-Scroll.in Raghav Chandra, secretary of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, says displaced Adivasis should not only be compensated with money but land as well. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has been quite proactive in the last few months. It has prevailed upon the central government to withdraw orders that it thought “diluted” tribal rights, asked states to return “unfairly acquired tribal lands”, and reminded governors of their powers to...

-Mongabay.com * India’s environment ministry has notified the Compensatory AfForestation Fund (CAF) Rules 2018 to ensure proper utilisation of Rs 660 billion for plantation of trees across India. * Environmentalists and civil society groups are against the rules as they point out that the rules ignore the rights of Forest dwellers and tribals. They also said that the new CAF rules are against existing laws ensuring Forest rights and self governance for...

-Hindustan Times The ecologist said extensive stone quarrying and mushrooming of high-rises as part of tourism, and illegal Forest land acquisition by private parties are the major reasons for the recent floods in the state. Pune: Ecologist Madhav Gadgil, founder of the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has described the floods in Kerala as a man-made disaster; a reaction to the illegal excavations, stone quarrying done...

-The Times of India Nagpur (Maharashtra): With 505 snake bite cases reported by the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College & Hospital (IGGMCH) in the last 2.5 years, on an average 26 people suffer from injuries in a month. The number of cases may be even more if details from GMCH are received, says snake friend (sarpa mitra) Swapnil Bodhane, who had sought information under the RTI Act from both the government hospitals....

-CitizenMatters.in Built in the 13th century, Delhi’s Qutb Minar, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the tallest minarets in the country, is facing stiff competition − from the height of a garbage dump in the national capital. In a recent report, a panel of India’s Parliament noted their observations on landfill sites in Delhi, writing that the “laissez-faire of the civic bodies of Delhi also gets reflected in the fact...