-Scroll.in/ India.Mongabay.com The Gond community has decided to bury their dead instead. For the Gond community, one of India’s largest Adivasi people, cremation is a part of the final rites when someone dies &NDAsh; the dead body is put atop a pile of wood and burnt to ash. But realising that they were faced with a choice between holding on to an ancient ritual and protecting their environment, which they consider sacred,...

During the last one year, India seems to have lost the race in becoming the world leader in terms of development, prosperity and growth thanks to the recession brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. The total number of poor people in the country has swelled and the middle class has shrunk in 2020 in comparison to what was anticipated earlier. A new study by the United States based think tank Pew...

-Newslaundry.com Year after year, flooding in the Jiadhal ruins homes and fields. Year after year, politicians make promises that aren’t kept. The electoral heat is soaring in Assam with the three-phase assembly election kicking off on March 27. But for Kalpana Bora, 60, this frenzy means nothing. It’s a dusty March afternoon and Kalpana is sitting in her home next to the busy NH-15 highway in Kekuri gaon. Her face is lined with...

-ThePrint.in From Tamil Nadu to Rajasthan, India has several indigenous water systems that have worked for centuries. As water runs out, we need to return to nature-based solutions. A 13th century stone edict, found inside the Perur Patteeswarar temple near Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, describes the creation of a nearby lake and lays down rules for a water-sharing arrangement between upstream and downstream regions along the Noyyal river. Starting as early as 8th...

-The Hindu Wildlife Board denotifies Galathea bay sanctuary to build port, trade zone. In what appears to a re-run of recent developments in Little ANDAman Island (A bullet through an island’s heart, The Hindu, February 1), more than 150 sq. km. of land is being made available for Phase I of a NITI Aayog-piloted ‘holistic’ and ‘sustainable’ vision for Great Nicobar Island, the southernmost in the ANDAman and Nicobar group. This amounts...