-Mongabay.com * India’s environment ministry has notified the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Rules 2018 to ensure proper utilisation of Rs 660 billion for plantation of trees across India. * environmentalists and civil society groups are against the rules as they point out that the rules ignore the rights of forest dwellers and tribals. They also said that the new CAF rules are against existing laws ensuring forest rights and self governance for...

-Hindustan Times The ecologist said extensive stone quarrying and mushrooming of high-rises as part of tourism, and illegal forest land acquisition by private parties are the major reasons for the recent floods in the state. Pune: Ecologist Madhav Gadgil, founder of the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has described the floods in Kerala as a man-made disaster; a reaction to the illegal excavations, stone quarrying done...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday that the GDP growth rate under four years of the Modi government is still higher than the growth rate of last four years of UPA. In a series of tweets, Kumar said, "Growth rate under four years of Modi Government is still higher than the growth rate of last four years of UPA. This is being managed despite...

-India Today Kottayam/ Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has been facing unusually high rainfall since early August, which has led to statewide floods killing hundreds and causing severe damage. At least 167 people have lost their lives and over two lakh people are in relief camps. Most of the regions impacted by this monsoon were once classified as ecologically-sensitive zones (ESZs) by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), also known as the Gadgil Committee. The report...

-CitizenMatters.in Built in the 13th century, Delhi’s Qutb Minar, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the tallest minarets in the country, is facing stiff competition − from the height of a garbage dump in the national capital. In a recent report, a panel of India’s Parliament noted their observations on landfill sites in Delhi, writing that the “laissez-faire of the civic bodies of Delhi also gets reflected in the fact...