Environment / Northeast

GUWAHATI, May 12 – A happy blend of natural elements and human enterprise carries immense possibilities for the production and marketing of ornamental fish in the North-east. Globally the market for ornamental fish stands at around 50,000 crore rupees, to which the Indian producers contribute a miniscule four crore worth of produce. The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), which opened its office in the city last year, is now planning to play a major role in the export of ornamental fish from Assam and some of the neighbouring states. The strategy for identifying the North...

Guwahati, May 10: The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) has constituted a multi-disciplinary committee to oversee the implementation of environmental safeguards for the Lower Subansiri hydroelectric project. Sources said the nine-member committee, drawn from various fields connected with environment, was constituted after the ministry of environment and forests made it mandatory to include environmental safeguards while clearing the project.

The committee comprises the general manager of the project, a representative of the ministry of environment and forests, NHPC officer in...

GUWAHATI, April 4 – Environ, a revolutionary group advocating conservation, management and utilisation of nature and natural resources of the North East, will carry out a survey of the region’s natural resources and develop the concept of resource utilisation through tree plantation, development of eco-tourism, fisheries and other agricultural activities.

The aim of the survey is to ensure proper utilisation of every bit of land and human resource to make the region self-dependent as far as possible.

Environ president Amarjyoti Kashyap said that the group would also take active part to make...

New Delhi, Feb. 29: The lonely bull, the raging rogue or the caring matriarch and her family of giants will soon have to hand over their privacy, in a way for their own good, to a little human ingenuity.

The elephants in 10 reserves in the country, including four in the Northeast, will be watched from outer space under a new conservation programme ? Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants ? launched by Project Elephant. The sophisticated global positioning system (GPS) will be used for effective management of reserves and prevention of poaching.

The programme encompasses Chirang Ripu, Garo...

Medziphema, Feb. 24: The country?s top horticulturists congregated at the School of Agricultural Science Research and Development here today and exchanged their views on making the sector more sustainable in the Northeast.

Participating at a three-day seminar at the institution, more than 150 delegates from across the country are putting their heads together to prepare a horticulture roadmap for the region. The experts were working on a model for diversifying agriculture, especially in the Northeast, because the bio-diversity here and in Sikkim is ideal for horticulture and organic farming.

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Shillong, Feb. 18: Sightseeing in the Northeast is set to get a facelift with several central and state government agencies joining hands to link conventional tourism with the newest form of tourism, geo-tourism.

The Geological Survey of India, Meghalaya State Electricity Board, North Eastern Power Corporation Ltd and directorate of tourism, Meghalaya, will work together to identify suitable sites for geological monuments.

?The idea is to survey sites of geological importance, which are found in abundance in the Northeast, and link them to conventional or what we call scenic tourism in these...

GUWAHATI, Feb 16 ? The North Eastern Council (NEC), now a regional planning body, wants that the amount slashed from its current year?s annual plan outlay should be restored to it, said NEC chairman and Governor of the State Lt Gen (Rtd) Ajai Singh here today. He was addressing a press conference here this afternoon to apprise the media of the issues being discussed in the forthcoming 49th meeting of the NEC at Shillong.

The Central Government had slashed an amount of Rs 104.71 crore from the approved budget amount of Rs 500 crore of the NEC for the fiscal 2003-04. Though the NEC is yet to...

IMPHAL, Dec 6 ? The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ministry at the Centre is making efforts to frame a common formula for proper channelisation of the potential as well as the resources available in the region for developmental activities on all fronts. Disclosing this at a reception function of the BJP state unit held at the Manipur Dramatic union hall in Imphal, Union Minister for Small Scale Industries and Development of North Eastern Region (Doner) Dr Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur on his maiden visit to Manipur on Friday, expressed his desire to take the ?benefits? of the centrally...

GUWAHATI, June 11 ? A team of Zoologists, led by Dr (Smt) JK Grewal, former Head of the Department of Zoology in the city?s Handique Girls? College, has collected over 7,000 specimens referrable to more than 500 species of microlepidotream moths. Of the collected specimens, 50 are authentically identified and identification of the rest are also going on. The collection and identification of these moths are done or being done as part of a All India Co-ordinated Project on Taxonomy (AICOPTAX) Research on Microlepidoptera, initiated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India...

GUWAHATI, June 5 ? The water resources management projects in the NE region will require some relaxed economic criteria, said Sri A Sekhar, Advisor (Water Resources) of the Planning Commission of India. He was talking to The Assam Tribune on June 3 at Tezpur. Sri Sekhar, who had been to the State on a three-day visit in connection with a two-day workshop on policy framework for efficient management of water and land resources for poverty alleviation in NE region, organised by the Tezpur-based North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management (NERIWALM), was replying to a question...