. On the other hand, area occupied by environment-friendly buildings has increased from 20,000 square metres in 2004 to 2.3 crore square metres now.

Rapid industrialisation and infrastructure development coupled with population growth and urbanisation have exerted tremendous pressure on the environment. Thus there is a great need of employing methods and techniques to prevent potential harm to environment, said Mr Mauskar.

Meanwhile, director general at the Bureau of Energy Efficiency Ajay Mathur said there is need to change current practices in design and construction of buildings besides spreading social consciousness on the subject. Energy performing indices and rating systems should be dynamic in nature, he said.

Mr Naveen Raheja, chairman of ASSOCHAM real estate council, said green buildings can save upto 80 per cent of energy requirements compared to conventional ones and the cost recovery is within one year.

Others present during the conference were Prof N.K. Bansal, professor at the Ahmedabad-based Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) University, Mr K.C. Mehra, chairman of ASSOCHAM knowledge millennium committee, and Mr Arun Kumar, ASSOCHAM deputy secretary general.

Mines (non-coal sectors):   06

Industries:                           Nil

Coal Mines:                         01

Roads:                                 Nil

On a question Whether it whether it is a fact that many Public Sector Units got the coal block surrendered as they could not get the clearance of the Ministry?

The Minister Said that the Ministry of Environment did not receive information that many Public Sector Units got the coal blocks surrendered as they could not get the clearance of the Ministry.

This Information was revealed by Minister of State (I/C) for Environment & Forest Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan in Rajya sabha today. She said the monitored data for ambient air for the last three years (2008, 2009 and 2010) reveals that levels of SO2 (annual average – 50 µg/m3) are within the prescribed national ambient air quality norms across the country and that of NO2 (annual average – 40 µg/m3) are within norms in most of cities and towns. However, the level of PM10 (annual average – 60 µg/m3) exceed the prescribed norms in a majority of cities and towns. A fluctuating/mixed trend is being observed and NO2 is an upcoming pollutant.

On question of its effect on tropical cyclones the Minister stated that as per India Meteorological Department (IMD), the frequency of cyclones and their intensification into severe cyclones over the Arabian Sea do not show any significant trend based on the recorded history of IMD (1891 – 2010) which includes the satellite era (1961-2010). As the annual frequency is very less over the Arabian Sea, the decadal frequency has been analysed by IMD to find out the probability of intensification of cyclone into severe cyclone. The analysis shows that there is no significant trend in intensification of cyclones into severe cyclones over the Arabian Sea.

All imported goods in India are subject to domestic laws, rules, orders, regulations, technical specifications, environment and safety norms. These regulations are notified in ITC (HS) Classifications of Export and Import Items. The Government acts in case goods imported from any source are found to violate these regulations and threaten human, animal or plant life or health. In the specific cases where Customs detect import of fake / toxic goods, such goods are seized and penal action is initiated under the provisions of Customs Act, 1962.

Due to concerns regarding melamine contamination in milk and milk products from China, on the recommendation from Food Safety and Standard Authority of India, the Government has prohibited import of milk and milk products including chocolate and chocolate products and candies / confectionery / food preparations with milk or milk solids as ingredient, from China. Further, import of toys has been made subject to meeting the specified technical and safety standards

This information was given by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry,                          Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia in a written reply to a question raised in Lok  Sabha

A group of activists Thursday displayed at Juanacatlan Falls, in the western state of Jalisco, banners with the message “Mexican rivers, toxic rivers”, on grounds that more than 70 percent of the nation’s surface waters are highly contaminated.

Greenpeace activists paddled kayaks to Juanacatlan Falls on the Santiago River, protected by special overalls and wearing masks to keep from inhaling toxic gases in waters known for pollution.

Greenpeace Mexico said in a communique that “dirty industries are among the main sources of river pollution in Mexico and the world”.

Measured in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), one of the indicators of quality established by Mexico’s National Water Commission, or Conagua, industrial dumping generated 340 percent more contamination than municipal sewage.

“Water pollution directly harms communities living near lakes, rivers and tributaries because it damages health and infects food sources,” the campaign director for Greenpeace Mexico, Gustavo Ampugnani, said.

The group demanded that the government establish a policy of clean rivers by 2020 that includes the elimination of toxic dumping, greater control of industrial waste, and sanctions imposed for damage caused by pollution, among other measures.

Damian Phoenix had been losing sleep after his 13-year-old Draco went missing a week earlier. Mechanics in Devon made the astonishing discovery while running a routine test.

Amazingly, the car, belonging to a neighbour’s daughter, had been driven on two journeys totalling 20 miles in that time, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.

Phoenix, of Harberton, Devon, said: “He was missing for a week and I thought he had disappeared for good. He is so lucky to be alive – and I’m lucky to have him back.”

The officers were said to have “life-changing” wounds as serious as those seen after a shootout. The attack took place on a residential street in Stratford, east London.

One officer had his arm broken between the animal’s jaws, while others had chunks of flesh torn from their legs and arms. Some will require plastic surgery, and one could lose several fingers, the newspaper said Wednesday.

Neighbours revealed they had reported the animal, described as a brown dobermann/pitbull cross called Poison, to the local authorities several times.

Heather Lynch, assistant professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University, used a combination of field work and satellite imagery to track colonies of three penguin species — Adelie, chinstrap and gentoo.

The Adelie and chinstrap migrate to the peninsula to breed while the gentoo are year-round residents, the journals Polar Biology, Ecology and Marine Ecology Progress Series report.

The Antarctic is considered one of the world’s most rapidly warming regions.

Warmer temperatures move up the breeding cycle, causing the penguins to lay their eggs earlier, according to a Stony Brook statement.

The resident gentoo population is able to adapt more quickly and advance their “clutch initiation” by almost twice as much as the other species.

Lynch believes this may allow them to better compete for the best nesting space.

The Adelie and chinstrap are unaware of the local conditions until they arrive to breed and have not been able to advance their breeding cycles as rapidly.

In addition, the gentoo prefer areas with less sea ice, and have been able to migrate further south into the Antarctic as the sea ice shrinks.

The chinstrap and Adelie species rely more heavily on the abundance of Antarctic krill, which require sea ice for their lifecycle.

The result — the gentoo numbers are increasing while the other two species have noticeably dwindling populations on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Lynch will present these findings at the Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University April 10-11.

The alcoholic tendencies of the chronically rejected flies seem to be a result of decreased levels of a brain chemical called neuropeptide F (NPF), which researchers think plays a role in the fly’s reward system.

When the fly does something that would be good for it evolutionarily, such as mating or eating food, an internal mechanism increases NPF levels, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

But NPF also can be turned up by outside factors, including alcohol. (Flies have no trouble finding alcohol, which is created by their favourite food: yeast on rotting fruit.)

“What we discovered was an interplay between internal rewards and external rewards,” said study researcher Galit Shohat-Ophir of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Farm Research Campus, in Virginia.

“There’s some kind of system in the brain, which we think NPF is regulating, that represents the level of internal reward.

“If there is perturbation in the level of NPF in the brain, there are behaviours that will return the levels back to normal,” the Monitor quoted Shohat-Ophir as saying.

Humans have a similar neuropeptide, called neuropeptide Y, in their brains. Researchers studying humans and other mammals have found a link between NPY and reward-related behaviours such as eating (and overeating).

NPY is known to inhibit alcohol consumption, and mutations in NPY have been seen in groups of alcoholics in correlational studies.

Researchers have been working with NPY in mammals and NPF in flies to get a better understanding of alcoholism and to possibly design treatments for it.

“From the experiments we’ve done, our hypothesis is that it (alcohol) affects the fly’s brain in a way similar to how it affects ours,” Shohat-Ophir said. “The alcohol increases their NPF levels.”

The study was published in the journal Science March 15.

People in the uptown Rawalpora area of the city Wednesday called the helpline telephone numbers set up by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) during the recent windstorm, complaining about the carcasses of two horses lying in the local swamp for the last fortnight.

The complainants wanted the bodies of the animals to be removed to prevent foul smell and stench in the area.

“When the SMC officials reached there, they found that the horses were still breathing. I immediately deputed veterinarians who found the animals emaciated, but alive,” said Dr. Farooq Ahmad Kaloo, director of the animal husbandry department.

“We are now reviving the animals and after that, they would be shifted to the local animal ponds in the city. The two horses were stuck in the Rawalpora swamp without food and water for the last 15 days. They also survived the fierce windstorm and dusty weather for the last two days. It is an example of survival under extremes of environment and despite starvation,” Kaloo told IANS.

Kaloo is personally supervising the rehabilitation of the rescued horses.

Chipko women from Himalayas have expressed the link between forests and water in a unique way. In midst of their struggle, one forester challenged them with his slogan that the forest provides timber and money that is essential for developing the region. The women responded spontaneously:
What does the forest bear?
Soil, water and pure air,

Soil water and pure air
Is the basis of life
The water and forest policies in our country need to be based on these basic ecological and holistic principles. Implementation of such polices will lead towards enhancing the basic capitals that sustains, and enriches all forms of life, including the human beings.

For further reading:

Agarwal, 80, former Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) professor, was shifted to AIIMS in an air ambulance from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, after his condition deteriorated.

According to doctors, he has been kept in the intensive care unit (ICU) and a team of doctor is monitoring his condition.

Tarun Agarwal, G.D. Agarwal’s nephew who is accompanying him, said he is physically week but mentally very tough and is determined to continue his fast.

“He won’t break his fast till his demands are accepted. He is given drips but he is not eating anything. He is firm to continue his fast from the hospital,” Tarun told IANS.

Agarwal has served as a secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board, the country’s premier anti-pollution body, and helped put together environmental legislation in India. This is his third fast-unto-death in last four years.

His major concern includes unsatisfactory and ineffective functioning of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), a central government constituted body for cleaning Ganga.

Besides, Agarwal is against ongoing construction of dams/barrages/tunnels on Ganga which would totally destroy the natural flow regimes and quality of the river water, total failure of regulatory agencies in controlling discharge of urban and industrial wastes into the Ganga and complete lack of sensitivity of the government on these issues.

“He stopped taking water from March 9 and his condition deteriorated. It is a matter of great concern but the government remains totally unmoved,” Magsaysay awardee Rajendra Singh told IANS.

Rajendra Singh resigned as the chairman NGRBA last week over “government’s insensitivity towards Agarwal and gross negligence towards worsening state of the holy river”.

Two other members of the NGRBA have also resigned over the issue. “We haven’t heard anything from the government since we sent our resignation,” said Singh.

Agarwal got support from anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, who met him at the AIIMS with Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia.

“Government is responsible for his condition. He has been demanding for long that Ganga river be cleaned but government has not done anything,” said Hazare.

“How can our government become so insensitive and allow such a senior scientists to die. This is his third fast in last four years. Central government has gone back on all promises made to him during last fast,” he said.

Agarwal, 80, former Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) professor, is being moved to AIIMS in an air ambulance from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

“He stopped taking water from March 9 and his condition deteriorated. Doctors advised he be taken to AIIMS. He is on his way and will reach Delhi by 3 p.m.,” Magsaysay awardee Rajendra Singh told IANS.

