Ironical as it may sound, the legacy of an India-born British hunter from India’s colonial past is now living on in the conservation efforts of a nature society, founded in…
When I was a schoolboy in Kerala, there was an annual calendar event that we hated. It was the date June 1. That was the day on which the schools…
Since it was first detected in a small village in the Karnataka Western Ghats in 1957, the Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) or monkey fever has affected over 9000 people across…
It is noon and the scorching heat of Chennai’s sun hits across S. Punitha’s face. She has just filled her first pot for the day from a hand pump in…
“People now prefer plastic for everything,” rued Ghulam Rasool Ganie, as he deftly worked on a wicker basket, at his residence in Sogman Lolab, some hundred kilometres north of Srinagar,…
On May 3, the coastal state of Odisha in eastern India witnessed Fani, an ‘extremely severe cyclonic storm’ and the first major cyclone of the 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone…
The city of Chennai and the surrounding areas went through major floods in November-December 2015. The entire state of Kerala went through a similar event in August 2018. Both the…
This week’s stories rolled into one. To receive a weekly email with a roundup of our stories, please sign-up to our newsletter. NDA 2.0: What it means for India’s environmental sector?…
There are many varied spaces -- sacred groves, industrial complexes, national level institutes, village commons, universities, defence lands, temple premises, urban parks -- that have one thread in common. They…
Standing in the middle of a grassy hill, Thorthey Gooden looked around. The grass was short, just an inch long – like a lawn drying out in the summer. In…
The genesis of the National Green Tribunal (NGT, for short) is itself what makes it different from the other Tribunals in the country. It was established under the weight of…
Most forests in India are home to the Indian muntjac, also called barking deer. Found across southern India, including the Western Ghats, in the dry forests of central India, the…
One of the most biodiverse regions of the Western Ghats, the Nilgiris (the blue mountains) comprise a range of ecosystems including dry deciduous forests at its base, dense evergreen forests…
Every few years, the recurring drought in Marathwada region of Maharashtra is attributed to poor rains. Stop-gap arrangements for tanker water, fodder camps or jobs under the Employment Guarantee Scheme…
The irony is unmistakable. In the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, which is in the grip of arguably the worst drought since 1972, what stands out is hectic road construction. En…
Despite being one of the oldest water-regulator structures in the world that is still functional, the Kallanai dam or the Grand Anicut looks almost empty with not much water to…
In Thiruvaiyaru, the famous village where Carnatic music legend Thyagaraja lived and died, river Kaveri looked almost dry and desolate. The subject of a never-ending water-sharing dispute between Tamil Nadu…
Darryl D’Monte, India’s pioneering environment journalist and editor died in Mumbai on March 16. He was 75. Earlier in his career, he was resident editor of the Indian Express and…
In late February, about 50 movements and organisations from various parts of India released a ‘People’s Manifesto for a Just, Equitable, and Sustainable India’. This was sent to political parties…
In many ways, the Western Ghats is a study in contrast. While the foothills and slopes of the mountain range are covered in dense rainforest, the higher reaches are a…