On January 17, a tinkle in a WhatsApp group of Madras Naturalists’ Society (MNS) made Gnanaskandan Kesavabharathi jump out of his seat. A tidbit of information that arrived with that tinkle demanded an immediate response and GK (as he is known in naturalist circles) was on to it, promptly keying in an instruction that elbowed … Read more
Spotted locust in a farm at Konnathay panchayat in Idukki. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT The changing climate pattern in the hill district poses a threat to its farming sector. Amid the crop loss suffered from incursions by wild animals – and miscellaneous creatures like Malabar parakeets and snails – farmers in Idukki are now … Read more
Newly recorded blood-sucking flies from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Researchers from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have identified 23 species of blood-sucking flies, 13 of them recorded for the first time in the country, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These tiny insects, also called midges, are similar … Read more
A vendor selling tomato. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma A combination of decline in sowing and an unusually high rainfall in late September meant mandi arrivals of tomato fell sharply in October. Due to the demand-supply mismatch, wholesale and retail prices of tomato skyrocketed, with the prices relatively higher in northern and eastern regions of … Read more
A boat carrying domestic tourists passes through hyacinth at Central Beach in Lake Naivasha in Nakuru county, Kenya’s Rift Valley, December 13, 2024. | Photo Credit: AP For someone who fishes for a living, nothing says a bad day like spending over 18 hours on a lake and taking home nothing. Recently, a group of … Read more
Udayakumar K.P. at his farm at Mahadevikadu in Alappuzha. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Fifteen years ago, carpenter Udayakumar K.P.’s life took a drastic turn when a freak workplace accident robbed him of sight in his right eye. Undeterred by the setback, Mr. Udayakumar from Mahadevikadu, near Haripad, in Alappuzha shifted his focus to agriculture, … Read more
Paani.Earth evaluated dry-season pollution samples from seven sites along the Arkavati and its tributary, the Vrishabhavati. | Photo Credit: BHAGYA PRAKASH A report on pollution levels in the Arkavati has revealed alarming levels of physicochemical pollutants, pesticides, heavy metals, and hazardous organic compounds that exceed both Indian and international standards and guidelines. According to a … Read more
Farmers under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) blocked roads at many places in Punjab to protest against the “tardy” paddy procurement and lifting. Photo used for representation purpose only. | Photo Credit: PTI Annoyed over tardy procurement of paddy crop in the ongoing Kharif (summer) marketing season, farmers under the banner of … Read more
As Los Angeles firefighters battle remaining hotspots more than a week into deadly blazes, scientists and engineers hope growing availability of satellite data will help in the future. Tech-focused groups are launching new orbiters as space launches get cheaper, while machine learning techniques will sift the torrent of information, fitting it into a wider picture … Read more
Exterior view of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the secure seed bank on Svalbard, Norway, March 2, 2016. Two men who were instrumental in the “craziest idea anyone ever had” of creating a global seed vault designed to safeguard the world’s agricultural diversity will be honored as the 2024 World Food Prize laureates, officials announced … Read more
Fog seen over Rashtrapati Bhawan, as the Central Pollution Control Board says Delhi’s Air Quality Index logged at 340 on January 19, 2025 morning, reducing visibility and causing disruptions in train services and daily life, in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma The Supreme Court on Monday (January 20, 2025) asked if there … Read more
Foxtail millet ready for harvest at a farm in Dindigul district. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu Removing the bran from millets results in decreasing the protein, dietary fibre, fat, mineral and phytate content in them, while increasing the carbohydrates and amylose content, a recent paper in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Springer has shown. This … Read more
A Bank of America building is engulfed in flames along Lake Avenue, Los Angeles, January 8, 2025. | Photo Credit: AFP Emails and videos of burned buildings in Los Angeles next to those left standing have been flying back and forth among architects, builders, and fire safety specialists around the world. Many experts say luck … Read more
A decade ago, India became the first country to legally mandate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 outlines the rules and regulations governing CSR. Its role in social development is crucial. According to the National CSR Portal, from 2014 to 2023, Rs 1.84 lakh crore of CSR funds were disbursed. … Read more
Black-and-orange fly catcher A three-day avian survey, organised by the South Wayanad and North Wayanad forest divisions and Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kannur in association with the Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology across the sky islands in the region revealed that the islands in the landscape played host to an array of avian … Read more