Rajendra Singh resigned as the chairman of the central government constituted National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) last week over government’s insensitivity towards Agarwal and gross negligence towards worsening state of the holy river.

Two other members of the NGRBA have also resigned over the issue.

“We haven’t heard anything from the government since we sent our resignation. It is a matter of great concern but the government remains totally unmoved,” said Singh.

Study co-author Eleanor Jones (affiliated with the Universities of York (Britain) and Uppsala (Sweden) said: “Human settlement history over the last 1,000 years is reflected in the genetic sequence of mouse mitochondrial DNA. We can match the pattern of human populations to that of the house mice.”

Analysis of mouse mitochondrial DNA (which powers the cell) showed that they hitched a lift with the Vikings, in the early 10th century, into Iceland, either from Norway or the northern part of the British Isles, the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology reports.

From Iceland, the mice continued their journey on Viking ships to settlements in Greenland, according to a York and Uppasala statement.

However, while their descendants can still be found in Iceland, the early colonizers in Greenland have become extinct and their role has been filled by interloping Danish mice brought by a second wave of European human immigrants.

A team of researchers from Britain, the US, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden used techniques designed to characterize genetic similarity, and hence the relatedness of one population, or one individual, with another, to determine a mouse colonization timeline.

Anthropologist Michael P. Muehlenbein can’t yet say what makes the wild orangutans of Borneo deal with stress differently than other species in other locations. But, an analysis of hormone levels recorded before, during and after the wild apes interacted with eco-tourists found higher levels of stress hormone cortisol on the day of an interaction, which returned to normal afterward, a university statement said.

By analyzing faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGM) levels of orangutans in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah, Malaysia, Muehlenbein’s team was looking to gauge levels of disturbance on wildlife exposed to eco-tourism, a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry that is growing annually.

Red Ape Encounters, a community-owned and operated eco-tourism programme in Sabah that assisted with the research, facilitates the only trekking programme for wild orangutans in the world.

“But rapid, unmonitored development of nature-based tourism can also lead to habitat degradation and negative impacts on the very species we wish to protect,” Muehlenbein said.

Greg Erickson’s lab at the Florida State University, conducting these measurements, estimates that the largest extinct crocodilians, 35 to 40-foot animals, bit at forces as high as 23,100 pounds.

“If you can bench-press a pickup truck, then you can escape a croc’s jaws,” Erickson warned, of the kind of force these crocs exerted. “It is a one-way street between the teeth and stomach of a large croc.”

Erickson, biology professor, and his Florida counterparts Scott Steppan, Brain Inouye and graduate student Paul Gignac, looked at how hard alligators and crocodiles bite, the journal Public library of Science ONE reported.

The current study, funded by the National Geographic Society and Florida State, took place in both the US and Australia, according to a university statement.

The team roped 83 adult alligators and crocodiles, strapped them down, placed a bite-force device between their back teeth and recorded the bite force.

Erickson and his team have a new understanding on how these animals became so successful and a better understanding about the remarkable biology of living crocodiles and alligators. They’ve also developed new methods for testing bite forces.

The study’s findings are so unique that Erickson’s team has been contacted by editors at the Guinness Book of World Records about the data.

Ecologists warn these small, highly social birds, that often nest in nooks and niches in and around human settlements, may also go the vultures’ way if enough awareness is not created about them.

“Sparrows are amongst the most abundant bird species in urban areas, but we still need to conserve their habitat. Otherwise they too may go the vultures’ way,” Mohammed Dilawar, president of Nature Forever Society, told IANS.

“Earlier, the vultures were amongst the most abundant birds in urban areas but now, due to loss of habitat, they are almost gone. Same could happen with sparrows,” he said.

“In our country, there’s a gap in scientific knowledge. The statistics of species populations are often outdated. So we are launching a bird monitoring system on World Sparrow Day, March 20,” Dilawar added. He however declined to describe the working of the system.

Giving the reasoning behind selecting the common sparrow as a mascot for ecological conservation, he said, “Sparrow is like an umbrella species for all the birds that dwell near human settlements. Also, it is much more recognisable than many other species. People often talk about conserving the tigers or other more glamourous species, but that is sad. All species need equal attention and conservation.”

Surya Prakash, the science officer at Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU), claimed that numbers of sparrows weren’t a concern. He said that people didn’t know what to look for or where.

“I come across many people who claim that the sparrows are going down but would not know about the situation,” Prakash told IANS.

“Most of the times, these people don’t have any valid statistical data and end up creating false alarms. And then, if you want to find something, you should know where to look. You can’t find a sparrow if you look for it in a mall in Gurgaon,” he added.

Prakash claimed that the sparrows were not dying out but often, due to changes in their living environment, they shift their nesting sites to other locations.

Primarily grain eaters, sparrows also eat insects and scavenge upon anything in small quantities. Amongst the most recognisable wild birds, the common sparrow can often be seen on the window ledges and garden trees, twittering busily.

However, there are still some safe havens for the city dwelling birds, according to the veteran birdwatcher.

“Even here, at JNU, we have a large number of sparrows. Or in old Delhi you can find big flocks of sparrows,” he said.

Following inspiration from a retired forest officer in Gujarat, a movement is on to save house sparrow. People get artificial nests for sparrow, parrot and squirrels either in terracotta or from waste of corrugated boxes, hang them at their places on trees or passages, plant them in farms, fields and even residential bungalows. And regularly put water and grains.

Universally familiar in appearance, the widespread and once abundant house sparrow has become a mystery bird and is becoming increasingly rare all over the World. Perky and bustling, house sparrows have always been gregarious, mingling with finches in the fields in autumn and winter, especially when stubble is available to them. For years we felt irritated by this permanent resident in our garden taking more than a fair share of food during the winter, but now weeks pass without a single one putting in an appearance. That took me to my school days when we read the well known Hindi writer Mahadevi Verma’s story ‘Goraiya’. That time it felt surprising- neither a king nor a fairy nor a great leader was the subject of a story, but a small Goraiya! Subramanyam Bharti also said , “A bird of freedom…”

A springtime hazard was sparrows’ unexplained liking for destroying flowers, especially yellow primroses and crocuses. Kicking up dust and bathing in new seedbeds was a further irritation. Noisy and gregarious, these cheerful exploiters of human beings’ rubbish and wastefulness have colonized most of the world. Found from the centre of cities, kitchen gardens, vacant places in houses to the farmland of the countryside, sparrows feed and breed near habitation. They are vanishing from the centre of many cities, but are not uncommon in most towns and villages. Sparrows might appear to be opportunists, but they are now struggling to survive everywhere on the earth along with many other once common birds. Their recent decline has earned them a place on the Red List in the Netherlands.

India has seen a massive decline of sparrows in recent years. Once a common- place bird in large parts of Europe, the sparrows’ population has now seen a sharp fall in United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy and Finland.

The house sparrow is an intelligent bird that has proven to be adaptable to most situation, i.e. nest sites, food and shelter, so has become the most abundant songbird in theworld.Sparrows are very social birds and tend to flock together through most of the year. A flock’s range covers 1.5-2 miles, but it will cover a larger territory if necessary when searching for food. The sparrow’s main diet consists of grain seeds, especially waste grain and live stock feed. If grain is not available, its diet is very broad and adaptable. It also eats weeds and insects, especially during the breeding season. The parasitic nature of the house sparrow is quite evident as they are avid seekers of garbage tossed out by humans. In spring, flowers – especially those with yellow colours- are often eaten; crocuses, primroses and aconites seem to attract the house sparrow most. The birds also hunt butterflies.

Nesting

House sparrows are generally attracted to buildings for roosting, nesting, and cover. They look for any man-made nook or cranny in which to build their nests. Other sparrow nesting sites are clothes line poles with the end caps open, lofts, garden kitchens, or overhangs on a roof without a soffit. The sparrow makes its home in areas closely associated with human habitation. It is a common resident of agricultural, urban and sub-urban communities. The male house sparrow is highly territorial, aggressively defending the nesting site during breeding season. Species that attempt to nest within the sparrow’s territory are often be evicted; their eggs destroyed and at times incubating females are killed. The nest is a ball of dried vegetation, feathers, strings and papers with an opening on one side. It is a bulky mass also lined with grass, weeds and hair.

The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a member of the old world sparrow familyPasseridae. Some consider it to be a relative of the Weaver Finch Family. A number of geographic races have been named, and are differentiated on the basis of size and cheekcolour. Cheeks are grey in the west and white in the east. The shade of the colouration, particularly of the chestnut area in the males is also considered. Birds of the western hemisphere are larger than those in the tropical South Asian populations. Some varieties are the passer domesticus in Europe, passer persicus in Karun River, Khuzistan, passer bactrianus inTurkestan, Afghanistan and passer semiretschieensis which is easily seen in SemiryechenskMountains in the eastern part of Russian Turkestan. The passer biblicus which is found inPalestine and Syria is paler and the colour of the chestnut area is not deep. The cheek is grey. The passer parkini is abundant in Srinagar, Kashmir in western Himalayas to Nepal. The passer indicus found in India, south of the Himalayas and in Sri Lanka.

In India, it is popularly known as Goraiya in the Hindi belt. In Tamil Nadu and Kerala it is known as Kuruvi. Telugu language has given it a name, Pichhuka, Kannadigas call itGubbachchi, Gujaratis call it Chakli where as  Maharashtrians call it Chimani. It is known asChiri in Punjab, Chaer in Jammu and Kashmir, Charai Pakhi in West Bengal, and Gharachatiain Orissa. In  Urdu language it is called  Chirya while Sindhi language has termed it as Jhirki.

Features

This 14 to 16 cm long bird has a wing span of 19-25 cms.It is a small, stocky song bird that weighs 26 to 32 grams. The male sparrow has a grey crown, cheeks and underparts, and is black at the throat, upper breast and between the bill and eyes. The bill in summer is blue–black and the legs are brown. In winter the plumage is dulled by pale edgings, and the bill is yellowish brown. The female has no black coloring on the head or throat, or a grey crown; her upper part is streaked with brown. The juveniles are deeper brown.

The sparrow’s most common call is a short and incessant, slightly metallic ‘cheep, chirrup’. It also has a double call note- ‘phillip’ wherein originated the now obsolete name of ‘phillip sparrow’. While the young are in their nests, the older birds utter a long churr. At least three broods are reared in a season.

The nesting site is varied under eaves, in holes, in masonry or rocks, in ivy or creepers on houses or riverbanks, on sea-cliffs or in bushes in bays and inlets. When built in holes or ivy, the nest is an untidy litter of straw and rubbish, abundantly filled with feathers. Large well- constructed domed nests are often built when the bird nests in trees or shrubs, especially in rural areas.

Five to six eggs, profusely dusted, speckled or blotched with black, brown or ash-grey on a blue-tinted or creamy white ground, and usual types. Eggs are variable in size and shape as well as markings. Eggs are incubated by the female. The sparrow has the shortest incubation period of all the birds: 10 -12 days, and a female can lay 25 eggs each summer. The reproductive success increases with age and this is mainly by changes in timing, with older birds breeding earlier in the season.

