Amid concerns over El Niño and a weak monsoon, the central government has identified 315 districts as vulnerable, which includes 111 highly vulnerable districts.

Global meteorological agencies, including the India Meteorological Department (IMD), have confirmed a high likelihood of El Niño conditions. IMD has also forecast that southwest monsoon rainfall is likely to be 90% of the long-period average, placing it in the below normal category, and its impact is already visible.

On Tuesday, the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while speaking to the media, said, “The southwest monsoon is significantly delayed this year and rainfall so far has been around 43% below normal.”

Chouhan said that around 315 districts have been identified as potentially affected by weak monsoon conditions. Of these, 111 districts have irrigation coverage below 25% and fall under the high-priority category. Another 76 districts with irrigation coverage between 25% and 50% are categorised as medium priority, while 128 districts are classified as low priority owing to relatively better irrigation facilities through dams and other sources. Most of the affected districts are located in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

“Changing crop strategy in rain-fed areas has become the need of the hour,” Chouhan said. The union government has advised states to promote short-duration crop varieties and those capable of delivering higher yields with lower water requirements and also to switch immediately to alternative crop options if there is a prolonged gap between the normal sowing period and the onset of rainfall.

The minister also discussed the potential fodder shortage and water conservation. To deal with possible fodder shortage, the centre is creating supply plans including transporting fodder from surplus regions to deficit areas. For water conservation, harvesting projects under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAMG) should receive priority.

For continuous monitoring of the emerging situation, the central government has set up an ‘El Niño Monitoring Cell’ and a ‘Crop Weather Watch Group.’ It has advised states to establish control rooms, and the Chouhan said that secretary-level reviews are being conducted every week.

For Kharif 2026, a food grain production target of around 176 million tonnes has been set, the minister informed. “There is no need to panic. What is required is preparedness and collective action,” he added.

Banner image: A farmer inspects his destroyed crop of sugarcane following drought in Marathwada region, Maharashtra, in 2016. Representative image. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

A few days ago, footage of a rare goat-antelope native to the eastern Himalayas, was captured in Tingda Reserve Forest, Sikkim. Often described as a cross between a goat and an ox, this ungulate is called the Mishmi takin. Forest department officials recorded the video during a routine patrolling exercise. Comprising eight individuals, this was also the largest herd recorded from the locality.

Known for its robust build, thick shaggy coat and large curved horns, the Mishmi takin (Budorcas taxicolor) is one of four subspecies of the takin. It is a large herbivorous ungulate native to the Eastern Himalaya. It feeds on grasses, leaves, bamboo shoots, and bark from alpine and deciduous plants such as rhododendrons, oaks, and willows, thus shaping vegetation and aiding seed dispersal. 

The Mishmi takin thrives in dense forests and subalpine meadows, at elevations between 1,800 and 4,500 metres depending on the season. In India, it is found primarily in the Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh — home of the Idu Mishmi, an indigenous community that has long coexisted with the takin — and parts of Sikkim. The species also occurs in southeastern Tibet, northwestern Yunnan, and northern Myanmar. 

Population estimates based on anecdotal reports suggest only 220–300 individuals remain in India, while China hosts an estimated 3,500 individuals. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Mishmi takin as vulnerable due to declining populations. In India, it is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. 

Highly sensitive and elusive, the species faces growing threats from habitat disturbance, road construction, human encroachment, and climate change. Research by the Wildlife Institute of India found that only about 11% of northern and eastern Arunachal Pradesh currently provides optimal habitat for the species.

In a story published in Mongabay-India in 2025, Chi Ma, an associate professor of mammal behaviour and diversity at Dali University, China, said: “Its survival depends on the integrity of humid montane forests, access to mineral licks, and the availability of uninterrupted migration corridors.”

Read more about the Mishmi takin in our story on the Mishmi takin and its changing habitat.

Banner image: A herd of Mishmi takin in Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh. Image by T.R. Shankar Raman via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

A new study reports the first confirmed record in India of the Sistan sand boa (Eryx sistanensis), a species formally described only in 2020 and previously known from Iran and Pakistan. Researchers documented three live individuals from the northern Thar Desert in Rajasthan.

