The picturesque Ajodhya hills of Purulia district in West Bengal are turning into a backdrop for a power struggle. Quite literally. Ajodhya hills, located in the easternmost part of the…
For two small indigenous communities in the eastern Himalayas, the fight against hydropower power projects (HEP) goes beyond the battle to protect fragile mountain ecologies of northeast India, a hotbed…
The indigenous people (adivasis) living around the Kodingamali hill in Koraput district of the state of Odisha have launched a fresh agitation against the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). Aggrieved by…
Controversies and uproar around tribal issues over the past few years failed to make a dent in the recent elections with the tribal community in fact voting to reinstate the…
With the renewed mandate that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has received, there is a likelihood of it continuing its environmental policies, focusing on the ease of business and…
The Bonda people, scattered across 32 remote hilltop villages on the Kondakamberu mountain range of the Eastern Ghats in the Malkangiri district of Odisha, are one of the 13 particularly…
John Studley is forthright in his approach to governance models and is obviously frustrated with the anthropocentric approach to the variants propagated by conservation organisations. In his book, Indigenous Sacred…
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…
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…
Around one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades and more than ever before in human history, according to a recent report. The unsustainable…
“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…
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…
Who will win India’s parliamentary elections, will be known only on May 23 when the results are announced. But for now, there is a small win for the people of…
Despite a scorching summer that rendered normal life miserable across Kerala, there are endless vistas of hillocks that remain draped in a canopy of green in the state’s north-eastern district…
Over 90 years after the enactment of the Indian Forest Act (IFA) 1927, a proposed amendment now plans to give more powers to the forest authorities, encourages large scale afforestation…
As communities in the Western Ghats prepare for the national elections, the Munnar-Devikulam region and its fragile ecology are turning hot subjects of political debate not only in Idukki constituency…
Just ahead of the election to India’s parliament, the Supreme Court of India, on February 13, asked the state governments to evict the tribal people and other forest-dwellers whose claims…
In a small fishing hamlet in Tamil Nadu, a community leader opens his smartphone and searches his contacts for “Map Saravanan” to make sure the number is saved correctly. Amused…
Reviving traditional peoples’ knowledge of sustainable food systems and use of biodiversity could act as a bulwark against the triple threat of obesity, undernutrition and climate change, described as “three…
Beetle fry, anyone? A ‘Pest-aurant’ in the remote and rapidly-shrinking Majuli, world’s largest river island in northeast India, has cooked up a unique method to prevent pests from attacking crops…