-Press release by People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) dated 2nd June, 2021 We, the members of various Human Rights Organisations and Concerned individuals, condemn the appointment of former SC Judge, Shri Arun Kumar Mishra, as the next Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India by the selection Committee headed by the Prime Minister. What is troubling  is that the decision to appoint Justice Arun Kumar Mishra as NHRC...

Forest fires are not just confined to countries like the United States of America (California, 2020), Brazil (Amazon forest, 2019-2020) or Australia (2019-20); they happen every year across many states in India too. Media reports suggest that forest fires have taken place in the recent months in Odisha's Simlipal National Park, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, among other states. Forest fires have also been reported this year in Nagaland-Manipur border (Dzukou...

-The Indian Express On Sunday evening, as the fire continued to burn, the Indian Air Force — requisitioned by the Mizoram government — deployed two Mi-17V5 helicopters, equipped with Bambi Bucket, to control it. Guwahati: For more than 32 hours now, a forest fire has been raging in the hills of south Mizoram’s Lunglei district — and as of Sunday afternoon, has reached the edge of Lunglei town. Firefighters from the state...

-Down to Earth The country reported 82,170 VIIRS alerts in the fortnight till April 14; Uttarakhand sees significant jump in number   India recorded 82,170 forest fire alerts from April 1-14, 2021 nearly double the number reported during the same period past year, according to Global Forest Watch (GFW), an open-source monitoring application. The country reported 43,031 alerts during the corresponding fortnight in 2020, according to GFW data using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer...

-Outlook India Himachal's forest department has already activated a satellite-based Fire Tracking System. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) of Himachal Pradesh, Dr Savita has alerted against forest fires in the state after Uttarakhand saw a raging forest fire. Forest fires in some districts of Himachal, like Solan and Mandi, have already been doused in the last 48 hours. The state’s forest department has already activated a satellite-based fire tracking system which is...