-The Hindu The headline in a recent PTI report “Saving 2 tigers gives more value than Mangalyaan”’ was intriguing, since it said that saving two tigers yields a capital benefit of Rs. 520 crores, while Mangalyaan cost us Rs. 450 crores. The headline was both exciting and hurtful. Excited by it, I contacted Professor Madhu Verma of the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, and she shared with me both...
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GST effect: Fate of Ludhiana plywood industry hangs in balance -Sumeer Singh
-Hindustan Times Ever since the goods and services tax (GST) was brought to force, there has been a 60% fall in the demand for plywood, owing to the tax rate of 28% on furniture goods. Situated on the outskirts of Ludhiana city in Hambran, is a small plywood manufacturing unit. Until last month, the manufacturing unit had a 110-strong workforce. But now the owner, Wazir Sood, has temporarily laid off 70 workers....
More »Ten years of Forest Rights Act: Maharashtra tops in implementation-but credit goes to one district -Mridula Chari
-Scroll.in Gadchiroli has recognised community Forest rights in 66% of eligible land, compared to the state’s figure of 15%. Ten years after the Centre passed a law granting Adivasis and other Forest dwellers rights to manage resources in Forest lands, Maharashtra has emerged as the front-runner among states in implementing the provisions of this legislation, followed closely by Kerala. A new report by Community Forest Rights Learning and Advocacy – a collective...
More »How much will a cow cess of Re.1 on petrol generate? -Ragini Bhuyan and Tadit Kundu
-Livemint.com A cow cess of even Re.1 per litre of petrol will be enough to generate funds that will exceed the entire annual budgets of several Union ministries About two weeks ago, Subramanian Swamy, a Rajya Sabha member from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called for a cow cess of Re1 on petrol to fund gaushalas or cow shelters across the country. Swamy made the comment towards the end of his speech...
More »Sarson Satyagraha: Activists up in arms over genetically modified food -
-The Indian Express In May this year, a regulatory body under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, had given its go-ahead for cultivation of genetically modified mustard. Earlier, it was Bt cotton that was genetically modified and its ill-effects on the ecology are for all to see. Chandigarh: PEOPLE CONCERNED about changes being made in their food, especially at the genetic level, came together at the Sukhna Lake on Friday morning under...
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