Eucalyptus is a False Promise That Threatens India’s Grasslands
Sachin Pernacca Sashidhar Down To Earth | March 22, 2025 Eucalyptus trees are a familiar sight across Karnataka, their silvery leaves lining Bengaluru’s streets and their oils often providing relief during colds and illnesses. Introduced from Australia, they were once celebrated as a source of timber and economic promise. Yet beneath this appealing facade lies […]
At Sundown, a Sea of Turtles
Seshadri K. S. Deccan Herald | March 15, 2025 Around this time every year, tens of thousands of millions of Olive Ridleys gather near the shore. On a particular day, as if on cue, they scramble on to the beach and lay ping pong ball-sized eggs. Ecologist Seshadri K S returns with a fascinating account […]
India’s Forest Surveys Conceal a Deep Institutional Failure
Sharachchandra Lele Frontline | January 21, 2025 Forest cover monitoring in India seems to be stuck in a time loop. Every two years, the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) produced by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) is released with much fanfare by the government, each time showing an infinitesimal increase in the country’s […]
Luxury Consumption in India : Exploring the Environmental, Social, and Cultural Dimensions of Affluence
Sharachchandra Lele Economic and Political Weekly | January 13, 2025 Luxury consumption, so far seen as a problem of the global North, is now growing dramatically in India. We explore its complex dynamics, including definitions, drivers, impacts and responses. Luxury consumption has both material and symbolic value and is driven by various aspirations, amplified by […]
Democratising Forest Governance : Challenges Old and New
Sharachchandra Lele Economic and Political Weekly | January 13, 2025 Sixteen years after the Forest Rights Act, 2006, only three states have recognised a significant number of community forest resource rights, and only one of them (Maharashtra) has enabled their operationalisation. While the outcomes in Maharashtra have been impressive, violations abound elsewhere. Even where recognised, […]
Put Communities in Charge of Conserving Sacred Groves
Gautam Aredath Hindustan Times | January 6, 2025 For sacred groves and other ecosystems to thrive, a paradigm shift is needed: one that empowers local communities and embraces diversity in management practices
Pradip Krishen Interview: Ecological Restoration is More Than Just Planting Trees
Jaya Peter Scroll | January 6, 2025 A filmmaker whose work has won international and national accolades, Pradip Krishen is not your textbook environmentalist. Krishen stepped into the world of ecological restoration in unusual fashion in 1994 when he visited Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh to shoot his film Electric Moon. That was the start of […]
सूक्ष्म सिंचनाला जलनियमनाची जोड हवी!
Sachin Tiwale December 7, 2024 | Loksatta यंदाचे वर्ष दुष्काळाचे असणार आहे. या पार्श्वभूमीवर पाण्याच्या बचतीसाठी मोठया प्रमाणात वापरल्या गेलेल्या आणि शासनाच्या विविध योजनांमधून पुरस्कृत केल्या जाणाऱ्या सूक्ष्म सिंचनाची दुसरी बाजू जाणून घेणे आणि त्यानुसार नियोजन करणे अपरिहार्य आहे..
Labour, Mechanisation, Intermediaries, Rain: Farmers in Tamil Nadu’s ‘rice Bowl’ Are Up Against a Host of Challenges
Down To Earth | November 29, 2024 Kulothungan C, Jyoti Nair In the Cauvery Delta, farmers are already out in their fields as the sun rises, tending to their ready-to-harvest paddy crops and hoping for favourable weather. Their aspirations depend on the post-harvest income. After navigating the various challenges during the different stages of paddy cultivation […]
Coconut Cultivation in Cauvery Delta is Expanding but Farmers Demand Better Market Linkages
Vivek Murugan, Jyoti Nair Down To Earth | November 29, 2024 There’s a Tamil saying — ‘Petra pillai kaivittalum, natta pillai sorupodum’ that means that even if your own child doesn’t look after you, the child you sowed (coconut sapling) will. In the coastal areas of the Pattukottai and Peravurani, which lie in Tamil Nadu’s […]
