Himachal farmers start growing pomegranate and cabbage, as apple lines recede due to climate change

The apple growing belt is shifting to higher altitudes and intercropping in apple orchards with vegetable crops as it experiences warmer winters …

Nature's wrath

Even flash floods cannot refresh the authorities' understanding of the dynamic and fragile ecosystem of the Himalaya

Climate crisis in North East India: Monsoon variations should ring alarm bells NOW

Over the past century or so, rainfall in the region, along with the flood-drought cycle, has changed character for the worse. The phenomenon has …

Sun lighting up the valley

Solar lighting systems have brightened up the gloomy winters of Himachal Pradesh's Mayad valley

Tapping wastewater

Put into effect in earnest, the law on wastewater recycling can provide lasting relief to a parched Delhi. samreen farooqui delves into the issue

Himachal model shows the way

Pilot project in Solan district screens patients and uses smartphone-enabled system to manage hypertension

Ban on junk food in plastic bags

Himachal court tells state to stop sale of non-essential items in non-biodegradable packs

Safe as houses

Earthquakes don't kill; badly built houses do. A look into houses in India that have withstood several earthquakes

It’s been a dry winter in the hills & plains of North India. Here’s why

Infrequent or weak western disturbances from mid-November through the third week of January have affected Rabi crops

Daily Court Digest: Major environment orders (November 21, 2022)

Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal

DTE Explains: The science of cloudbursts

Telangana Chief Minister said cloudbursts may be a 'foreign consipiracy' during his visit to flood-hid Bhadrachalam

Forest Rights Act to cast its shadow on polling in Himachal Pradesh

A large section of people in the hill state are united in their stand to boycott the elections as successive governments have failed to implement FRA

Himachal Pradesh High Court bans junk food in non-biodegradable packs

Judges express hope that move will protect environment as well as children’s health

Difficult to digest

After much debate, the Cabinet cleared the food security bill. Will it really ensure food for every Indian?

A bushful of medicine

Seabuckthorn, a plant with numerous medicinal properties, grows wild in India. Rural communities are the losers

Forest states want money in lieu of felling

On August 1, 2003, Madhya Pradesh made a plea in the Supreme Court seeking a fund-generating mechanism for forest protection. Earlier, in June, …

Colonial straitjacket

Book>> Becoming India Western Himalayas under British Rule by Aniket Alam Foundation Books, Delhi 2008

PM trains guns on ‘environmentalists’ during virtual meet with farmers

Says environmentalists who support farmers now, opposed killing animals raiding farms earlier  

Uttarakhand’s tulip garden offers glimpse into state’s largest germplasm collection

The garden is minor part of state’s largest germplasm collection of rare, endemic vegetation, put together by Uttarakhand forest dept in …

Machiavellian moves

Rajasthan's decision to bar illiterate people from contesting elections to panchayats is one more example of a state government dominating …

Border conflict

Clashes between wild animals and farmers are rising along forest fringes. But the government is yet to gauge their intensity, forget developing a …

Zero-emission mass transport in hills: Lessons from Himachal

Hill states need a different demand-aggregation model for procurement of electric buses to meet their unique requirements

The road ahead

The current method of environmental regulation has failed to monitor industrial pollution in India. It is not just ineffective but expensive too. …

Out of control: why monkeys are a menace

Damage by raiding monkeys has become a menace of unprecedented magnitude. Down To Earth travels to Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar …

Cold waves in northwest India could still mean a warm winter

Light precipation over Christmas, but dry spell in plains; 2022 expected to end on a dry note