Causes of Decline

Various causes for its dramatic decrease in population have been proposed, one of the more surprising being the introduction of unleaded petrol, the combustion of which produces compounds such as methyl nitrite, a compound which is highly toxic for small insects, which form a major part of a young sparrow’s diet. Other theories consider reducing areas of free growing weeds, or reducing the number of badly maintained buildings, which are important nesting opportunities for sparrows. Ornithologists and wildlife experts speculate that the population crash could be linked to a variety of factors like the lack of nesting sites in modern concrete buildings, disappearing kitchen garden, increased use of pesticides in farmlands and the non- availability of food sources. The recent threat is from mobile towers. The emission they sent out is disturbing to the  sparrows. Which also effects the  insects and the hatching of bird’s eggs.

K.S. Gopi Sunder of the Indian Cranes and Wetlands Working Group says: “Although there is no concrete evidence or study to substantiate the phenomenon, the population of house sparrows has definitely declined over the past few years.” He attributes this to a number of reasons like widespread use of chemical pesticides in farmlands, increased predation by crows and cats while crows grow in number as a result of garbage accumulation in the city.

According to Dr. V S Vijayan of the Coimbatore-based Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, though the avian species can still be spotted over two-thirds of the world’s land surface, “ironically, there has been a rapid decline in the population of these once abundant birds.” Changing lifestyles and architectural evolution have wreaked havoc on the bird habitat and food sources. Modern buildings are devoid of eaves and crannies, and coupled with disappearing home gardens, are playing a part in the disappearing act.

Today I miss the sparrows chirping and hopping from branch to branch in the bushes outside my house and remember Mahadevi Verma’s famous poem Goraiya - in which a sparrow is eating grains from hand and  jumping on her shoulders and playing hide and seek. It is as vivid as if it were being played in front of me. I wish that it does not remain confined in the pages of Mahadevi Verma’s story and comes back to us as ever before. (PIB Features)

They are vanishing from many big cities, but are still not uncommon in small towns and villages. India has seen a massive decline of sparrows in recent years. On the world map too. Once a commonplace bird in large parts of Europe, its numbers are decreasing. In the Netherlands, the House Sparrow is even considered an endangered species. Their recent decline has earned them a place on the Red List in the Netherlands. Similar precipitous drops in population have been recorded in the United Kingdom. French ornithologists have charted a steep decline in Paris and other cities. There has been an even sharper fall in the urban areas in Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy and Finland.

History

It is thought that the House sparrow originated in the Mediterranean and expanded into Europe with the growth of civilization. At the insistence of man did the sparrow make its way across the Atlantic to the United States. In 1850, green inch worms were destroying trees in New York City’s Central Park. As the house sparrow’s main diet in England consisted of the same green worms, it was thought that if sparrows were brought to New York City they would solve the worm problem in Central Park. Others thought the sparrow would eliminate crop pests.

The first introduction of the sparrow was conducted by the Brooklyn Institute in 1851. Eight pairs were originally released but none were able to survive the change in climate. More attempts were made and eventually the birds adapted to a colder climate and multiplied. The sparrow rapidly spread across the United States. The abundance of spilled grain used for feeding horses and the artificial nesting cavities provided by humans helped the sparrow along. They successfully followed humans to many parts of the world- North and South America, Southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Food

The house sparrow is an intelligent bird that has proven to be adaptable to most situation, i.e. nest sites, food and shelter, so it has become the most abundant songbird in the world.

Sparrows are very social birds and tend to flock together through most of the year. A flock’s range covers 1.5-2 miles, but it will cover a larger territory if necessary when searching for food. The sparrow’s main diet consists of grain seeds, especially waste grain and live stock feed. If grain is not available, its diet is very broad and adaptable. It also eats weeds and insects, especially during the breeding season. The parasitic nature of the house sparrow is quite evident as they are avid seekers of garbage tossed out by humans. In spring, flowers (especially those with yellow colours) are often eaten crocuses, primroses and aconites seem to attract the house sparrow most. The birds also hunt butterflies.

Housing

House sparrows are generally attracted to buildings for roosting, nesting, and cover. They look for any man-made nook or cranny to build their nests. Other nesting sites are clothes line poles with the end caps open, lofts, kitchen garden etc. The sparrow makes its home in areas closely associated with human habitation.

Taxonomy

The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a member of the old world sparrow family Passeridae. Some consider it to be a relative of the Weaver Finch Family. A number of geographic races have been named, and are differentiated on the basis of size and cheek colour. Cheeks are grey in the west and white in the east. The shade of the colouration, particularly of the chestnut area in the males is also considered. Birds of the western hemisphere are larger than those in the tropical South Asian populations.

In India, it is popularly known as Goraiya in the Hindi belt. In Tamil Nadu and Kerala it is known as Kuruvi. Telugu language has given it a name, Pichhuka, Kannadigas call it Gubbachchi, Gujaratis call it Chakli where as Maharashtrians call it Chimani. It is known as Chiri in Punjab, Chaer in Jammu and Kashmir, Charai Pakhi in West Bengal, and Gharachatia in Orissa. In Urdu language it is called Chirya while Sindhi language has termed it as Jhirki.

Features

This 14 to 16 cm long bird has a wing span of 19-25 cms. It is a small, stocky song bird that weighs 26 to 32 grams. The male sparrow has a grey crown, cheeks and underparts, and is black at the throat, upper breast and between the bill and eyes. The bill in summer is blue–black and the legs are brown. In winter the plumage is dulled by pale edgings, and the bill is yellowish brown. The female has no black coloring on the head or throat, or a grey crown her upper part is streaked with brown. The juveniles are deeper brown, and the white is replaced by buff the beak is dull yellow. The House Sparrow is often confused with the smaller and more slender Tree Sparrow, which, however, has a chestnut and not grey crown, two distinct wing bars and a black patch on each cheek

The sparrow’s most common call is a short and incessant, slightly metallic cheep, chirrup. It also has a double call note- phillip wherein originated the now obsolete name of “phillip sparrow”. While the young are in their nests, the older birds utter a long churr. At least three broods are reared in the season.

Reproduction

The nesting sites are varied – in holes in buildings or rocks, in ivy or creepers, on houses or riverbanks, on sea-cliffs or in bushes in bays and inlets. When built in holes or ivy, the nest is an untidy litter of straw and rubbish, abundantly filled with feathers. Large well- constructed domed nests are often built when the bird nests in trees or shrubs, especially in rural areas.

The House Sparrow is quite aggressive in usurping the nesting sites of other birds, often forcibly evicting the previous occupants, and sometimes even building a new nest directly on top of another active nests with live nestlings. Eggs are variable in size and shape as well as markings. Eggs are incubated by the female. The sparrow has the shortest incubation period of all the birds, 10 -12 days, and a female can lay 25 eggs each summer. The reproductive success increases with age and this is mainly by changes in timing, with older birds breeding earlier in the season.

Causes of Decline

There are various causes for dramatic decrease in their population, one of the more surprising being the introduction of unleaded petrol, the combustion of which produces compounds such as methyl nitrite, a compound which is highly toxic for small insects, which forms a major part of a young sparrow’s diet. Other being areas of free growing weeds, or reduction in number of badly maintained buildings, which are important nesting opportunities for sparrows. Ornithologists and wildlife experts speculate that the population crash could also be linked to a variety of factors like the lack of nesting sites in modern concrete buildings, disappearing kitchen gardens, increased use of pesticides in farmlands and the non- availability of food sources.

K.S. Gopi Sunder of the Indian Cranes and Wetlands Working Group says: “Although there is no concrete evidence or study to substantiate the phenomenon, the population of house sparrows has definitely declined over the past few years”. He attributes this to a number of reasons. The widespread use of chemical pesticides in farmlands has resulted in the killings of insects on which these birds depend. “Seed-eating birds like sparrows have to depend on soft- bodied insects to feed their young ones,” he said. The other possibility could be increased predation by crows and cats, while crows have grown in number as a result of garbage accumulation in the city.

According to Dr. V. S Vijayan of the Coimbatore-based Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, though the avian species can still be spotted over two-thirds of the world’s land surface, “ironically, there has been a rapid decline in the population of these once abundant birds”. Changing lifestyles and architectural evolution have wreaked havoc on the bird’s habitat and food sources. Modern buildings are devoid of eaves and crannies, and coupled with disappearing home gardens, are playing a part in the disappearing act.

Today one misses the sight of sparrows hopping from branch to branch in the bushes outside one’s house and their chirping. One is taken back to well known Hindi Writer Mahadevi Verma’s Story ‘Goraiya’ – eating grains from her hands, jumping on her shoulders and playing hide and seek. Today one wishes that the Goriya does not remain confined in the pages of Mahadevi Verma’s story but comes back to our cities as ever before.

Anthropologist Michael P. Muehlenbein can’t yet say what makes the wild orangutans of Borneo deal with stress differently than other species in other locations. But, an analysis of hormone levels recorded before, during and after the wild apes interacted with eco-tourists found higher levels of stress hormone cortisol on the day of an interaction, which returned to normal afterward, a university statement said.

By analyzing faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGM) levels of orangutans in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah, Malaysia, Muehlenbein’s team was looking to gauge levels of disturbance on wildlife exposed to eco-tourism, a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry that is growing annually.

Red Ape Encounters, a community-owned and operated eco-tourism programme in Sabah that assisted with the research, facilitates the only trekking programme for wild orangutans in the world.

“But rapid, unmonitored development of nature-based tourism can also lead to habitat degradation and negative impacts on the very species we wish to protect,” Muehlenbein said.

Greg Erickson’s lab at the Florida State University, conducting these measurements, estimates that the largest extinct crocodilians, 35 to 40-foot animals, bit at forces as high as 23,100 pounds.

“If you can bench-press a pickup truck, then you can escape a croc’s jaws,” Erickson warned, of the kind of force these crocs exerted. “It is a one-way street between the teeth and stomach of a large croc.”

Erickson, biology professor, and his Florida counterparts Scott Steppan, Brain Inouye and graduate student Paul Gignac, looked at how hard alligators and crocodiles bite, the journal Public library of Science ONE reported.

The current study, funded by the National Geographic Society and Florida State, took place in both the US and Australia, according to a university statement.

The team roped 83 adult alligators and crocodiles, strapped them down, placed a bite-force device between their back teeth and recorded the bite force.

Erickson and his team have a new understanding on how these animals became so successful and a better understanding about the remarkable biology of living crocodiles and alligators. They’ve also developed new methods for testing bite forces.

The study’s findings are so unique that Erickson’s team has been contacted by editors at the Guinness Book of World Records about the data.

A large part of England is under drought after extremely low rainfall for two winters, which has affected much of the southeast, including London, and East Anglia region.

Frogs, toads and birds all depend on healthy water supplies for feeding and raising their young, the Daily Express reported.

Britain’s Environment Agency has warned drought could spread to more regions of the country if dry weather continued this spring.

Trevor Beebee, of the University of Sussex, said: “The species most likely to suffer are those using shallow, temporary ponds, notably common frogs and, more significantly, the rare and endangered natterjack toad.

Amphibians such as frogs, toads and newts lay their eggs in a jelly-like spawn at risk of drying out. Hatching tadpoles also need water.

