-Down to Earth Land devoted to non-agricultural use has increased three-fold since Independence. It is set to increase further and faster, according to this article extracted from the latest State of India's Environment report, published by Down To Earth and Centre for Science and Environment In 2014, India was expected to BRIng down widespread land conflicts. This is because the country got a new land acquisition law in November 2013 after more...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre has tabled a land acquisition bill with provisions identical to that of a controversial ordinance, taking a calculated gamble and testing the nerves of the Opposition that is hoping to build a campaign anchored on farmers. Tabled in the Lok Sabha this morning, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill is based entirely on the ordinance the Union cabinet...

-NDTV Lucknow: Some of India's biggest politicians contested and won the Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh. But eight months later, they have not spent anything from their Local Area Development Fund (MPLAD). On the list of high-profile MPs from Uttar Pradesh who have spent not a rupee yet from their constituency funds are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi,...

-The Times of India LONDON: Celebrations in India over the revival in its tiger population may be premature and the result of a measuring error, according to a team BRItish-India team of scientists. India announced in January that the country was now home to 30% more tigers than four years ago, with numbers rising from 1,706 in 2010 to 2,226 in 2014. The Indian government used calculating a technique - the Index Calibration...

-The Hindu The Adivasis of Central India, who settled in the tea gardens of Assam decades ago, are still devoid of their basic rights. The even greater tragedy of the coordinated murderous December 23, 2014, attack on unarmed Adivasi forest dwellers in Assam, which left dead more than 70 people including children and women, is that the assault targeted one of the most oppressed and dispossessed communities in that entire region. A meticulously...