Since the last few years, farmers in the Yavatmal region of Maharashtra have been challenged by pests like the pink bollworm on cotton which is assuming menacing proportions, and this year too farmers
An analysis of State action plans to combat climate change reveals a lack of innovative approaches and a high variation in budgets, apart from the fact that many did not move ahead from the business-as-usual
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Environment Minister and other officials, several NGOs and individuals have protested the reconstitution of the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) which has only two
In the context of falling sex ratios in India, a United Nations report points to a new level of ‘daughter aversion,’ most starkly visible in the negligible number of girls-only families in some parts of
The research and advocacy organisation Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has called for a ban on junk food in schools and the regulation of advertisements promoting its consumption. Children are
If it is serious about phasing out ozone-depleting gases by 2030, India needs to evolve a clear stand against persisting with those that have global warming potential and evaluate environmentally-friendly
Country still has large swathes of contiguous forests accounting for 40% of the forest cover There has been an increase of 5,871 sq km of the country’s forest area since 2011, even as moderately dense
The Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps are engaged in a major rescue operation as the death toll in Tuesday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake that shook parts of Balochistan and Sindh crossed 300, with over 400
While the government has allocated 14 of the 17 coal blocks for auction last week to public sector units, a Greenpeace India report points out that at least eight of them are in dense forest areas with tribal villages, endangered species, rivers and other water bodies. According to the report, the 14 coal blocks could impact 4,200 hectares of forest, including 2,200 hectares of dense forest. Besides affecting 17 villages, this will have an adverse effect on elephants, tigers and leopards in nine blocks.
It manipulates data and facts to make a case against Act Forest rights campaigners have slammed the satellite image-based study on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in Maharashtra as “deeply faulty and obviously biased,” arguing that it manipulates data and facts to make a case against the Act. Countering the report which a private company prepared at the behest of the State Forest Department, a critique by Madhu Sarin and others of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity says the study does not highlight its own data that only two per cent of claims it investigated could actually be “false” even by its incorrect interpretation.
This year’s drought cannot be called worse than the one in 1972: SANDRP While the Maharashtra government is crying hoarse about this year’s drought surpassing the one in 1972 and farmers are cutting off their crops and digging deeper than ever for water, an analysis based on rainfall patterns blames it on poor long-term vision and unequal water distribution. With 3,712 major, minor and medium projects, Maharashtra has the highest number of dams in the country; yet its irrigation coverage was 17.9 per cent in 2009-10. Its projects are plagued with delays and cost overruns, and a special team headed by Madhav Chitale is investigating them.
