-The Hindu Biodiversity integration into developmental plans is crucial for sustainable development In a ‘Mann Ki Baat’ broadcast recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his Environmental concerns clear when he asked people to use Ganesha and Durga idols made of clay instead of plaster of Paris. His appeal is bound to stimulate our Environmental consciousness and encourage the preservation of precious natural resources. We need to build on this appeal and follow...

-The Hindu People migrating due to Environmental disasters should be accorded ‘refugee’ status in international law An increasing number of people globally are facing displacement due to droughts, famines, rising sea levels and other natural disasters caused by climate change. This class of migrants has been labelled as ‘Environmental refugees’ in popular literature. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, an international body reviewing trends of internal displacement, an estimated 24 million...

-TheWire.in To oppose the forest department’s plan to limit open grazing, the pastoral community is formally pursuing their collective land rights through the Forest Rights Act. The sun has not yet decided to rise. It’s pitch black out but a group of Maldharis has already assembled for the last session of this year’s milking competition. Their massive buffalos are majestically adorned with intricate garlands and colourful necklaces. The panch (group of five...

-Livemint.com 98% of the top percentile own either a car or a two-wheeler, shows a PRICE survey on India’s consumer economy The average monthly household income of the richest 1% of Indians is Rs.66,627 and that of the richest 10% is Rs.35,605, according to the latest data from a nationally representative survey, the Household Survey on India’s Citizen Environment & Consumer Economy (ICE 360° survey) conducted in 2016. Given that these income estimates...

-Livemint.com Middle India is largely rural and uneducated, shows the ‘Household Survey on India’s Citizen Environment & Consumer Economy’ New Delhi: India’s richest quintile accounts for 45% of aggregate household disposable income while the poorest quintile earns barely 7% of the aggregate income pie, according to the latest data from a nationally representative survey conducted this year. The Household Survey on India’s Citizen Environment & Consumer Economy (ICE 360° survey), covering 61,000 households,...