Schoolchildren in Uttar Pradesh delighted themselves collecting leaves and plants for a unique biodiversity competition

MANOJ Kumar, the son of a brick kiln worker, shows the perspicacity of one much older than his 14 years. He not only won both the biodiversity competitions held at Gangagarh, he also topped his class. Manoj spoke to Down To Earth about his motivations and

FIVE YEARS ago, the social forestry department in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra cleared several trees from a forest near Nandivse village to plant acacia trees. It did not know that the 4-ha patch was a sacred grove surrounding the temple of a powerful local deity, Kal Bhairon. The villagers, too, joined in because they were paid for the felling and planting.