-The Wire Science The camel is known popularly as the ship of the desert. But for all their resilience in the austere environs of the Thar desert, their numbers have plummeted in recent years. According to the 20th livestock census, released in 2019, there are some 2.5 lakh camels, down from the 4 lakh counted during the previous census in 2012. And this decline has environmentalists, policymakers and camel herders worried. Rajasthan...

-The Indian Express Bihar has about 75,000 government schools with about three crore students. Nayagaon (Begusarai): Nishu Kumari, a Class IX student at a government-run school, is studying with her brother Nirbhay, a Class VII student and cousin Arpit, a Class I student. Their grandfather Bhagirath Singh is keeping a watch on them as the three have to finish their homework before private tutor Subodh Singh arrives. Nishu’s father Shivjyoti Kumar, a farmer,...

-The Indian Express Beginning May, a huge influx of returning migrants, unable to sustain themselves in locked-down cities, walking kilometres, starving in trains, reached the succour of home in Bihar. But with no work, and the lockdown affecting the rural economy as well with falling agricultural prices, they are leaving again. Patna: THEY STAND close to each other, bags slung over shoulders, noses pressed against the glass. They watch flights Land and...

-Down to Earth Allocation of village Land for the development of solar and wind parks at the cost of pasture Land is detrimental for villages Residents of Devikot village in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district are fighting to protect a sacred grove that caters to the forage requirements of more than 35,000 large and small animals in the area. Sacred groves are areas of natural vegetation protected by village communities due to religious reasons. Historically,...

-Down to Earth DTE visited village Dhamna in Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun district to see how life in rural India is being sustained by the biggest employment guarantee scheme in the world People don’t eat paani poori during a pandemic. Out-of-business garment shops don’t employ tailors or hire security guards. It’s been five months since the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the subsequent countrywide lockdown stripped migrant labourers of their livelihood, leading to...