The vegetation at the Perumbakkam wetland is browning in some patches. As the wetland basks more in a summer sun, this picture would expand. Drier vegetation is more susceptible to fire during summer. The image was taken on February 21, 2025. | Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK Perumbakkam wetland is beginning to develop a “tan”. The … Read more
Wheat crop ready for harvest in a farmer’s field near Kindersley, Saskatchewan, Canada September 5, 2024. | Photo Credit: Reuters China issued guidelines on Friday to promote biotech cultivation, focusing on gene-editing tools and developing new wheat, corn, and soybean varieties, as part of efforts to ensure food security and boost agriculture technology. The 2024-2028 … Read more
Wetlands are regions of land that are generally saturated with water. However, when rain causes water to pool on land, it does not constitute a wetland. More specifically, wetlands are areas where water either covers the soil or is found at or near the soil surface year-round or for fluctuating periods throughout the year. These … Read more
Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh usually had a slightly higher realisation for sugar in the domestic market compared with the mills in Maharashtra. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu Sugar mills have sought hike in the minimum selling price (ex-mill) of sugar to ₹39 a kg from ₹31 a kg now. Deepak Ballani, Director General of … Read more
Apurba Kumar Barooah. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement Sagar Mehta. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement GUWAHATI An association of tea producers has named two nonagenarians for its first lifetime achievement awards. The awards are scheduled to be conferred upon 96-year-old Sagar Mehta and 93-year-old Apurba Kumar Barooah at the ‘Chairman’s Dinner’ in eastern Assam’s Golaghat … Read more
Former Agriculture Minister and Sarvepalli MLA Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy visiting a stall in Kisan Mela organised at Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University in Nellore on Friday. | Photo Credit: ARRANGEMENT The State government will soon deposit ₹20,000 into the accounts of each farmer in the State as financial assistance under Annadata Sukhibhava scheme, including the … Read more
Villagers show lithium stones in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir in 2023. According to a FICCI-Deloitte report, India lacks the technological capability to extract lithium from such geological formations. | Photo Credit: PTI Following the Cabinet approval for a ₹16,300-crore National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) in January, the government plans to auction more mines … Read more
Bengaluru’s Kasturi Nagar unites to revive lake in neglect for 50 years Saddened by the neglect of a waterbody by the authorities of Bengaluru, a few residents have joined hands and embarked on a mission to revive B. Channasandra Lake at Kasturinagar in Banaswadi. | Video Credit: The Hindu B. Channasandra (1) lake, also known … Read more
The discovery of a new breeding ground of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater in Tamil Nadu marks the southernmost breeding range of the avian species in the Indian subcontinent. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT The first breeding site of the Blue-Cheeked Bee-eater (merops persicus) in peninsular India has been discovered in the saltpans of Aandivilai near the Manakudy … Read more
As the sun rose over India’s diverse landscapes, birding enthusiasts across the country set out with binoculars and notebooks for the annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) – a global citizen science initiative that documents avian diversity over four days. This year at the GBBC conducted from February 14 to 17, India soared to an … 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 – February 20, 2025 03:41 pm IST
Union Budget 2025: What’s in it for agriculture? | Video Credit: The Hindu A look at what the Union Budget 2025 had in store for agriculture, and farmers. Reporting: AM Jigeesh Video: Sabika Syed Editing: Tayyab Hussain Published – February 01, 2025 09:01 pm IST
Watch: Warmest January on record, deadline for updated NDCs | Video Credit: Zeeshan Akhtar January 2025 kept up with the trend of recording hottest average temperatures ever. The month was 1.75 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels. January temperatures came as a surprise to scientists too. Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at ECMWF called … Read more
Many nocturnal animals, including insects like ants and bees, follow the moon’s position to find their way when they go foraging. But the moon waxes and wanes in a cycle and can be obscured by clouds or overhanging tree canopies, so the animals can’t always directly track its position. Now, for the first time, scientists … Read more
Puja material and other waste being collected at the Sangam for their disposal, during the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on February 19, 2025. | Photo Credit: PTI Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said Wednesday (February 19, 2025) dismissed concerns over the presence of faecal bacteria in the river water … Read more
