Social activists have moved court to scrap the Lavasa township project near Pune. The public interest petition filed in the Bombay High Court says the project does not have the mandatory environmental clearance from the Union environment ministry, and hence is liable to be cancelled.
This is a special report in Down To Earth on how the 13the Finance Commission puts three times more money in the hands of local governments to spend—at their own will.
Rajasthan signs agreements with seven biotech companies to restructure agriculture. Read this special report on the fundamental shift in the way farming operates in India by giving private companies access to the state’s research facilities to test and market their hybrid seeds and other technologies.
Forest people across India are being denied their legitimate right to collect and trade in minor forest produce. Down To Earth correspondents travelled to Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, MP, AP, Maharashtra & Orrisa to unravel the conspiracy.
Sri Lanka is flirting with nuclear power. Sri Lanka is becoming a power hungry nation. Several coal power plants with a total generation capacity of 3,200 MW are on the anvil. The country’s new energy minister, Champika Ranawaka, wants a nuclear power plant by 2025. That’s a sure sign of change: Ranawaka started his career as an activist against coal power.
The most delectable hilsa, swore connoisseurs, were to be found in the rivers of Bangladesh. But silting and have changed that. They are moving towards the Ganga now. Read this special report byDown To Earth on hilsa's shifting homebase.
Down to Earth reports from Naxalite-affected districts of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and expresses concern over an unwelcome change creeping into the programmes and policies of NGOs and other civil society groups working in the region. Finds that squeezed between the naxalites and the police, NGOs are abandoning community mobilisation.
