Uttarakhand News - India Together

DAMS AND ECOLOGY
Hydropower: Will new committee break new ground?
An expert committee set up by the MoEF to study the impact of hydropower projects in the Alaknanda-Bhagirathi basin raises hope, but can it break the mould of the past to bring about the measures so critically needed? Shripad Dharmadhikary explores.

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MID-DAY MEALS

Look beyond the food

Most studies on mid-day meal schemes tend to focus on the obvious nutritional benefits or lack thereof. Carly E Nichols argues that the impact of these programmes extend far beyond, justifying the need to fund and monitor them more stringently.

Food Security Work+Life Poverty

UTTARAKHAND TRAGEDY

All those kinds of gaze

The disaster in Uttarakhand cannot be viewed as a result of isolated factors such as faulty governance or flawed environmental policy. It calls for a more holistic and deeper look at the entire range of issues that are endemic to the mountain region, writes R. Uma Maheshwari

Tourism Environment Opinions

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Uttarakhand tragedy: How we ignored the writing on the wall

As the massive disaster in flood-stricken Uttarakhand unfolds, Himanshu Upadhyaya draws attention to the glaring inadequacies in disaster management preparedness and risk reduction in the state, as well as the nation, as exposed by recent audits.

Government Environmental Law and Regulation

TRIBAL WOMEN

Banding together, for their rights

Tribal women in Uttarakhand are standing up for their community rights, and resisting the dispossession of their lands by a nexus between powerful landlords and the government machinery. Puja Awasthi reports.

Forests Adivasis Women

FOREST DWELLERS' RIGHTS

Uttarakhand Gujjars being ousted without compensation

A large number of Ban Gujjar tribal families remaining within the Rajaji National Park are facing constant harassment from the state forest department. Their rehabilitation is mired in red tape. Aparna Pallavi reports.

Forests Relief Human Rights

ENVIRONMENT

This IFS officer saved a national park

Jyotsna Sitling's gargantuan assignment involved ridding a buffer zone of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve in Uttarakhand of mountain-high piles of plastic and non-biodegradable waste, dumped by pilgrims over the last three decades on their way to Hemkund Sahib. She elicited the help of the community and did it, reports Neeta Lal.

Environment Biodiversity

NEAA rejecting clearance appeals coldly

On 20 May, the National Environment Appellate Authority refused to admit two appeals cases where citizens and panchayat representatives in Uttaranchal had challenged Central government clearances to two hydro-electric power projects, on grounds of failure in due process. Kanchi Kohli was at the hearings.

Environment Environmental Law and Regulation

High voltage environmental activism

Towering pylons and high tension wires seem to discourage any idea of resistance to environmental destruction in Tehri Garhwal, but the villagers persist. Bharat Dogra reports.

Forests Environment

Lights on!

Rajani Mani reports on how the power generating water mills of Uttranchal are lighting up lives.

Energy Environment

Mountain Vox

Lalitha Sridhar reviews Voices from the Mountain, Oral Testimonies from Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh.

Environment Reviews Himachal

Tehri Dam - Verdict Awaited

A note on Tehri Dam case heard in Supreme Court by Vimal Bhai of the Matu People's organisation.

Water Environment