Garbage gets attention
India is revising the way it manages solid waste. A manual for this, prepared by the urban development ministry, proposes providing legal …
The world isn't just Big Macs and Coke
How many people can the earth sustain? While the world feverishly computes the answer, it must not forget that sustainability is not just feeding …
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
Lavasa: Dream for one, nightmare for many
Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava finds how people affected by Lavasa are coping with the destruction it has caused
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
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 …
Chaotic response to calamity
The killer quake struck unexpectedly in the still of the night. Entire villages were flattened and thousands perished. Though rescue and relief …
Water is wealth
Excerpts from the Statement of Shared Concern by the participants of the CSE conference on Potential of Water Harvesting: Traditions, Policies …
At loggerheads
While the state government is keen to introduce JFM, villagers say there is no need for that since they have been carrying out all protection …
Message in a baton
The decades after Independence saw rampant destruction of trees. This was followed by years of drought. It was then that the villagers realised …
Pregnant elephant’s death in Kerala shows institutional indifference to wild animals
It is not tough to see how serious the Union and state governments of the country are about wild animals
Legal protection for wildlife corridors, soon: Jayanthi Natarajan
Several elephant habitats and forest corridors used by wildlife fall outside sanctuaries and parks
Crossroad
nitin sethi visits Arunachal Pradesh and finds the Apatani grappling with stereotypes and change
Bhutan’s experiments with happiness
The idyllic Buddhist kingdom believes that peace and happiness should take preference over material growth. In a world beset by inequities and …