-The Hindu MACHILIPATNAM (Andhra Oradesh): A group of 10 unsung volunteers has helped almost 2,000 fellow Yanadi tribal people to enrol as voters, enabling them to exercise their right to franchise in the general elections 2019. A nomadic tribe, the Yanadi in Krishna district have constantly been on the move in search of livelihood opportunities from one season to the next. With a large number of families living in the mangrove forests...

-Down to Earth The draft, which has been prepared with focus on conservation and climate change, has been sent to states seeking comments The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has finalised the first draft of the comprehensive amendments to the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (IFA). The 123-page draft provides definitions to important terms that were missing from the law. The draft has been prepared based on the inputs of a...

-PTI New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday regretted that non-BJP ruled States, including West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, have not certified even a single farmer for transfer of the first instalment of Rs.2,000 under the PM-KISAN scheme. In the interim Budget 2019-20, the Central government had announced the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme under which Rs.6,000 per year will be given in three instalments to 12 crore small...

-News18.com Considering how governments have handed forests to destructive industries, why don't these wildlife-first organisations demand the eviction of the Forest Departments from forest Lands? Imagine people who live in clearings inside an extensive dense forest, cultivating paddy, harvesting grass, bamboo, and mushrooms, and hunting the occasional deer. They stay awake at night, beating drums to tell their elephant brothers not to come for their hard-earned crop. Once the harvest is over,...

-The Hindu Business Line The focus must shift away from sops, to raising farmers’ income by promoting better seeds and rejuvenating soil health Agrarian crisis is staring on our face and, as usual, a flood of familiar suggestions have resurfaced. The political responses have been on expected lines. Fixing MSPs (minimum support prices) at 50 per cent over costs is as disastrous as it can get. There is no inherent incentive in cutting...