-Down to Earth According to a DTE analysis, there are states where over 30-50 per cent of the land classified as forests is ‘missing’ from the government’s assessment The India State of Forest Report 2021 (ISFR 2021), released recently, has a huge hole in its estimations, according to a new analysis done by Down To Earth. The analysis, which appears as the cover story in the February 16 issue of the magazine,...

-The Telegraph The RBI’s inflation analysis goes against the grain The budget for 2022-23 was saluted for its growth push despite the record gap in revenues and expenditures: Rs 15 trillion would be borrowed to fill these. This, however, did not hold back the stock market from touching the sky, nor commentary greeting the raised capex to draw in private investments, create jobs, and support demand. Days later, the euphoria subsided as...

-Scroll.in At a time when upper classes continue to THRive on waves of profit maximisation, the social and economic safety net of the poor has been gradually eroding. Amidst all the talk on two Bharats, are we seeing a time horizon where India’s elite may abandon the country’s poor and vulnerable? This is a question I have been contemplating about for a few months now. My curiosity peaked days after the recent Union...

-Article-14.com Even as landslides increased 2900% over five years in a fragile Himalayan state ravaged by deforestation and construction, the government of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami lifted environmental safeguards and made mining easier, two months before state elections. The High Court has demanded the government explain the changes, rushed THRough in 15 days in a state where mining companies are major funders of political parties. New Delhi: Two months before elections...

-Down to Earth The state is considering rolling out its own insurance programme for farmers Maharashtra may follow several other big states and opt out Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the Narendra Modi government’s much-vaunted crop insurance scheme. India’s second-most populous state may replace the central scheme with its own — a step already adopted by states like West Bengal. Farmer groups have already flagged irregularities in PMFBY at a February 1,...