India is one of the world’s largest agricultural product exporters. The Indian agricultural export is valued at $53.1 billion in 2022-2023, up from $8.7 billion in 2004-2005, a six-fold increase in less than two decades. For an economically developing economy like India, exports play a significant role in strengthening the economy by increasing revenue, foreign … Read more
A view shows a protest projection set up by Greenpeace activists onto the wall of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin on January 21, 2025 against Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. | Photo Credit: Reuters On Monday (January 20, 2025), the first day of his second Presidency, Donald Trump signed an executive order … Read more
On the quiet banks of the Pampa river at Thakazhi in Alappuzha district, a modest, weathered building buzzes with activity. In the heart of Kuttanad, a wetland ecosystem historically popular as Kerala’s rice bowl and spread across Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts, a group of seasoned paddy farmers have gathered to collect paddy seeds, offered … Read more
On New Year’s Day, five-year-old Mayuri lost her life to a snakebite in Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka. The delay in receiving antivenom and the unsafe conditions at her anganwadi tragically sealed her fate. She became one of the estimated 58,000 Indians who die every year from venomous snakebite, a terrible number that renders India … Read more
The world’s population is growing and more people need more food. But indiscriminately expanding agricultural land and practice is not desirable. Cutting forests to plant more crops will only push already-fragile ecosystems over the edge. Dousing fields with pesticides is similarly toxic and depletes soils and groundwater. The genetically modified (GM) crops provide a way … Read more
Green Humour | Photo Credit: Rohan Chakravarty Green Humour | Photo Credit: Rohan Chakravarty Rohan Chakravarty is a cartoonist and illustrator from Nagpur. His series, ‘Green Humour’, consists of cartoons and comics on wildlife, nature conservation, environmental issues, sustainability, and all things green. Published – January 23, 2025 01:22 pm IST
ITDA Project Officer V. Abhishek starting the pulping of coffee beans for the year 2024-25 at Chintapalli in ASR district on Wednesday. The pulping procedure of Araku coffee beans has begun for the financial year 2024-25 at the eco-pulping unit in Chintapalli, ASR district, on Wednesday. Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Paderu Project Officer V. … Read more
As the narrow, winding ghat road meanders through the green hills of the Eastern Ghats, a journey to Lambasingi feels like an adventure. A winter morning drive to the region in the Chintapalli Mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district is a visual treat, with towering trees, occasional water-streams jutting out of the hills, and the … Read more
Centre launched the National Mission on Natural Farming. File | Photo Credit: BALACHANDAR L To promote its pet project of natural farming, the Centre on Monday (November 25, 2024) launched the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF). The Union Cabinet, which approved the decision here, said in a release that the NMNF will be a … Read more
Kamarkattu Ecostore is putting its digital foot impressively forward. Swipe through its Instagram page (@kamarkattu.ecostore) to see how. The micro enterprise puts out visual stories that revel not only in its finished products, but also in the mundane processes that bring those creations to a sustainability shelf. Before anything else, an outline of this Velachery-based … Read more
Mallinath Hullur, a 31-year-old farmer from Hawanur village in Afzalpur taluk of Kalaburagi district in Karnataka, was delighted to see the healthy red gram crop he had cultivated on six acres with hope and dedication. He had invested ₹1,00,000, which included borrowing from local moneylenders at a high rate of interest, in the crop. Mallinath … Read more
Sustainable businesses, no matter how small, are conscripted into climate action by default. Their contribution — through sustainable production processes and products that serve as eco-friendly alternatives — does chip away at the climate problem. While engaged in this larger battle, they are waging another at a personal level, a fight for survival. They need … Read more
President Droupadi Murmu presents a degree during the convocation ceremony of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), in Bhubaneswar on December 5, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday (December 5, 2024) called on agriculture scientists to develop and disseminate technologies in a timely manner to deal with natural disasters, … Read more
Workers install QR code-based GIS plates (a geo-tagging process) on Chinar trees for conservation, at Nishat Garden in Srinagar. File | Photo Credit: ANI Facing destruction due to rapid urbanisation and infrastructure projects, a geo-tagged digital identity on the lines of the Aadhar card has been introduced this week to monitor the health of every chinar … Read more
Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha. File | Photo Credit: ANI Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD’s) Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha on Saturday (December 7, 2024) took a jibe at Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for his Parliament address on farmers, saying, “There is a lot of difference between their word and reality.” Speaking with … Read more