-The Hindu Business Line A total of 15 States registered an aggregate increase of 5,000 sq km in their forest cover while 12 States/Union Territories showed a decrease of 867 sq km. The country recorded a decrease of 367 square km in forest cover last year, compared with 2009, according to India State of Forest Report 2011, released here on Tuesday. The forest and tree cover of the country stands at 78.29 million...
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Primitive tribes: Away from development by Abusaleh Shariff
About 9% of the country's population comprises scheduled tribes, with over 700 communities, of which 75 are 'primitive tribal groups'. Yet, we found on a number of field trips to Andhra Pradesh, conditions among scheduled and primitive tribes differ according to policy whims, and little else. In a village in Vijanagaram district, we found two distinct tribes living side by side: Kondavara, a scheduled tribe, and Savara, a primitive tribe. The...
More »Not out of the woods yet by Ashish Kothari
The promise of the FRA remains largely unfulfilled, says a committee set up by the Ministries of Environment and Forests and Tribal Affairs. IT seems hard for a government used to controlling most of India's common lands to let go of them. Even though it has passed a law mandating more decentralised governance of forests, the government itself is proving to be the biggest obstacle in its implementation. Other than in...
More »Blueprint for farm growth by Mohan Dharia
Acting with determination and firm action, it should be possible for India to step up its agricultural growth rate to 10 per cent. The 11th Five Year Plan seeks to achieve 4 per cent growth rate in agriculture by the end of the Plan period. The Planning Commission is working towards an overall 9 per cent to 10 per cent growth rate. But the target of 4 per cent growth rate is...
More »‘Gregarious bamboo flowering' triggers famine fears by ML Melly Maitreyi
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...
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