The Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed an amendment bill that proposes to make rainwater harvesting mandatory in all city corporations of the State.

Rainwater harvesting is already mandatory in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits with the Assembly passing the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage (Amendment) Bill, last year, making it mandatory for citizens living within the jurisdiction of the Palike to install rainwater harvesting systems in their buildings.

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) will supply Cauvery drinking water to residents on the outskirts of the City from June this year, Minister for Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, S Suresh Kumar, said on Tuesday.

Apanel set up by the Supreme Court to investigate Karnataka’s illegal mining mess has made some important recommendations. It says 49 licences are patently illegal and should be scrapped. Another 72 mining companies should be fined for operating outside sanctioned areas. It also asks for Karnataka’s iron ore output to be capped at 30 million tonnes, down a third from its 45-million-tonne level till the court banned all mining in the state. These strictures are welcome: they could help restart mining in the state and bring Karnataka’s crony capitalism to heel.

New Delhi In what may hit steel and mining companies in Karnataka, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) in its report to the Supreme Court has recommended that the iron ore mining in Bellary district should be capped at 25 million tonne (mt), whereas for other districts Chitradurga and Tumkur, a ceiling of 5 mt should be imposed.

Finally it is victory for environmentalists, especially for Dharwad-based NGO Samaja Parivartana Samudaya, which questioned the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education's (ICFRE) suggestion to exploit mining reserves in the Western Ghats.

The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) in its report submitted to the court on February 3 rejected the suggestion by noting that “ICFRE has gone totally out of context and beyond its terms of reference.”

‘Greed of a few people putting ecology in peril’

The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on Monday recommended cancellation of 49 mining leases in three districts of Karnataka, including some belonging to both BJP and Congress politicians.

The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on Monday filed its final report on illegal mining in Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur districts of Karnataka recommending cancellation of 49 mining leases for “flagrant” violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act and other laws. The CEC has told the court that “these (49) leases should be directed to be cancelled on account of being found to be involved in substantially illegal mining”. PTI

The Ministry will fund States to enable them to have better grid to evacuate power

The renewable energy sector in the country should focus on indigenisation, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, said here on Monday. The wind sector was vital for India. The demand for energy was growing and the country should meet the power needs from all resources such as fossil fuel and nuclear power.

Additional power of 75,000 MW to be generated in five years

Union Minister of State for Power K.C. Venugopal said here on Monday that work on the Mysore-Kozhikode transmission line would start soon as the project had secured the final environment clearance from the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment.

GUWAHATI: Farmers across India have been making claims for crop losses under the central government’s National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS).

However, the farmers in the northeastern states, mainly in Assam, are not even aware any such scheme exists, said an expert.
K.M. Buzarbaruah, vice chancellor of the Jorhat-based Assam Agricultural University, told IANS no claims at all have been made by the farmers of Assam and other northeastern states last year for their crop losses.