Barla’s battle of Nagri
Fiery tribal rights activist Dayamani Barla has been jailed in Jharkhand for leading another adivasi protest, this time against the acquisition of their agricultural lands for an IIIT and other institutions
Climate change is a depressing reality in Assam
The floods in Assam this year are only the most recent manifestation of the impact of climate change in the Northeast. Assam's people are struggling to cope with the impact of climate extremes on their livelihoods. A special report
Token ombudsman?
A fisherpeople's union in Mundra, Gujarat, which has been battling thermal power plants in their vicinity, has attempted to engage with the ombudsman and monitoring process of multilateral funding agencies. The exercise has revealed the flaws in this internal recourse mechanism
What does it take to save India’s tigers?
The Supreme Court order to ban tourism in core tiger reserves, and decisions to shoot poachers at sight find favour with some conservationists, the middle class and media. But what will their impact be on the people who live in and around the tiger reserves, asks Tarsh Thekaekara
Kerala government nixes Gadgil report
The Kerala government has rejected the Madhav Gadgil Committee report on the preservation of the unique ecosystem of the Western Ghats, recently accorded World Heritage status. Kerala also continues to back the Athirappally hydro-electric project which the Committee has nixed
JAL thermal plant: The dust refuses to settle
A landmark High Court verdict has ordered JAL’s illegally cleared thermal power plant in Himachal closed and levied damages of Rs 100 crore. But the local petitioners vow to continue the fight against the company’s polluting cement plant which has got away
National Green Tribunal stalls POSCO
POSCO and/or the government can appeal the Green Tribunal’s decision in the Supreme Court, but no work can begin till the review process is completed
Mountains of marble waste
More than 1,500 marble mines are operating in the Aravallis in Rajasthan, destroying the hills and ecology, depleting groundwater and leaving mountains of waste and slurry on pasturelands and riverbanks
Resistance to dam project grows in south Gujarat
People from 16 villages on the Gujarat-Maharashtra border have been demonstrating their resistance to the Par-Tapi-Narmada river interlinking project, another multi-dam project which is slated to submerge 3,572 hectares of forests and displace 25,000 people
Raising the dust on illegal mining in Goa
Only nine of the 90 active mining leases in Goa appear to be valid, preliminary investigations by the Justice MB Shah Commission reveal. The rest have been exploiting a legal loophole to extract upto 54 million metric tonnes of iron ore per year. Joseph Zuzarte reports on the dust that is, finally, being raised in the state about illegal mining
