Representational image of a peacock | Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed in public interest seeking directions to the authorities to protect peacocks from electrocution. The court refused to examine the plea saying the petitioner should approach the authorities concerned with its grievances as courts couldn’t legislate … Read more
Multiple states in the U.S. were recently in the grip of tornadoes, wildfires, and dust storms. The fires that scorched parts of Texas and Oklahoma burnt through almost 300 homes, reliving the horrors a similar blaze inflicted on Los Angeles in January this year. The fires that raged across Eaton and Palisades in particular claimed … Read more
Malabar Grey Hornbill | Photo Credit: SPL A team of researchers from Kerala has been awarded the Future Conservationist Award by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) for their project on conserving the Malabar Grey Hornbill, an endemic and vulnerable species of the Western Ghats. The team, Ahirbudhnyan M., Shireen Sithara, Akshay Moti, and Sivasankari G., … Read more
Representative image | Photo Credit: The Hindu The parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers, headed by Trinamool Congress MP Kirti Azad, has urged the Union Fertilizers Ministry to seek additional funds for the sector at the revised estimate stage to ensure that subsidy schemes for farmers are not negatively affected. In a report on … Read more
Kerala and Tamil Nadu will jointly carry out a Nilgiri Tahr census from April 24 to 27. The survey will span 89 census blocks in Kerala and 176 blocks in Tamil Nadu over the four-day period. Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran, who announced the initiative, stated that the synchronised survey of the mountain ungulate is being … Read more
As dusk sets over The Nilgiris, the river Moyar is bathed in a golden hue. Peacocks make loud, plaintive calls as they show off their beautiful plumage while grey langurs forage for berries. A stocky wild boar makes its presence felt briefly and the air is streaked with the loud calls of racket-tailed drongos and … Read more
Surface ozone pollution could impact staple food grains such as wheat, rice and maize, says the study | Photo Credit: PTI According to a study by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, surface ozone pollution is having a significant impact on India’s major food crops, particularly in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and central India. The authors … Read more
Students showcasing unmanned aquatic boat at the Aquatic Cleanup Drone Challenge Hackathon in Thaiyur on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: RAGU R Seven teams of engineering students on Tuesday successfully displayed autonomous aquatic robots at the finals of the first edition of the Aquatic Cleanup Drone Challenge Hackathon at the Discovery campus of IIT Madras in … Read more
A picture, of 2021 that shows the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon in Nyingchi, China. File | Photo Credit: AFP GUWAHATI China’s proposed 60,000 megawatt hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo, the upstream of the river Brahmaputra in Tibet, will not be a dam but a ‘water bomb’ to be used against India and other lower … Read more
Representative image | Photo Credit: AFP India became the world’s third-largest producer of electricity from wind and solar energy in 2024, overtaking Germany, to according to a new report published on Tuesday (April 8, 2025). India becomes 3rd largest wind & solar power producer | Video Credit: The Hindu The sixth edition of global energy … Read more
Environmentalism, according to Dr. Ramachandra Guha, “like feminism, like socialism, like democracy,” is a modern phenomenon. “It’s really the product of the industrial revolution, which started in Europe and then, of course, moved to other parts of the world,” says the Bengaluru-based writer and historian at a recent public lecture at the National Centre for … Read more
Viburnum grandiflorum flowers in bloom in Kashmir. | Photo Credit: Anzar Khuroo Kashmir’s agroclimatic conditions are distinct from the rest of the country. The valley’s long, harsh winters leave the vegetation in dormancy. When spring arrives, it breathes new life into the landscape. The mountainous region is a home to a variety of endemic plants, … Read more
Representative image | Photo Credit: mammuth India’s electricity demand during the severe heatwave months of April to June 2024 rose by 10.4% compared to the corresponding period the year before, with increased use of air conditioning contributing to nearly a third of the rise, according to a new report released on Tuesday (April 8, 2025). … Read more
The Pallas’s fish eagle, named Ider, Ider used the same nesting spot four times, shifting location just once within Kaziranga’s core area. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement GUWAHATI An endangered fishing eagle tagged in Mongolia continues flying to the same location in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve for breeding season since 2020. The … Read more
An arecanut plantation in Mangaluru. Karnataka ranks first in arecanut production with 10 lakh tonnes from 6.8 lakh hectares out of a total production of 14.11 lakh tonnes from 9.4 lakh hectares in India, as per final estimate for 2023-24. | Photo Credit: Raviprasad Kamila MANGALURU The Union Government has reiterated that there is no … Read more
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan addresses the media after a meeting with farmers in Chandigarh on March 19, 2025. | Photo Credit: PTI The seventh round of talks between farmer leaders and a central delegation concluded on Wednesday (March 19, 2025), with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announcing the next meeting on May … Read more
