Ellen Wayland-Smith admires how Is a River Alive? places the reader in immersive contact with the nature we regard as mere backdrop to human activity. Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane. 2025 IN RELIGIOUS COSMOGONIES, anthropologist Mircea Eliade argues in his 1957 book The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, the natural world… Read More What Would It Take to Re-Sacralize Nature?
Punarchith (‘Re-Think’) is a collective that focuses on evolving alternative perspectives and activities related to education, environment, democracy, and society. It seeks pathways and perspectives that would lead to ideas and learning for an equitable and just society. Its foundational premise is to evolve and engage with ideas that are suitable for everyday life in… Read More Punarchith (Re-Think). Reflections on a decade-long journey
Seven winners of environmental prize include Amazonian river campaigner and Tunisian who fought against organised waste trafficking Nina Lakhani Grassroots activists who helped jail corrupt officials and obtain personhood rights for a sacred Amazonian river are among this year’s winners of the world’s most prestigious environmental prize. The community campaigns led by the seven 2025… Read More Grassroots activists who fought corruption & corporate power share environmental prize
Starts August 2025 – Apply by 30th April Today the way our knowledge system is set up, it is possible for a city bred person to go through school and then higher education followed by a doctorate in a subject like economics from the most reputable institutions in India and abroad and subsequently become influential… Read More Pagdandi Fellowship 2025-‘26
Whether in electoral rhetoric or in the most high profile Supreme Court cases or in public policy, the word on everyone’s lips is Development. Punjab’s labour laws have been proposed to be reformed for– Development. Schools are being set up and strengthened for– Development. Building regulations are being changed so that rural areas and urban… Read More The Idea of Development: A Conversation in Chandigarh
Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Jan 4, 2025 DOCUMENTS: BOOKS: IMAGE & SOUND: Editor’s Picks Books of Note
The current UN climate change regime “embodies the clearest, most specific, and the most current expression of states’ consent to be bound by international law in respect of climate change”, Margaret Taylor, legal adviser at the state department, told the ICJ judges on Wednesday. “Any other legal obligations relating to climate change mitigation identified by… Read More Fury as US argues against climate obligations at top UN court
Despite Swachh Bharat Mission’s giant promises, 1,600 tonnes of unsegregated waste continues to poison groundwater in villages near Mangarbani forest. Deepanshu Mohan and Shubhangi Derhgawen The air around the Bandhwari landfill in Gurugram is thick with the stench of decay. “We earn our living here, but at what cost to our health?” asks Joginder, a… Read More A sacred forest dies in Gurugram as Bandhwari landfill’s toxic waste breaches Aravalli sanctuary
Consumption of world’s wealthiest people also making it increasingly difficult to limit global heating to 1.5C The high carbon emissions of the world’s richest 1% are worsening hunger, poverty and excess deaths, a report has found. Owing to luxury yachts, private jets and investments in polluting industries, the consumption of the world’s wealthiest people is also making… Read More Carbon emissions of richest 1% increase hunger, poverty and deaths, says Oxfam
Shweta Thakur Nanda Moromi Hazowary of Kamrup district in Assam had clear aspirations – a stable life and a desire to give her son a better education. It is not a stroke of luck, but an invasive weed – water hyacinth – that is turning her hopes into reality. The 32-year-old’s family was dependent on… Read More How the invasive water hyacinth is helping build livelihoods – with an ecological bonus
After the truth-shower 