The natterjack and the great crested newt may survive the drought but could be wiped out by climate change.

Many birds are also at risk due to the dry spell. Waders rely on wetlands for food and raising their chicks.

Julian Roughton, chief executive of Suffolk Wildlife Trust, said: “This winter, nature reserves that have usually flooded have not done so, resulting in a loss of wetlands for wildfowl and waders; long-legged wading birds.

“This year it is very likely that these will dry up before the chicks fledge, which will be disastrous for them.”

Calling the budget as a mixed bag, Anumita Roychowdhury, head of CSE’s sustainable mobility team, said they supported the tax hike on big cars and sports utility vehicles but the step may not check misuse of diesel subsidy by private vehicles.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday announced an increase in excise duty on large cars from 22 percent to 24 percent. Sports utility vehicles would attract higher duty — up to 27 percent.

“This is urgently needed to discourage fuel guzzling and reduce toxic emissions,” she said.

“The budget has ignored that ‘dieselization’ is rapidly growing in the small and medium segments of cars and has left it untouched. The proposed tax hike will only affect cars with engine sizes of more than 1,500 cc for diesel and 1,200 cc for petrol,” she said.

Despite the recession, diesel car sales had jumped 34 percent in 2010-11.

Linda Cross told the Andes news agency that low-cost buildings are being constructed for the Olympics and that 97 percent of the materials used were recycled.

This has minimized spending in monetary as well as environmental terms, the Prensa Latina news agency reported.

Cross said the Olympics will leave a legacy for Londoners for the next 20 years, including new stadia, houses and improved public transportation.

The stops, which will use solar energy collected during day to provide lightning for passengers at night, are part of the City Hall’s strategy for tackling Moscow’s abysmal transportation problems, said Deputy Mayor Nikolai Lyamov.

Moscow will invest 192 billion rubles (around $6.5 billion) for updating its mass transit and road network in 2012, Lyamov said.

In addition to solar-powered bus stops, money will also be spent on roadside traffic jam warning boards, and new “adaptive” traffic light systems.

The total number of solar-powered bus stops was not specified.

Moscow gets about 1,700 hours of sunshine a year — more than London — but the insolation level, or measure of energy, the Russian capital get from the sun is far below Miami or Paris, said the Moscow-meteo.ru website.

Tabled by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Thursday, a chapter on Sustainable Development and Climate Change has been for the first time introduced in the annual survey.

The survey recognises that sustainable development and climate change are becoming central areas of global concern, and India is equally concerned and engaged constructively in global negotiations.

“Climate change challenges ahead are large and India is doing more than its fair share in reducing its energy-intensity of growth,” it said.

The survey suggests making lower carbon sustainable growth a central element of the 12th Five Year Plan commencing in April 2012.

Citing the climate change talks in Durban last year which has set some directions for appropriate responses to climate change, the survey hopes that the Earth Summit in Rio in June 2012 will take stock of sustainable development priorities globally.

It says that as a responsible and enlightened member of the international community, India showed flexibility along with other developing countries toward the success of the Durban Conference.

“Developed countries are expected to reciprocate the flexibility shown by G-77 countries and India at Durban,” it said.

This new chapter reflects the growing challenges of sustainable development and climate change.

Pressures on land, air, water, forests and loss of plant and animal habitant are growing. The survey cautions that a warming planet is already causing adverse effects, such as more frequent extreme weather events.

The survey points out that India’s per capita carbon emissions are much lower than those of the developed countries even if historical emissions are excluded.

“Nevertheless, India has already taken a number of actions on voluntary basis with own resources in pursuance of a sustainable development strategy like adoption of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and announcing domestic goal of reducing the emission intensity of its GDP by 20-25 percent of the 2005 level by 2020 is a noteworthy measure,” it said.

The 14-km stretch before and after the 8.8-km horseshoe-shaped tunnel, considered India’s most strategically important infrastructure project, has as many as 13 avalanche-prone stretches.

Using ingenuity and technical dexterity, Indian and European engineers have designed snow galleries, or concrete roofs covering the roads, that will divert avalanches and keep motorists safe.

“These anti-avalanche structures will greatly reduce the risk of traversing the route and make the highway all weather till the mouth of the tunnel,” said Border Roads Organisation (BRO) Chief Engineer (Project Rohtang) P.K. Mahajan.

The ambitious project is aimed at ensuring all-weather connectivity to Keylong in Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul and Spiti district.

Most of the avalanche-prone areas are located on the south portal towards Dhundi, 25 km from here, Mahajan told IANS. At a couple of points on the route, avalanches occur every year.

The snow galleries would allow avalanches to pass overhead without affecting the traffic inside, Mahajan added.

The Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASA), based in Chandigarh, has designed mechanical structures to counter avalanches in the area that remains under snow even during peak summer.

Officials of SASA, a Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratory, said the snow galleries have been designed after studying local dynamics of avalanches like velocity and force. It’s the first time that SASA has designed snow galleries.

He said the length of the gallery varies from 100 m to 130 m and would be constructed at altitudes ranging between 3,053 m and 3,080 m.

“Work on one gallery is on; others will start soon. Sensors would be installed at 13 points on the road to monitor the behaviour of the snow round the year,” he added.

The Rs.1,495-crore project is being built by the BRO, an inter-services organisation under the defence ministry, in collaboration with Strabag-Afcons, a joint venture between India’s Afcons Infrastructure Ltd and Strabag SE of Austria.

Over 350 BRO men and 24 experts from Germany and Austria have been working day and night to excavate the tunnel despite continuous sub-zero conditions to meet the February 2015 deadline. Of the 8.8 km-long horseshoe-shaped tunnel – 1,880 m from the south portal and 755 m from the north portal – about 2.5 km has been dug since work commenced in June 2010.

The Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the Rohtang tunnel project in September 2009. The foundation stone was laid by Congress president Sonia Gandhi June 28, 2010.

Once ready, the tunnel will be a boon for the cold deserts of Lahaul Valley, where over 20,000 people remain cut off from the rest of the country in winters owing to the closure of the Rohtang Pass.

The proposed Cabo Cortes mega-project “is an example of what we call predator tourism, which provides short-term benefits to developers without considering the negative environmental, social and economic impact”, Greenpeace oceans and coasts campaign coordinator Alejandro Olivera said in a press conference here Tuesday.

Backers of the campaign include Mexican actors Cecilia Suarez, Diana Bracho, Patricia Llaca, Ana Brenda and Mel Pacheco, musicians Ruben Albarran, Roco Pachukote and Moyenei Valdes, as well as TV host Claudia Lizaldi and TV producer Epigmenio Ibarra.

The goal of the campaign is to secure cancellation – before President Felipe Calderon’s six-year term expires Dec 1, 2012 – of an environmental permit issued last March to the local division of Spanish developer Hansa Urbana, Greenpeace representatives said.

The Environment Secretariat approved Cabo Cortes’s environmental impact statement in September 2008.

The development was later temporarily halted when a resident filed a request for a review. Environmental officials gave the go-ahead for the project for the second time March 1, 2011, but they set certain conditions

Environmentalists say the mega-project, which they compare to Mexico’s large-scale tourist resort of Cancun, will destroy the only coral reef in the Gulf of California.

Cabo Cortes would cover a 3,800-hectare expanse and feature a marina with 490 boat slips, two golf courses, seven hotels with 27,000 guestrooms for tourists and 5,000 residences for workers, all within a short distance of the Cabo Pulmo preserve.

The Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park in Baja California Sur state was created by decree June 6, 1995. It has a marine area of 7,111 hectares and boasts the best-preserved coral reef in Mexico’s Pacific region.

In 2005, Cabo Pulmo was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2008 it was added to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

The 20,000-year-old Cabo Pulmo reef, one of the oldest in the American Pacific, is home to 226 of the 875 fish species that inhabit the Gulf of California.

A Chapter on Sustainable Development and Climate Change has been first time introduced in the annual Economic Survey. This new chapter reflects the growing challenges of sustainable development and climate change. Pressures on land, air, water, forests and loss of plant and animal habitant are growing. The Survey cautions that a warming planet is already causing adverse effects, such as more frequent extreme weather events. It comments that the science and evidence of climate change are compelling. Citing the Durban meeting in December 2011 which has set some directions for appropriate responses to climate change, the Survey hopes that the Earth Summit in Rio in June 2012 will take stock of sustainable development priorities globally. Taking an optimist view, the Survey hopes that the Twelfth Five Year Plan will be setting out India’s priorities for a sustainable and inclusive, lower carbon development path. It says, as a responsible and enlightened member of the international community, India showed flexibility along with other developing countries toward the success of the Durban Conference. Developed countries are expected to reciprocate the flexibility shown by G-77 countries and India at Durban.

Commending further India’s sensitivity to global concerns, the Survey says that India has done well on all such counts of stewardship over the past decades. It has followed a conscious path in response to the key environmental issues. Sustainable development in terms of environmental concerns has been a recurring theme in Indian policy and planning. Economic reforms since 1980s have accelerated growth and incomes. Social well-being has improved broadly, as measured by gains in life-expectancy. India has stepped up protection of its natural environment, such as its forests.

Outlining the challenges ahead, the Survey comments that the 2009 State of the Environment Report by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) clubs the issues under five key main challenges faced by India, which are climate change, food security, water security, energy security and managing urbanization. Broad-based economic and social development is ultimately the answer for greater environmental sustainability. Economic pricing of energy and other resources will be a key to switching to more sustainable development path. New technologies will be crucial, mostly in the private sector. But social justice will also require stepped-up public spending on energy access and other elements, the Survey suggests.

H. pylori infection of the gut be acquired in early childhood, become persistent, and can lead to gastric and duodenal ulcers; these bugs have also been tied with higher risk of gastric cancer.

Treatment and eradication of these bugs with antibiotics have cured many patients with ulcers, revolutionizing treatment of this disorder, The Journal of Infectious Diseases reported.

Type 2 diabetes causes an estimated 3.8 million adult deaths globally. There have been conflicting reports about the association between H. pylori infection and type II diabetes.

Yu Chen and Martin Blaser, at the New York University School of Medicine, cross-analysed data from participants in two National Health and Nutrition Surveys (NHANES III and NHANES 1999-2000) to assess the association between H. pylori and levels of HbA1c or glycosylated hemoglobin (important biomarker for blood glucose levels and diabetes).

“H. pylori was consistently positively related to HbA1c level in adults, a valid and reliable biomarker for long-term blood glucose levels,” said the study authors, according to an university statement.

Besides, this association was stronger in individuals with a high body mass index (BMI), a height to weight ratio, compared to those with a lower value.

The study of 99 males, 71 percent of whom were overweight or obese, found a linkage between a high total fat intake and lower total sperm count and concentration.

Significantly, males who ate more omega-3 polyunsaturated fats (found in fish and plant oils) had better sperm than men who ate less of it, the journal Human Reproduction reported.

Men consuming the most saturated fats had a 35 percent lower total sperm count than men eating the least, and a 38 percent lower sperm concentration, according to a statement from the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Jill Attaman, professor of reproductive endocrinology at Massachusetts, said: “If men make changes to their diets so as to reduce the amount of saturated fat they eat and increase their omega-3 intake, then this could improve their reproductive health too.”

