Court digest: Major environment hearings in February

While every week, Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, high courts and National Green Tribunal, here is a round-up of all the Saturday digests for February

Forest Rights Act: Who is the encroacher and who is encroached upon

Thirteen years after a historic law was formulated to give forest dwellers legal ownership of their traditional land, their fate still hangs in the balance. A recent Supreme Court verdict, which almost made their eviction imminent, has brought the focus back on the tedious rights recognition process under the Forest Rights Act, 2006

Fall Armyworm attack: The damage done

The deadly but little understood crop pest, poses a threat to food security and livelihoods of millions as it ravages crops in Africa and now Asia

All you need to know about Universal Basic Income

Here’s a lowdown on what the basic income scheme is and what it entails

Forest dwellers’ rights: Conservationists started it, SC stayed it

Read this to abreast yourself with the whole issue of Forest Rights Act and tribals’ rights that has made its way to the Supreme Court

Court digest: Major environment hearings in January

While every week, Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, high courts and National Green Tribunal, here is a round-up of all the Saturday digests for January

Will the farmer benefit from cash support?

A first after many years, farmers are at the centre of political attention. Ahead of the general elections, there is a rush of cash support schemes to woo them. This may bring some solace to farmers, but will the schemes have a lasting impact?

Full coverage: Impacts of climate change on Hindu Kush Himalayan region

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development assessed the ecologically important but fragile region for the very first time. Here's all you need to know about it

Interim Budget 2019: The full coverage

Here is a look at what all was promised by Union Minister Piyush Goyal and if it stands in the real world

Coastal Regulation Zone Notification: What development are we clearing our coasts for

The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2018, has diluted India's only protection system for the fragile ecology and opened it up to realtors and large-scale development projects

Before Feb 1, brush up your knowledge of all Budgets since Independence

An analysis of all budgets since 1947, their relevance, exclusion of children’s rights and what the last Budget lacked: all of which is here

Full coverage: State of renewable energy in India

India has set ambitious targets for green power. But how feasible are they? How is the progress?

India's cow crisis: The full coverage

All that you need to know about what's wrong with India's cow laws and the problems they are leading to in a five-part series

Listen... plants too speak

As early as in 1880, Charles Darwin demonstrated that plants could sense light, moisture, gravity, pressure and possessed several other qualities. Over the years, many scientists have proved that plants are sentient beings and move and respond to sensation. The subject is still controversial among the scientific community. Monica Gagliano is research associate professor of evolutionary …

Namami Gange: 5 reasons why Ganga will not be clean by 2020

Even after 4 years and an allotment of Rs 22,000 crore, Modi’s flagship programme is far from being a success  

Sanitation will remain a mirage even after India stops defecating in the open

Although we will meet the target of an open defecation free India much before deadline, it is still the easiest milestone that we have crossed. Here, Down To Earth takes a hard look at the challenges that need to be addressed

What does Modicare mean for India's poor and sick?

In the absence of a proper public health infrastructure, what does Ayushman Bharat mean for millions of poor & sick? Kundan Pandey travels to five states to find out

This is why Kerala floods were the worst in a century

Kerala's worst flood since 1924 reinforces how local environmental degradation and lack of disaster preparedness can make extreme weather events deadly

Melting Pots

Of the 10 persons defecating in the open globally, six are Indians. By 2019, six will be from African countries, and none from India, as the country is inching towards meeting total sanitation targets. Though some African countries have shown marginal improvement, they are likely to miss the Sustainable Development Goal on sanitation in 2030. But that is just the beginning of the continent's …

CSE study finds genetically modified ingredients in food products

In a first-of-its-kind study in India, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) tested 65 food products available in the market for genetically modified (GM) ingredients. To its horror, CSE found GM genes in 32% of the products; almost 80% of them imported

Genetically modified foods can cause unintended changes: ICMR

In the absence of long-term studies to ascertain health impacts, countries are following precautionary principle to regulate genetically modified foods