-Business Today If you want to really get smart with water, the first thing you should realise is that in most parts of India, water is abundantly available. But you also need to recall what a man named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had once said: "There is enough in this world for everyone's need, but not for anyone's greed". Today, what Gandhiji advised is being termed a "paradigm shift" in water management. The...

-CounterView.net A new report, “Promise and Performance – Ten Years of the Forest Rights Act (FRA)”, released at a recent national convention in Delhi, has revealed that less than 5% of rights out of a total of over 200 million tribals and other traditional forest dwellers for about 34.6 million hectares (ha) in India has been so far recognized. The report, released as part of the Community Forest Rights Learning and Advocacy...

-Hindustan Times The government’s decision to scrap high-value currency has sent wholesale vegetable prices crashing to rock-bottom levels, bringing misery to millions of farmers hoping for good returns for their produce after two successive drought years. Onions sold for just Re 1 per kilogram in wholesale markets at Madhya Pradesh’s Neemuch and Mandsaur this week while tomatoes cost less than Rs 2 per kg in Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh. A kilogram of cauliflower...

-Bangalore Mirror The issue of encroachments in Devammachi Reserved Forests in Diddalli, Kodagu has thankfully evoked a balanced response from political leaders cutting across party lines. The Chief Minister, the District Minister, the Member of Parliament and the Virajpet MLA have all taken a clear stand that such fresh forest encroachments cannot be permitted while maintaining that poor people would be rehabilitated outside. However, the ill informed actions and statements of...

-PTI Announces a fine of Rs. 25,000 on each incident of bulk waste burning The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday imposed a complete ban on burning of waste in open places and announced a fine of Rs. 25,000 on each incident of bulk waste burning. “We direct that there shall be complete prohibition on open burning of waste on lands, including at landfill sites. “For each such incident, violators, including project proponent, concessionaire,...