Centralised planning during the time Manipur was a union territory saw lopsided investment in the transport and communication and social sectors, while agriculture, which was its productive base, and industry were neglected. Statehood in 1972 was followed by half-hearted attempts at industrialisation and irrigation that were swept away by the liberalisation of the 1990s. Central agencies such as the North East Council and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region have failed to fulfil their roles as catalysts for development.

Conservation of natural resources by traditional societies across the globe seems to have arisen out of the age-old practice of animistic religious belief systems. Such belief systems are fundamental aspects of people’s culture, which strongly conditions their use of natural resources.

Human-wildlife conflict in the form of crop-raiding and attack by wild animals has become integral part for communities located at the borders of protected areas. Stratified-random sample of 103 respondents of 5 villages living in the Kitam Bird Sanctuary were interviewed to understand and manage growing concerns.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered about 70 industrial units operating inside the “no-development zone” near Kaziranga National Park in Assam to shut down. It has also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh each on the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the state for allowing the units to operate in the restricted zone.

Read More: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/polluting-units-shut-kaziranga

The Nagaon district in Assam is in a sub-humid region with a greater part of the district comprising alluvial soil ranging from pure sand on the banks of the Brahmaputra to stiff clay. The area is subjected to frequent flooding by rivers during a spell of 4 months in a year. In the present study, flood hazard layer is considered as the primary input and is integrated with land use/land cover, infrastructure and population data and weightages are assigned to each class. Based on this, village flood risk index map for Nagaon district has been generated.