Biodiversity

One loss too many

The ascendency of humans has unleashed the sixth mass extinction. Every species lost will only hasten the processes of annihilation.

Publication Date: 
Jan 2023
Richard Mahapatra, Rohini Krishnamurthy, Rakesh Kalshian
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)
Tags:
Biodiversity, CSE
Natural Disasters

Drought But Why? How India can fight the scourge by abandoning drought relief

During 2014-2017 India was shaken by severe spells of drought that hit over 500 million people across geographical regions. Unlike in the past, these droughts did not spare the urban areas; metropolitan cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru declared water emergency and several towns resorted to water rationing. “Drought But Why?” examines how an occupational hazard has turned into a human-made disaster of unmanageable proportion since organised agriculture began some 10,000 years ago.

Publication Date: 
Aug 2017
Richard Mahapatra, Snigdha Das
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)
Tags:
Droughts, India, Agriculture, Drought Management, Drought Relief, Drought Prone Areas, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)
Health

Kidney conundrum

A mysterious chronic kidney disease is afflicting a large number of people in India and Sri Lanka. Despite decades of studies, scientists are yet to pinpoint the cause of the disease. Vibha Varshney travels to Sri Lanka and analyses the state of research, while Richard Mahapatra and M Suchitra report from the hotspots of the disease in India.

Read More: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/kidney-conundrum

Publication Date: 
15/12/2013
Vibha Varshney, Richard Mahapatra, M Suchitra
Down to Earth
22
14
Tags:
Renal Failure, Sri Lanka, Heavy Metals, Pesticide Use, Narsimhapur (D), Orissa (Odisha), Groundwater Quality, Drinking Water Standards, Uranium, Water Pollution, Andhra Pradesh, WHO
Poverty

Will cash transfers check migration?

Direct cash transfers may curb migration among those who need to be at their native place to benefit from cash transfer

The country’s poor are bracing for what is dubbed as a potential game changer in the delivery of development. To monetise its support for the poor, the government has announced direct cash transfer of subsidies to the bank accounts of beneficiaries. To start with, the government will implement the system in 51 districts and extend it to the rest of the country by the end of 2013.

Publication Date: 
26/12/2012
Richard Mahapatra
Business Standard (New Delhi)
Tags:
Direct Cash Transfer, Migration, Subsidies, Developing Countries, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), Women, Vaccination, Children, India, China, Economy, CSE, Poverty
Environment

 Green rider for GDP

After using gross domestic product, or GDP, as the universal measurement of economy for six decades, the world has begun looking beyond this gold standard for measuring a country’s economy.

Publication Date: 
30/06/2012
Richard Mahapatra
Down to Earth
21
3
Tags:
Environment, Economy, Africa, Ecosystem Services, India, Sustainable Development, Poverty, Convention On Biological Diversity (CBD), Biodiversity, Natural Disasters
Poverty

 Grains of doubt

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has rejected the food ministry’s suggestion that 25 per cent of wages under the rural employment guarantee programme be paid in foodgrains. Food minister K V Thomas had written to Ramesh early April, suggesting that part of the wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) be paid in kind.

Publication Date: 
15/05/2012
Richard Mahapatra
Down to Earth
20
24
Tags:
Poverty, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Ministry Of Rural Development, Ministry Of Food & Civil Supplies, Food Supply, Food Storage, Supreme Court, Subsidies, Anti-Poverty Programmes, Food Security, Food Policy, India
Water Resources

A million opportunities lost

The ruling alliance’s flagship rural employment programme took unprecedented strides in creating water conservation structures across the country, but only to harvest disillusionment. What went wrong? Down to Earth team traveled to Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in search of answers.

Publication Date: 
01/12/2011
Richard Mahapatra, M Suchitra, Moyna
Down to Earth
20
14
22-31
Tags:
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), Anti-Poverty Programmes, Poverty, Water Conservation, Water Harvesting, Rural Water Harvesting, Ministry Of Rural Development, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Water Resources
Forests

 Fall of the paragon

Century-old teak plantation business loses ground in India because of poor management and short-sighted policies.

Publication Date: 
15/11/2011
Richard Mahapatra, P N VENUGOPAL, Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava
Down to Earth
20
12
Tags:
Timber Industry, Exports, Forest Act 1988, Forest Policy, Forest Trade, Forests, Imports, India, Kerala, Private Sector, Statistics
Land

 Where’s Bhoodan land?

Gifting of land, or bhoodan in Hindi, is the current obsession of the government. It is on a spree of acquiring land. This is often termed as bhoodan to corporate houses. There is another kind of bhoodan that is being talked about. For a country that is demographically young, this bhoodan took place as a movement when India was just four years old.

Publication Date: 
31/10/2011
Richard Mahapatra
Down to Earth
Tags:
Land Resources, Land Acquisition, Land Reforms, India, Urban Development, Andhra Pradesh, Urban Housing, Legislation
Poverty

Free from poverty line

Number of people who can benefit from government’s welfare programmes is going to swell. Currently, the Central government caps the entitlements under most welfare programmes to those below the poverty line, which is as low as Rs 12/day/person for rural areas and Rs 18/day/person for urban areas.

Publication Date: 
31/10/2011
Richard Mahapatra
Down to Earth
20
11
Tags:
Anti-Poverty Programmes, Government Of India (GOI), India, Ministry Of Rural Development, Planning Commission, Poverty, Rural Poverty, Supreme Court

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