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Jammu, April 9 (PTI) The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged alarming degradation of lakes in Jammu and Kashmir, revealing that 518 out of 697 natural lakes -- over 74 per cent -- in the Union territory have either disappeared or decreased in size since 1967, leading to significant ecological imbalance and loss of biodiversity. As per the CAG report on the conservation of lakes in Union territory for the year ended March 31, 2024, out of the total 697 lakes with a total area of 28 ...Read More >
The decision builds on the Pradhan Mantri-Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana (PM-UDAY) - launched in 2019 to confer ownership rights to residents of unauthorised colonies. Officials familiar with the development said that while the scheme enabled ownership through conveyance deeds and authorisation slips, the absence of approved layout plans had emerged as a key hurdle in allowing construction approvals and full regularisation. Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta said the latest st ...Read More >
The Centre and Delhi government announced a revised transit-oriented development policy to boost affordable housing and urban mobility near transit corridors. The Centre and Delhi government on Tuesday announced a revised framework for transit-oriented development (TOD) in the national capital, proposing development within a 500-metre influence zone of Metro, railway and RRTS corridors, covering nearly 207 square kilometres. The revision links high-density, mixed-use development with mass trans ...Read More >
A whopping 518 lakes, constituting 74%, have either disappeared or shrunk in Jammu and Kashmir that has resulted in the degradation of ecosystem and climate insecurity, according to the latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Conservation and Management of Lakes for the period up to March 2022. The report highlighted that 315 lakes, 45% of the total 697 lakes in J&K that constitute a water area of 1,537.07 hectares, have disappeared. "These lakes included 80 lakes (25%) ...Read More >
Ludhiana: Punjab minister for industries and commerce, investment promotion, local bodies and power, Sanjeev Arora, stated today that a new exhibition centre is being established on a 10-acre land parcel near the Jalandhar Bypass. During an interaction with leading Ludhiana industrialists at a local hotel, he confirmed that the tender for this project will be opened this Monday, with the work expected to be completed within a single year.Addressing the gathered industrialists, the cabinet minist ...Read More >
New Delhi, April 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) Offering a big relief to over 45 lakh migrant residents living in Delhi's unauthorised colonies, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal on Tuesday announced the regularisation of 1,511 "unauthorised colonies" on an "as is, where is" basis, removing the clause for approved layout plans for these settlements. The Union minister also offered hope to over 60 upscale, affluent unauthorised colonies, Sainik Farms and Anant Ram Dairy, saying the reside ...Read More >
NEW DELHI: Chief minister Rekha Gupta lauded the central government for regularising Delhi's unauthorised colonies on an "As Is, Where Is" basis under the PM-UDAY scheme, noting that the new framework allows for the regularisation of 1,531 colonies without requiring layout plan approval. Furthermore, she mentioned that all plots and buildings within these colonies will be treated as residential. Addressing a press conference at the National Media Centre on Tuesday, she further mentioned that joi ...Read More >
New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI) The Centre on Tuesday announced a new policy to regularise properties based on "as is where is" eligibility criteria in 1,511 unauthorised colonies in the national capital, with all buildings now required to get approval from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The move stands to give big relief to 10 lakh families living in these clusters. According to the new rules, the residents will no longer be required to submit a layout plan of the area to get their property regis ...Read More >
Ludhiana, Apr 7 (PTI) Punjab Industries Minister Sanjeev Arora on Tuesday said an exhibition centre will be constructed on over 10-acre piece of land near Jalandhar Byepass and work in this regard will be completed within a year. Arora stated this during an interaction with leading industrialists here today. While addressing the industrialists, the minister said it is a moment of great pride that under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab has witnessed the highest-ever invest ...Read More >
Hyderabad: A recent study covering more than 25 years of data by National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad, Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, Ghaziabad, and the JNTU-Hyderaba's department of civil engineering, has raised concerns over increasing groundwater vulnerability in parts of the Musi river basin, highlighting the growing risk of pollution in several sub-basins due to hydrogeological and human factors. While most sub-basins recorded some recovery in groundwate ...Read More >
