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 …
Recently, on discovering that I work in the forest department, a lady co-passenger in a flight asked, “Are you people really doing anything for the forests?” The unconcealed taunt set me and my friends discussing with the sceptic the scenario of green governance in India. How are we managing our …
The anti-corruption campaign has shown that a desperate public demands an immediate solution. Citizens have got a taste of direct democracy which is frightening for the privileged manipulators of the system, but liberating for the poor who are usually manipulated. While what the future holds cannot be predicted, the prize …
China is attempting to pursue the same impossible path as the rest of the world: generating consumer demand and wealth without destroying its natural resources and the planet.
This article looks at a system designed and implemented by members of an indigenous community in central Ecuador, which, by localising food production, distribution and consumption, ties together a series of efforts that provide a safeguard against the precarious nature of local employment and fluctuating food prices. Results so far …
The Yorkshire village of Todmorden has taken local food to heart – and to the street. The planting of food crops at forty public locations throughout the village offer locals, and visitors, the chance to pick their own fresh fruit and vegetables, and it’s all free. From the local police …
Recognizing the changing scope and character of private sector participation in Indian urban water supply services, the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) has undertaken a study to review these projects. This study reviews trends and the factors that have facilitated or impeded the development and implementation of projects in the …
This document provides people’s insights on why some sanitation interventions successes and others fail. The study showed that awareness among the people about the importance of sanitation and hygiene for better health was higher than expected.
Protected areas (PAs) cover a quarter of the tropical forest estate. Yet there is debate over the effectiveness of PAs in reducing deforestation, especially when local people have rights to use the forest. A key analytic problem is the likely placement of PAs on marginal lands with low pressure for …
Till a few years ago, women of Bisha Bedi village in Rajasthan’s Barmer district hardly slept at night. Throbbing pain in the neck and the back kept them awake till early morning. It was caused by fetching water over long distances. “We used to wake up at four in the …
What happens when villagers are allowed to monitor their local public health facilities? India’s National Rural Health Mission is making such accountability a reality through its community-based monitoring initiative. This article presents the first three rounds of data collected by village health committee members in Maharashtra’s 225 pilot villages. The …
Planning Commission has reached out to citizens through civil society groups and a Facebook page for their inputs while framing the 12th plan. An insider explains the intricate process which has been like redesigning the aircraft while flying.
This article studies the development of the Non-Pesticidal Management Project (NPM) that emerged in the late 1980s in Andhra Pradesh's Warangal district of the semi-arid region Telengana as a response to accumulating agrarian distress, when chemical pesticides did not help to counter massive pest infestations.
A month before the chariot festival of Jagannath in Odisha’s Puri town, newspapers in the state published a government advertisement: “Donate phasi timber for chariot construction.” It promised a felicitation certificate to anyone donating timber for making three gigantic chariots. The appeal soon made headlines. With thousands of devotees set …
With a growing betel vine sector as well as thriving paddy cultivation and fishing, it is no wonder that villagers in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district have resisted the state government’s forceful acquisition of land for the POSCO project. Political parties of all shades as well as the intelligentsia are increasingly coming …
Biofuels could help poor nations modernize, but scaling up aid supported projects to commercial operations is far from easy. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S018a.html
The functions which the state governments devolved to the gram panchayats according to the 73rd constitutional amendment comprise important activities for the development of villages. One of the most important argument for decentralization-the government is more attentive and responsive to local peoples' needs-is of great importance for the development of …
People of Orissa have been involved in the protection of some unique and endangered wildlife for their own interest or for the environmental sustainability. Rugudipalli is one of the community based conserved areas of Orissa where the arrival of Asian Open Bill Storks is believed to coincide exactly with the …
Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) approach is being promoted in India with the aim to improve the performance of public irrigation schemes and ensuring equitable water distribution.
INDIA’S first pilot project to be recognised under the UN’s mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) could be in the East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. A watershed project, started jointly by a California-based non-profit and a tribal community in 2005 in the northeastern state aims at checking …
This response to the comment “Protecting India’s Protected Areas” by Praveen Bhargav and Shekar Dattatri (23 April 2011) points out the authors’ misreading of the Forest Rights Act and also of the report of the Joint Committee on the FRA.
