'...Ever since the central government announced a day-long curfew on March 22, followed by a 21-day lockdown, starting March 25, to control the spread of coronavirus, social media and news sites are streaming with first-hand accounts of fishermen across the west coast of India throwing away their fresh fish catch. In the absence of ice, there can be no storage. In the absence of exporters and traders, there can be no selling.
'In India, on average, at least 10,600 people are impacted by each ongoing land conflict. The number crosses 21,300 in the land conflicts involving mining projects, reveals a recent study released last month. The study revealed that investments worth about Rs 13.7 lakh crore were found embroiled in 335 of the 703 ongoing land conflicts, which is equivalent to about 7.2% of the revised estimate of India’s gross domestic product for 2018–’19.
'Areas which should have been wildlife sanctuaries, teeming with animals and birds, now lie hollowed out and turned into opencast iron ore mines in Jharkhand. This has happened at the hands of the state government. In an elaborate plan it has clandestinely wiped three wildlife sanctuaries off its records in iron ore-rich West Singbhum district. These are Sasangda- buru in Saranda forest division, Bamiaburu in Kolhan forest division and Songra or Tebo in Porahat division. The plan has been so meticulously executed that one has to sift through records of the past 55 years to unmask it...'
'Some 8,561 trees will be cut down across eight densely wooded roads in outer Bengaluru very soon, leaving them bare and exposed, if the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited has its way. The reason? Road widening. Namma Metro Phase 2 will take an additional 1,253 trees. 16,685 trees will be chopped down to make way for the Peripheral Ring Road... More than anything, trees are our last buffer against climate change and urban pollution. India records the largest number of deaths from air pollution, having overtaken China in this dubious rat race to the bottom...'
'The news of discovery of gold mines with 3,500 tonnes of gold reserve in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district first broke on the Feb 20th in regional papers. By February 22nd, 2020, the entire Indian media was abuzz with the news that Sonbhadra gold mines had gold deposits estimated to be around 3,350 tonnes and worth Rs 12 lakh crore, which is almost five times India’s current gold reserve.
'The euphoria over the claim that around 3,000 tonnes of gold reserves, worth Rs 12 trillion, have been discovered in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district could not last even 24 hours, with the Geological Survey of India (GSI) clarifying on Saturday there had been no such discovery. The GSI, headquartered in Kolkata, rebutted the claims of the Uttar Pradesh Directorate of Geology and Mining (UPDGM), and said “miscommunication” must have led to the wrong reporting of facts. M Sridhar, director general of the GSI, said nobody in the agency gave any such data.
'Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s decision to appoint Anand Singh as the Forest minister on Tuesday has raised “conflict of interest” questions, especially since he has over a dozen cases pending against him, including serious offenses under the Karnataka Forest Act. According to his election affidavit that he filed for his December 2019 byelection, the Vijayanagar MLA has shown 15 cases pending against him. These are offences under the Indian Penal Code and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act to be read with violations of the Karnataka Forest Act...'
'In the cold and quiet winter nights of the past week, away from the cacophony of shrill primetime debates, residents of the Talabira area in Odisha – Munda and Gond Adivasis – camped around Munda Pada, the site where thousands of trees were felled in December last year amid heavy security. But this camp was unlike any other. Men returned from their daily wage work, while women returned to their homes from the protest site with their children in toe, some as young as six months.
'...The Hasdeo Arand is one of the largest contiguous stretches of dense forest in central India, covering about 170,000 hectares (420,080 acres) of the state of Chhattisgarh. It is rich in biodiversity, contains many threatened species and is home to elephants, leopards and sloth bears. It is also home to the Gond, one of India’s Adivasis, the name given to the country’s original indigenous peoples. Unfortunately for Porte, the Gond and other Adivasis forest dwellers, the Hasdeo Arand sits on top of more than a billion metric tonnes of coal reserves.
'Mining businesses from different parts of India are expanding into Jammu & Kashmir for the first time with last year’s scrapping of its special status opening the door for non-local players. Companies from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have participated in public auctions and won leases to mine the union territory’s reserves of coal, marble and limestone, among other things. The increased competition is yielding up to 60 per cent higher returns for J&K, say officials in the administration.