Prof. Chandrashekhar M. Biradar is an earth system scientist, green growth activist, and biodiversity and agroecosystem research scholar with over three decades of experience spanning India, America, Africa, West and Central, Asia, and Eurasia. In a conversation with Kumar Buradikatti, he discussed the agrarian crisis and ways to address it. Excerpts from the interview: You … Read more
Culture is what we learn from others and pass on to successive generations by practising it over and over. Scientists have found cultural traditions among humans as well as animals, the latter in the way they forage, socialise, use tools, care for themselves, and mate. Among these traditions, the characteristic patterns of behaviour that involve … Read more
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. | Photo Credit: ANI After criticism by veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, the Bharatiya Janata Party Government in Rajasthan on Tuesday announced the procurement of mustard and gram at minimum support prices (MSP) for the upcoming rabi crop harvesting season from April 10. The State expects … Read more
A team of researchers from India and U.K. have discovered a species of land snail from the Konkan region of Maharashtra and named it, ‘Theobaldius konkanensis’. In a paper titled, ‘A new species of cyclophorid land snail (Caenogastropoda: Cyclophoridae) from the coastal regions of Maharashtra, India’ published on March 11, 2025, in the international scientific journal Molluscan … Read more
Activists in Mysuru staged a protest and demonstrated against lifting of night traffic ban through Bandipur, Karnataka on April 6, 2025. | Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram Activists and common citizens, including farmers, launched the ‘’Walk for Bandipur’’ amidst growing concerns over renewed efforts to lift the night traffic ban through the famed tiger reserve, on … Read more
The study of morphological structures and genitalia confirmed the identity of the beetle as Aethina tumida. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement An alien or non-native beetle threatening the honeybee industry globally has been recorded for the first time in India. The small hive beetle (Aethinatumida) was recorded from a moderately large colony of European honeybees, … Read more
Anthony Agotha, EU Special Envoy for Climate and Environment | Photo Credit: IISD/ENB. Photographer: Kiara Worth Climate envoys representing Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the European External Action Service (EEAS) held a series of meetings in New Delhi earlier this week with officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministries of Environment, Forest and … Read more
The white-rumped vulture is the most abundant species, accounting for 110 individuals, followed closely by the long-billed vulture (31 individuals), the red-headed vulture (11) (in picture), and Egyptian vulture (5), the Synchronised Vulture Survey 2025 said. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Minister for Forests K. Ponmudy on Friday (April 4, 2025) released the Synchronised Vulture … Read more
Blackflies are carriers of a worm causing river blindness. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT A new study involving DNA barcoding to identify species accurately is expected to lead to better management and control strategies for blackflies, which are carriers of a worm causing river blindness. The findings by a team from the Diptera division of … Read more
Supreme Court has directed extensive survey of the entire tropical forest ecosystems of the Agasthyamalai landscape. File | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement The Supreme Court has directed the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to conduct an extensive survey of the entire tropical forest ecosystems of the Agasthyamalai landscape in the southernmost Western Ghats to identify non-forestry … Read more
File picture of Ahaetulla longirostris from Valmiki Tiger Reserve | Photo Credit: Zeeshan A. Mirza via ResearchGate A rare long-snouted vine snake (Ahaetulla longirostris) has been rediscovered in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, marking its first documented sighting in the state and only the second recorded instance in India, forest officials … Read more
Representative image. | Photo Credit: LAKSHMI NARAYANAN E A group of environmental activists, concerned citizens, and the villagers have appealed to save more than one lakh trees and shrubs from being axed in the biodiversity-rich Shahbad forest situated in Rajasthan’s Baran district for the installation of a pumped storage project. The locals travelled to New … Read more
A building of the elephant interpretation centre ‘Vezham’ on Mettupalayam – Kotagiri Road. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement ‘Vezham’, the elephant interpretation centre at Mettupalayam, construction of which remained idle for three years, will be developed as a facility for human–elephant coexistence through community engagement. With ₹15 lakh allocated towards the project under the Tamil … Read more
Bioluminescence or sea sparkle, locally called ‘Kavaru’, at Chellanam | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT It is that time of the year in Kochi, when the shrimp farms along the backwaters are sparkling in blue shimmer. ‘Kavaru’ or bioluminescence, the environmental phenomenon that gives the waters an electric blue backlight, is now a looked-forward to event … Read more