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 …
FOR tribals in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa, mantras of the tantriks and other saffron-clad individuals can still evoke the fear of God in them as members of the District Action Group, MASS realised. A plantation programme in about eight ha of land in the Betnoti area of the district had …
The monsoon session of the Orissa Assembly had witnessed uproarious scenes on the prevailing illegal prawn culture in the state and the consequent damages to the coastline and mangrove forests. The prawn mafia infiltrated Orissa since 1991-92, from West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, along Orissa's 480-km long coastline. Within three …
The slasb-and-burn method of cultivation is ecologically disastrous and economically fruitless for the tribals. To provide a viable alternative to this shifting cultivation, the Social Forestry Project of Orissa in collaboration with the Swedish International Development Agency chose 14 landless tribals in Bhatiguda village of the state as beneficiaries under …
THE oft repeated story of exploitation has raised its ugly head again, this time in Orissa's Kalahandi district. Women of the mainly tribal population in the panchayats of Thuamul Rampur, Kaniguma and Nakrundi, who collect phoo1jitadu (broomsticks) - a minor forest produce - from the jungle, are forced to sell …
The stir against the Orissa government's plans to set up a fishing complex in Bhitarkanika sanctuary has now assumed global dimensions. The Sea Turtle Restoration Project in the US will host educational events and publicise the threats posed to the world's largest sea turtle nesting site by the proposed complex. …
ORISSA'S Chilika lake is known for its natural splendour and beauty and the wealth of bird and marine life which it harbours. Recently, it has acquired additional prominence owing to the controversial prawn culture project initiated by big business houses, which the local marginal fishermen -- supported by the environmentalist …
The hatchery must go. The decision was unanimous and it bound together the 100 odd fisherfolk -- men and women -- with a common purpose. They had gathered under the red tiled roof of the New Baxipalli Mahila Sangho in Gopalpur-On-Sea, about 100 km from Orissa's capital, Bhuvaneshwar. The mid-March …
POACHERs are motivated purely by commercial gain. But the tribals of Simlipal in Orissa are prompted by almost sacrosanct tradition - an annual hunting ceremony known as akhand shikar or .mass hunting excursion", which turns them into ferocious killers of even protected animals. The ritual normally begins in mid-April on …
Will the ministry of environment and forests (MEF) never let Orissa prosper? Biju Patnaik has been claiming so for years now. Adding more grist to his mill, the MEF has recently put the spanner in the latest of Orissa's prestigious steel projects. The Rs 480 crore plant was to be …
TILL the other day, the Rajasthan chief minister, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, seemed to spend much of his time frozen on an anti-environmentalist platform, ranting against the Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF). Last fortnight, he seemed to have passed the megaphone to Orissa's Biju Patnaik. That both these stormy …
THE term "non-wood forest produce" covers all forest products except timber. It includes seeds,flowers, gums, resin, bamboo, lac and fruits. Earlier called "minor" forest produce, its importance to tribal communities and its capacity for providing a sustainable source of self-employment to forest dwellers has been heavily underestimated so far, with …
Smallscale entrepreneurs like Gopal Soren from Raina village have found a quick and easy method to earn some money. Soren and 3 of his friends lease out 6 acres of asna (Terminalia tomentosa) or arjuna (Terminalia atiuna) forest from the government and set about producing tassar cocoons. Each of them …
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 …
THE village of Behrampur Gouditikra in Orissa's Bargarh district has an uncommon distinction: all the 109 households have running water. This is the latest addition to its civic amenities, which include latrines in every house, electricity, a school and a motorable road to the highway. All this has been achieved …
ENVIRONMENTAL groups in the country took resort to the law after the Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF) failed to prevent the Orissa government from going ahead with the controversial fishing jetty project at Talchua in the Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary. Recently, in response to a petition by the World …
The hue and cry raised by environmentalists about the Puri beach, castigated by the Central Pollution Control Board as one of the most polluted in India, has finally forced the Orissa government to set up a wastewater treatment plant. Untreated domestic waste from a sewer along the seashore, as well …
The local fishing community around Chilika continues being terrorised by a mafia bent on silencing popular discontent against the infiltration of outsiders out to mint gold by farming prawn in the lake, Asia's largest brackish water lagoon. The Orissa government has yet to show an inclination to protect the people's …
Residents of Bhubaneswar were in for a hot shock when the temperature soared to 46.3 degrees Celsius on May 7. According to environmental scientists, the climatic disorder was caused by the large-scale construction of concrete houses and falling of the groundwater levels. Bhubaneswar has now earned the dubious distinction as …
MORE than 400 saw mills in Orissa, out of 600, may be closed if the Orissa Saw Mill and Saw Pit Act, 1990 -- which disallows the existence or operation of such units within 10 km of a forest -- is carried through. Although the Act was framed in 1990, …
