-Citizen's Report on Year Two of the NDA-II Government 2020-2021: Promises and Reality, Civil Society Initiative, Coordinated by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, released in July, 2021  “Promises & Reality – Citizens’ Report on the Year Two of the NDA II Government, 2020-21” is a collective work by eminent members and organisations of the Indian civil society. The report covers a wide array of concerns and issues in thematic areas including health,...

-TheThirdPole.net Farmers and consumers are opting to grow coconut trees despite the national push for domestic palm oil production Jeyalakshmi Palaniappan, 55, planted one-and-a-half acres of oil palm in a village in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. But she found cultivating them financially unviable and, nine years later, she uprooted them. Now, she grows coconut trees on another piece of land in the same village, and these are bringing her...

-The Hindu Environment Appraisal Committee which flagged concerns over project has now ‘recommended’ it ‘for grant of terms of reference’ for EIA studies The Environment Appraisal Committee (EAC) - Infrastructure I of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has flagged serious concerns about NITI Aayog’s ambitious project for Great Nicobar Island (‘NITI Aayog vision for Great Nicobar ignores tribal, ecological concerns’, The Hindu, March 21, 2021). The committee has,...

-ThePrint.in The mica mining industry today operates via unlicensed middle men and labourers who scavenge for mica in large abandoned mines, or dig holes into the earth for scraps. Giridih, Jhumri Telaiya: For generations, families living in the Koderma and Giridih districts of Jharkhand have survived on the collection and trade of mica — a shimmery, translucent mineral used in cosmetics and automobiles. The mining of mica was once a legal, thriving business...

-Down to Earth Improved access to new markets, better yields and higher income need to safeguard environmental sustainability and farmers’ indebtedness The ongoing agitation by farmers on the borders of Delhi provides an opportunity to flag concerns about various aspects in the agriculture sector, including the environment, society, economy, food security and risk coverage for farmers. Several commentators have already spoken about the 2020 farm laws, supported by statistics, and experience. Many of...