Three decades ago, in 1992, the Constitution 73rd (on Panchayat Raj) and 74th Amendment Acts (on Nagarpalika or urban local bodies) were enacted. These were the first definitive steps to…
The government of India has been trying to change how India’s forests are governed, especially the national forest policy, for at least six years now but has been unable to…
Leaving Panaji, Goa's capital city, for the airport, one drives past a large swathe of lifeless bare trees standing in a shallow black water swamp. This was once a verdant…
In the mountainous district of Wayanad in Kerala, the Meenangadi grama panchayat has launched a process for turning their area carbon neutral. The measures, planned and implemented by the local…
There are two emerging trends visible in the Indian capital market for the past couple of years. The first is the sharp increase in the number of retail investors and…
On Monday, the Indian government referred the Biological Diversity Act Amendment Bill (2021) to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). The Bill was developed to amend certain provisions of the Biological…
In Puthiravali, a village in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, villagers are hopeful that Haldia Petrochemical Ltd.'s takeover of Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Ltd.’s (NOCL) dysfunctional oil refinery will result in…
There are heavy rains in the south Indian city of Chennai and the metropolis has flooded, bringing back memories of the of December 2015 floods. Mongabay-India talked with Jayshree Vencatesan,…
Glasgow exploded in a riot of colourful posters, enthusiastic singing and sloganeering as tens of thousands of protestors marched peacefully on Friday and Saturday, urging politicians, business leaders and negotiators…
Global carbon dioxide emissions have resumed their relentless rise after a brief lull due to the disruption caused by COVID-19 in 2020, according to the 16th annual report prepared for…
The joint initiative by India and the United Kingdom to connect the world’s electricity power grids to accelerate the transition to cleaner energy has been hailed by activists and negotiators…
The 26th Conference of Parties (CoP-26) to the United Nations Climate Change Convention in Glasgow got off to a hopeful start when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised world leaders…
As a nation, India is at the cusp of various developments and transitions. These include the sustainability transition which emanates from the adverse impacts of climate change, the inclusivity transition…
As the Second World War ended in the mid-1940s, an important scientific breakthrough was to add a strong weapon to the global fight against malaria. The industrial synthesis of chloroquine,…
The neem tree in Kumarettiyapuram village in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu was a media attraction in early 2018. Villagers would gather here every day in protest against pollution from…
The World Environment Day on June 5 marks the formal launch of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a decade where efforts to massively scale up the restoration…
Institutionalised conservation efforts in India started with the enactment of the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972 and the launch of the Project Tiger - to conserve the apex predator and…
In the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, I was working with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), in its global headquarters at…
Investment in infrastructure is the most important focus area in the Union Budget 2021-2022 unveiled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, and it is for this reason that…
In 1949, George Orwell published his dystopian view of what the world would be in 1984 in his novel by the same name. For India, 1984 was a disturbing year,…