“At a global level, adopting these lifestyle modifications may improve general health, as high saturated fat diets are known to be a risk factor for a range of cardiovascular diseases; but, in addition, our research suggests that it could be beneficial for reproductive health worldwide,” added Attaman.

As little is known about the potential role of dietary fats and semen quality, Attaman and her colleagues set out to investigate it in men attending a fertility clinic.

Between December 2006 and August 2010 they questioned the men about their diet and analysed samples of their semen; they also measured levels of fatty acids in sperm and seminal plasma in 23 of the 99 men taking part.

The study found that the relationship between dietary fats and semen quality was largely driven by the consumption of saturated fats. Men consuming the most saturated fats had a 35 percent lower total sperm count than men eating the least, and a 38 percent lower sperm concentration.

“The magnitude of the association is quite dramatic and provides further support for the health efforts to limit consumption of saturated fat given their relation with other health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease,” said Attaman.

Researchers at the Kenyan Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), found the smartphone cheaper than traditional paper surveys to gather information, after the initial set-up cost.

In the study, data collected with smartphones had fewer errors and was more quickly available for analyses than data collected on paper, according to a CDCP statement.

Researchers compared survey data collection methods at four flu surveillance sites in Kenya. At each site, surveillance officers identified patients with respiratory illness and filled out a brief questionnaire that included demographic and clinical information.

Some of the questionnaires were collected using traditional paper methods, and others were collected using HTC Touch Pro2 smartphones using a proprietary software program called the Field Adapted Survey Toolkit (FAST).

“Collecting data using smartphones has improved the quality of our data and given us a faster turnaround time to work with it,” said Henry Njuguna, sentinel surveillance coordinator at CDCP Kenya. “It also helped us save on the use of paper and other limited resources.”

A total of 1,019 paper-based questionnaires were compared to 1,019 smartphone questionnaires collected at the same four sites.

Only three percent of the surveys collected with smartphones were incomplete, compared to five percent of the paper-based questionnaires.

Of the questions requiring mandatory responses in the smartphone questionnaire, four percent were left unanswered in paper-based questionnaires compared with none of the smartphone ones.

Seven paper-based questionnaires had duplicated patient identification numbers, while no duplication was seen in smartphone data.

Smartphone data were uploaded into the database within eight hours of collection, compared to an average of 24 days for paper-based data to be uploaded.

The cost of collecting data by smartphones was lower in the long run than paper-based methods. For two years, the cost of establishing and running a paper-based data collection system was approximately $61,830 compared to approximately $45,546 for a smartphone data collection system.

Khosrow Kashfi, associate medical professor and Chemistry, Physiology and Pharmacology coordinator at the City College of New York, developed the gas-filled drug.

The new aspirin has been dubbed “NOSH” — that stands for Nitric Oxide and Hydrogen Sulphide.

The report said that loading aspirin with gas boosts its cancer-fighting ability and might even reduce the harmful side effects of taking aspirin every day.

Aspirin has been shown to be effective in reducing the incidence of cancer. However, it can also cause ulcers and bleeding in the gut, which does not make it a good option for healthy people.

The lining of the gut protects it from damage by producing nitric oxide and hydrogen sulphide. Kashfi’s aspirin produces both gases as the drug breaks down.

To test the new drug, Kashfi’s team added it to cells from 11 types of human tumour, including from colon, pancreas, breast, lung and prostate cancer.

“It turned out to be significantly more potent than aspirin alone,” Kashfi said.

With colon cancer, for example, NOSH-aspirin was 100,000 times more potent than the original drug, causing the cells to stop dividing, wither and die.

It was not clear what caused the increased potency but the results suggested that lower doses would be needed to fight cancer than for regular aspirin.

The new drug appeared not to be harmful to animals. In mice with colon cancer, daily doses for 18 days reduced tumour size by 85 percent with no gut damage.

“We could be looking at a human trial within two years,” Kashfi said.

The protein plays a crucial role in kidney fibrosis, a condition that leads to kidney failure, researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine said.

The research team studied three mouse models of kidney fibrosis.

One group of mice contained HIV viral proteins incorporated into their genome.

The second group was injected with a high dose of folic acid.

In the third group, kidney filtration was blocked in one kidney.

All of these factors caused kidney fibrosis, Xinhua reported.

The researchers compared the genetic material of mice having kidney fibrosis with those that did not suffer from the condition.

They found that HIPK2, a protein kinase, or regulator, was highly active in the mice with kidney fibrosis.

When HIPK2 eliminated, fibrosis was less prominent and the condition of the mice significantly improved.

The study was published this week in Nature Medicine.

Monash University researchers, led by James Whisstock and Paul Coughlin, have shown how the protein plasminogen is converted into plasmin, an enzyme that sweeps disease-causing clots and clears up damaged tissue.

Clinicians currently use drugs called plasminogen activators to generate plasmin in treating heart attack and stroke patients, the journal Cell Reports said.

Whisstock, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Monash, said scientists had been trying for nearly a century to understand how plasminogen is activated to plasmin, according to a Monash statement.

“Now we can see the atomic details of the plasminogen, we can finally get a detailed picture of how the whole system works and how plasmin is produced,” Whisstock said.

“Plasminogen only yielded its secrets when exposed to the most focused and powerful X-rays the Synchrotron can currently produce – technology which has only become available in the past few years,” said Tom Caradoc-Davies, from the Australian Synchrotron.

The proposed Cabo Cortes mega-project “is an example of what we call predator tourism, which provides short-term benefits to developers without considering the negative environmental, social and economic impact”, Greenpeace oceans and coasts campaign coordinator Alejandro Olivera said in a press conference here Tuesday.

Backers of the campaign include Mexican actors Cecilia Suarez, Diana Bracho, Patricia Llaca, Ana Brenda and Mel Pacheco, musicians Ruben Albarran, Roco Pachukote and Moyenei Valdes, as well as TV host Claudia Lizaldi and TV producer Epigmenio Ibarra.

The goal of the campaign is to secure cancellation – before President Felipe Calderon’s six-year term expires Dec 1, 2012 – of an environmental permit issued last March to the local division of Spanish developer Hansa Urbana, Greenpeace representatives said.

The Environment Secretariat approved Cabo Cortes’s environmental impact statement in September 2008.

The development was later temporarily halted when a resident filed a request for a review. Environmental officials gave the go-ahead for the project for the second time March 1, 2011, but they set certain conditions

Environmentalists say the mega-project, which they compare to Mexico’s large-scale tourist resort of Cancun, will destroy the only coral reef in the Gulf of California.

Cabo Cortes would cover a 3,800-hectare expanse and feature a marina with 490 boat slips, two golf courses, seven hotels with 27,000 guestrooms for tourists and 5,000 residences for workers, all within a short distance of the Cabo Pulmo preserve.

The Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park in Baja California Sur state was created by decree June 6, 1995. It has a marine area of 7,111 hectares and boasts the best-preserved coral reef in Mexico’s Pacific region.

In 2005, Cabo Pulmo was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2008 it was added to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

The 20,000-year-old Cabo Pulmo reef, one of the oldest in the American Pacific, is home to 226 of the 875 fish species that inhabit the Gulf of California.

“There is an urgent need to replace the conventional open-discharge toilets with green toilets with a view to having cleaner, hygienic and safer railway ecosystem,” Tivedi said while presenting the railway budget for 2012-13 in the Lok Sabha.

“The DRDO (Defence Research & Development Organisation) developed bio-toilets are currently under extended trial to test their efficacy and suitability. In the next year, 2,500 coaches will be equipped with these bio-toilets,” he added.

According to the minister, trials with retention-evacuation type toilets such as vacuum toilets are also planned on a few premium trains and based on experience, more number of coaches would be equipped with such green toilets.

In order to protect the environment the railways will also be introducing 200 remote railway stations, which will be powered entirely by solar energy while solar lighting system will be provided at 1,000 manned level crossing gates.

Trivedi has also announced setting up of 72 MW capacity windmill plants in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

Brittany McCall, University of Houston graduate student and biology professor Steven Pennings, her adviser, sampled arthropods and marine invertebrates in coastal salt marshes at the time of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as a year later.

Both of them gathered samples in areas where relatively low levels of oil were present but the plants still appeared healthy and undamaged, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reported.

They found that in these areas, the numbers of crabs, insects and spiders were reduced by up to 50 percent because of the oil exposure, according to a university statement.

“This study demonstrates that appearances can be deceiving,” Pennings said. “Arthropods are quite vulnerable to oil exposure. These results are very important because they show that we can’t assume that the marsh is healthy just because the plants are still alive.”

However, the fact that some plant life remained intact in these areas apparently was key to how the arthropods recovered.

When the Houston researchers sampled the same areas a year later, all three groups appeared to have recovered, suggesting that arthropods affected by oil may recover if their host plants remain healthy.

“Salt marshes are commonly disturbed by natural events and, as a result, they may be able to also recover from oil spills if the oil disturbance is not too large,” Pennings said.

Researchers from the University of Warwick Medical School found that people reported better mental quality of life as they age, despite aches and stiff bones.

They analysed lifestyle and health patterns of more than 10,000 people in the US and Britain and their links to participants’ mental and physical quality of life and health status, the European Journal of Epidemiology reported.

Saverio Stranges, who led the study at Warwick, with Kandala Ngianga-Bakwin, said: “It’s obvious that people’s physical quality of life deteriorates as they age, but what is interesting is that their mental well-being does not deteriorate – in fact, it increases.”

Quality of life was evaluated using a measure which takes in eight different factors, including perception of general health, pain, social functioning and mental health, according to a university statement.

This is in line with previous research, for example by Andrew Oswald, professor at Warwick, which suggests that happiness levels follow a U-shape curve with their lowest point in the mid-40s after which they rise as people move into older age.

Supportive results were found in this cross-cultural comparison study in the US and Britain – two countries which have different welfare and health-care systems, factors which could impact on people’s quality of life.

Researchers also found that being overweight or obese did not have a significant impact on mental well-being levels, with people having a body mass index (a height to weight ratio) of more than 30 showing similar mental quality of life levels to those considered to be a healthy weight.

For women in the US, low levels of physical exercise did not appear to impact on their mental well-being. This was not the case for men, where limited physical exercise had a significant adverse impact on their mental quality of life.

“The Chinese nuclear industry still feels confident to meet the installed capacity targets of 40 million and 70 million kilowatts by 2015 and 2020 respectively,” Ren Junsheng, a member of the nuclear safety commission, said Saturday.

He was speaking at a seminar entitled “One year after the Fukushima nuclear accident — the way forward with safety and risk engineering” in the City University of Hong Kong, reports Xinhua.

Ren said after the devastating Fukushima accident, China conducted safety inspections of its nuclear plants, the scope of which included appropriateness of site selection, ability to withstand earthquakes and floods, and monitoring and emergency preparedness.

Experts from Japan, China, France and the US attended.

The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Japan was struck by a devastating earthquake and an ensuing tsunami March 11 last year, resulting in a series of equipment failure.

