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 …
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 …
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 …
This indicative plan has based on the work of field/park directors and their colleagues in the eight protected areas, and of various non-governmental organisations involved in carrying out PRA in the proposed project area. The final output has benefit greatly from the inputs of the various national consultants and consulting …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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, …
The construction of a fishing jetty at Talchua near the Bhittar Kanika Sanctuary in Orissa has been stopped short by a Central directive. The decision was based on a report by a team appointed by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MEF), which recommended that the construction of the …
FLOODS have ravaged India from times immemorial and people have controlled and turned them into beneficial processes. But today they are seen as catastrophic events that are to be forcefully contained by dams and embankments. This perception has its roots in India's colonial past, according to recent evidence from Orissa. …
The much-touted Puri-Konark Beach Resort Project proposed by the Orissa state government has received a setback with the rejection of the project by the Union environment ministry. The Rs 900-crore project, which is being pushed by the Union tourism ministry, envisages the construction of a multiple hotel complex on 890 …
The Orissa government and the house of Tatas, who jointly own the Rs 20-crore Chilika Aquatic Farms Ltd (CAFL), have agreed to move their operations away from the lake. The decision was reached at a meeting of top officials from both sides in December in Bhubaneshwar. The officials decided to …
THE ANUGUL-Talcher industrial belt in Orissa's Dhenkanal district -- one of the few water-rich areas in the state -- is facing an acute crisis: People in more than 400 villages in the region, which is served by the Brahmani river and its tributary Nandira, have been bearing the brunt of …
IN THEIR quest for cultivable land, tribals have cleared more than 2,025 ha of virgin forest in the Hadgarh sanctuary in Orissa's Keonjhar district in less than two years. According to the Antyodaya Chetana Kendra (ACK), a voluntary organisation that has been working in the area for nearly a decade, …
A unique database on mangroves -- the Mangrove Ecosystem Information Service (MEIS) -- developed by the Centre for Research in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (CRSARD) in Madras, will be operational by December. Work on MEIS is being headed by eminent scientist M S Swaminathan. CRSARD will also set up …
Three years ago, an Orissa engineer's claims to have solved Fermat's Last Theorem was ignored by the state government. However, news that Andrew Wiles of the US has solved the long-standing puzzle has now prompted the state government to sponsor the engineer's trip to England to present his finding to …
ALLEGATIONS of illegal practices in the prawn trade in Chilika -- Asia's largest brackish water lake -- have been confirmed by a five-member 'fact-finding' committee set up by the Bhubaneswar High Court. The committee was set up in response to writ petitions filed by three primary fisherfolk cooperative societies challenging …
THE ORISSA government's ambitious plan to develop a beach resort complex over more than 900 ha between Puri and Konark has raised a storm of controversy in the state. While environmental activists allege that the project will cause irreversible damage to the ecologically fragile coastal stretch, officials of the state …
