-The Hindu Though studies point to an increase in the pace of glacier wastage in the western Himalayas, long-term monitoring is required to study glacier evolution and its relation to the climate At dawn, Mohd Soheb begins an arduous trek to the high camp at Chhota Shigri glacier in the Pir Panjal range in Spiti valley, Himachal Pradesh. From the PWD guesthouse at Chota Dara, he walks down to the Chandra river...
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Where Do They Squat? -Santosh Mehrotra
-Outlook Build toilets. But more important, get communities to change ways. Vidya Balan, the Bollywood star and ambassador of the Indian government's programme for building household toilets, asks the mother-in-law who is busy toying with her bahu's ghunghat at the wedding ceremony: "Do you have a toilet at home for the daughter-in-law to use?" Mum-in-law replies: "No." Vidya then asks her, "Then why are you extending her ghunghat so much when you...
More »A perfect storm threatens Maharashtra's cotton farmers -Aman Sethi
-The Business Standard A delayed monsoon and abundant cotton in the international market could spell trouble in the state's suicide zone Yavatmal (Maharashtra): As the skies stayed clear till the second week of June, Ramesh Gulabhrao Digde's mood darkened. His two acres were ploughed at great expense, the seeds were purchased, and a sack of fertilisers lay in a corner of his thatch-roofed hut in Parsodi village in western Maharashtra's Yavatmal...
More »Dalits and nutrition: Where is the catch up? -Biraj Swain
-Down to Earth Blog The performance of nutrition indicators amongst Dalits is improving, it is nowhere near the catch-up pace Does a new government and a strong Prime Minister claiming to hail from the backward caste augur Achche Din for Dalits too? We hope so! But political commitment-or lack of it-has multiple manifestations. In a deeply stratified society like India with entrenched elitism, people from the Scheduled Caste (referred to as Dalits...
More »Greens blame forest cover loss on Forest Rights Act -Vijay Pinjarkar
-The Times of India NAGPUR: With Maharashtra losing 14 sqkm forest cover due to encroachments as per the latest 'India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013', green activists have attributed the dwindling green cover to massive encroachments on forest land done to get permanent pattas under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006. The fact is revealed by ISFR 2013 that states that Maharashtra lost 25 sq km in 12 tribal districts since...
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