-The Hindu Business Line How malnourished tribal adults come to have the ‘rich man’s disease’ About 50 km from Bilaspur town, a narrow road to the left leads to the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve in neighbouring Lormi district of Chhattisgarh. The Reserve is also home to 13,568 tribals in 40 hamlets inside the protected area. As one ventures deeper into the jungles, paintings across walls of tribals’ homes hailing Chief Minister Raman Singh’s benevolence...

-TheWeek.in Noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil blames the “law-flouting” state government for the devastation in Kerala. The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), headed by Gadgil in 2011, had suggested measures to preserve the ecologically frail Ghats. But, the Kerala government, like the other five states, chose to reject the report. Having suffered such devastation, Gadgil feels that the state should survey the “ecologically sensitive zones” that have been compromised due to...

-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...

-The Hindu Recent Census data appear to inadequately reflect India’s linguistic composition, and are inconsistent with global ideas The story, “Death of Jagmohan, the Elephant”, by Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi, is about the death of an elephant. For a reader, the story may appear to be about a rather “big death”, but what the writer wanted to say was that there are also many “small deaths”. They include the deaths of Dalits...

-The Hans India Yalal: Tribal farmers of Sangaigutta thanda in Muddaipet panchayat are making a fortune by indulging in gherkins’ cultivation under contract farming system. The farmers are earning at least Rs 50,000 in two months after deducting all expenses. The factory which encouraged the tribals to undertake contract farming supplies seeds, pesticides and fertilizers and lifts the gherkins at the farm gate by paying good price for the produce. It...