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah, on Monday, made a strong pitch against a bill brought by his own party MLA that seeks to grant landowners the right to cut walnut trees on their property.Omar said passage of the bill would harm the country's largest walnut economy, of which Kashmir accounts for about 90 per cent, and would rob J&K of a key part of its identity.The bill, moved by National Conference legislator from Pahalgam, Altaf Ahmad Wani, sought amendments to the Jammu and Kashmi ...Read More >
Jammu: Jammuand Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said his government cannot permit indiscriminate felling of walnut trees as it could severely impact the region's economy and identity. He said the Union Territory is contributing nearly 3.5 lakh tonnes over 90 per cent of the country's total walnut production. Opposing the private members' bill moved by National Conference legislator Altaf Ahmad Wani seeking amendment in the Jammu and Kashmir Preservation of Specified Trees, Act, t ...Read More >
India's rapid ethanol shift shows challenges other countries could face. While the Indian government said ethanol usage reduces pollution, some users said it is affecting their mileage and damaging older engines. India's push to blend ethanol with gasoline shows the benefits and challenges of the sustainable fuel efforts being showcased at global climate talks this week. Earlier this year, the Indian government announced that it achieved its goal of mixing 20 per cent of the plant-based fuel w ...Read More >
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala's wetlands, a lifeline for biodiversity and livelihoods, have witnessed a slight decline of 58 hectares between 2019 and 2024, according to a new geospatial study that assessed temporal changes using multi-date satellite data. The study, conducted by the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) using Sentinel-2A MSI imagery within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework, revealed that the total wetland area in Kerala shrunk from 1,52,826 h ...Read More >
Mysuru: A report prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India, under Project Elephant of the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change, has issued a serious warning to the Karnataka forest department about a growing threat to the state's elephant habitats. As per the 'Status of Elephants in India: DNA Based Synchronous All India Population Estimation of Elephants (SAIEE) 2021-25' report, the once-contiguous elephant populations of the Western Ghats are rapidly becoming disconnected ...Read More >
New Delhi [India], October 16 (ANI): Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh on Thursday sounded an alarm over the declining elephant population in India, stressing that protecting and preserving an animal deeply embedded in the country's religious, cultural, and ecological fabric is a national responsibility. "The elephant faces a crisis, perhaps not of extinction but of attrition. The threats come from changing land use, loss of traditional habitats, fragmentation of elephant movemen ...Read More >
BENGALURU: Release of DNA-based elephant population estimation is the beginning for the scientific and wildlife fraternity. According to experts from Wildlife Institute of India (WII), who prepared the report, a detailed gene pool assessment is being done as the next step, with special concentration on Western Ghats and the Nilgiri Biosphere. According to Status of Elephants in India: DNA Based Synchronous All India Population Estimation of Elephants, Karnataka houses the highest elephant popul ...Read More >
Lucknow Municipal Corporation sealed Sahara Shaher for alleged lease norm violations, stating the 30-year lease expired in 2024 without development. Sahara India disputes this, claiming significant investment and development, citing ongoing legal disputes and an operative stay order from civil court. The group has moved the High Court against the civic body's actions. LUCKNOW: The Sahara Shaher in Lucknow's posh Gomti Nagar that once dazzled with glitterati was sealed by municipal authorities o ...Read More >
Kolkata: All residential projects with built-up area of 5,000 sq m or a little over 53,000 sq ft in Kolkata will have to mandatorily provide parking for visitors, KMC has ruled. Earlier, projects twice the size, that is 10,000 sq m (1 lakh sq ft) were required to do so.To ensure it is cost-effective and viable for developers, KMC will provide additional floor area ratio (FAR) to develop the additional car park. At least 25% of the additional FAR has to be reserved for visitors' car park.A 50,000 ...Read More >
Mumbai: Activists, in their objections to the BMC, said the draft Zonal Master Plan (ZMP) for the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) lacks scientifically defined buffer zones crucial for managing transitions between protected areas and human activity. They stressed the need for expert input from ecologists, wildlife biologists, and hydrologists to map corridors, setbacks, boundaries, and assess cumulative impacts. BMC Invites Public Suggestions The BMC's civic deve ...Read More >
BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Centre has approved two big-ticket chip plants worth Rs 4,009 crore for Odisha, the state government has upped its game and decided to offer special incentives and additional infrastructure support up to Rs 600 crore for setting up semiconductor parks. As per the recently amended Semiconductor Manufacturing and Fabless Policy, investors intending to set up a semiconductor industrial park in the state through world-class developers will get a subsidy of 25 per cent (pc) ...Read More >
New Delhi, Jul 17 (PTI) The Panchayati Raj Ministry on Thursday said it has brought together 19 partner institutes of planning and architecture to prepare spatial development plans for 36 gram panchayats across 14 states as a pilot project. A two-day workshop in this regard, titled 'Navingram --" Re-Imagining the Village', commenced in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal on Thursday, the ministry said in a statement. A Gram Panchayat Spatial Development Plan (GPSDP) is a comprehensive plan that guid ...Read More >
New Delhi, Jul 17 (PTI) The Panchayati Raj Ministry on Thursday said it has brought together 19 partner institutes of planning and architecture to prepare spatial development plans for 36 gram panchayats across 14 states as a pilot project. A two-day workshop in this regard, titled 'Navingram --? Re-Imagining the Village', commenced in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal on Thursday, the ministry said in a statement. Also Read | India Successfully Test-Fires Short-Range Ballistic Missiles Prithvi-II ...Read More >
Panaji: Scientists have mapped the troubling forest structure dynamics in Goa, revealing a steep decline in forest health in a study. They have called for an urgent need for ecological safeguards. The study used over five decades (1973-2022) of satellite data and spatial modelling to quantify forest cover loss, fragmentation, and its cascading impacts on ecosystem services in the central Western Ghats region -- an ecological treasure trove that includes Goa. "Total forest cover declined by 3.7 ...Read More >
New Delhi: Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will soon launch a premium housing scheme for 2025, offering 177 residential HIG, MIG, and LIG flats and garages across the city. The flats will be offered through e-auction at Vasant Kunj, Dwarka, Rohini, Pitampura, Jasola, Ashoka Pahari, and other areas."The authority, in a meeting chaired by lieutenant governor VK Saxena, approved the DDA Premium Housing Scheme, 2025," a DDA official said. The e-auction, apart from the flats, will be done for 67 ca ...Read More >
Lucknow: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday registered a money laundering case against Jamaluddin alias Chhangur Baba, the alleged mastermind of an illegal religious conversion syndicate in the state. ED is now preparing to take him into custody.The probe stems from suspected foreign remittances exceeding Rs 100 crore into around 40 bank accounts linked to the accused and his associates.ED has sought the details of income tax returns of all 40 entities of Chhangur Baba in the last 10 y ...Read More >
New Delhi: With govt exploring various options to provide housing to the city's slum dwellers, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) has decided to conduct a survey of land under its jurisdiction and identify encroachments over them.In a meeting held a few days ago, the chief executive officer of DUSIB also directed officials to map jhuggi jhopri clusters that have come up on the agency's land and the area encroached upon by each cluster along with the number of families living there. Of ...Read More >
To boost agroforestry and double farmers' income, the Centre has introduced model rules for tree felling on agricultural land. These rules aim to simplify permissions, promote sustainable land use, and align with climate goals. By registering on the National Timber Management System (NTMS), farmers can gain transparency and access better market prices for their timber, including international markets.The Centre has issued model rules for the felling of trees on agricultural land in a bid to prom ...Read More >
Jharkhand, June 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) In the remote districts of Jharkhand once dominated by Maoist violence, a quiet revolution is underway -- one driven not by ideology, but by opportunity. Former maoists and villagers alike are embracing fish farming, empowered by the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), transforming lives and restoring peace in once-troubled regions. Jyoti Lakra, 41, was once a member of a Maoist group, having joined Left Wing Extremism out of desperation. " ...Read More >
major new scientific report was launched on Sunday, a day ahead of the opening of the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16), charted an urgent course correction for how the world grows food and uses land in order to avoid irretrievably compromising earth's capacity to support human and environmental well-being. Produced under the leadership of Professor Johan Rockström at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) ...Read More >
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