SHIMLA: The state-level environment clearance committee will provide clearances to all the existing mines in Himachal Pradesh within six months, in accordance with the directions of the National Green Tribunal. Industries minister Mukesh Agnihotri informed
this while presiding over the first meeting of State Mineral Advisory Committee in Shimla on Wednesday.

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An art exhibition to promote water conservation was organised under the aegis of Eera Nilam, a Cuddalore-based non-Governmental organisation, at the Government Arts College here on Tuesday.

Principal in-charge Malliga, who inaugurated the exhibition, observed that often such initiatives were more effective in protecting the environment than classroom interactions.

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The state forest department is gearing up to conduct Jharkhand's first ever bird survey on the lines of the animal census to officially count and record indigenous and migratory avian population and their behaviour patterns.

On Monday, the forest department floated advertisements inviting specialists - ornithologists and birders - to volunteer for this exercise. A selection camp-cum-preliminary workshop is scheduled tomorrow at the forest department auditorium in Doranda between
9am and noon.

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SYDNEY: One of the largest glaciers on the planet, Totten, is melting due to ocean warming, a phenomenon that demonstrates the vulnerability of East Antarctica and its role in increasing the level of the oceans.

The Totten glacier, 120 km long and 30 km wide, is one of the largest glaciers on the planet and also one of the least understood glacier systems, Steven Rintoul, head of a scientific expedition that is measuring the waters below the ice cap, told Efe
news agency.