Carbon Copy A freshly passed amendment to the Forest Conservation Act has created a stir among ecologists, parliamentarians and stakeholders. With several contentious provisions, the amendment reveals an afforestation push where rights and justice take a backseat to commercial interests. This week, amidst a raucous monsoon session, the Indian Parliament saw the passage of several consequential pieces of legislation in quick succession. Among them was the contentious amendment to the Forest Conservation...

-The Hindu The best way to support the manufacturing sector is to free it from the umpteen regulations that have stalled investment for decades Many Indians on a daily basis use sophisticated goods that are either fully imported or just simply assembled in India. This is because India lacks a well-developed manufacturing supply chain that could help produce things from scratch. To tackle this, in 2020, the Central government came up with...

-The India Forum Urban floods as in Bangalore are not just a result of failed governance. They also reflect a failure of our democracy, where the citizen does not participate in decision-making and later sees spectacles like demolitions as signs of action. Neecha Nagar was the first film from India to go to the inaugural Cannes Film Festival in 1946 and win the Palme D’or. Neecha Nagar, or the “Lowly City”, was...

-Newsclick.in Hundreds of residents of Gyaspur Basti are staying under tarpaulin tents after their houses were demolished. New Delhi: Sitting under a tarpaulin tent at Gyaspur Basti, in Sarai Kale Khan, a visibly worried and disturbed Deepu (16) is continuously trying to call a number. A few yards away under a tree, her equally distressed father, mother and brother are discussing something urgent. The family has been staying under the tent since...

-The Telegraph The scientist, Madhav Gadgil, turns 80 this month I come from a family of scientists, but I shied away from studying science myself. Yet, in a happy irony, it turned out that the most important intellectual collaboration of my life was with a scientist, Madhav Gadgil, whose eightieth birthday falls later this month. Born in Pune, Gadgil studied in Bombay, and at Harvard, where he took a PhD in ecology and...