Ancient structural remains of some significance have been discovered at Dwaraka, under water and on land, by the Underwater Archaeology Wing(UAW) of the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI). Alok Tirupathu,Superintending Archaeologist,UAW, said the ancient underwater structures fund in the
Thirty copper coins were found in the excavation area. The structures found on land belonged to the medieval period. Dwaraka is a coastal town in
(The Hindu,
In saurashta, another Harappan site has been discovered. This, say experts, could be as big as Lothal site and had existed around 4,500 years back. The site is at Pithad village in Jodia taluka of
The remains of the Harappan site have been excavated by the team from MSU. During annual excavation programme by MSU teachers and students, which began 40 days back, the team has earthed a huge wall, kilns to make clay utensils and ovens to melt metal.
(The New Indian Express,
The Government is working out a comprehensive land-use policy for the State. The Revenue Department will soon release a draft in this regard for feedbacks from stakeholders and experts. According to department sources, the policy, when finalized, will set a broad out line for sustainable utilization of the State's divergent land resources, including paddy fields, forests, hill ranges, watersheds and coastal areas.
One of the major proposals is to declare non-river water reserves such as backwaters, freshwater lakes, ponds and marshy lands as protected areas. Encroachments, filling and sand-mining will be prohibited in such areas. Wetland information and management systems will be evolved for conservation and effective tapping of resources such as rivers, backwaters and other water bodies. In order to protect fast dwindling paddy fields in various agricultural zones in the state should be declared as 'paddy producing regions'. Conversion or filling of such areas should be totally banned, except for very unavoidable purposes like construction of own houses. Here also permission for filling should be given only for five cents of land, and that too only in the border areas of paddy fields. The draft policy suggests that sanction be given for other short-term crops and fish farming in paddy fields alternately. Only the government should have the power for filling paddy fields for public purposes and development activities. Clay mining will be strictly regulated I the paddy fields
(The Hindu,
The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment has selected G.S. Unnikrishnan Nair for the `Best author of science book award,' under the children's literature category for his work titled Nunayaam Chocolate.
K. Anvar Sadath has been selected for the `Best author of science book award' under the popular science category for his book titled Nanotechnology. As no entry in the remaining two categories — `Best author of science book' and `Best science journalist' — was found worthy, the council decided to withhold the award in the categories.
These awards, which are for the year 2005, consist of a cash price of Rs.10,000 each, plaque and certificate
(The Hindu,
