Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Are missing palm trees causing more lighting deaths in Bihar appearing in ‘The Times of India’ dated 29.05.2025". The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Are missing palm trees causing …
WHAT do depleting resource-bases have to do with riots, insurgency and revolution? The promise of a meaty answer, in the lavish surroundings of the stately Neemrana Fort Palace Hotel in Rajasthan, drew a group of academicians and activists to a two-day workshop last December. The project originated with the American …
THE aftereffects of a forest felling movement started in Singhbhum district of Bihar in 1978 had created a none-too- happy situation for tribal forest dwellers of the region, who felt that the core of their existence was being damaged indiscriminately. This was coupled with the Porahat (a forest territorial division …
In Uisiya village of Noamundi block, a group of young enthusiasts undertook the task of protecting the adjoining degraded sal forests in 1988. Laguri jee and Niranjan Bobonga, the traditional headpersons of the area, rallied the people into preventing cattle from trespassing into the region. They successfully convinced the people …
Among various art forms, from the state of Bihar that India is proud of, the already famous Mithila painting has now beckoned the Star TV. This intricate art form will be used as the backdrop for a film which will be beamed on the Star channel shortly. The Tourism Development …
SOUTH Bihar is reeling under the attack of mosquitoes. A malignant and drugresistant malaria has struck on an epidemic scale, particularly in the tribal areas. According to unofficial estimates, the disease claims nearly 10,000 lives every year. No official statistics are available for 1995. According to C P Thakur, professor …
The dying art of the Santhal craftsman miniature Chadar Badar wooden puppets, tucked into their thatched roof in Dumka, Bihar, caught the eye of photojournalist and filmmaker Ravi Kant Dwivedi. In an appeal to save the art, he started a documentary film (16mm, colour) with meagre resources. Today, the Indira …
RECENTLY, the tribals at Chidia in the West Singhbhum district in Bihar took up cudgels in protest against the proposed modernisation of Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) unit. The pent up anger in tribals at being exploited for centuries is now slowly breaking out. The tribal leaders have alleged …
BEFORErefrigerators became the norm of the day, earthen pots were used to store cool drinking water. The water in the pot reaches the outer surface through the pores in the earthen pots which on evaporation, humidifies, cooling the air around it. This in turn cools the water in the pot. …
To allow villagers access to many4on technologies available to them 140 before they decide to implementAIM them, the Society for Rural %IV Industrialisation (SRI) in Ranchi,A@ Bihar, has set up a rural technology park in the Chaingati village *in Ranchi district. The park is the firstem of its kind in …
TUCKED away in the flat valley of Dalma hills in East Singhbhum Patna district, Bihar, lies the village of B I H A R Pagda. Although only 20 km. away from the steel city of shedpur, it had remained jamPat impoverished and underdeveloped until five years ago. Pagda today, however, …
Sriprakash, whose previous film, Kiski Raksha (Whose Safety), on Netarhat - which presented the conflict between the army and local tribes - has finished his second film. Addo Milad Wgulan (Another Revolt) Is a documentary on the tribal movement of Bihar. This time around It describes the 30-year-old struggle against …
LISSOME Seeta Mahato, 21, married last year, is the healing and humane touch in down and out Hiramiya village, tucked away in the backward Samastipur district of Bihar. Lissome is a lady health worker (lhw). And her team has worked wonders. "In just 6 months, we reduced the spate of …
PALAMAU, a district in south Bihar, is the archetype of an unfair and increasingly common socioeconomic paradox: rich land, dirt poor people. Despite its vast natural resources, forest cover, rainfall and low population density, Palamau has a dismally low development index, further lowered each passing year under the double trouble …
The concept of Chakriya Vikas Pranali (CVP) can roughly be translated into English as "Cyclical System of Development". As with all translations, it is a poor copy of the original meaning. The concept originated from the famous Sukhomajri experiment. (Sukhomajri is a village in the Ambala district where the first …
Another viral maniac has claimed 200 lives -- including those of 75 children below the age of 10 -- in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar. The state's health department officials of suspect that the culprit is viral encephalitis, which leads to inflammation of the brain tissues and subsequent brain damage. …
FOR the poor villagers inhabiting the underdeveloped villages of central Bihar, an access to cheap and timely health care is a distant dream. However, for the last 2 years, in many villages of Arrah, Gaya, Patna and Nalanda, 60 young and committed health workers are working hard to transform this …
Last year, when a herd of elephants from the Purulia forests of Bihar made its annual trek to greener areas in the Bankura and Medinipur districts of West Bengal, it strayed close to Calcutta, causing much fear (Down To Earth, Vol No February 15, 1994). This year, the tuskers have …
The forest protection initiatives of villagers in Bihar and Orissa, while arising out of crises, are marked by pragmatism. The people have realised that protection is possible only once their often-conflicting needs have been met first, which is why villagers' committees closely regulate the use of forest resources. Unfortunately, for …
IN THE summer of 1970, Nunaram Mardi of Bhitardhari village in Bihar"s East Singhbhum district espied a lone female monkey on a treeless rockface, desperately trying to shield her baby from the harsh sun with her body. "She was searching for shade, but could not find any," Mardi recounts. "On …