The discovery effectively adds a fourth species of sand boa to India, alongside the red sand boa (Eryx johnii), rough-scaled sand boa (Eryx conicus) and Whitaker’s boa (Eryx whitakeri). The study also suggests that the species may have been present in northwestern India for decades but remained overlooked because of its close resemblance to the red sand boa.

The study found that the Sistan sand boa can be distinguished from the red sand boa by its persistent dark bands and a tail that gradually tapers towards the tip. While red sand boas lose their body bands as they mature, the Sistan sand boa retains its sooty bands throughout life. Juveniles are buff-coloured, while subadults and adults are tan to tan-brown.

According to the study’s lead author and conservation biologist Vivek Sharma, the species may face many of the same threats as the better-known red sand boa, which is heavily targeted in India’s illegal wildlife trade.

“All sand boas are traded widely,” Sharma says. Used by snake charmers, they are traded across the country and often transported far beyond their natural range. Some of the earliest observations of what is now recognised as the Sistan sand boa came from snakes found with charmers in Punjab, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

Sharma notes that forest departments occasionally confiscate sand boas from snake charmers and release them into the wild. While well-intentioned, such releases can create ecological problems if snakes are released far from their native range. “Animals may survive, but often struggle to adapt to unfamiliar habitats,” he says.

The study also sheds light on the species’ habitat preferences. Most records of the snake came from farmlands, scrubland and compact sandy soils close to human habitation, including courtyards, cowsheds and suburban gardens. “The species is found particularly around farmlands and human-dominated landscapes,” Sharma says. “This raises concerns about the effects of land-use change, agricultural intensification and habitat alteration on its populations.”

The species has not yet been evaluated by the IUCN and is currently listed under Schedule II of India’s Wildlife Protection Act.

Recognition of Sistan sand boa as a distinct species brings new conservation challenges. Sharma warns that it could become a target for the growing herping tourism industry, where reptiles are handled and photographed by enthusiasts, sometimes involving the movement of animals between locations. “Its docile nature, tolerance to temperature variation and low maintenance requirements may also make it attractive to the pet trade,” he says, adding: “Now that we’ve identified it as a separate species, separate conservation attention is needed.”

Banner image: A Sistan sand boa. Image by Vivek Sharma.

Species File: Exploring India’s biodiversity, one species at a time.

Imagine five cars parked behind one another. That’s approximately how long this fish is. Growing up to 18 metres in length, it is considered as the world’s largest fish. It has a distinctive pattern of white spots which are unique to each individual, much like a human fingerprint.

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving filter feeder found along India’s entire coastline, with the largest aggregation off Gujarat’s coast. It plays a role in maintaining the marine food chain by regulating plankton and small fish populations.

Whale sharks are present worldwide in tropical and warm-temperate waters. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the whale shark is listed as endangered due to global population decline. In India, it has the highest legal protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

It faces multiple pressures, including lethal ship collisions, bycatch in fishing gear, and, in the past, targeted hunting for meat and fins. Warming oceans due to climate change, offshore drilling and coastal construction are also shifting their food sources and altering habitats. These pressures have led to its population shrinking by half in the last 75 years.

In recent years, however, community-driven conservation efforts along India’s west coast have helped reduce bycatch-related deaths, though other threats still loom. In an earlier story that Mongabay-India published in 2025, Sajan John, the head of marine projects at Wildlife Trust of India, said, “Earlier, the whale sharks died tangled in gear. Now, they’re released alive before they reach shore. It’s a complete reversal.”

There’s even an app that allows fishers in Gujarat to easily document whale sharks that get caught in fishing nets. This helps them receive compensation for their loss of revenue during the downtime without nets.

Read more about this mobile-based whale shark rescue app, increasing strandings, and community conservation efforts in our stories.

Banner image: A whale shark in an aquarium in Japan. Image by Kimon Berlin via Flickr (CC BY-SA 4.0).