The rhinos were being shifted from Kaziranga National Park in upper Assam to Manas National Park located in eastern Assam Saturday night under tight security, crossing a distance of over 450 km.

The two, named Maju and Raja, were under care of the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) in Bokakhat, where they were hand-raised by experienced veterinarians and animal keepers for more than three years.

While Maju was orphaned in an unfortunate incident in February 2009, when his mother charged at a team of researchers and had to be killed by forest guards protecting them, Raja was found alone in January 2008, dehydrated and weak, with the whereabouts of his mother unknown.

Both the incidents occurred in Kaziranga National Park – a world heritage site that hosts over 70 percent of the world’s greater one-horned rhino population.

“Now between three and four years of age, the two healthy males were captured in KNP on Saturday and are likely to be released in Manas National Park tomorrow (Sunday),” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Suresh Chand.

“Some of the most interesting and pioneering conservation and welfare initiatives have taken wing in Assam. The rehabilitation of rescued animals in the wild and repopulation is one of those. It combines individual animal welfare and conservation and proves that every individual matters,” he said.

The one-horned rhinos are being reintroduced in Manas National Park through translocation from Pobitara Wildlife Sanctuary and Kaziranga National Park as well as through such rehabilitation of rescued rhinos from CWRC, he said.

Janek Lisewski, 42, attempted to kite surf a 200 km distance between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. He was on his two thirds of the trip, when the wind went dead and the deflated kite plunged into the sea.

He waited for about two hours for the wind to return and then sent a call of distress, but it took 40 hours before Saudi Arabian coast guards discovered and rescued him.

During this time, which he survived on energy drinks and two energy bars he had, Lisewski was attacked by sharks, but fended them off with a knife.

“I was stabbing them in the eyes, the nose, the gills,” he told Poland’s PAP agency.

Last year Lisewski became the first kite surfer in history to cross the Baltic Sea as he surfed from Poland to Sweden.

They may not wear helmets and carry handcuffs, but chimps engage in impartial ‘policing’ of conflict, according to anthropologists led by Carel van Schaik, professor at the University of Zurich and Claudia Rudolf von Rohr.

The authors suggest that this behaviour can be regarded as an early evolutionary form of morality. Until now, this behaviour in chimpanzees was only ever documented anecdotally, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reports.

However, the new study now confirms that chimpanzees intervene impartially in a conflict to guarantee the stability of their group, exhibiting prosocial behaviour based on the welfare of their community, according to the Daily Mail.

Researchers also found that the arbiters were more willing to intervene impartially if several quarrellers were involved in a dispute, probably because such conflicts are more likely to jeopardise group peace.

“The interest in community concern that is highly developed in us humans and forms the basis for our moral behaviour is deeply rooted. It can also be observed in our closest relatives,” concludes von Rohr.

According to scientists from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University, the survival strategy that has served Cardinal fish so well for 50 million years could come unstuck due to rapid global warming.

“We studied how Cardinal fish has evolved over millions of years and found that these mouthbrooders haven’t changed much – their jaw cavities have become larger for keeping more young in their mouths, and their colours are different, but that’s about it,” explained David Bellwood, professor and study co-author.

“While other fishes have evolved by changing shape and broadening their diet, the mouthbrooding fishes remain simple feeders that eat mainly plankton. This can be bad news when food is scarce,” added Bellwood, the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B reported.

With a lifespan of about two years, Cardinal fish breed several times a year, mostly in summer. Instead of laying thousands of eggs in a batch like other fish, they lay hundreds of slightly larger eggs, according to a university statement.

When the female releases the eggs, the male gathers them into a tight bundle which he keeps safe in his mouth for a couple of weeks until the young hatch and become free-swimming.

“These eggs occupy up to 100 percent of the oral cavity, and the dad’s mouth would expand and look like a large bubble,” said Andrew Hoey, who conducted the study.

“It’s a wonder that they can even breathe. They don’t feed, but live on stored energy, and stay sedentary in and around corals,” said Hoey.

“The females play the role of jealous wives. They stay close to the males, not to help rear the kids, but to prevent other females from swimming off with such a desirable mate. Our guess is these stay-at-home dads are very much in demand,” Hoey said.

Although the 50 million-year-old breeding technique has proved successful so far, providing large and happy families for cardinal fishes, their future is looking grim, Bellwood said.

The other problem is the increasing lack of shelter as corals around the world die from bleaching and disease: Cardinal fish are popular prey for larger predatory fish like coral trout.

They say this one gene could explain why men have a “fight or flight” response while women are more likely to try and defuse the situation, the Daily Mail said Thursday.

Australian researchers have studied the chemicals secreted by men when they react to stress – and how this influences their behaviour.

And they propose that the SRY gene – only found on the Y chromosome – and the proteins it activates in the body are the key.

This gene was previously thought just to be involved in the development of male characteristics in the womb.

But Joohyung Lee and Vincent Harley from Prince Henry’s Institute in Melbourne have shown these proteins are actually present in the brain and other organs of adult males.

They have shown these may regulate stress hormones and blood pressure which cause stressed-out men to experience their pulse quickening and adrenaline coursing through their veins – triggering aggression, the newspaper added.

Volunteers given the beta-blocker, used to lower heart rates, scored lower on a standard psychological test of “implicit” racist attitudes.

They appeared to be less racially prejudiced at a subconscious level than another group treated with a “dummy” placebo pill.

Scientists believe the discovery can be explained by the fact that racism is fundamentally founded on fear.

Propranolol acts both on nerve circuits that govern automatic functions such as heart rate, and the part of the brain involved in fear and emotional responses. The drug is also used to treat anxiety and panic.

Experimental psychologist Sylvia Terbeck, from Oxford University, who led the study published in the journal Psychopharmacology, said: “We wanted to study the neurobiology of prejudice,” according to the newspaper.

Less than three percent of Indian women had access to screening techniques for cancer of cervix, said Urvashi Jha, director for obstetrics and gynaecology and surgical oncology at Fortis Healthcare.

“According to World Health Organisation (WHO), of all Indian women aged 18-69 years, only a meagre 2.6 percent undergo screening every three years for cervical cancer. How can we assume that our country will emerge as a superpower when we can’t provide such basic services,” she said.

Techniques such as pap smears and conventional cytology-based screening techniques are adequate for detecting cervical cancer but the fact that women do not go for such screenings is the biggest cause of worry for the experts.

Jha said that the statistics were “appalling” since the cancer of cervix, “which is a very preventable cancer” was amongst the top killers in women’s cancers in the country, in absence of regular screenings and women’s awareness.

S.L. Jain, lab director, Quest Diagnostics India, said that early detection was the “single most important factor” in determining the long-term survival prospects of patients of cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide but according to United States National Library of Health, the 5-year survival rate can be as much as 92 percent for cases where the spread of cancer is limited.

“The union government is seriously contemplating 40 percent increase for sanitation sector in the annual budget this year, and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has assured to pay full attention to sanitation sector in the coming budget,” he said.

The union budget will be presented March 16.

“The government is considering a proposal to increase the grant for construction of individual toilets in rural areas,” Ramesh said while launching a nationwide sanitation campaign — ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan’ organised by Sulabh International Wednesday.

He also said his ministry would focus on the implementation of sanitation related issues at gram (village) panchayat level.

Beginning at the start of the year, the country has decided to halve vehicle tax for users of energy-saving cars and ships, according to a document posted Wednesday on the website of the Ministry of Finance.

Vehicle tax for users of new-energy cars and vessels will also be removed, reported Xinhua.

China overtook the US as the world’s largest auto market in 2009 after selling 13.64 million vehicles that year. Both car sales and production volume witnessed astonishing growth in 2009 and 2010 before slowing to a 2.4-percent growth in 2011 with the conclusion of stimulus policies.

China remains the world’s largest auto market. Car sales last year hit 18.5 million units.

According to the police, the incidents took place in the forest area near Basai Daang in Dholpur, some 300 km from Jaipur.

A bear had attacked a 45-year old man identified as Rambabu on Monday.

“The bear mauled him to death and then attacked a family of shepherds which had gone to a pond with their flock of sheep for water. Five of the family members were left severely injured,” said a police officer.

The same bear attacked a 40-year old man, Tej Singh in nearby Veerpur village. “Tej Singh had gone into the forest to collect some medicinal plants along with other villagers when the animal attacked the group Tuesday,” said the officer.

While five of them were injured in the attack, the bear killed Tej Singh.

Other residents rushed to the spot, but the bear had dragged Singh’s body deeper into the forest.

A wild life expert team has been sent to the area. “We are trying to locate the animal,” said a forest department officer.

“Composters are an economically viable solution for the problem of plastic disposal as the machines can convert the waste into usable diesel, gas and other byproducts,” Perses Billimoria, founder and chief executive of Earth Soul India, told IANS here.

Another variant of the composter can also be used to convert daily organic items like vegetable peels, unused food items and agricultural waste into compost matter. The compost then can be used as fertiliser which reduces the carbon footprint as well as saves the soil from harmful chemical additives.

“In the initial stage, we plan to start an assembly unit by importing critical parts of the machine and then fabricating the rest. We may go into full-fledged production by the end of next year,” Billimoria said.

The company, which manufactures bio-degradable plastic bags, said it is scouting for a location for the composter plant that would come up at an initial cost of around Rs.10 crore.

Billimoria said townships can be one of the main beneficiaries of using composters to convert waste into usable material.

“Big cities like New Delhi and Mumbai generate nearly 8,000 tonnes of solid waste per day. This massive environmental issue can be solved by community-focused initiatives, where composters are used to convert local waste into composte or fuel,” said Billimoria.

“We are in touch with major companies which have townships like Tata Chemicals, ACC cement and even education institute Bits Pilani. Even industries like fertiliser can benefit out of this.”

Billimoria is also planning to import machines that convert kitchen waste into water.

“The machine will convert the organic kitchen waste into water. But the water is not going to be potable, it can only be used for other purposes like cleaning,” he said.

The research, based on a long-term study of 40,000 British households, looked at the responses of 5,000 people aged between 10 and 15 years, about their health-related behaviours and levels of happiness.

Researchers from the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, believe the data showed a linkage between smoking, drinking alcohol and taking no exercise with substantially lower happiness scores among teenagers, according to an Essex statement.

Booker, study co-author from Essex, said: “What this research shows us is that young people across the social spectrum are failing to eat healthy balanced diets and are starting to consume alcohol at a young age.

“This is storing up problems for later life, because we know that there are clear long-term links between health-related behaviours and well-being in adulthood,” Booker added.

The results show that young people who never drank any alcohol were between four and six times more likely to have higher levels of happiness than those who reported any alcohol consumption.

Youth who smoked were about five times less likely to have high happiness scores compared to those who never smoked. Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables and lower consumption of crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks were both tied with high happiness. The more hours of sport youth participated in per week the happier they were.

Surprisingly, only 11 percent of those aged 13-15 between years reported consumption of five or more portions of fruit and vegetables daily and even amongst the 10-12-year olds less than a fifth reported eating fruit and vegetables five or more times per day.

