Affidavit on behalf of Union Territory of Puducherry in the matter of a news item titled "India lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000 Global Forest Watch" which appeared in the Indian Express, April 13, 2024. The report dated April 25, 2025 said that there is no loss …
THE most critical issue concerning planners and planning in both urban and rural contexts is public participation. This is especially relevant in a situation where traditional planning approaches have failed. Physical planning has become increasingly characterised as a time and resource-consuming exercise carried out by technical departments functioning in isolation …
IN A bid to reverse the ongoing degradation of the Doon valley's environment and preserve its watershed, the Uttar Pradesh government initiated a project in 1993 which seeks to involve the locals in a watershed management scheme. This participatory management programme has not come a day sooner for if the …
A M SHARAFUDDIN BANGLADESH mohammed Zafar Mian passed his senior school certificate (ssc) examination last year and wants to be a banker after finishing his higher studies. The other members of his family are, however, illiterate. Zafar has four brothers and three sisters. Two of his brothers are rickshaw-pullers and …
the year 1979 had seen a debilitating drought sweep across India. As rains failed, agricultural production dropped, resulting in enormous human misery. Nestled in the denuded sub-Himalayan Shivalik hills, the poor villagers of Sukhomajri in Haryana were not spared either. They had managed to grow just one monsoon crop a …
In India's flood plains, the people developed ingenious techniques to use the menacing floodwaters, not just to irrigate their fields but also to fertilise them and control diseases like malaria (by making use of fish in the floodwaters to eat away mosquito larvae, for instance). The nation's richest agricultural area …
Our traditional water harvesting structures demonstrate the people's ingenuity at its best. Using unique modes and basic engineering skills, Indians have developed a wide array of techniques for satisfying their thirstIndia has an extraordinary diversity of agro-ecological systems, ranging from the hot desert of Rajasthan to the cold desert of …
The most outstanding example of conjunctive use of water (prevalent in Rajasthan's arid regions) is in the city of Jodhpur, once a fabulously rich desert fort. The Jodhpur fort is situated at the edge of a rocky plateau. The former kings had built a series of canals to collect the …
In Tamil Nadu, which has a profusion of tanks, local irrigation institutions have evolved to develop a common code for maintenance, water-sharing and resolution of conflicts. The organisational structure operates, firstly, at a supervisory level as an enforcing authority, and, secondly, at a more menial level involving hard labour. The …
Pre-colonial roots When the British disembarked on the Indian shores, they saw a land extremely rich, highly urbanised and intensely literate, with a flourishing tradition of arts, crafts and literature. The wealth of the land came from its internal resource mobilisation. The surplus generated in the villages not only supported …
A pivotal role in irrigation management was played by temples. The famous temple of Kalahasti near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, for instance, used the endowments from its devotees to excavate irrigation channels and to reclaim temple lands. A Kalahasti inscription dating back to 1540 states: "Virappanar Ayyar deposited (with the …
imagine this terrifying scenario - the industrial town of Jamshedpur, which is home to Tata Iron and Steel Co Ltd, India's pioneering steel plant, suddenly goes bankrupt and declares a lockout. Because, a more efficient South Korean company based in Vijaywada has forced the inefficient Tata management out of the …
Participation is a lovely word. For long it has been twisted around to mean anything according to the whims and fancies of the user of the word. A recent study on participatory approaches to wildlife management currently being tried out in Africa, called Whose Eden? presents a wonderful list of …
on october 2 this year , the people of Bilaspur division in Madhya Pradesh will get right to information regarding public distribution system ( pds ) following a significant order given by the commissioner of Bilaspur, Harsh Mander on September 9. It is the first time that the state is …
debate and discussion, dialogue and the spirit of inquiry. These are the factors that are ushering in a gradual change in Saidapur village in Wardha district. The change is all about a new lifestyle that is kinder on the environment and the pocket. Motivated by Dharamitra, a Wardha-based non-governmental organisation …
like an unstoppable juggernaut, the movement demanding the right to information is gaining momentum and popularity. A dharna (demonstration) and a day-long seminar held at Jaipur, a memorandum presented to the Rajasthan chief minister (cm) Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, a jan sunwayi (public hearing) at Beawar, and all this in just …
A new land reform law in the country aims to strike a balance between conservation and community development. The reforms seek to restore property taken from some 3.5 million South Africans during the apartheid era. Large areas of national park; as well as some farms and primate game reserves, will …
AT THE latest meeting of the Conference of Parties to theConvention on Biodiversity (CBD) at Jakarta (Indonesia) inNovember 1995one of the issues that held the centrestage wasthe"rights of indigenous peoples. The focus on this issue hadfollowed the Rio Earth Summit agreement (1992) that indigenous peoples were a "major group"who should …
The prospect of an International legal Instrument recognising Indigenous peoples, rights to self-determination has had Asian governments in a tizzy. These governments have taken the stand that international human tights standards deny collective rights and consensus politics. Instead, they have insisted that since all Asians are 'Indigenous' to Asia, an …
