-The Times of India DEHRADUN: Historian Ramachandra Guha, the author of The Unquiet Woods, a chronicle of the Chipko Movement and its continuing relevance, threw his weight behind protesters seeking that the state government desist from taking over tea gardens in Dehradun for the Smart City project. He tweeted: "A looming land scam in the name of a 'Smart City' in my home town, Dehradun". He told TOI that the proposal...

-The Telegraph In her recent book, Green Wars, the environmental journalist Bahar Dutt, writes: "The editor of a leading media house, everytime I pitched a green story, would invariably complain: ‘Environmentalism is stalling growth; all I am interested in is double-digit growth for this country.'" The idea that environmental protection and economic progress are at odds is widely held among India's elite. It is shared by newspaper editors, economists, businessmen, and, not...

-The Hindu   On the first anniversary of the Uttarakhand disaster, here's a look at issues plaguing the fledgling state. On June 16, it will be a year since Uttarakhand experienced its worst natural disaster. It was also a year of loss, of grief, of recovery and of resilience. While those affected continue to cope and rise, we need to look beyond the disaster in order to unravel the contradictions and challenges that...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The environment ministry has set up an expert group, as mandated by the Supreme Court, to determine whether hydropower projects along Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers and their tributaries contributed to environmental degradation, an effort to ensure there is no repeat of the Uttarakhand disaster witnessed earlier this year. Headed by Ravi Chopra, member of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) and director of People's Science Institute,...

-Outlook The legendary environmentalist and Chipko visionary on the recent floods in Uttarakhand In the more than eight decades of his existence, legendary environmentalist and Chipko visionary Sunderlal Bahuguna has never been witness to the kind of devastation that Uttarakhand has seen recently. In an interview, he explains why the government can no longer ignore the environmental concerns of the locals. * Tell us about your escape. We heard that you had...