When clouds burst over the sacred mountains, even gods could not protect them.

On February 26, 2013, a division bench of the Uttarakhand High Court in Nainital ordered the removal of structures built illegally within 200 metres of the Ganga embankment.

The Himalayan region has seen unchecked construction activity, illegal mining, unscientific road building and hydropower projects built next to each other

The floods in the Himalayas have been ferocious and deadly. The final body count could run into several thousands. There is no clear estimate of the number of villages wiped out, property destroyed, roads washed away and hydropower projects damaged in the mountain state of Uttarakhand.

The destruction in Uttarakhand was caused not merely by excessive rain but due to mindless construction across young mountains and building of dams on the Ganga and its tributaries, said Magsaysay

A farmer from Indore, Gabbu Singh went to Kedarnath as part of a group of 50 people. Only seven have managed to survive the disaster. “The Mandakani's killer currents took 30 of them,” he says.

On the afternoon of 16 June, local resident Manav Bisht watched dozens of constables leaving the paramilitary Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Academy, which stood between his house in Shakti Vihar, a loc

It’s high time we paid attention to natural resources along with science-based socio-economic development, says Chief Minister

Against the backdrop of the recent disaster in the State followed by criticism of its development approach, the Uttarakhand government has decided to generate data for Gross Environment Product (GEP) along with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to monitor the state of natural resources and measure overall growth in the country.

Wiser from the disaster, the Uttarakhand government has decided to make ecological health an indicator of the state’s growth.

In a statement released Friday, the government stressed the need to focus on Gross Environment Product as a critical indicator of the state’s growth and prosperity alongside GDP.

The environment and forests ministry has asked Uttarakhand for a report on the damage caused to forests and wildlife by the floods.

“We have asked both the Uttarakhand government and Forest Survey of India to assess damage that may have been caused to forests due to massive flooding.

As people have struggled to come to terms with the scale of devastation and loss of lives in the flash floods last month, a number of faith-based explanations have taken root in this land fertile with legend and lore.

The Garhwal Himalayas have a disproportionate share of spirituality and mysticism-it is home of the holiest shrines of Hinduism and the ancient Char Dham pilgrimage, the Hemkund Sahib shrine worshipped by the Sikhs and two holy rivers revered across the North Indian plains and beyond.