Amita Bhaduri

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) released the biennial India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021 on January 13, 2021. “The total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.9 million hectares, which is 24.62% of the geographical area of the country,” said Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for MoEF&CC sharing the report findings.

In recent times, India has been routinely experiencing abnormally hot days during the summer months of April and May. These deadly heatwaves marked by excessively hot weather along with high humidity are on the rise and are causing a record number of deaths of humans and livestock.  

Green panel clears Central Vista projects

In the aftermath of the Chamoli disaster of 2021, the spotlight turned to the area’s proliferating development that made it particularly vulnerable to disasters. The environmental capacity to sustain damage had been severely reduced because of the impact of climate change.

"Lakes in Indian cities have seen a pitfall in terms of quality.

Decentralization is the transfer of powers and responsibilities from the central government to the elected authorities at the subnational level. In India, as organs of the government closest to the people, the panchayati raj system has emerged as an effective good governance tool.

India is all set to usher in a ‘pandemic generation’, with 375 million children (from newborns to 14-year-olds) likely to suffer long-lasting impacts, as per the State of Environment Report, 2021.

Dahanu, an ecologically fragile area about 120 km from Mumbai, in Maharashtra’s Palghar district witnessed massive protests in 2019. Over 59 gram panchayats were opposing the land diversion to high-tech infrastructure projects.

This year’s budget was tabled when the country was grappling with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 induced crisis. The government was expected to provide an effective response to the pandemic-induced recession.