Wildlife

The year 2016 was an abysmal year in terms of environmental policy and conservation in India.

It may come as a surprise to many that Delhi, a bustling metropolis and home to a population of over 18.6 million, has one of the largest stretches of forests in the country bang in the middle of the city.

No final approval for Ken-Betwa river link as claimed by Centre

An aerospace engineer from IIT, Kharagpur, Siddharth Agarwal could have been drawing a fancy salary like any other 25-year-old if he hadn’t followed his passion.

On a 29 sq km tract of land in Bharatpur, Rajasthan lies the wildlife reserve, Keoladeo national park, locally known as Ghana. Birds enjoy the open water while wildlife roams freely in this montage of wetland, grassland and forest. The wetland, which is man-made, has a diversity of open water, trees and grasses.

Deot Masih’s family has been extracting lotus root from the marshy land in his village near Gurdaspur for several decades. Delicate and crunchy, the edible roots are in high demand going as far as Srinagar in the north and Delhi in the south. Similar is the case with chestnut grown in this swamp.

Constitute a committee to monitor Ken-Betwa river link, suggests NTCA

Set in India-ka-dil, Madhya Pradesh, is the unending expanse of Panna.

Senthil takes a long puff of the cigarette before flicking it on the road nonchalantly. “I started smoking on the sly when I was in school,” he reminisces. “Sixty years later, I still do the same, only more smokes per day.”

Minket Lepcha always felt close to nature and the environment since her childhood, thanks to her upbringing in the picturesque Darjeeling. Though she had spent many years in Delhi, studying and working in corporate firms, her interest in community development, environment and culture brought her back to her home town.