[Nuclear Power] Stepping on a minefield
As nuclear waste maims people, India plans to generate more.
INDIA intends to increase the share of nuclear power from 3.1 per cent of its total energy generation to 25 per cent by 2050. Six nuclear power reactors are under construction and eight are in the pipeline. While the country plans to expand mining of uranium to feed the reactors, a yet-to-be-released study by the environmental group “Toxics Link” pointed out that it lacked knowledge about handling nuclear waste; the existing uranium mines do not follow requisite safety methods.
Most uranium is mined in Jadugoda in East Singhbum district and three other places in Jharkhand. The ore in Indian mines contains a low percentage (0.042-0.051 per cent) of the mineral, except in Meghalaya. The problem with low-grade ore is that extracting a small amount of concentrated uranium generates a large amount of waste. The ore grade is high in Meghalaya but an onslaught of rains makes the terrain almost inaccessible for six months in a year.
The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) plans to invest about Rs 31 billion to set up new mines and processing plants in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya as part of the eleventh plan. “The proposed mine at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh involves extraction of 3,000 tonnes of uranium per day from underground mines spread over 879 hectares,” said the study done from August to November. Quoting members of the non-profit Mines, Minerals and People, the study said for a uranium concentration of 0.039 per cent, the waste to be disposed of would amount to nearly a million tonnes per year. Continue reading »
Filed under India, Pollution, Research | Tags: Hazardous Waste, Health Effects, India, Jharkhand, Mining, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Wastes, Uranium | Comment (0)Corporal lab – Clinical trials sustain Ahmedabad’s Riot Victims
Clinical trials sustain Ahmedabad’s riot victims
When her husband took chronically ill after communal riots drove them to Juhapura, a ghetto on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, poverty made life seem unmanageable. Free will then became a matter of Rs 8,000 for 40-year-old Zainab Bi. For a sum like that she was willing to swallow an unknown pill once in three months. It wasn’t much they were asking for really, so she gladly gave her thumb impression on the dotted line.
For companies researching new drugs the thumb impression was proof that Bi submitted herself to the experiment of her own free will. It was far more expensive to have such proof in countries where the multinational drug companies that sponsored the research had their headquarters. They were far more cumbersome, involved lengthy documentation and rigorous insurance plans. Clinical research organizations (cros) made the task far easier for these companies by carrying out their research in the ghettoes of India’s big cities. Drug trial was far less daunting; and inexpensive. People were more than willing to offer their bodies for bio-chemical experimentation. The official guidelines warned against monetary inducement. Continue reading »
Filed under India, Livelihood, News, Research | Tags: Ahmedabad, Drug Industry, Drugs, Gujarat, Health, Health Effects, India, Indian Council Of Medical Research (ICMR), Medical Research, Poverty, Women | Comment (0)Losing Touch – Sabarmati Embankment project Ignores warnings, Precedents
Sabarmati embankment project ignores warnings, precedents
Construction of an embankment along the 10-km stretch of the Sabarmati has begun in Ahmedabad despite warnings that it may hamper natural drainage in the city and that its design is inherently flawed. The 8.5-m-high embankment is part of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project, the first in India where the river will be squeezed to yield land for commercial, residential and open spaces. Project planners expect to recover the cost by selling this real estate.
The project’s Environment Impact Assessment (eia) report, however, said that embanking the Sabarmati would not just prevent drainage and “cordon the river away from the people”. It would also increase its speed, thereby increasing erosion that would affect the stability of the retaining walls and bridges. The report was prepared by the Ahmedabad-based Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology and the Gujarat Ecology Commission in Vadodara. Project designer hcp Design and Project Management Pvt Ltd, formerly called Environmental Planning Collaborative, said drains from low-lying areas would be directed to the river through underground channels. The riverfront project was proposed in 1997 to develop the banks into recreational zones. Continue reading »
Filed under Environment, India, Research, Rivers | Tags: Ahmedabad, Drainage, Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), Floods, Hydrology, Sabarmati, Water Resources | Comment (0)Shelf Destruct – Government study kicks up the Supermart vs Small Store debate
Government study kicks up the supermart vs small store debate
At a time when efforts are being made in the West to bring back small retailers into the mainstream, the Indian government has come up with a study that lauds the role of big retail chains. It claims that the growth of supermarts in India will not harm street vendors and small shop owners, and will only spur a healthy competition in the retail sector.
“Both unorganized and organized retail are bound not only to coexist but also achieve rapid and sustained growth. Both will see a massive scaling up of their activities. In fact, the retail sector, left entirely in the unorganized and informal segment of the economy, could emerge as a major bottleneck to raising productivity in agriculture and industry,” states the study, Impact of Organized Retailing on Unorganized Sector, commissioned by the Department of Industries Planning and Promotion, commerce and industry ministry. Continue reading »
Filed under India, News, Research | Tags: Economy, India, Informal Sector, Services | Comment (0)Culprit Iron in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s – Cause
The cause of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases has long intrigued scientists. Researchers of University of Warwick and IIT, Kanpur, zeroed in on a protein, the malfunctioning of which, they say, could be a possible cause for the diseases.
The study noted that transferring, a protein that transports iron from the blood to the brain, may not be doing its job well. That may lead to exposure of other cells to iron, and their subsequent degeneration and the diseases. The protein binds iron on to its surface. It then curls around the iron and seals it. This prevents the iron from getting exposed to other cells till it reaches its destination organ—the brain.
In the experiment, transferring was placed on an open surface and observed over a period of time.
Filed under India, Livelihood, Research | Tags: * Neurology, India, Research | Comment (0)“We simulated conditions for ageing so that the existing molecules interacted with each other. We found the molecules self-assembled into fibres and iron that was earlier wrapped inside the protein started settling in bands along the length of the fibre,’ Continue reading »
“AIDS Came to US from Haiti” Say Researchers from University of Arizona
The US has found a new target. Now it says aids came to its shores from Haiti. Researchers from the University of Arizona say gene sequences from the blood specimens collected in 1982–1983 from Haitian aids patients suggest the disease came from Haiti in the 1960′s. The study also reveals most of the aids viruses in the us can be traced to one person from Haiti. Continue reading »
Filed under News, Research | Tags: AIDS, Haiti, Medical Research, Research, United States Of America (US) | Comment (0)Census on Captive Elephants in Karnataka
A study on captive elephants has concluded in Karnataka. The first-of-its-kind study aims to take into account all aspects of management regimes and health care of captive elephants in India and create a database.
“Inventory of existing captive elephants will help us know the facilities they have in terms of health care, nutrition and training. We will then come up with a set of guidelines towards effective management of captive elephants,’
says Raman Sukumar, the founding trustee of Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ancf). ancf along with the Bangalore-based ngo Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (cupa), initiated the study.
After the study, a manual has been prepared in Karnataka. It contains body measurement, dung circumference and weight, details of space, water, bath, interaction, training, behaviour and veterinary doctor’s availability for 158 captive elephants in the state along with their mahuts and their socio-economic status, Suparna Baksi Ganguly, vice president of cupa, said.
Filed under India, Research, WildLife | Tags: Animal Diseases, Elephant, India, Karnataka | Comment (0)“The social status of mahuts is very low. The government doesn’t want to build infrastructure for them. We need to raise their standard of living so that they take interest in the animal,’ says Sukumar. Continue reading »