-The Telegraph Jail and racetrack on beach bully list New Delhi: An audit has identified dozens of public and private projects that have breached India’s coastal regulations — beach resorts, ports, roads, a racetrack, and even a jail near an Olive Ridley turtle nesting site. The exercise by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged deficiencies in the Union environment ministry’s project approval mechanisms and lapses by state coastal regulatory authorities that...

-The Hindu * What are the Forest Conservation Rules and how will it affect forest dwellers and tribals? What is the government’s position on the updated rules? The story so far: The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sparred earlier this week on the latest version of the Forest Conservation Rules. Congress spokesperson, Jairam Ramesh, alleged that the latest version of the rules, updated last month, allowed forest land to be...

-The Telegraph In the last two decades, forest and biodiversity conservation in the country has meant ruthless and unjust evictions of the people and communities living in their midst Earlier this month, a small hamlet called Bothli in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district pressed for the legal recognition of its community forest rights. Wildlife conservationists promptly filed a public interest litigation claiming that the people living in the...

-Down to Earth Supreme Court seeks update on power cables at Great Indian Bustard’s habitat The Supreme Court of India sought an update April 1, 2022 from the committee formed for making power lines underground in Rajasthan and Gujarat ordered a year ago.  The habitat of the state bird of Rajasthan — the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) or Godavan — is under threat due to the zigzag web of high-tension power lines through...

-Down to Earth Chinese medicine responsible for decline in donkey population; lack of grazing areas and mechanisation responsible for camel’s decline The population of donkeys and camels in Gujarat has declined 71 per cent and nine per cent respectively, the state’s livestock minister told the legislative assembly recently. Gujarat’s mules and donkeys had declined to 11,291 in the 2019 Livestock Census, from 38,993 in 2012, Raghavji Patel told the assembly in an answer...