-DNA The Indian political class is completely disengaged with the environment because the issue does not get votes. And the poor, who will be the most affected by climate change, are mostly unaware about it, though it is an existential issue for our country. In William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, a series of bizarre events happen in Rome before Caesar's assassination, leading a soothsayer to warn him: "Beware the ides of...
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Electric van rickshaws mooted to replace polluting ones -Subhro Niyogi
-The Times of India KOLKATA: The climate adaptation wing of WWF-India is currently working on a pilot project to transform van rickshaws, a highly polluting and illegal commuter and goods carrier popularly used in semi-urban and rural Bengal, into an environment-friendly and legitimate mode of transport. "We are working towards a viable alternative to the mechanized van rickshaws that currently run on diesel and kerosene and are extremely polluting. Battery operated...
More »India's rice warrior battles to build living seed bank as climate chaos looms-John Vidal
-The Guardian Rice conservationist Debal Deb grapples with 'mindless Indian elite' to reintroduce genetically diverse, drought-tolerant varieties Fifty years ago, every Indian village would probably have grown a dozen or more rice varieties that grew nowhere else. Passed down from generation to generation and family to family, there would have been a local variety for every soil and taste - rice that would grow well in droughts or deep floods, which had...
More »Scientists to study climate change impact in Sunderbans
-IANS Kolkata: Researchers from India, Britain and Bangladesh are studying the impact of climate change on livelihoods of those living in Sunderbans mangroves, the world's largest mangrove forests. More than two-thirds of the forest lies in Bangladesh, the focus of the study, and the rest in West Bengal. Under the ongoing Ecosystem Services For Poverty Alleviation (Deltas) project, as many as 50 experts from the three countries are investigating the impact of climate...
More »Women in the forefront of fighting climate change through the ‘gola’ -Ajitha Menon
-Women's Feature Service The ‘gola' or grain basket, built on elevated ground in Goyadham village in Sunderban's South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, is central to the food security of several households here. As Sofia Bibi, 45, says, "The grain is protected from the recurrent flooding and storms and we are ensured of a regular supply when there is no agricultural work during the months of September to November and March to...
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