Assam’s wild water buffalo is treading troubled waters
Describing the abundance of the wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) in Assam in his memoir Travels and Adventures in the Province of Assam (1855), Major John Butler, a British colonial…
Articles by Bikash Kumar Bhattacharya
Bikash Kumar Bhattacharya is a freelance journalist based in Assam, Northeast India. His articles have appeared on Eurasia Review, The Assam Tribune, The Telegraph, www.youthkiawaaz.com and several Assamese language newspapers and magazines. His broad interest lies in environmental humanities and Southeast Asian political developments.
Mizoram’s balancing act with palm oil’s ecological impact and economic benefits
Vanlaldika, a temporary forest guard in Dampa Tiger Reserve, one of the last remaining tiger habitats in Mizoram, has been cultivating oil palm for the past seven years. Vanlaldika, hails…
Human activity disturbs quiet habitat of black-necked cranes in Arunachal Pradesh
Locally known as Thung Thung Karmu, the black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis) is not simply a bird but an emotion for the inhabitants of Sangti and Zemithang valleys in Arunachal Pradesh…
Saving the Asiatic black bear from illegal wildlife trade needs nuanced conservation
When Terde Yomcha brought Luba home, she was so tiny that she could fit in his hands. Luba is an Asiatic black bear cub—a species threatened by illegal wildlife trade…
When tigers, elephants, rhinos visit an expanding Indian town
When 25-year-old e-rickshaw driver Javed Ali went out for work on the morning of November 23 last year, he had little idea that he would return home with the nightmarish…
Climate change threatens traditional way of life of Brokpa herders in Arunachal Pradesh
From a bird’s eye view, this animal’s extensive presence in the snow-clad alpine and the subalpine Himalayas makes the landscape look like a crumpled white sheet punctuated with shaggy black…
At India’s Assam Zoo, decades of experience lead to rhino-breeding success
One August afternoon in 1991, rangers at India's Kaziranga National Park rescued a startled rhino calf. The young female, believed to be just a few months old, had just survived…
Who killed the wandering rhino in Assam?
On February 5, 2018, rangers at Orang National Park in the northeast Indian state of Assam received multiple phone calls from villagers reporting sightings of a stray rhino. Dawdling and…
Tigers are vanishing outside protected areas in the northeast
The annual marathon used to be a big event in Bokolia, a small town in eastern Assam’s picturesque hill district of Karbi Anglong. The participants would run from Bokolia to…
Communities join hands to keep alive the hoolock gibbon’s song
The call of the western hoolock gibbon, a series of whoops, hoots and tones that rise in a crescendo, is background music in the villages of Meghalaya. Mornings begin with this…
Assam’s rhino habitat overtaken by invasives
On a gloomy afternoon in May 2018, conservation biologist Bibhab Talukdar was visiting Pobitora National Park in Assam. As he rode an elephant into the grasslands at the core of…
Mulai Kathoni: a young man’s dream is now a thriving ‘people’s forest’
In 1980, the social forestry wing of the Assam state forest department in northeastern India launched an experimental programme that aimed to measure how well tree cover could protect against…
The women in Assam who live alongside rhinos
Kasema Khatun’s tiny, thatched-roof house lies just a few feet from the swaying elephant grass thickets of Orang National Park, a 78-square-kilometre (30-square-mile) protected area in the northeastern Indian state…
Special series
Wetland Champions
- [Commentary] India establishes the largest network of Ramsar Sites in South Asia
- [Commentary] Wetland champions: Promise from the grassroots
- The story of Jakkur lake sets an example for inclusive rejuvenation projects
- Welcome to Tsomgo lake: Please don’t litter
Environment And Health
- Lower species richness in deforested landscapes tied to high Kyasanur forest disease risk: study
- Soils from city parks are important hotspots of microbial diversity: study
- India’s dietary guidelines have a relatively lower carbon footprint: study
- [Commentary] Will the COVID-19 second wave buck the trend for the Indian middle class?
Almost Famous Species
- The neelakurinji bloom is wilting with time
- Misfired shot: Law to protect camel is contributing to its decline in Rajasthan
- [Commentary] Bactrian camels in Nubra Valley provide lessons for conservation of animal genetic resource
- 148 zebra loaches exported per day from Western Ghats to feed global pet trade
Eco Hope
- Keeping alive a mangrove conservationist’s legacy to protect Kerala coast
- [Interview] The glass ceiling has been shattered, says ZSI’s first woman director
- Kerala’s homegardens are a natural solution for climate change mitigation
- Microbial boost to Himalayan dry toilets can help mainstream organic farming
India's Iconic Landscapes
- Snug in Kashmir’s meadows, ox-eye daisy worries scientists
- Assam to destroy nearly 2500 seized rhino horns in anti-poaching message
- Rethinking tourism could save Udaipur from its pressures
- [Commentary] India establishes the largest network of Ramsar Sites in South Asia
Beyond Protected Areas
- Excess paddy kept for elephants in Chhattisgarh may not have the intended impact
- Will Odisha notify 14 proposed elephant corridors?
- Hope in sight for the ambassador of Chilika lake, the elusive fishing cat
- Lower species richness in deforested landscapes tied to high Kyasanur forest disease risk: study
Conserving Agro-biodiversity
- Sweet pineapples and a variety of trees nurture each other in this patchwork plantation
- How climate change is taking a toll on livelihoods of small-scale fishers in Kerala
- Plant Man Miguel Braganza on how Konkan Fruit Fest preserves food biodiversity
- Building up carbon sinks in northeast India’s shifting cultivation landscape
