-TheNewsMinute.com Experts say that the narrative that a country must choose between environment and development itself is wrong. Merely days after the fatal landslide in Kerala’s Pettimudi in Idukki district in August last year, the spotlight was back on the Gadgil report on the Western Ghats. The report, submitted to the government of India in 2011, had designated the Pettimudi region among the most sensitive ecological zones in the Western Ghats and...

-TheCitizen.in Jat farmers of Western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have made their presence felt several times in the past as well. Huge protests have taken place in past decades, under kisan leaders like Charan Singh and Mahendra Singh Tikait. Both cut their political teeth on farmers issues, with Charan Singh going on to become the Prime Minister of India on the basis of the farmers support across north India. Singh’s son Ajit...

-The Indian Express A theme common to both mahapanchayats in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, which saw communal violence in 2013, was an appeal to keep religious identities aside and come together as farmers. Muzaffarnagar, Shamli: From Greta Thunberg to sugarcane dues to communal harmony — a mahapanchayat in Shamli on Friday, meant to rally Western UP support for the farm protests, saw speakers explain a host of issues to an estimated 10,000-strong crowd. The...

-Counterview.net Speaking at the western region consultation on the Right to Information (RTI) Act, whose two-day virtual session began on Thursday, Aruna Roy, formerly a member of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi-sponsored national advisory panel, has said that governments should recognise RTI has emerged as common citizens’ right to seek answers from authorities instead of seeing RTI pleas with suspicion. A pioneer of the RTI movement in India, Roy objecting to recent orders...

-The Hindu The proposed construction of a mega financial-tourist complex on Little Andaman Island will place at risk a fragile ecosystem and result in habitat loss of the vulnerable Onge tribe and rare wildlife A plan for the sustainable and holistic development of the 680 sq km, fragile Little Andaman Island in the Andaman and Nicobar group has raised the alarm among conservationists. The ‘Sustainable Development of Little Andaman Island - Vision Document’,...