The Ministry of Environment and Forests has slapped a penalty of Rs 200 crore on the Adani group for violating green norms during the construction of their port and SEZ in Kutch district of Gujarat. The Ministry will also cancel environmental clearance to a part of the port and conduct investigation into the large-scale mangrove and creek destruction that took place during the construction of the port and power plant. The Adanis have also been asked to build a harbour for the fisherfolk to help revive their lost source of livelihood.
Both houses of the Parliament passed the Land Acquisition (Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Bill this week, albeit with amendments. The new amendment says that social impact assessment of a project for which land needs to be acquired, will not apply to irrigation projects like dams and canals. Apart from this, while a minimum of one acre of land will be alloted to people displaced from farmlands, this provision will not apply to irrigation projects.
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has sanctioned Rs 175 crore to the Gujarat government for a lift irrigation project in Mehsana district. The project, which will take water from Narmada canal, will provide supplementary irrigation to 6,000 hectares of land along the 33 kms of its pipeline and fulfill the drinking water needs of 1.1 lakh people living in 29 villages of the district.
The Maharashtra government is setting up a subsidy plan for drip irrigation for sugarcane cultivation. The Rs. 1,200 crore plan will be implemented in three years. Sugarcane consumes 70% of the water in the state where one million hectares of land is under its cultivation. Water requirement from sugarcane plantation to sugar production is 3,500 litre per kg.
The state government plans to install water vending machines that would provide 10 litres of drinking water for a Rupee. The state rural development and Panchayat Raj ministry will install water kiosks in 1,000 villages initially, which will begin operations from the upcoming Republic Day. Through the scheme, the government plans to provide pure drinking water to about 60 lakh people in rural areas.
A study by the Associated Chamber of Commerce states that nearly 30% of food produced in the country goes waste. As per the study, 77 million tonnes of fruits and 150 million tonnes of vegetables were produced in India in 2011-12. The annual post-harvest loss of these perishable commodities is estimated to be Rs 2 lakh crore due to lack of food processing units, modern cold storage facilities and decline in export of fresh fruits in the past few years.
Four people have succumbed to dengue in the city so far this season. Officials fear that the mosquito-borne disease is spreading faster this monsoon as compared to previous years even as the number of recorded cases till now is one-third of the last year.
The state government clamped a curfew in Khandwa, Dewas and Harda district to prevent people from holding 'Jal Satyagraha' in which they sit immersed in water. Villagers living on the banks of the Indira Sagar dam in the district are protesting against raising the water level of the dam above 260 metres, as it submerges their crops and homes. The dam authorities increased the level of water last week, submerging the soya bean and pulse crop in some villages.
Out of the total number of 762 villages, 688 villages in Krishnagiri district have adopted the water saving system of rice intensification for growing paddy. The yield per hectare under SRI is around 9,200 kg, 50% higher than the yield of 6,100 kg per hectare under the conventional method of cultivation.
The Damodar Valley Corporation has constructed more than 16,000 small earth dams and check-dams in the catchment area of the river Damodar and its tributaries to save rainwater. The check dams will help save water and irrigate 30,000 acres of land in Jharkhand. According to company officials, this will help farmers to raise more than two crops in a year and will also prevent erosion.
This is a roundup of important news from September 2-8.