[Commentary] Counting bulbuls to conserve the Deccan hillocks and scrub forests
The word ‘hill forest’ often brings up an imagery of a tall cliff draped in dense greenery, rising from the plains, peaking high to vanish amidst the mist. Though that…
Decoding the mystery illness that struck Eluru
Was it pesticide poisoning? Was it heavy metals contamination? Or a combination of both? The sudden, mini-epidemic that saw around 600 confirmed cases with one reported fatality in Eluru, an…
Discarded single-use plastic masks and gloves are choking ocean beds
On September 16, when Subhash Chandran, a scuba diver, along with four others, went for their first underwater clean-up post the lockdown at Rushikonda beach in Visakhapatnam, they found floating…
Migratory openbill storks find safe haven in Andhra village
With the onset of monsoons, excitement sets in, in a community along India’s southeast coast. The Telukunchi village community in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, with vast swathes of wetlands, prepares…
One of the world’s most trafficked animals needs focus outside India’s protected areas
“I have been working in this area for 14 years as a snake rescuer. I never received calls for pangolins the way I received them in the last five months…
Rare Gunther’s toad sighting highlights farms as biodiversity hotspots
“Forests are protected areas in name only. Sometimes we see better protection of biodiversity in the adjacent agricultural lands,” said C.S. Saneesh, a research fellow at Spatial Interaction Ecology Research…
Years of neglect led to Vizag gas tragedy
Pratap Singh Tomer is a retired serviceman living in the Ravi Nagar locality of Visakhapatnam, a port city in the state of Andhra Pradesh. In the wee hours on May…
Fireflies appear to be vanishing in this Andhra Pradesh village
Light shows put on by fireflies are not just a fascinating sight. The genes responsible for this luminescence have many applications from medicine to forensics to food safety testing. Compared…
[Commentary] Zero budget natural farming is not a one-size fits all solution
Zero Budget Natural Farming is a fairly self-explanatory term. An alternative to conventional farming, ZBNF claims to have an almost negligible investment in farming by adopting chemical-free agriculture, drawn from…
Amaravati capital city project: From utopia to an uncertain future
Amaravati was promised as a dream come true – a utopia. However, the city, which was being developed as the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, now stares at a bleak future…
