-The Friday Times How are demographics changing in Assam and Bengal? And what does this mean for 'indigenous' communities? Garga Chatterjee considers the argument for territorial purity The Assam state of the Indian Union has seen violence flare up suddenly from July 6th. With more than 40 people reported dead and upwards of one and a half lakh displaced in a week, the Kokrajhar riots between Bodos and Muslims have again brought...

-The United Nations Elephant poaching levels are the worst in a decade and recorded ivory seizures are at their highest levels since 1989, according to a report published today by the United Nations-backed convention on endangered species. “We need to enhance our collective efforts across range, transit and consumer states to reverse the current disturbing trends in elephant poaching and ivory smuggling,” the Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered...

-PTI The National Green Tribunal has sought the reply of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on a plea against grant of any clearance to any new project in ecologically sensitive Western Ghats. The Tribunal also issued notices to the state governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu seeking their replies on the plea for implementation of the report by Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) on the...

Human-animal conflict, difficult terrain come in their way Until about two-and-a-half years ago, 10-year-old K. Nagaraj would go to Kovai Courtrallam every day, where he hawked fruits and snacks to tourists. On one such day, officials of the National Child Labour Project found the lad selling titbits and whisked him away to the special centre for rehabilitating child workers at Karunya Nagar, about 30-km west of Coimbatore. Nagaraj who was admitted to class...

-The Times of India Blaming the past governments for the current plight of Bundelkhand region, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged state minister and senior BSP leader Nassemuddin Siddiqui had given the tractors to his sons, which were meant for farmers and sent by the Centre. Addressing a public meeting at Lalitpur, Rahul Gandhi said that when he visited Bundelkhand two years ago, he saw the plight of the...