-Down to Earth More than half of the degraded land in the country is either rainfed farmland, responsible for the food security of the country, or forest land that offers the best defenc With close to 30 per cent of its geographical area already affected, land degradation is definitely among India’s most pressing environmental problems. To make matters worse, almost all Indian states have recorded an increase in degraded land in the...
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Heavy Rains, Landslide Damage Key Uttarakhand Highways, Hold Up Traffic
-PTI/ TheWire.in The Rishikesh-Gangotri highway (NH-94) has been closed for traffic from Narendra Nagar to Chamba, while the Rishikesh-Badrinath highway (NH-58) has been closed from Tapovan to Maletha. Dehradun: Heavy overnight rains damaged the Rishikesh-Gangotri and Rishikesh-Badrinath national highways in Uttarakhand leading to suspension of traffic along the affected stretches for public safety, an official said on Friday. The Rishikesh-Gangotri highway (NH-94) has been closed for traffic from Narendra Nagar to Chamba, while...
More »Fooling the reader: How Indian papers and magazines disguise ads as news -Tanishka Sodhi
-Newslaundry.com India Today’s ‘Focus’ and ‘Impact’ features are a case in point. If it looks like a news report, reads like a news report and is bundled with several other news reports, it must be a news report. Right? Wrong. It could as easily be an advertisement, only you wouldn’t notice if you don’t pay close attention. And that is really the idea: the ad is packaged as a report so you wouldn’t realise...
More »Can solar pumps save groundwater while cutting debt of power cos? -Akshita Sharma
-Down to Earth Incentivising farmers to sell solar power as a remunerative crop can help reduce the usage of diesel pumps The irrigation-energy nexus in India's agriculture sector is characterised primarily by depleting groundwater and a growing debt burden of power distribution companies (DISCOM). This is due to massive power subsidies that remain underfunded by the states. &NBSp; The Government of India (GoI) has been promoting solar irrigation pumps by offering substantial investment...
More »Gail Omvedt: An extraordinary scholar who researched on Phule-Ambedkarite tradition -Vidya Bhushan Rawat
-Counterview.net Gail Omvedt is no more. She passed away on August 25, 2021 in Kasegaon. On August 18, I went to see her along with my dear friend Rahul Nirmal. Her condition was deteriorating and her partner Bharat Patankar was doing everything to serve her at their ancestral house in Kasegaon, Maharasthra, where Gail and Bharat decided to live and work for the people. Gail is known for her extraordinary documentation of...
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