-NDTV The Himalaya are India's most important natural asset. Without them, the country would not survive. These grand mountains are a barrier to invaders, the source of our greatest rivers, a rich reservoir of biodiversity, and home to our holiest shrines. Ecologically, economically, culturally, and strategically, the Himalaya are vital to the future of India as a nation. The politicians who now rule us claim to revere the Himalaya, yet, under their...

-The Hindu Some members furthering an agenda that isn’t in public interest, they say. A group of 40 scientists, environmentalists and ecologists have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a halt to the Chardham road construction work and that the recommendation of environmentalist Ravi Chopra, who heads a Supreme Court-appointed committee to advise on the sustainable execution of the project, be heeded. The Chardham Project (CP) is an ambitious attempt by the...

ActionAid Association's (AAA) national level survey among people dependent on the informal economy during the third phase of the national lockdown towards the end of May 2020 (i.e. between May 14th and May 22nd, 2020) has documented the "nature and extent of the transitions in the lives and livelihoods of informal workers, including migrant workers, during the pandemic and provide[s] an insight into the precarity they experience and the coping...

-The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the persistent digital divide afflicting rural India owing to poor and insufficient internet connectivity. With the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech acknowledging the need ‘to complete’ internet connectivity to villages, there is a renewed vigour and interest in the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN)/BharatNet project. An important question to pose when translating policy to project is: when should...

--Press release by Mineral Inheritors Rights Association (MIRA) dated 27th August, 2020 The Ministry of Mines has put up a notice on 24th August, 2020 seeking public comments on substantial matters of reform of mineral laws, rules and regulations within a period of 10 days, i.e. 3rd September, 2020. The state governments have not yet been consulted and a 10-day period for the states to respond undermines the federal spirit of...