The Andhra Pradesh government lied to obtain forest clearance for the Polavaram dam on the Godavari; it said there were no forest rights claimants in the dam’s submergence zone. Down To Earth visited the villages denied forest rights and found the state had indeed lied.
Forest conservation effort in Meghalaya can claim carbon benefits. India’s first pilot project to be recognized under the UN’s mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) could be in the East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya.
The Himalayas are warming at a rate higher than the global average. A recent study documents how this has affected cropping patterns and vegetation in the past 10 years. The questionnaire -based study examined changes people observed between the altitudes of 600 metres and 2,200 metres in the Himalayas. For full text: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/climate-notes
Indian policy-makers continue to vouch for nuclear energy after the Fukushima tragedy.Officials from the nuclear establishment claim that India’s nuclear reactors are safe from catastrophic accidents because they have “defence-in-depth”—multiple protective systems all of which have to fail before a radioactive release occurs.
A survey by the Indian government in 2002 to determine households below poverty line (BPL) left out many poor families. Nearly a decade later, the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) is trying to set the wrong right. But it is unable to decide on the criteria for identifying poor households. As a consequence, the BPL survey that was to begin in April this year has been rescheduled for June.
Reeling under routine 12-hour power cuts daily, Nepal has launched an ambitious multibillion rupees initiative to add 2,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity by 2016. Addressing the country’s Parliament on March 23, Bharat Mohan Adhikary Deputy Prime Minister who also holds the finance and energy portfolios, declared the next four-and-a-half years as a period of “energy emergency”.
Solar electricity lights the maximum number of villages in Chhattisgarh—but barely so. Tucked away in the Barnawapara wildlife sanctuary of Chhattisgarh is a small village, Deba. The national power grid is yet to reach there. But there is no interruption in the scheduled power supply to its 75 households. While power cuts are frequent in grid-connected villages across the state, the only time Deba residents experienced a blackout since they started receiving electricity some seven years ago was in October last year.
It was once associated with the rich and urban. Today, hypertension is fast spreading in rural India. This is a cause for concern because hypertension, if not checked, can lead to heart and kidney diseases. Healthcare facilities are already poor in villages, where nearly three-fourths of Indians live.