The marine department will overhaul the oil production projects in the region to safeguard the environment, said Lv Bin, a member of the National People’s Congress.

The move comes after a series of oil spills in Bohai last year that destroyed livelihoods of hundreds of fishermen, China Daily reported.

The headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti district, Keylong experienced 43 cm of snow during the past 24 hours, an official of the meteorological office here told IANS. He said this was the season’s heaviest snowfall in the town in a day.

The entire higher reaches in Kinnaur, Chamba, Lahaul and Spiti and Kullu districts have been witnessing moderate snowfall during the past 24 hours, said the official.

The higher reaches were freezing, with Keylong being the coldest at a minimum temperature of minus 2.9 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district saw a low of minus 1.6 degrees and received 35.1 mm rainfall.

Manali received 69.2 mm of rain and recorded a temperature of 3 degrees Celsius, Shimla recorded 1.9 mm rainfall and 9 degrees Celsius temperature, while Dharamsala recorded 4.5 degrees Celsius and received 32.6 mm of rain.

Officials of the Met office said the entire mountain range in the interiors of Lahaul and Spiti district will experience snow till May and the climatic conditions there were as harsh as in a cold desert.

The western disturbance would remain active in the state till March 6, with chances of heavy rain and snow at some places, added the weather office.

Hussain, while replying to a question in the state assembly, had said: “There are indications that the number of tigers in the various reserve forests in Assam are increasing.”

The minister had also claimed that “the density of tigers in Kaziranga National Park is the highest in the country”, as found from the camera-trapping technique installed in the world-famous protected area.

Soumyadeep Datta, a wildlife activist, says the statement of the minister is “baseless” and pointed out that he could not give any statistics to back up is claim.

Dutta leads prominent wildlife conservation group-Natures’ Beacon.

“Assam may have 70 tigers at the maximum at this moment. If the number is increasing, why is the minister not revealing the statistics? It is easy to make a statement, but it is very difficult to establish it with facts,” Dutta told IANS Sunday.

Datta, who is an international Ashoka Fellow (leading social entrepreneurs recognized to have innovative solutions to social problems, and the potential to change patterns across society), further revealed that there used to be 4,334 tigers in India in 1989, and till that figure is achieved again, nobody in the country should claim that the tiger population is increasing.

“At this moment India does not have more than 1,700 tigers across the country. The northeast region may contribute hardly 100 tigers to the cumulative national figure,” he said.

In 1972, there were nearly 1,827 tigers in India according to a government-sponsored tiger census. Project Tiger was launched in 1973.

The tally of tigers increased from 3,015 in 1979 to 4,005 in 1984. It reached the highest level of 4,334 in 1989, after which a gradual decline was recorded.

By 1993, the number of tigers in India was recorded as 3,750, which further faced declined to 3,508 in 1997. The lowest figure was recorded in 2004 at less then 1,410.

The state forest minister also disclosed that his department had already set up a wildlife experts’ team, to study the frequent straying of leopards into densely-populated areas, including Guwahati.

Anthropogenic (manmade) acidification occurs when 30 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, produced by burning fossil fuels, go straight into the ocean, altering their chemistry and turning them progressively acidic.

An international research effort has concluded that in the past 300 million years the chemistry of our oceans has undergone profound changes, although none seem to have been so rapid, so global, or to such an extent as the changes occurring presently, the journal Science reports.

The research was conducted by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), according to an UAB statement.

“Considering the effects we detect through fossil records, there is no doubt that we must tackle the problem at its roots as soon as possible, adopting measures to immediately reduce our CO2 emissions into the atmosphere” said Patrizia Ziveri, researcher at ICTA.

Acidification harms many marine life forms and interferes with the development of shell-building species and those with calcium-carbonate skeletons, such as corals and molluscs.

It also can affect phytoplankton species, which are an essential part of the marine trophic network feeding fish, crustaceans and other species.

Deepor Beel, located in the southwestern corner of Guwahati and covering an area of about 41 sq km, is one of the largest in the Brahmaputra Valley. It was listed as a Ramsar site in 2002 for undertaking conservation measures on the basis of its biological and environmental importance.

The Beel provides direct and indirect livelihood to about 3,000 people of 16 villages located on its periphery.

The villagers had no proper source of income and they either killed migratory birds or took to extensive fishing in the lake for a living.

This posed serious threats to the bio-diversity of the water body.

“I felt that we can conserve the bio diversity of the water body only by making the families self-sufficient,” said Eco Concept director Nilutpal Das.

“The people of villages in periphery take to community fishing in the lake on the first Sunday of January every year. Many people earn good amounts of money by selling the fish,” he said, adding that he realized that the destruction bio diversity of the Beel will not stop until these villagers become economically sound.

“I discussed with a few of my friends and hit upon the idea of mushroom cultivation as alternate livelihood for these people,” he said.

The effort of Das showed its result soon and the mushroom cultivation centre at Pamohi has already been completed. While the centre already has 300 mushroom bags, the NGO is working on increasing the number to 700 at present.

“I have spent Rs.50,000 to set up the training centre for mushroom cultivation and I hope it will definitely bear fruit. The youths of the area are enquiring about the prospects of mushroom cultivation,” said Das.

“We are also educating the people in and around the Deepor Beel on mushroom cultivation and its economic potential,” he said, adding that they were also tying up with some firms from out of the state and abroad that procures mushroom.

For the benefit of the local communities, the Eco Concept will also construct a shed next month where they will make traditional Assamese pithas (rice cakes) of different kinds, which would be marketed locally.

Concern over greenhouse gas emissions and global warming prompted calls on major industries to lessen their carbon footprint and produce products that are not harmful.

Meanwhile, a tightening of legislation restricting the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from trucks and cars led car manufacturers to develop new tires that help decrease carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the Fox News reported Saturday.

One-fifth of the Europe’s total CO2 emissions come from road transportation, according to the European Environment Agency. Consequently, the European Union has introduced numerous CO2 restrictions.

These constraints compelled tire manufacturers to produce eco-friendly, fuel efficient tires.

Most of these tires reduce their carbon footprint by making lighter contact with the road, reducing the amount of resistance and therefore necessitating less gasoline to push the vehicle forward.

However, with less resistance can come less brake efficiency. In dire situations, the eco-friendly tires may role on for a longer time after the brake pedal is pushed than traditional tires, the report said.

In 2007, Continental, a major tire manufacturer, stood against legislation to reduce CO2 emissions through green tires, citing concerns over a decline in brake efficiency.

Looking to make green tires that were fully safe, Continental produced one of the best tires on the market for reducing impact on the environment.

Continental ProContact reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. This green tire was created for sedans, minivans, coupes and crossover vehicles.

The company placed their two main tire concerns right in the name of the product: ProContact with Ecoplus Technology.

Continental ProContact is just one of the many eco-friendly tires that saves gas and provides good traction. The fuel-efficient Bridgestone Ecopia EP-02 tire was designed specifically for electric powered cars.

Businessman Angel Moore helps pampered pooches find inner peace through spiritual healing sessions at his dog-grooming salon in Clayton, Manchester.

Moore launched his service of providing the Buddhist healing practice for dogs in 2009 after winning a grant from the New East Manchester regeneration programme.

His dog-grooming salon Barking Barbers quickly became recognised for being “groomers with a conscience”, incorporating Angel’s Buddhist beliefs.

Now Moore has launched a new dog lifestyle store in south Manchester, offering everything from natural shampoos to sessions of Reiki – the art of “palm healing” devised by a Buddhist monk in Japan, the Mail added Friday.

In the latest attack, a rhino was killed and two others were critically injured after poachers struck in the Eastern Cape Friday, according to the Hawks, a special anti-crime task force.

“Rangers at the Kariega Game Farm were patrolling this (Friday) morning when they found three dehorned rhinos,” said Hawks spokesperson McIntosh Polela.

“The police have cordoned off the scene and are investigating,” he said.

The attack followed the arrests of four suspects earlier this week for killing and dehorning two rhinos in the Kruger National Park, Xinhua reported.

The project, ‘I am the tiger’ uses dance, music and poetry to tell the story of a tiger, Taqdeer, and the fight for survival against hunters.

In India, the number of tigers has dwindled to just 1,700 from about 100,000 a century ago.

“The team of performers will be travelling to London and Warsaw where theatre performances will be held at various prestigious centres. Art work done by children will be displayed at the Nehru Centre in London,” said Shivani Wazir Pasrich, whose production team will be travelling to London for the performance.

“It is a collective effort to bring two aspects of life together – endangered species like tigers and feminine energy (motherhood),” Wazir told reporters at an event.

The project, in collaboration with Taj group of hotels, brings together support of artist Anjolie Ela Menon, tiger conservationist Latika Nath Rana, Sunanina Anand of art live gallery, and composer and singer Arianne Gray Hubert among others. The team was flagged off by Wazir here.

“It explores the role of tiger in our lives and the need to preserve this proud species,” Wazir added.

The performance pieces together the story of Taqdeer who is raised in a forest and how the tiger’s family falls to the clutches of hunters and battles for existence with villagers.

“Our effort is not to let the tigers die and contribute towards it. We are going for an awareness programme by creating paintings and pictures by school students,” said Aparajita Gogoi, member of the project and national coordinator of White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood.

A seawater desalinisation plant has recently been put into operation in the seaside city of Tangshan, about 260 km southeast of Beijing, said Zhou Lingyun, an official at the Beijing Enterprises Water Group Co. Ltd.

“Every day, the plant is able to put out 50,000 tonnes of desalinised seawater, which meets the standards of drinking water,” Zhou was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

The daily output capacity will be expanded to one million or even three million tonnes in the future, he said.

“That will greatly ease the water shortage in Beijing. If the daily output capacity reaches three million tonnes, that will meet the daily demand of the city for drinking water,” he said.

Official figures suggest the city’s per capita water resource availability has dropped to one-tenth of the UN’s “danger threshold”.

China aims to increase its seawater desalination capacity over the next five years to ease shortage in coastal areas and islands. Currently, China desalinates about 640,000 tonnes of seawater every day.

With the expansion of facilities and advanced technologies, China will have 20 cities using desalinated seawater by 2015.

Eventually, the whole snake is forced into a scaly ball by the spider’s strong web.

A shocked office receptionist stumbled upon the insect’s mammoth feat at her workplace in South Africa, The Sun reported Thursday.

Tania Robertson was arriving at the electrical firm when she spotted the brown button spider tucking into possibly its biggest meal ever – a 14-cm long Aurora house snake.

The spider – which is actually quite rare in South Africa – is not as deadly as a black widow but still did damage to the snake.

Ministers unveiled plans to outlaw the “outdated” practice through new legislation at the “earliest opportunity”, The Independent reported.

A tough licensing regime will be brought in to improve conditions for performing animals while changes in the law are developed.

Animal Welfare Minister Lord Taylor said: “There is no place in today’s society for wild animals being used for our entertainment in travelling circuses. Wild animals deserve our respect.”

Between 35 and 50 wild animals, including tigers, camels, zebras and snakes, are understood to be used in circuses. Elephants are no longer kept in circuses in Britain

The 26 million-year-old bird dubbed Kairuku had a unique body shape with long wings, a slender build and a spear-like bill.

