India begins regulating its fisheries
Last month, June 2019, the Indian government created its first ministry for fisheries. Although it clubs fishing together, rather oddly, with animal husbandry and dairy, the move fulfills a long-standing…
Why the city that never stops comes to a standstill when it rains
When the rain poured down on Mumbai last week, drowning the city in what now seems like an annual affair, it once again brought up the question – why is…
[Commentary] Why is marine conservation still an uncharted zone?
A glance at the map of India is enough to understand how vast and wide-ranging the country’s biophysical environment is -- from alpine meadows on the Himalayan slopes to coral…
What is seagrass?
What is seagrass? Seagrasses are marine flowering plants, found on all continents except Antarctica. They have roots, stems and leaves and produce flowers and fruits. They are closely related to…
Women lead the way in disaster preparedness, recovery in Odisha’s Ganjam
High-speed winds had smacked into sturdy mango trees and shaken the fruits away. They were all over the ground. Extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani’s dread had barely passed. Rashmi Behera…
[Commentary] Back to the Future: Lessons from Cyclone Fani
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…
Five Kochi buildings to be razed down for CRZ violations
A gentle breeze nudges the leaves of a solitary mangrove tree struggling to find foothold along the banks of the Kochi backwaters near northern Maradu in Kerala’s port city. It's…
Your environment this week: Punjab farmers’ widows contest elections, Ganga is shifting at Patna
This week's stories rolled into one. To receive a weekly email with a roundup of our stories, please sign-up to our newsletter. Punjab farmers’ widows respond to apathy by standing…
Fixing agriculture a decade after cyclone Aila: A farmer recollects
It has been a decade since Cyclone Aila ravaged the Bay of Bengal. But paddy farmer Tapan Mondal, is wary of growing legumes and watermelon in the still-recovering soil of…
March of industrialisation tramples Kutch’s coastal ecology
“Like fish trapped in a net,” Jam Ismael Ali smiled at the irony of the simile drawn to explain his own situation. One among the few remaining Pagadia fishermen in…
