(The land which was once the legendry Satisar may soon turn into a desert if we do not reclaim and protect our water bodies!) Last year in these columns the tragic state of our water bodies was described in detail with the hope that some concrete action would be initiated to save these. Unfortunately, nothing substantial has been achieved. Only[Read More...]
The next time you put your lips to a plastic bottle of “crystal-clear mountain spring water” think about Trump’s herculean efforts to dismantle federal agencies that protect health. More to the point, Trump’s innate distrust of science is already starting to impacthealth risks, e.g., according to Consumer Reports (“CR”)excessive levels of arsenic are found in some bottled water that should[Read More...]
Japanese whalers returned to port Monday with their first catch after resuming commercial whaling for the first time in 31 years. Whaling and consuming whale meat is a long-cherished goal of traditionalists. They see whaling as largely a lost cause amid slowing demand for the meat and changing views on conservation. A fleet of five boats brought back two minke[Read More...]
After detailed discussions among various people’s organisations, we the following organisations express our deep concern on the attempts of the Government to dilute and violate the Forest Rights Act 2006. We are extremely concerned about the dilution and violation of the Forest Rights Act through the notification on the Compensatory Afforestation Act, which seeks to dilute the purpose of Compensatory[Read More...]
The All India Forest Front for Rights Struggles, a national forum comprising of adivasi organisations, NGOs and concerned individuals, met recently in Delhi to discuss the challenges adivasis , forest rights and bio diversity. There were more than 37 representatives from different parts of the country. The main focus of the meeting was on the following issues: The Forest Rights[Read More...]
(One of the main causes for drastic climate change in the valley has been the indiscriminate felling of trees and the conversion of agricultural land!) The most extensively used words these days are the “Climate Change”! The weather in most parts of the world has been behaving in a strange way. Some places are getting extremely hot while as in[Read More...]
Parts of the documentary Modified are spent at the kitchen table. But it’s not really a tale about wonderful recipes or the preparation of food. Ultimately, it’s a story of capitalism, money and power and how our most basic rights are being eroded by unscrupulous commercial interests. The film centres on its maker, Aube Giroux, who resides in Nova Scotia, Canada.[Read More...]
Text and Photos: Andre Vltchek You will never read about it, but Dayak people, the “First Nation” of the enormous island of Borneo, are broken, robbed and brainwashed. “Unity in diversity” it says; the motto of Indonesia. But it could be argued that the opposite is true. There is very little unity, and less and less diversity, as the country[Read More...]
“When a company wields such power that it can cause a Minister to rush an approval process, cut corners and make significant errors, it is cause for serious concern.” Kelly O’Shanassy, Australian Conservation Foundation, June 12, 2019 While the proposal is of a diminished monster, the travails over Adani’s efforts to open up the Galilee Basin in Queensland to mining[Read More...]
In February 2010, the Indian government placed an indefinite moratorium on the commercial release of Bt brinjal. Prior to this decision, numerous independent scientific experts from India and abroad had pointed out safety concerns regarding Bt (insecticidal) brinjal based on data and reports in the biosafety dossier that Mahyco, the crop developer, had submitted to the regulators. The then Minister of[Read More...]
