In his fields, Badhia Naval Singh , a farmer tilling 8 bighas of land in the Bagli tehsil in Madhya Pradesh, has been seeing something strange for a while now. Earlier, if he pulled out a tuft of grass, he would see earthworms . "Ab woh dikhna bandh ho gaye hain (they don't show up any longer)," says the 45-yearold . Also, he says, when he ploughed earlier, the soil...

Madhya Pradesh is betting cash incentives will curb population growth and improve the ‘life cycle’ of the girl child, but experts question the efficacy of such policies in addressing deep-rooted social prejudices Visitors trudging down the dusty village road are greeted by a giant billboard featuring a smiling Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, hugging two young girls. The tagline in Hindi reads: Gaon ki beti, kisse chhoti...

Jairam Ramesh's order of May 6 rescinding his earlier stop-work notice with regard to the Maheshwar dam surprises many. ON May 6, Jairam Ramesh, the Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests, made a confession while responding to a questioner at a public meeting. He said he had been under “pressure” to overlook environmental violations while clearing certain projects. “Regularisation of illegality is a peculiar Indian characteristic. First you...

The self-esteem of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), the activist group formed by Medha Patkar 22 years ago, may suffer a severe dent with the Supreme Court on Wednesday “discrediting” the organisation for making false statements. The observation, part of a judgment by a three-member Bench, led by Justice J M Panchal, follows an earlier caution that it may be “blacklisted” from representing the farmers of Narmada valley in any court. The...

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday defended his decision to intervene in the issue of the Maheshwar dam project in Madhya Pradesh, on whose work the Environment Ministry, headed by Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, revoked the ban on Friday. The ban on work at the site was ordered by the Ministry in April 2010, with the resettlement and rehabilitation of affected villages largely pending. “Yes. I...