Using Google Earth images, drone observations and field visits, two independent researchers from France have identified eight sites around Jaisalmer in the Thar Desert, that show linear features resembling geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are large, un-explained geometrical patterns on land usually proposed to be man-made features.
A species of pest-controlling lizard new to science has been named after a Mizo chieftain who fought the British forces 150 years ago.
Cyrtodactylus bengkhuaiai, named in honour of chieftain Bengkhuaia, is one of four new species of bent-toed geckos recorded by two groups of scientists in October-November 2020. Two geckos each were found in Mizoram and Meghalaya.
Environmentalist Garvita Gulhati, a 21-year-old student of PES University, was nominated for ‘Forbes 30 under 30 Asia 2021’.
After learning that millions of litres of water are wasted each year in India, left unsipped in glasses in restaurants, Garvita started her youth-led organisation.
An innovative farmer in Himachal Pradesh has developed a self-pollinating apple variety that does not need the required long chilling hours for flowering and fruit setting.
The Man Behind The Innovation
The inventive farmer who did this is Hariman Sharma, who hails from Paniala village of Bilaspur district in Himachal Pradesh.
His innovative apple variety – HRMN 99 – has inspired farmers in thousands in his region and also horticulturists of Bilaspur and other lower hill districts in the State, which earlier could never dream of growing apples.
The IMTA combines farming of fish, seaweeds and filter feeding bivalves to create balanced systems for environmental and economic stability. CMFRI started the venture in December last year.
Shaji .N.M., fondly called as ‘Tuber Man’ of Kerala has been awarded the India Biodiversity Award 2021 in the individual category of ‘Conservation of domesticated species’.
Mr. Shaji, who conserves a wide array of around 200 tuber crops including greater yam, lesser yam, elephant foot yam, arrow root, colocasia, sweet potato, cassava and Chinese potato in his farm has received State awards seven times for his efforts. He has also received the Plant Genome Savior Reward 2015, instituted by PPV&FR Authority, New Delhi.
Chindi Varadarajulu, chef and owner of Chennai-based Pumpkin Tales, is delighted with the purple sweet potatoes she has sourced this summer. They have brought back memories of her childhood in Singapore, she says. The potatoes, a deep purple with a sweet fragrance when cooked, are from Mati Farms, a farming enterprise in Odisha — the state leading in sweet potato production across India. “I have been actively looking for them for the past year. They are versatile and lend vibrancy to the simplest recipes,” says Varadarajulu.
Two of Kaziranga National Park’s ‘Big Five’ animals have made it to the planet’s ‘New Big 5’ for shooting with the camera.
Missing from the global list of “favourite animals to photograph” is the greater one-horned or Indian rhinoceros for which Kaziranga was born in 1905.
Two little boys were engrossed in a game of badminton: their slippers served as racquets. Nearby, two other kids played atop broken sewer pipes. This sight made Pooja Rai think: “Playgrounds should not be a luxury. It is something every child should have access to for free.”
And that is when the then 23-year-old student of architecture in IIT-Kharagpur made her first playground for children within her institution’s campus, using colourful tyres from cars and two wheelers re-purposed as play equipment.
Solving three problems at once, Odisha startup Nexus Power uses crop remnants to create bio-organic, fast-charging batteries for electric vehicles.
An old Biochemistry book from their grandfather’s library was the inspiration for Odisha-born sisters Nikita and Nishita Baliarsingh to create an electric vehicle (EV) battery from crop residue.
Odisha