PATNAGARH: For generations they have been weaving magic, from Bamboo. But, traditional Bamboo workers are now close to breaking and the onslaught of substitute materials and government policies since past some decades have driven Bamboo weavers to poverty and starvation. The Bamboo artisans of Kolpada in Khaprakhol block under Balangir district are leading a life of penury. Inhabited by primitive Kol tribe, by virtue of which the village gets its name,...

Tripura Forest Minister Jitendra Chowdhury has expressed deep concern over degradation of forest land due to shifting cultivation (Jhum) over the years and revealed that Manipur has emerged as the worst-affected State, followed by Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. Addressing a National Seminar on the Great Depression of 1930s and Present Global Economic Melt Down and its Impact on Tribal Society at Shillong last week, Chowdhury said about 45 per cent of...

The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the Union Home Secretary seeking a factual report on the news that security forces carried the bodies of dead Naxalites, including women, with their hands and feet tied to Bamboo poles in West Bengal. The Commission issued the notice after taking suo motu cognisance of the news and photographs that appeared in the media on June 18 wherein it was shown...

Belief in the north-east that it brings drought, famine  Phenomenon occurred in 1960s in Mizoram, leading to an increase in the rodent population Timing of flowering a mystery even to scientists; cycle varies from seven years to 120 years HYDERABAD: Reports about the flowering of Bamboo at the Nehru Zoological Park, a phenomenon said to occur once in the life cycle of Bamboo plant, have brought into focus the popular belief in...

At first glance, the vegetable patches in this north Indian village look no different from the many small, spare farms that dot the country. But up close, visitors can see some curious experiments: insect traps made with reusable plastic bags; Bamboo poles helping bitter gourd grow bigger and straighter; and seedlings germinating from plastic trays under a fine net. These are low-tech innovations, to be sure. But they are crucial...