NGOs welcome Manas National Park’s removal from Unesco’s ‘danger’ list

Jun 24, 2011

NGOs and local communities working for the conservation of Manas National Park welcomed the removal of the sanctuary’s name from the ‘danger’ list of Unesco’s World Heritage Committee . ‘We are very happy with the removal of the ‘danger’ tag from Manas. Finally,

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Environment ministry launches green technology for tanneries; gets stricter on power sector

Jun 21, 2011

In an effort to prevent flowing contaminated water from tanneries to the river Ganga, Jairam Ramesh, union minister of state for environment and forests, formally launched lyophilization-based equipment at a common effluent treatment plant in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Lyophilization is a technique that

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Are resilient cities ‘the only game in town’ when it comes to climate adaptation?

Jun 18, 2011

In the spirit of the theme of the conference I attended in Bonn (Resilient Cities: 2nd Annual World Congress on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change, June 3″5, 2011), I was pleased to overcome the shock and surprise of the Icelandic volcanic ash

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Environment’s impact on health – India to conduct first study

Jun 15, 2011

Although the environment ministry failed to implement its mandate of having air and water monitoring systems in place for the 11th five-year plan, it will study the impact of the environment on the health of the population. As per the plan, India was to

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Repeal the sedition law and AFSPA, says Binayak Sen

May 24, 2011

The government of India needs to repeal the sedition law, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), said civil rights activist Binayak Sen at a felicitation function in Kalyani, West Bengal.Earlier, Sen had accused the government

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Species extinction rates being exaggerated to raise funds

May 21, 2011

The rate of extinction of rare species of animals and plants is being exaggerated to as high as 160 per cent, claimed two scientists in a report published in the journal Nature. According to the scientists, the rate at which species of animals and

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Poverty and disasters reinforce each other manifold

May 10, 2011

As focus at the United Nations Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (May 8-13, 2011), in Geneva, came on to the unsavoury equation between poverty and the impact of disasters, CARE International warned that the increasing number of humanitarian disasters was eroding the

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Heritage in our minds

May 9, 2011

I felt mixed thoughts as I read the news that the Delhi government was looking to submit a ‘tentative document'”whatever ‘tentative’ implies in this case”to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to be sent to the UNESCO so that Delhi city could be

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Should CSR spends be counted as ‘overhead’ costs?

May 9, 2011

A recently released paper, Conceptual Issues Faced in Development of Cost Accounting Standards, released by Institute of Cost of Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) questions if expenses made towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) be included in the total costs of the company. The

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Rise in trust in NGOs; businesses now distinguishing between charity and CSR

Apr 30, 2011

‘One of the most important findings for India is the real gap in trust in businesses – which is quite high – and trust in government – which is quite low. The big change is the rise in trust in non-governmental organizations (NGOs),

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