Gujarat

Considering the global trend of alarming deforestation, it is very important to study various forest management strategies to understand their effectiveness and limitations. It is important to conserve the forests, but the economic sustainability of the people directly linked with the forests cannot be ignored.

Informal housing caters to over one-third of the population in our cities, who cannot afford formal housing. Cities are known as engines of economy and this economy consists of over 90 per cent informal sector workers. However, housing requirements for these people have never got utmost priority by governments, post-independence.

Gujarat is home to 604 lakh people of whom 89 lakh or 15% are Scheduled Tribes (Census of India, 2011). These tribal communities mainly reside in the eastern districts of the state bordering the tribal districts in southern Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh, and northern Maharashtra.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recently released the second part of the Sixth Assessment Report – ‘Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability’.

There is a myriad of government schemes and programmes working towards improving water access across the country. Tracking all these initiatives can be cumbersome. The priority that the centre and the states accord to various sectors through the budgetary allocations gives an idea about where the government’s priorities really lie.

Ramsar has designated two more wetlands in India, bringing the total to 49

There are over 705 ethnic groups, which are recognized as Scheduled Tribes in India (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2020). These groups have their own unique Gods, beliefs, rituals, practices, and social systems.

Over the last five decades, rapid increase in urbanisation has led to the deterioration of ecosystem health.

The earliest known civilizations settled around rivers as they provided access to the water needed for cultivating crops. Over time, humans learnt to control the flow of water by the construction of barriers across the direction of the river flow.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the entire globe and unfolded the most challenging health risks and economic burdens on communities, women, men and children, who were already on the margins.