Eco Guardians

Stop statistical jugglery to mask declining forest cover. Monoculture and private plantations cannot be counted as forests, writes Rasheed Kappan.

The Probe accesses documents that indicate that over 800 hectares of forest land in Southern Ridge itself is still under encroachment even after NGT’s clear orders in January 2021; 300 hectares are embroiled in legal disputes mounted by alleged encroachers.

Last month, The Probe flagged off the potential ecological impacts of a chemical complex near the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat. The central government has now taken cognisance of the environmental threat posed by the chemical complex and has returned the application of the Dalmia Group, citing multiple insufficiencies.

Local communities express strong displeasure over the environment report and protest against the chemical complex. Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Limited (GHCL) responds to The Probe on the proposed complex.

As many as five government officials have been booked by Odisha Police for alleged counterfeiting of signatures of Adivasi people whose lands have been earmarked for expanding a private mining project. 

In this investigative story, Ayaskant Das explains why Chhattisgarh’s Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary’s expansion has been hanging fire for years, even as a gold mining project in the adjacent forest is seeing rapid progress.

Reports compiled, and analyses carried out by various institutes have projected a grim scenario on the status of forests in Assam.

The man who planted over 2 crore trees across India says he has a solution to Delhi's air pollution