A newly-proposed mining project in Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra has courted controversy due to the potential diversion of forest land to facilitate iron ore mining and processing. The project involves diversion of around 9.37 sq km of forest land, an area about half the size of New Delhi airport. Accordingly to news reports, this has raised questions about the project’s location within the Tadoba-Indravati tiger corridor, a key wildlife linkage connecting forests in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

Decades of Maoist ideology-led insurgency in Gadchiroli meant that the forests in the district had largely remained insulated from rapid industrialisation that the rest of Maharashtra had been witnessing. That is likely changing with the recent announcements by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis regarding  future development plans for the district. Furthermore, the controversy surrounding forest clearance granted to the proposed iron ore mining and processing project by Lloyds Metals & Energy has drawn attention to the ecological significance of Gadchiroli, arguably one of Maharashtra’s most forested districts.

The debate intensified after media reports revealed that maps submitted as part of the project proposal showed substantial overlap with the corridor identified in the National Tiger Conservation Authority-approved Tiger Conservation Plan for Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve. Despite this, the project was exempted from wildlife clearance requirements after state authorities concluded that the site did not fall within a recognised tiger corridor.

Mandar Pingle, the assistant director of the Satpuda Foundation, a non-profit focused on wildlife and landscape conservation in central India informs Mongabay-India that the proposed mining site falls on an active elephant corridor. “Many megafauna use these corridors for movement across forests,” he says.

The controversy has highlighted broader concerns about the ecological value of Gadchiroli’s forests, which remain less studied than many other biodiversity-rich landscapes in India. Pingle shares that decades of restricted access due to insurgency meant that there is very little understanding of what the district stands to lose in terms of biodiversity if development plans are made on forest lands.

The Lloyds project comes amid a wider push to industrialise Gadchiroli through mining, steel production and infrastructure development. State authorities view such investments as important for economic growth and employment in a district that has historically lagged behind other regions in development indicators.

As development projects expand across Gadchiroli, the district is increasingly emerging as a focal point in the broader debate over balancing economic growth with the conservation of one of central India’s largest remaining forested landscapes.

Banner image: An iron ore mine in Chhattisgarh. Representative image by India Water Portal via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Species File: Exploring India’s biodiversity, one species at a time.

Olive ridley turtles are travelling farther than previously known. Early tracking data from tagged turtles in Tamil Nadu shows that some have already reached the Sri Lanka Dome, a little-known region in the Indian Ocean. Turtles from Odisha are also expected to arrive in the same waters, pointing to a shared ocean hotspot.

The olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known as the Pacific ridley, is the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles. Found in warm tropical waters across the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, they are named for their olive-green shell or carapace. Olive ridleys use both coastal waters and the open ocean, travelling long distances in search of food. They feed on jellyfish, shrimp, snails, crabs and fish eggs.

In India, Odisha’s Gahirmatha, Rushikulya, and the mouths of the Devi river are the primary nesting grounds. In 2025, over 650,000 olive ridley turtles arrived at Rushikulya for a synchronised mass nesting event, where thousands of female turtles come ashore simultaneously to lay eggs.

Despite their numbers, olive ridleys are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Species, with continuing decline of mature individuals. In India, they are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which offers the highest level of legal protection.

Survival remains a challenge. Only one in 1,000 hatchlings reaches adulthood, with the rest falling prey to predators. Olive ridleys face growing threats from fishing bycatch, ghost gear, coastal development, plastic pollution and climate change.

In a recent story that Mongabay-India published in April 2026, Chandana Pusapati, a Ph.D. scholar, who previously studied turtles, said, “Increasing plastic pollution at nesting beaches and foraging areas is an emerging threat, especially for females and hatchlings. Olive ridleys also prefer nesting near river-mouths, where plastic and other land-based waste often accumulate.”

Read more about the importance of local participation in conservation and how mass deaths of olive ridleys on Chennai’s coast call for action.

Banner image: An adult olive ridley turtle. Image by Jonathan Reynaga via Pexels.