Manu Moudgil

At 42 years, Bhagwat Ghagare seems young. But he is old enough to have seen his village prosper and decline many times. Farming had traditionally been small and distress migration rampant at Kumbharwadi in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.

Sand is in high demand in the construction sector. By 2020, 1.4 billion tonnes of sand will be required in India. Sand mining is thus a lucrative business and fuels illegal extraction.

Around 127 people died and 300 others were injured during the severe dust and thunderstorms that shook north India on May 2. Winds touching a speed of 126 kilometres per hour brought down houses and uprooted trees, thus becoming the strongest storm in the last six years. What led to such a massive weather event?

Scientists have developed a hydrogel from the gum of guar (cluster bean) that can increase soil moisture and help farmers save their crops in case of water scarcity. 

Lippa is a small village in the Kinnaur region in Himachal Pradesh, close to Asrang wildlife sanctuary. On May 27, the village witnessed hectic activity as the gram sabha was to decide the fate of a hydroelectricity project to be constructed near the village. The project demands the water from the Kerang stream be diverted for power.

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa, all located in the west of India, have rivers belonging to several different basins. With the exception of rivers in Rajasthan that drain into the Yamuna basin, the other rivers in these states either drain into the Bay of Bengal via the peninsular basins or run from the Western Ghats and into the Arabian sea.

Till about two months ago, Punjab was all about potatoes and politics. A surplus production and market crash had farmers dumping their produce on the roads. At the same time, the results of the State Assembly elections were keenly awaited. While Punjab survived the prediction of a hung Assembly, the fate of farmers still hangs in balance.

The mangrove forests of the Sundarbans are the biggest barriers against cyclones from the Bay of Bengal, saving both India and Bangladesh from irreparable damage.

At the Sainj Hydroelectric Power Project in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh, muck dumping sites were inadequate and damaged resulting in the muck directly flowing into the river. Nabinagar Super Thermal Power Project in Bihar had to install instruments to control air, water, noise and dust pollution, develop green belt and recycle treated effluent.

As bamboo trees bloomed with long wispy spikes, Loknath Nauri knew it would be a tough year. “More the density of the flowers, the more severe the drought we face,” he says. This was in March 2015 in the forests of southern Odisha. Around the same time, he saw black-hooded oriole building a nest with its mouth facing west.