India now has 1,706 tigers

At the last count their number was 1,411; experts doubt latest census

Native vs immigrant?

Managing Wastes

The solution lies in making waste management a community exercise

A Heap Of A Problem

The problem of solid waste management is not just limited to the cities

Labour scarcity makes coffee plantation ecosystem in Western Ghats fragile: Study

Rising labour costs, urbanisation and increased use of pesticides point to a growing conservation concern in the Ghats

Can changing crop pattern foil elephant raids to farmlands?

Farmers in eastern Indian states are replacing paddy with alternative crops to prevent elephant attacks. The question is can this experiment be …

NGT steps in to save Kanha tiger from small-scale mines

Directs state to evaluate if cumulative EIA is required for the dolomite mines bordering tiger habitat

Who dropped MESA?

Government clueless about the Bill it introduced 12 years ago to govern urban areas in tribal regions. Constitutional crisis follows

Coal mining destroying wildlife habitat: Greenpeace

Virtually all new coal fields and planned power plants are in states that have India’s largest contiguous tiger landscape

A Public Effort

Where the government has failed miserably in providing quality service to the people, some ngos have set an example on how urban waste can be …

Bogged Down

Waste generation is not rare in urban areas, nor any other part of the world. The only difference is in the management of wastes. An effective, …

Lavasa: Dream for one, nightmare for many

Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava finds how people affected by Lavasa are coping with the destruction it has caused

Lawnful of pollution

Each time you mow your lawn you are making smogs worse

Health care should be cheaper and more accessible

N H ANTIA Director of the Foundation for Research in Community Health, Pune, Maharashtra is striving to promote the concept of better health care …

People's initiatives

Orissa and UP villages once again prove that people are better managers of natural resources than today's obdurate governments

A bushful of medicine

Seabuckthorn, a plant with numerous medicinal properties, grows wild in India. Rural communities are the losers

Whither freedom?

Post independence, governments expanded squeezing village republics out of existence

THE FOUNTAINHEAD DONGRIPARA, DHAMTARI DISTRICT, CHATTISGARH

Spark came from non-recognition as a village • Integrated management of forest and water • Sees self-governance as a matter of …

THE SECOND INDEPENDENCE

Tiny forgotten villages teach India a firsthand lesson in governance. Down To Earth reporters and photographers fan out to six states to discover …

A memo to the government

To be a truly participatory republic, India must take tutorials from these tiny republics

In Birsa's Land: Horomocho (Hazaribagh, Jharkhand)

A coal mine to own and manage • Sustainability not profit as a principle • Revival of an ancient Santhal system of governance

Unshakable: Nimalapedu (Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh)

Reminded India of its constitutional mandate for village autonomy • Fought bauxite companies for not getting gram sabha consent • Has …

A Republican Paradise: Mendha (Gadchirolli, Maharashtra)

Defied the Forest Act ÔÇó Every resident contributes part of annual income for community works ÔÇó If somebody bribes a …

Blackbuck haven in Odisha: Protection by locals triple numbers

No poaching case reported in several years in Ganjam district

Now it is floods