Himalayas

Joshimath crisis: Activists threaten to block traffic on route to Badrinath

The Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, a group of local activists who first raised the land subsidence issue in the hill town, on Wednesday threatened to block traffic on the route to Badrinath if their demands are not met by April 27. The Himalayan temple is scheduled to reopen for devotees after the winter break on April 27. The Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti's (JBSS) demands include scrapping of the NTPC's Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project and the Helang-Marwadi bypass project. In a letter to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, JBSS convener Atul Sati also demanded that the affected people should get adequate compensation and be rehabilitated properly. If all this is not done by April 27, people will be forced to hit the streets in protest, Sati said in the letter. He also said his organisation had urged the state government to constitute a high level committee consisting of local and JBSS representatives to deal with the crisis but the demand went unheeded compounding people'

Majority of Himalayan glaciers analysed are melting or retreating: Govt

Majority of Himalayan glaciers analysed are melting or retreating at varying rates in different regions, the government has said. It has noted that melting glaciers due to any impact of climate change will not only severely affect the flow in Himalayan river system but will also give rise to natural disasters. The government's response was given to a parliamentary standing committee looking at Glacier Management in the Country - Monitoring of Glaciers/Lakes, including Glacial Lake Outbursts, leading to Flash-floods in the Himalayan Region. The parliamentary standing committee report was tabled in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Explaining the problem of incessant melting and retreating of Himalayan glaciers and the estimated volume loss of glaciers between the year(s), the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation said the Geological Survey of India has conducted studies on their melting by assessment of mass balance studies on nine glaciers and also carried o

Most of Himalayan glaciers analysed are retreating at varying rates: Govt

Majority of Himalayan glaciers analysed are melting or retreating at varying rates in different regions, the government has said. It has noted that melting glaciers due to any impact of climate change will not only severely affect the flow in Himalayan river system but will also give rise to natural disasters. The government's response was given to a parliamentary standing committee looking at Glacier Management in the Country - Monitoring of Glaciers/Lakes including Glacial Lake Outbursts leading to Flash-floods in the Himalayan Region. The parliamentary standing committee report was tabled in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Explaining the problem of incessant melting and retreating of Himalayan glaciers and the estimated volume loss of glaciers between the year(s), the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation said the Geological Survey of India has conducted studies on their melting by assessment of mass balance studies on nine glaciers and also carried out

Game of thrones in Nepal: The great game in the Himalayas

Nepal has become a playground for international geopolitics, and its politics of musical chairs has become murkier

Joshimath: A well-engineered calamity

We have completely lost the ability to plan keeping in mind the ecological uniqueness of the region

Joshimath subsidence: Declare Himalayas eco-sensitive zone, demand experts

Unplanned and uncontrolled construction in the name of development in Uttarakhand has brought Joshimath on the brink of sinking, experts said here, demanding that the Himalayas be declared an eco-sensitive zone. In a resolution passed at a roundtable organised by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on Saturday, experts termed as "inadequate" the steps taken to deal with the prevailing situation in subsidence-hit Joshimath. They also asked the government to consider taking long-term measures to address the problem, saying a similar situation may arise in Nainital, Mussoorie and other areas of Garhwal as well if the "so-called development driven by human greed" is not checked in the hill state. "Declare Himalayas as an eco-sensitive zone. Regulate big projects causing devastation," the resolution said. While the width of the road under the Char Dham road widening project must be regulated to intermediate standard to minimize the damage to the terrain, the Char Dham railways project shoul

How Burning trees in Brazil's Amazon melts snow in the Himalayas

Scientists are only beginning to investigate the connections between far-flung components of the planet's climate system

Joshimath crisis: Roof of house with cracks collapses, courtyard sinks

An affected local said that the cracks had been increasing rapidly in the area

Joshimath land subsidence: 863 buildings with cracks identified so far

So far, the district administration has identified 863 buildings that have developed cracks due to subsidence in the Joshimath city area

BS Views of the week: Chexit, Himalayan ecology, population estimates and more

Crisis in the Himalayas

The tragedy of Joshimath demonstrates the perils of disturbing the fragile Himalayan ecology. Let us not anger the deities that reside in these sacred mountains

Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti blames NTPC for land subsidence

The JBSS has said that people continue to be in a state of panic after hundreds of houses, shops and other establishments were impacted by the land subsidence

Himachal Pradesh receives fresh snowfall, more likely in next 48 hours: IMD

In the Kullu district, the sky will partly be cloudy with a relative humidity of around 90 per cent for the next two days, as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast

Joshimath crisis: Demolition of houses, two hotels rendered unsafe begins

The Uttarakhand government has announced an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh per affected family

Joshimath, surrounding areas sink by 2.5 inch every year, finds study

Dehradun-based Indian Institute of Remote Sensing used satellite images collected between July 2020 and March 2022 to find that the entire region is gradually sinking

Unscientific development

Joshimath subsidence is a warning sign

Beijing's rise expected to bring UK's interest in Himalayan region: Report

'PRC has carried out measures to stem the flow of Tibetan refugees who come into Nepal by crossing the Himalayas'

Team of Indian Army, HMI summit 7,462-metre-high Jonsang peak in Sikkim

A joint mountaineering team of the Indian Army, Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) and civilians conquered the difficult Jonsang peak in Sikkim, a Defence official said on Thursday. The 7,462-metre-high peak in the Great Himalayan Region was summited only twice in the past, in 1930 and 2012, he said. The expedition team comprised 24 members, including four civil mountaineers, of whom two were women climbers, and was led by Group Captain Jai Kishan, principal of HMI, Darjeeling, the official said in a statement. The team on September 23 summited Mount Jonsang, which is among the most technically difficult mountain peaks because of approach, frequent avalanches, rock falls and treacherous terrain, he said. The group also conquered the 7,264-metre Mt Domekhang peak on September 22, the official said. The joint expedition was executed as part of multiple adventure activities under the umbrella of Eastern Command Trans Theatre Adventure Activities (ECTTAA)-2022, Lt General Tar

Climate change adding layer of vulnerability to fragile Himalayas: Experts

Climate change and ill-planned human interventions in the Himalayas have accentuated the vulnerability of the hills to disasters, resulting in a manifold increase in loss of property and human lives

Nepal Army physically locates plane crash site; casualties remain unclear

The fate of 22 people, including four members of an Indian family, on board the Nepalese airlines plane remained unclear as bad weather made it difficult to locate the aircraft that went missing