Feature Article

Restoring traditional water structures hold key to making the region water secure.
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The Supreme Court has reiterated the Karnataka High Court order, directing the Centre to pay the minimum daily wage rate applicable in Karnataka to labourers employed in the state under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The Centre had fixed the wage rate for agricultural workers in Karnataka at Rs 82, as per a January 2009 notification; the high court held that the appropriate wage rate of Rs 119.42 should be paid. (Karnataka's minimum wage rate has since been revised to Rs 145 and MGNREGS wage to Rs 125).

Energy security has become a national issue and several attempts are being made to seek viable alternatives in the form of renewable energy to meet the futuristic needs. Biofuel production from microalgae is considered as an effective strategy in this endeavour. Seven microalgae, viz. Chlorella, Haematococcus, Ulothrix, Chlorococcum, Scenedesmus, Rivularia and

We studied the waterbird diversity and abundance in a newly constructed wetland in South Bengal for 14 years right from its establishment. Soon after its construction, the wetland began to attract a rich diversity of waterbirds and with the passage of time has proved its potentiality to achieve the status of a wetland of international importance. Since 2005, it continues to support Greylag Goose at populations exceeding 1% threshold, and from 2007 onwards harbours Ruddy Shelduck at populations exceeding 1% threshold.

Most of the research on alpine treeline shift has primarily been based on field data with a limited geographical extent. Due to its synoptic view and historical records for a wide area, remote sensing is an important tool to study alpine treeline and changes in the recent past. This study confirms that there is an upward shift of vegetation in the alpine zone of the Himalayas. The mean upward shift of the treeline is found to be of the order of 388 ± 80 m.

This vaccine policy is more about spending and coverage, than about protecting children. It is not designed to enhance national public capacities for public immunization programmes, but to justify spending public money on public private partnerships (PPPs) or privately produced vaccines in the name of protection from diseases, whose incidence figures and public health statistics are dubious and industry manufactured.

The carcinogenic property of tobacco is well known, even as the production and consumption of tobacco products is popularized worldwide. While the ‘smoking way’ of consumption of tobacco causes high risk of lung carcinoma, the ‘oral way’ primarily poses risk of oral carcinoma in addition to leukoplakia, erythroplakia, submucosal fibrosis, esophageal, hypo-pharyngeal, head and neck cancers.

This note has reference to the correspondence: ‘Bt cotton: refuge in mixed bag’ by Muralimohan and Srinivasa. In fact, their article itself was in response to an earlier correspondence entitled ‘Bt resistance in Helicoverpa species: Indian policy needs urgent revision’ by Hanur, in which the author has advocated ‘refuge in mixed bag’. Since Muralimohan and Srinivasa have raised certain concerns and opined against the use of ‘mixed bag’, I have made an attempt to address their concerns, clarify certain doubts and
also explain the need for this approach.(Correspondence)

The Montreal Protocol is perhaps the most successful international environmental treaty, responsible for global phaseout of the consumption and production of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs), e.g., chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which do not destroy stratospheric ozone, were considered long-term substitutes for ODSs and are not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. Because most HFCs are potent greenhouse gases (GHGs), they are included in the Kyoto Protocol.

At the Indian Science Congress last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to hike R&D expenditures from around $3 billion last year to $8 billion in 2017. The windfall is meant to turbocharge initiatives to create elite research institutions, bring expatriate Indian scientists home, enrich science education, and equip smart new laboratories. Included in this push is South Asia's first biosafety level–4 lab for handling the most dangerous pathogens, slated to be up and running this spring.