Defying gravity
Problem: Terrain forbids water supply systems that work in plains; Status: Water crisis in peak season every year; Challenge: Develop …
Local travails
Problem: Tourist influx too large; earnings flow downhill; Status: Residents forced to share meagre facilities with tourists; Challenge: Regulate …
Testing time
Revisits by Down To Earth reporters to villages that undertook water harvesting offer some valuable lessons in drought management
Made to fail
Employment Guarantee Scheme, first of its kind drought relief scheme has had no impact on the drought-prone areas of Maharashtra in almost 30 …
Out of focus
The government's drought relief programmes are bound to fail in the long run. Even the Planning Commission acknowledges that funds for the …
India’s health expenditure down to 3.2% of GDP in 2018-19
National Health Accounts report shows out-of-pocket expenses down, but still significantly higher than global average
Too cut & dried
Does the style of conserving forests currently dominant in India require an overhaul? Yes, say state governments and affected people. ruksan …
COVID-19: Experts look at mushrooms for employment, immunity concerns
The Directorate of Mushroom Research in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan announced release of four new high-yielding strains of mushrooms recently
Super Market
Secretive. Exploitative. Is the market in Minor Forest Produce unmanageable? sopan joshi finds out
Boom
Problem: Terrain forbids sprawl as in cities in the plains; Status: Alarming population density (people per sq km); Challenge: Policy question is:…
Discontent
This is a story about the environmental clearance mechanism in India. Arguably legally strong, it fails in implementation. The project proponent …
World Bank won't fund Luhri hydropower project in Himachal
Move to withdraw US $ 650 million follows inspection and review by USAID of environmental and social impacts of the project
Uttarakhand disaster was result of extreme rains and haphazard development: report
National Institute of Disaster Management suggests guidelines and action plans for development activities after compilation of comprehensive data
Green Tribunal clears way for Renuka dam, partially
Vacates stay on payment of compensation to project-affected people in Himachal Pradesh; stay on forestland diversion continues for now
Public pressure mounts to check pollution from industrial area in Solan
NGOs organise community meeting to record grievances and demand action against pollution from Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh industrial area
Not so young at heart
Young hearts are more stressed out than they used to be. They bear much more pressure these days just to beat. Heart disease is no more an …
Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (July 8, 2020)
Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
Heavy monsoon may put Dharamshala evicted families at risk
The families — who have lived for decades in the city’s Charan Khad settlement — were evicted by the local municipal body four …
COVID-19: Migrants trapped in debt at Himachal pharma hub
Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh industrial area has a Rs 60,000 crore turnover, employs 125,000 migrant workers
Herb dealers
In Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district is the Great Himalayan National Park. An eco-development project meant to benefit people of Tirthan and …
Path lab in a tablet
Kanav Kahol, an expert on biomedical informatics, quit his teaching job in the US and came back to India to create a technology that would …
'Ministries play the blame game'
Jagdish Bahadur, an expert on glaciers and former joint advisor, department of science and technology, and Syed Iqbal Hasnain, who heads the …
Another world is possible
Optimism is a great friend but a bad guide. The Asian Social Forum meeting in Hyderabad, India, deliberately avoided this truism while …
Kangra safe corners
The Himalaya is the youngest range of mountains in the world are immensely prone to earthquakes. The entire range falls in seismic zone 5 and 4 - …
Organic Universe
Organic is all the rage. Organic food, cosmetics, clothes and even organic medicines. But mostly it is food. There are speciality stores that …