The first Kairuku bones were discovered 35 years ago in New Zealand by Ewan Fordyce, a professor of geology at New Zealand’s University of Otago.

He recently teamed up with Dan Ksepka, a research assistant professor at North Carolina State University, to reconstruct a skeleton from multiple sets of fossils, using a king penguin as a model.

The bird is about a foot taller than emperors – the largest modern-day penguin.

When Kairuku was alive, most of modern-day New Zealand was submerged beneath the ocean.

The desperate process was set rolling after one of the female zebras, Ash, kicked the male zebra Chetak to death Feb 6.

Admitting they were desperate to “quickly find a male partner for the female zebras”, zoo director Renu Singh told IANS that she had written to the zoos in Delhi, Bangalore and Chandigarh.

She said she has sought to get a male zebra against “surplus animals” that includes a leopard, panther and a hippopotamus.

Zoo officials said the Delhi and Chandigarh zoos cold shouldered the request. The Bangalore zoo responded but expressed its inability to send a zebra since they already had a shortage.

Officials said the search for a male zebra had been initiated on an emergency basis as this was breeding time and the zebra population had already dwindled to just two at the zoo.

The thicker ice, known as multi-year ice, survives through the cyclical summer melt season, when young ice that has formed over winter just as quickly melts again.

The rapid disappearance of older ice makes Arctic sea ice even more vulnerable to further decline in the summer, said Joey Comiso, senior scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, Greenbelt, who authored the study, the Journal of Climate reported.

The new research takes a closer look at how multi-year ice, that has made it through at least two summers, has diminished with each passing winter over the last three decades, according to a university statement.

Multi-year ice “extent” — which includes all areas of the Arctic Ocean which covers at least 15 percent of the ocean surface — is diminishing at a rate of 15.1 percent per decade, the study found.

Sea ice area is always smaller than sea ice extent, and it gives scientists the information needed to estimate the total volume of ice in the Arctic Ocean.

Comiso found that multi-year ice area is shrinking even faster than multi-year ice extent, by 15.1 percent per decade.

“The average thickness of the Arctic sea ice cover is declining because it is rapidly losing its thick component, the multi-year ice. At the same time, the surface temperature in the Arctic is going up, which results in a shorter ice-forming season,” Comiso said.

“It would take a persistent cold spell for most multi-year sea ice and other ice types to grow thick enough in the winter to survive the summer melt season and reverse the trend,” Comiso concluded.

“Embankments are a must to save Sunderbans and its population from the ill-effects of climate change and cyclones. The construction of the embankments has started but we are facing problems in acquiring land,” Sunderbans Affairs Minister Shyamal Mandal said.

He said of the 3,500 km of embankments in the entire area, 800 km are vulnerable and will be rebuilt in a phased manner.

“For rebuilding the embankments, 6,000 acres of land needs to be acquired of which we have already acquired 500 acres and we are trying to acquire the rest,” said Mandal.

“The project has a budget of Rs.5,030 crores. In the first phase, 263 km of embankment will be constructed at a cost of Rs.1,032 crore,” he said.

However, Jayanta Naskar, a Trinamool lawmaker from Gosaba – one of the main deltaic islands in the Sundarban region – contradicting the minister, said landowners were willing to give land for the embankments.

“The people know the importance of the embankments and are willing to give up their land. It is not proper to say there are acquisition problems,” Naskar said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier announced that land will be acquired under a special project for building the embankments.

The Sunderbans is the largest single block of tidal mangrove forest in the world covering 10,000 sq km, of which 4,000 sq km are in West Bengal and the rest in Bangladesh. It was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997.

In a letter to Chavan on behalf of animal rights group PETA, dolphin specialist Ric O’Barry said dolphins and other marine mammals suffer immeasurably in captivity as they do not belong to tanks.

“Dolphins in aquariums — even those born in captivity — quickly become depressed, stressed and volatile. These exceedingly intelligent marine mammals know they are not where they are supposed to be,” said O’Barry, who featured in the Academy Award-winning film The Cove — which documented the annual dolphin slaughter in Japan — and who has trained dolphins for the 1960s American television show Flipper.

According to O’Barry, dolphins in the oceans inhabit a vast and complex world, establish close co-operative and long-standing relationships living in large social groups, swimming together as a family and travel up to 100 miles daily.

“Dolphins used in marine parks are violently torn from their families and confined to small tanks, that to them seem like bathtubs in which they can swim in only mind-numbing circles. Most captive dolphins live to be only half the age of wild dolphins,” O’Barry pointed out.

The Emory University scientists recently determined that the cognitive capacity of dolphins is second only to that of humans, added O’Barry.

Citing examples of dolphin conservation efforts, he said that Brazil and Costa Rica have declared it as illegal to use marine mammals for entertainment.

Similarly, Israel has prohibited the import of dolphins for use in marine parks, and Canada no longer allows beluga whales to be captured and exported, while South Carolina, in the US, has banned exhibits of whales and dolphins.

O’Barry’s appeal comes after the state government announced plans to build India’s first oceanarium, Sea World, at a cost of over Rs.5 billion, in Malvan fishing village of Konkan, around 450 km south of Mumbai.

The decision last October followed a feasibility report prepared by the Science & Technology Park, University of Pune.

Construction on Sea World, which will house state-of-the-art facilities, will start September this year and the marine park is expected to be thrown open by 2015.

Among other things, Sea World would include a dolphin stadium, water park, a 3D dome theatre, aquarium, amphitheatre, underwater studio, rescue centre, theme restaurants and amusement facilities.

The Sumatran tiger, native to Indonesia, could be the fourth type of tiger to disappear from the wild thanks to deforestation and the loss of thick groundcover, also known as understory cover, said Sunarto, a WWF tigert expert, who led the study, the first to investigate the use of both forests and plantation areas for tiger habitat.

Although tiger’s prefer forest to plantation areas, the study found that the most important factor was that availability of thick ground-level vegetation which apparently serves as an environmental necessity for tiger habitat, regardless of location, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reported.

“As ambush hunters, tigers would find it hard to capture their prey without adequate understory cover,” said Sunarto, who earned his doctorate at Virginia Tech and now is a tiger expert for the World Wildlife Fund-Indonesia (WWF-Indonesia).

“The lack of cover also leaves tigers vulnerable to persecution by humans, who generally perceive them as dangerous,” added Sunarto. Within forest areas, tigers also strongly prefer sites that have low levels of human disturbance, according to a univeristy statement.

Estimates place the current wild tiger populations at as few as 3,200 tigers, including only about 400 Sumatran tigers, which are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

“These study results indicate that to thrive, tigers depend on the existence of large contiguous forest blocks,” said study co-author Marcella Kelly, associate professor in Virginia Tech’s department of fish and wildlife conservation and Sunarto’s graduate advisor.

The Indonesian government has set aside many areas and national parks for the conservation of endangered species, but about 70 percent of tiger habitat in Sumatra, an island in western Indonesia, remains outside these protected areas.

“It’s one of those, you know, long-term projects that I think has tremendous payoff. But it’s not in the headlines,” she told a Senate panel Tuesday when asked about the initiative’s impact in India.

“We are actively driving an initiative we helped to put together called the global cookstove alliance – or the alliance for global cookstoves,” Clinton said.

“We are working with dozens of other countries, with the United Nations and organizations to help create a market for cleaner- burning cookstoves in developing countries, because this has tremendous benefits,” she said.

The US, Clinton said, was also “working with some Indian universities that are actually taking measurements of the pollution that goes into women and children’s lungs and also up into the atmosphere.”

This is part if an initiative the United States has joined with five other countries in setting up a new coalition to fight the climate forcers, the short-term climate forcers: methane, soot, black carbon, she said. “And cookstoves, obviously, are part of that.”

Describing it as “the kind of initiative that I think is worth investing in,” Clinton said: “It’ll pay dividends down the road. It’s not a quick fix, but it’s something that we’re able to do with public- private partnerships.”

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)

While the census operation will begin at the Orang National Park March 15, the rhinos of the Pabitora wildlife sanctuary will be covered on March 20, the official said.

Two days – March 26 and March 27 – have been allotted for Kaziranga National Park keeping in view the large number of rhinos in the national park.

According to the 2009 census, there were 2,196 rhinos in Assam — 2,048 in Kaziranga, 84 in Pabitora and 64 in Orang.

“We are going to use camera trap technology for the census and preparations are on in full swing for March 15,” said a senior official. He added they are hopeful that the census at Pabitora and Orang will be completed in one single day each as the number of rhinos in the two parks is small.

Kaziranga is one of the most famous destinations for foreign and domestic tourists in Assam because of its large number of one-horned rhinos, which can be easily sighted. The rare species is also found in Pobitara, Orang and Manas National Parks, (Assam), Dudhwa National Park (Uttar Pradesh) and in some places in Nepal.

The forest officials have to struggle for the protection and conservation of the one-horned rhinos as poachers target the animal for its horn, which is in high demand in the markets of many southeast Asian countries and China where it is valued for its believed medicinal and aphrodisiacal properties.

The Assam forest department, World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) and International Rhino Foundation (IRF) have started a joint ptogramme for trans-location of the rhinos to Manas National Park in Assam aiming to attain a population of 3,000 rhinos in the wild in seven protected areas of Assam by 2020.

The programme also aims at securing the long-term survival of the wild one-horned rhinos in Assam by expanding their distribution to all the protected areas.

“India is taking steps to acquire a Hercules C-130J along with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). With this capability, all countries of the Indian Ocean Region would benefit,” said Reddy during a meeting with delegation headed by Razakanaivo Mamy Nirina, head of the disaster prevention and emergency management unit of Madagascar here.

Reddy said the NDMA has decided to address urban flooding as a separate disaster, delinking it from floods which affect a large tracts of rural areas.

He also said the NDMA is implementing the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project in 13 cyclone-prone coastal Indian states/union territories.

The study, conducted by ActionAid and Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, was released Tuesday.

“Around 80 percent of small and marginal farmers who contribute about 50 percent of the total crop production will be the most affected by the changing climate,” said the study.

The study was was shared and deliberated upon at a National Consultation on Climate Change and Agriculture – Adaptation and Mitigation by Small and Marginal Farmers.

Birendra Sahariya, 40, a farmer from Sipri village in Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh, was in Delhi to share his testimony.

“The pattern of rainfall has changed. It is so scattered that at times it rains but fields remain dry. The rainfall pattern was not like this about 10-15 years ago, and we are unable to understand it,” he said.

Stating that he lost everything due to changing weather, Sahariya said one of his sons committed suicide as he was unable to pay back a loan of Rs.2 lakh.

The cost of fertilisers, except urea, has increased by more than 300 percent after the nutrient based subsidy scheme was introduced and manufacturers were given a free hand to fix the price, the study noted.

Despite this, there is increased dependency on chemical fertilisers to meet soil fertility needs, given the emphasis on the chemical fertiliser-intensive green revolution model.

“The small and marginal farmers who are the largest food producers of our country can only sustain their production system if the policies and practices on climate resilient sustainable agriculture is widely adopted,” said Amar Jyoti Nayak of ActionAid India.