Affidavit by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the matter of Sisir Kumar Panda Vs Union of India & Others dated 20/05/2025. The issue pertained to the removal of illegal construction/obstruction caused by the state authorities as well as the private persons in the ecological sensitive zone …
Titlagarh, one of the hottest places in India, is undergoing a cool makeover. The sweltering summer that this small town of western Orissa experiences can be primarily attributed to its being surrounded by several rocky, barren hills which radiate heat throughout the day. Two of the hills are right inside …
crisis tided over: The dispute over seasonal fishing in the reserved forestland of Jambudwip island in West Bengal (see: Out of bounds, February 28, 2003) may be resolved in the near future. An amicable agreement between the state government's fisheries and forest departments bears testimony to this. The deal was …
From a resource-rich area to a metaphor for poverty, the Balangir district of Orissa has covered a long distance. Plausibly, it is this journey that is driving its inhabitants to go away from their roots
orissa's forest authorities and forest management groups are at loggerheads. The cause of the dispute: the state government's decision to constitute forest development agencies (fdas) in 27 forest divisions. fdas, created under the National Afforestation Programme for monitoring plantations, are headed by the state conservator of forests. The agencies are …
rice has been a staple food of West Bengal from antiquity and thus was grown in abundance all across the region. At one time, 60 varieties of rice were cultivated in Bengal. Pantabhat, which is basically cooked rice soaked overnight in water, was probably a way of preserving rice as
FIRST there was the mounting suspense. All of India awaited with bated breath the arrival of the south west monsoon. Would it arrive? Miraculously, politicians went into intricate calculations: would the bounty be enough to sustain the GDP growth projected in the Tenth Five Year Plan? Then came the rains. …
orissa might well be at the receiving end of one of Chhattisgarh chief minister (cm) Ajit Jogi's pre-poll sops meant to benefit his own states's forest dwellers. With elections on the anvil in Chhattisgarh, Jogi has announced a procurement price of Rs 5 per kilogramme (kg) of sal seeds from …
dibyaranjan Dash, a farmer of the Puri district of Orissa, has a forlorn look on his face as he mutely watches the basis of his endurance fade into extinction. A killer has been let loose in his fields and it is ruthlessly devouring all the coconuts
calamities kill and maim. That they also leave the survivors mentally scarred is completely ignored in India. While the authorities believe in providing compensation and bare basic relief, a report reveals that such measures are not enough to provide succour to the victims. Even months after the cyclone struck coastal …
the much-awaited mass nesting of sea turtles has begun at the Rushikulya beach in Orissa. Till March 12, 2003, a total of nearly 2,05,000 turtles were reported to have nested on this beach. Unfortunately, turtle lovers have little to cheer about as very few eggs are expected to hatch. "The …
the Orissa government has finally begun disbursing compensation to likely oustees in the lower Suktel dam project. Nineteen families of Magurbeda village in Balangir district have been handed over a rehabilitation package of more than Rs 12.5 lakh. Ironically, the first lot of beneficiaries chosen by the state authorities will …
Timber smugglers in Orissa are catching them young. They have targeted schoolchildren from economically weaker sections to carry out their dubious activities. The Nayagarh district police recently caught two class viii students felling trees in the Sulia forest. The arrested students, Pandu Nayak and Dilip Nayak, admitted to killing wild …
The polio virus (pv) is possibly the most innocuous virus that affects humans. The improvement of sanitation standards across the world has meant fewer people are afflicted by polio as infants, upsetting the historical balance between virus and host. But, since poorer sections still live in squalor and consume water …
we are angry about the recent skirmish inside Kerala's forests, which has seen two people dead officially (unofficially, five). We are also deeply concerned. This incident is the latest in a purple trail of conflicts dogging the Ministry of Environment and Forest's (moef) drive to evict
• India has 16,000 recorded plant species. About 3,000 of these yield minor forest produce (MFP). • Nearly 500 million people living in and around forests in India depend on MFP for sustenance and as a supplement to their income • Studies in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar …
Kalahandi: A Planet of Herbs o Director: Amarendra Kishore o 28 minutes o English/Hindi Kalahandi district in Orissa often hits the news, but for all the wrong reasons; hunger, poverty and mass migration to other states chief among them. To rescue the villagers from penury and provide them a dignified …
a survey currently underway in states to calculate the number of below poverty line (bpl) households is being opposed tooth and nail by civil society groups under the 'right to food' campaign. They are objecting to the exercise on two counts: firstly, the criteria used for poverty estimation are incorrect; …
Writ Petition number 202 of 1995; Godavarman v the Union of India and others. This is the ‘forest case’ being heard in Supreme Court for the past seven years. With more than 800 interlocutory applications (ias) filed, the case will dictate the fate of India’s forests and an estimated 10 …
This paper looks at two interfacing trends shaping devolution of forest management in India: appropriation of space for forest management by diverse self-initiated community formations at the grass roots level despite state seizure of forests; and state-driven devolution where government policies define the scope of local authority in forest management. …
