Can clay idols replace all PoP idols?

Sale of clay idols is on the rise, but switching completely to clay is not easy

Maharashtra muddies bamboo rights

Activists say forest department trying to dilute Forest Rights Act

Angry village residents close Western Coalfield mine in Nagpur

Most have not been compensated for land acquired; agriculture and living impacted by pollution

Hunters turn protectors

Traditional hunters Phase Pardhis are part of an initiative to save critically endangered lesser floricans

Maharashtra bans Bt cotton seeds of Mahyco Monsanto Biotech

Move follows complaints against the company of providing inferior seeds, cheating and creating shortages

Village bullied for using its forest

Forest department registers offence against a gram sabha for felling bamboo clusters

Bamboo still a distant dream

No village in Maharashtra other than Mendha Lekha has been able to access bamboo

Betrayal via bamboo

Largest paper manufacturer is using most of the bamboo in Maharashtra, leaving little for residents

Bamboo freed

Maharashtra village India’s first to win right to harvest bamboo. Eyes now on other forest produce

Village gets community rights over forest submerged by dam

A portion of reservoir given for management and fishing

Kitchen strike for toilets

Women of a Maharashtra hamlet give husbands an ultimatum-build toilets or go without food

Nagpur municipality falters over banning PoP idols

With Ganesh Chaturthi festival around the corner, civic body now proposes ban on immersion of idols in natural water bodies

Another Maharashtra village demands community forest rights

Tribal village Pachgaon to follow Mendha Lekha; to hold bamboo sale as protest to gain community forest rights

Election boycott over mining

Residents protest iron mining in Maharashtra tehsil; authorities blame murder for boycott

Mendha Lekha residents gift all their farms to gram sabha

Village does away with private ownership of land, saying it will lead to a stronger community.

Water starved village caught in Bt debate

Bhamb Raja rues Bt seed major Monsanto and farmers activists exploit its plight to achieve their own goals

Wind farm threat to forests

Blasting causes animals and birds to abandon the area

Water proved crucial for BJP’s victory in Maharashtra election

Chief ministerial candidate Devendra Fadnavis was instrumental in unearthing the irrigation scam; many candidates who worked on water …

Is Maharashtra tendu trade rule amendment a trap for gram sabhas?

Forest department's move may be a ploy to retain control over trade in forest produce, say activists

Bhopal’s toxic waste raises stink

Bombay High Court stays transfer of Union Carbide waste to Maharashtra

‘Ambarnath chemical accident everyday occurrence in Thane area’

Residents allege state pollution control board has been allowing industries to pollute Ulhaas river and its tributaries by circumventing court orders

Nomads fenced in

Maharashtra on way to ban illegal graziers from other states

Forest department’s cheat act

Omits crucial community rights from claim papers of Gadchiroli villages  

Tigers in, people out

Rain lash

Four-hour deluge washed away not just crops but also soil from 5,000 hectares in Maharashtra. Experts warn of more such weather events. Is the …