India aims to reduce imports of fossil fuels by achieving 20% ethanol blending with gasoline from April 2023. A nationwide rollout is planned from 2025-26. At present, India’s ethanol production capacity is 426 crore litres from sugarcane-based distilleries and 258 crore litres from grain-based...
Before the industrial revolution and the large-scale production of chemicals opened up farming to synthetic inputs like fertilisers and pesticides, all farming had been organic farming. In India particularly, the need to become self-sufficient in food production in the years after Independence...
Members of organic farming organizations have said that the organic farming policy announced by the Tamil Nadu government is a good effort but lacks understanding and proper action plans. Arachalur Selvam, president, Tamil Nadu Traditional Farmers Federation said: "Even though draft reports on...
Every year the annual bird census is undertaken after the end of the northeast monsoon in Tamil Nadu. Usually it happens around Pongal. This year, more volunteers and students have come forward to take part in the Forest Department’s bird survey, as interest in studying birds has gone up....
After several years of water prosperity through the monsoon months, the alarm has been sounded globally that some periods of 2023 and all of 2024 could bring unpredictable climate due to the return of the El Nino phenomenon — extreme heat, drought, and in some northwestern states of India,...
The increasing man-animal conflict in the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border region of the Nilgiris recently sparked a debate on the two different approaches taken by the two states in handling the issue of a rogue wild elephant wreaking havoc with human lives and homes. Pandalur Makhna 2 (PM2), a young...
Farmers in The Nilgiris have been agitating against the proposed buffer zone around the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, fearing that it would prevent them from cultivating crops of their choice, constructing or renovating buildings and selling land. The Nilgiri Biosphere is spread over a vast area...
Achankulam tank on the outskirts of Coimbatore city has never gone dry in all these decades, even in times of drought. Being a large source of water for agriculture, manufacturing, and the services sector, it is important to keep the resource clean and flowing. But with growing urbanisation in...
As human settlements in the Nilgiris have expanded over the years into wild habitats, leaving animals with no place to go, the incidence of human-animal conflicts in the region has increased. In the past five years, more than 40 people were killed in animal attacks in the Nilgiris district,...
தமிழ்நாடு தேயிலை தோட்டக் கழகம் The Greens worldwide have a reason to rejoice as the Tamil Nadu state government has decided to close down and return more than 5,000 acres of tea plantations spread over seven divisions of the TANTEA (Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation Limited) back to nature...
