In the midst of COVID-19 lockdown, desert locust swarms have been seen in parts of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh in the second half of May 2020. The recent attacks by desert locust swarms have caused massive crop damage, depletion in the stock of cattle fodder and destruction of green vegetation in these states. As on 25th May, 2020, over half of Rajasthan’s 33 districts were...

-Society for Social and Economic Research Monograph 20/3 Key Messages Lack of planning and preparation by the Central Government for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a massive blow to India’s economy and has caused enormous hardships to working people of the country. Harvesting of Rabi crops • Unplanned and sudden imposition of the lockdown resulted in a massive and unprecedented disruption to agricultural activities such as harvesting, sale of agricultural produce, and purchase...

-Down to Earth Chhattisgarh Government reinstates the role of the forest department to coordinate claims that are to be filed by communities, according to the basic structure and procedures laid out in law     “There is no doubt that this order is against the law and betrays the FRA 2006 in its letter and spirit. The state Government of Chhattisgarh is bound to take this illegal order back. The rollback of this...

-The Wire Science NASA released a satellite image last year showing that India, with China, is “greening the world”. The greening has been thanks to the colonial ideologies that have bequeathed the legacy of greening India, which has been upheld by the subsequent Governments. The British drafted the first National Forest Policy for India to convert its forests into timber production stands. Decades later, the Indian Government safeguarded these stands with...

-Scroll.in The petitioner, a lawyer, also demanded that the Government appoint or nominate at least two members from opposition parties for transparency. The Centre on Tuesday requested the Bombay High Court to dismiss a petition seeking that the donations and expenditure of the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, or PM CARES fund, – created to tackle the coronavirus pandemic – be made public, PTI reported. The petition, filed...