Bauxite Mining of the sacred hill of Adivasis in Lanjigarh, Kalahandi district, Orissa, had been stopped by a decision of the India Ministry for Environment and Forest (MoE&F) on August 24th, 2010. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had constituted an enquiry panel – which in its report recommends that bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills should not be allowed for mining unless the local Adivasi communities give their consent. According to this report,...

Tamil Nadu: The north-east monsoon, 50 per cent in excess in the State, claims over 200 lives and destroys crops and infrastructure.A SERIES of weather systems, including a cyclone that missed Chennai narrowly, saw the skies open up over Tamil Nadu between November 4 and December 5, the period when the north-east monsoon is most active. Most of the 561 mm of rainfall that the State received between October 1...

Every passing day makes it clear that the proposed food security law may not come by for a while. One report quoting the Planning Commission even suggested that it can be expected only in 2012. This Twelfth Plan (2012-17) launch has support from the concerned dual Ministry of Agriculture as well as Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. In that eventuality it does mean a surge in food insecurity.A dispassionate...

The issues relating to the victims of endosulfan, sprayed in the plantations of Kasargod district in Kerala, have snowballed once again. “Earthworms emerged from the soil, and, subsequently, died. Then birds came to eat the earthworms and they died as well.”   “Some termites were killed in a cotton farm sprayed with endosulfan. A frog fed on the dead termites, and was immobilised a few minutes later. An owl which flew over...

KFRI study finds serious health and environmental hazards in some districts Overuse of pesticides in pineapple farming is feared to have caused serious health and environmental hazards in some districts in the State. Overuse of pesticides, herbicides and weedicides has been reported from Kuttikanam in Idukki and the Mundakkayam and Erumeli areas in Kottayam, where pineapple is grown in rubber estates as an intercrop. A field verification study by the Kerala Forest...