Extreme rainfall deficiencies were not the only causes of famines in semi-arid regions of southern India in the 18th to 20th centuries, according to research that blends paleoclimate reconstruction and…
India is estimated to have a potential of around 54 gigawatts (GW) of ocean energy – tidal power (12.45 GW) and wave power (41.3 GW) – but it is yet…
Gliding through the water, a diver searches for small fragments of Turbinaria mesenterina or table coral, found in abundance near the islands of Goa in the Arabian Sea. Another diver brings…
With over 60 species of grasses, Kutch’s Banni grassland, India’s largest, is home to an array of wildlife and key to its dairy industry. The grasses satiate the livestock reared…
A veterinary pain killer drug, nimesulide, has been causing the death of vultures in India, finds a new study published in the latest edition of the international scientific journal, Environmental Science…
In 2019, black wattle trees stood tall in around 50 hectares of land in Pazhathottam in Kerala’s Pambadum Shola National Park. Black wattle, in India, is an exotic, invasive tree…
The world’s largest anti-poverty programme may also help India achieve its target of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent, through additional forest and tree…
Tradition is a strong yardstick by which life is followed in the Banni grassland in Kutch. Spread across more than 2500 sq km, this vast grassland — a thriving ecosystem…
“There were about 25 boats parked in one place. The tide was so high and the wind so powerful that they crashed into one another and broke. And when I…
As the light fades over the village in the winter evening, the residents of Charotar return home after a day’s work. They’re careful with their routes. It’s almost the end…
It is the silver jubilee year of the Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 that was passed by the Indian parliament to empower people living in the fifth…
India’s environment ministry has come out with a set of rules which facilitates any industrial project that starts in an ecologically sensitive coastal zone without required permissions, to compensate by…
Ramveer Tanwar, a 26-year-old engineer, gave up a cushy job to work on reviving wetlands in Greater Noida. As urbanisation and modern structures have taken over the region, there’s shrinking…
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in December 2020 released a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document to tackle feral and stray dogs in tiger reserves (TRs) across the country. It…
On November 11, 2020, the Union Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change notified the limits of an Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around the Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan, bordering…
A 60 percent rise in India’s leopard population has been recorded in 2018, compared to 2014, but there is one area in the country, the northeastern landscape, where its population…
In a village called Lathedi in Kutch, amid the semi-arid landscape, a small patch of land has been fenced with thorny branches by the local community. The aim, they said,…
Global warming causes rapid intensification of cyclones originating in the north Indian Ocean, a study has said. Scientists who studied cyclone Ockhi that hit India’s west coast in 2017 said…
A woman from Mumbai tweeted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the middle of the lockdown on April 4, requesting him to arrange camel milk for her 3.5-year-old son living with autism…
In 1991, the year when India launched its economic reforms, I travelled to the Narmada valley. The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) – the anti-Sardar Sarovar dam movement – had organised…