-Down to Earth   Officials admit that MGNREGS and rural road development programmes suffered shortcomings in UPA regime Senior officials of ministry of rural development have gone into a huddle following questions regarding the performance of various ministries thrown by Narendra Modi, who will take oath as prime minister on May 26. The cabinet secretary has asked secretaries of different ministries to prepare a power point presentation on why benefits from a number of...

-Down to Earth   India needs second-generation reforms in environmental governance to protect environment and community rights and reduce transaction costs for industry After more than two years of flip-flops by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), the Supreme Court (SC) gave a deadline of April 30, this year to the ministry to start the process of setting up a national environmental regulator under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, with offices...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: An expert group of Planning Commission has pitched for major investments to reduce country's carbon footprint, saying India needs to invest $834 billion in nearly two decades to be firmly on low carbon and environment-friendly growth trajectory. It also stressed on use of renewable energy resources in big way, saying at least one third of power generation by 2030 must be fossil-fuel free. The group,...

-The Hindu   Forest cover loss has occurred at a period when area under jhum cultivation is declining, suggesting that the land use policy has been counterproductive to forests Two spectacular bamboo dances, one celebrated, the other reviled, enliven the mountains of Mizoram. In the colourful Cheraw, Mizo girls dance as boys clap bamboo culms at their feet during the annual Chapchar Kut festival. The festival itself is linked to the other dance:...

-Down to Earth NTFPS-EP is a network working with adivasis on ecosystem conservation, advocacy and livelihoods When we shift the focus from the timber a forest is usually valued for to the non-timber products it offers, a very different world opens up. Wild fruit, honey, gums and resin, fish and crab, fibre and flowers, birds' eggs and bush meat, and medicinal barks are only some of the products that a forest may...