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India is known for its rich biological diversity .The country has already documented over 91,000 species of animals and 46,000 species of plants in its ten bio-geographic regions. Nearly 65,000 native plants are still used prominently in indigenous health care systems. The country is also recognised as one of the eight Vavilovian Centres of Origin and Diversity of Crop Plants. Here we have more than 300 wild ancestors and close relatives of cultivated plants still growing and evolving under natural conditions. At the same time we loose certain species or their number dwindles for various reasons. These are threatened plants.

There are 335-recorded threatened medicinal plants in India. They range from Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU) to Near Threatened (NT) as per IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. On the basis of their studies, Foundation for Revitalization of local Health Traditions (FRLTH), which is a Centre of Excellence of the Ministry, has assigned Red List status to these plants.

About 80% of the seismic energy is released by earthquakes occurring along the plate boundaries. These earthquakes are called as interpolate earthquakes, due to the fact that they are directly associated with forces related to the interaction of the plates.

Major earthquakes are often followed by a number of smaller magnitude events called, aftershocks that originate from the same source region of the main shock or principal shock, Aftershock sequences may continue for several days, weeks, months and even years.

The Indian subcontinent has a history of devastating earthquakes. The major reason for the high frequency and intensity of earthquakes is that India is driving into Asia at a rate of approximately 47 mm/year. Almost 54% of the land is vulnerable to earthquakes. The latest version of seismic zoning map of India assigns four levels of seismicity in terms of zone factors. Bureau of Indian Standards [IS-1893 (Part-I):2002], based on various scientific inputs from a number of agencies, has grouped the country into four seismic zones viz. Zone-II, -III, -IV and –V unlike its previous version which consisted of five zones for the country.

About 6.2 Million tonnes of hazardous wastes is annually generated in India from about 35,000 industries, out of which around 3.09 Million tonnes is recyclable, 0.41 Million tonnes is incinerable and 2.73 Million tonnes is land-fillable. This categorization of hazardous wastes into 3 classes is based on the hazard potential and its characteristics guiding its ultimate disposal, in accordance with the Hazardous wastes (Management, Handling & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008.

India and Mozambique have decided to renew their strategic political and economic partnership and set a target for bilateral trade at $ one billion by 2013.

New Delhi: A special bench of the Allahabad High Court Lucknow Bench comprising Mr Justice Sibghat Ullah Khan, Mr Justice Sudhir Agarwal, and Mr Justice Dharam Veer Sharma has finally decided today that the birth place of Ram, the area which is demarcated in a map Appendix 7 by Sri Shiv Shanker Lal, Pleader/ Commissioner appointed by Court. However, certain area demarcated in the map is the joint property of both the Hindu and Muslim communities.

Will the eight point Kashmir package announced by the Centre this week click or is it going to be one more formula, which fails to get response? Is there a ray of hope for the Kashmiris who have been facing violence and lack of development? Will the separatists fall in line and allow the normalcy return to the beautiful state and will the Pakistanis keep off from meddling in the state? These are questions that need to be answered by the various stake- holders but primarily it is for the centre and the state government and also the political parties to ensure that the package becomes a success.

New York: A new report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) calls for unlocking the potential of small-scale dairy production in reducing poverty, raising nutrition levels and improving the livelihoods of rural people in many developing countries.