A file photo of cheetahs at Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district. | Photo Credit: PTI A new study by the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS), which examines the ethical, ecological and welfare challenges associated with the translocation of African cheetahs to India, has expressed concern over the translocation of the animals … Read more
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg and protesters take part in a demonstration against the A69 motorway project between Toulouse and Castres, in Saix, France, February 10, 2024. | Photo Credit: AFP Sweden’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Greta Thunberg and hundreds of other activists cannot proceed with a lawsuit that had sought to force … Read more
In this photo provided by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, false killer whales are seen stranded, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, on a remote beach on near Arthur River in Australia’s island state of Tasmania. | Photo Credit: AP More than 150 false killer whales are stranded on a remote beach on Australia’s … Read more
While a part of the commitment made at COP-21 in 2015, countries started submitting BTRs only by 2024. File India is in the final stages of preparing its first ever Biannual Transparency Report (BTR), part of its commitment as a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, Environment Ministry officials told The Hindu. … Read more
It is as though a festival is in progress on a patch of forest at the Periyanayakkanpalayam range. Scooters and cars are parked haphazardly along a stretch as families arrive in droves, children in tow. A young father leads his daughter through the crowd, while a mother walks briskly, hugging her baby to her chest. … Read more
Trucks loaded with tonnes of Union Carbide’s toxic waste from the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy are parked in Pithampur industrial town of Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday allowed the State government to conduct three trial runs by disposing of 10 tonnes each of … Read more
A sunrise is seen against the Aravali mountain ranges in Ajmer, in Rajasthan, on December 16, 2022. | Photo Credit: AP The story so far: The Haryana government’s ambitious 3,858 hectare Aravali safari park project spread across Gurugram and Nuh — which was one of the poll promises of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party last … Read more
In its first updated Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in August 2022, India has committed to first, adopting a climate-friendly and cleaner path to economic development; second, reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030 from the 2005 level, and third, … Read more
Tourists are seen at snow-covered ski resort, Gulmarg, on February 11, 2025. | Photo Credit: IMRAN NISSAR The second leg of the 5th Khelo India Winter Games, scheduled to begin in Gulmarg on Saturday (February 17, 2025), has been postponed due to insufficient snowfall in the region. The new dates for the event will be … Read more
A Baillon’s crake at Perumbakkam wetland on February 12, 2025. Photo: Prince Frederick | Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK As humans are christened around birth, before their character becomes manifest and their frame takes complete shape, there is always the possibility that their name might suggest the opposite of what the people around them largely perceive … Read more
“Last year, we lost two of our men to poachers,” Samrat Gowda, deputy director of the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha, said. “Every time we come across them, the poachers are armed with a loaded gun.” But such encounters have become much less common of late. As part of an early alert system called TrailGuard … Read more
Sewage water mixing with Pazhayar river at Ozhuginasery in Nagercoil. | Photo Credit: A. SHAIKMOHIDEEN The rampant disposal of sewage into Pazhayar river poses a significant threat for its future, as pervasive pollution from sewage continues to damage the river’s ecosystem. The river, which carries pristine water from the Western Ghats has become excessively polluted … Read more
Representative image of a refinery. | Photo Credit: Bro Takes Photos Global warming is the result of certain greenhouse gases — but especially carbon dioxide (CO2) — building up in the air and preventing the planet from cooling as quickly as it would without them. Although some natural processes emit these gases, their build-up to … Read more
A farmer spreading fertiliser at a wheat field. File Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar/The Hindu One of the largest and most sustained trials analysing the impact of nano-urea on crop yields has concluded that its continued use could reduce yields of rice and wheat, which together constitute about 70% of India’s annual foodgrains output. Promoted by … Read more
Considering the ten earlier Budgets of the BJP-led government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there is nothing much that the farmers and agricultural workers of India can expect from the coming Union Budget 2025 (eleventh) except more vicious attacks on their livelihood, made under the smokescreen of high-sounding phrases about their welfare. Dismal record … Read more